1635.3.13 Guḍḍega:ḍu, bo:rega:ḍu
These terms refer to another kind of vegetation associated with elevated areas,
namely hill- and hill-slope forests. This habitat can be home to a variety of mammal
species during the rainy season. During the dry season , however, when the water
sources in the hills start to disappear, animals such as elephants , sambhar, buffalo,
mouse deer and barking deer prefer to remain in the fl atland forest s ( dimba ka:ḍu ,
maṭṭaga:ḍu or gaddega:ḍu ), where some streams and water holes still contain water.
This time also coincides with the main yam harvesting season, and young Solega
are strongly advised by their elders to only go to the hill forest s to dig for yams. This
is primarily a strategy to avoid running into thirsty (and therefore probably irritable)
elephants that would be wandering the fl atland forests during this time.
Extract XXIV
(MRM) Bo:rega:ḍu andare guḍḍe, guḍḍega:ḍu. bo:re gaṭṭu anta. Na:vu
he:ḷdivẽlla, adu ni:vu hindina ka:lada de:no he:ḷtiddiralla?
( Bo:rega:ḍu means ‘hills’, hill forest s. We call them bo:regaṭṭu , don’t
we, what were you saying about how it was in the old days?)
(BG) Ã, bo:re gaṭṭu. “Oḍa:ginalli no:ḍru ba:ri bo:re gaṭṭudikka! A:neginega
bandu uḍtave, gaddega:ḍiga biḍa be:ḍi!” enduru he:ḷdaru.
(Yes, bo:regaṭṭu. “Go have a look at the bo:regaṭṭu on the mountain
slopes! You’ll run into elephants , don’t go to the fl atland forest !” they
would say.
(MRM) Ni:vu ka:ḍiga oitiddiru, o:darue idu... “bo:regaṭṭinalli ku:tu geṇasu
a:gedumo, maṭṭa:ga:ḍinalli a:ne ade.”
(You were going to the forest, and then... “Stay in the bo:regaṭṭu and dig
for yams , there are elephants in the fl atland forest .”
(BG) Gadde ga:ḍiga o:dale a:negave, tappisa:dakka:ga:dille... gaddega:ḍina
iradille, beṭṭa:da hoḍa:ginave iddu a:mele banduma:du. Hoḍagu pakka,
me:leka beṭṭa, a:ne solpa e:rakka:ga:dille.
(If you go to the fl atland forest , you’ll only fi nd elephants , you can’t
avoid them... you don’t stay in the fl atland forest, you go halfway up the
mountain, and later you should come back. Close to halfway—the moun-
tain rises above, the elephants don’t really climb up.)
(MRM) A:ga guḍḍega:ḍina a:ne idda:ga maṭṭa:ga:ḍu iḍdurtiddiru
(So when the elephants are in the hill forest s , you’d go down to the fl at-
land forest ?)
(BG) Maṭṭa:ga:ḍina a:ga:de ille, ella ṭa:im uwe maṭṭa ga:ḍina a:ne idda:geve.
Bo:reve ira be:ku. Alli ondu ga:ḷige geṇasa aggeduma:du. Maṭṭa:ga:ḍinalli
ishṭu geṇasina ambu iddaluve aggetaralle.
(You just don’t go to the fl atland forest , there are always elephants
there. You should just stay on the bo:re , and dig for yams there for a
while. You don’t go to the fl atland forest even though there are so many
yams there.)
5.3 Landscape/Forest Types in Solega