The Traditional Ecological Knowledge of the Solega A Linguistic Perspective

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Hejje:nu start arriving^7 in locations familiar to the Solega in March, at the time
when the fl owers of the honne tree are in bloom. Apart from this very obvious
annual pattern of appearance and disappearance that the giant honeybees exhibit,
there is some evidence that the Solega are aware of this species’ stepwise migration
behaviour, which has frequently been reported in the scientifi c literature. In the fol-
lowing excerpt from an interview recorded in Bu:ta:ni Po:ḍu , the speaker contrasts
the ‘arrival’ behaviour of hejje:nu and tuḍuve je: nu on the one hand, which appear
to make more than one stop before deciding on a fi nal hive location, and the sting-
less bee nesari je:nu , which appears to choose a fi nal hive location straight away:

Hejje:nu honne hu:vina ṭaim bartade... a:ga hejje:nu be:re be:re ja:ga:ka ho:gi se:rude,
ka:ḍe: pu:ra:uve se:rude, tuḍuve ue ka:ḍe: pu:ra:uve se:rude, i: nesari ondu ma:tra yelli
ku:titte alliye, alliye.
Hejje:nu arrives in the time of the honne fl ower... then hejje:nu goes to many different
places, it goes all over the forest, thuḍuve also goes all over the forest, it’s only nesari that
(remains) exactly where it (fi rst) lands.
As is well known, hejje:nu colonies consist of a single large comb, hanging verti-
cally down from a large tree branch or a rock overhang. In Indian cities, it is also not
uncommon to see hejje:nu combs attached to the eaves of buildings. This bee stores
its honey in a discreet band at the top of the comb, leaving the rest of the comb for
brood. The part of the comb containing the honey is called tale ‘head’, while the
term ra:ḍe is used to refer to the brood containing part of the comb, or to the entire
comb. Pollen ( iṭṭu ) is also kept in a discreet area, close to the honey store.

Excursus 7.2: Affi nal Relations

The four bee species are considered siblings, with the smallest, nesari je: nu ,

said to be the eldest brother:

Nesari entivilla, saṇṇadu, avanette iri-aṇṇa. A:ga adakka tamma—hejje:nu.

Adakkinta tamma—kaḍḍi je: nu. Adakkinta tamma—tuḍuve je:nu. A:ga gauri habba

banda ṭaiminalli ella beka:du beḍa:du tiṇḍi baṇḍi ella se:rsi, “Tamma, ba:ri, nanna

meneka, u:ṭakka!” Endu tamma avaru bandu no:ḍdavare—tale nugga:dille, oḷeka.

E:kandale ba:gilu sari ille. Tuḍuve, hejje:nu, kaḍḍi je:nu nugga da:rika da:ri ille.

The one we call nesari , the small one, that’s the eldest brother. Its younger brother is

the hejje:nu. Younger than him is the kaḍḍi je: nu. Younger than him is the tuḍuve

je:nu. Once, at the time of gauri festival , [the eldest] gathered a great deal of food,

and said, “Younger brothers, come to my house to eat!” The younger brothers came

and had a look—but they couldn’t get inside, because the door wasn’t right. The

tuḍuve, hejje:nu and kaḍḍi je:nu had no way to get in.

The point of this story is not exactly clear to me, but it might be a way of

explaining why the various bees never accidentally or ‘deliberately’ enter the

hive of another species.

(^7) Following similar reports of honeybee migration from local communities in many parts of tropi-
cal Asia, scientists have confi rmed that colonies of Apis dorsata do embark on annual migrations
of up to 200 km, and faithfully return to the same tree the following season.
7.5 Solega Knowledge of Bee Natural History