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Excursus 6.1: Implicit SignsSitting on the rock platform called neṭṭa kallare , which lies a short walk from
his village, M. R. Madha pointed out some trees in the distance, and casually
mentioned that they were ta:ri mara ( Terminalia bellirica ). These trees, being
deciduous, were sporting bright red leaves at the time (early May, 2009)—that
was the diagnostic used by M. R. to identify this species. However, the stand of
trees in question was situated several hundred metres away from the rock plat-
form, and there was really no way in which M. R. could have distinguished
ta:ri mara from any other red-leaved tree that might have been growing along-
side them, by taking into account potentially diagnostic morphological details
such as leaf shape, bark texture, and fl ower appearance. How, then, could M. R.
be so certain that those red-leaved trees several hundred metres away were
indeed ta:ri mara? A very important reason for his confi dence was probably the
fact that these trees were growing “in his backyard”, so to speak. M. R. would
have had ample opportunity to familiarise himself with the local tree species
composition over countless trips into the forest, to the point that he could even
recall the location of large individual trees that had cultural signifi cance (for
instance, if they were regularly home to large numbers of honeybee colonies).
Familiarity with local species would be just one factor, however, as M. R.
would probably have been able to come up with an accurate identifi cation
given the same conditions, but in a distant part of the forest. The information
available to him under such circumstances would include a detailed knowledge
of that particular species’ ecology and phenology. M. R. would know that the
ta:ri mara only grows in certain forest types and not others ( ka:nu oḷage e:va
ja:ga:dalliwe ta:ri mara uṭṭa:dille ‘the ta:ri mara never grows in the evergreen
forest ’, and also that in early spring, this tree is likely to have red leaves, but no
fl owers or fruit. The exact location of the tree and the time of year are therefore
two examples of implicit abiotic signs (along with the more explicit “red
leaves”) that aided in the accurate identifi cation of this tree species.Many phenomena that are important to the Solega are indicated by signs from more
than one category. For instance, a resource may be ready for utilisation when it under-
goes a change in state (intrinsic signal)—this may usually occur in the presence of
another entity (collocation) during a particular stage of the monsoons (temporal cycle).
6.2.1 Long-Term Cycles
Solega people are aware of discrete cycles of events that differ from one another in
their periodicity, but otherwise demonstrate great regularity and predictability. The
most extreme of these (in terms of periodicity) include the fl owering of plietesials