The Traditional Ecological Knowledge of the Solega A Linguistic Perspective

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in the animals. Even more interesting are Solega observations on what appear to be
self- medication behaviours in elephants for a variety of ailments, ranging from
dizziness to pathologies of the alimentary tract to peri-natal complications. Such
complaints are infrequent, however, as the Solega say, “ A:neka ro:ga baradu
kammi ” ‘ Elephants seldom get sick’.

A:ne basuri a:gide...herige daṇḍe aitade enda:ga sirhonne sekke tandu, adava karku-karku

endu tindu, nungu uḍtu. Nungida:ga herigeli ye:nu tondari a:ga:dille. Sali-sali herige

aitade. Innu, karaḷunalli e:na a:girtade... e:vadondu no:vu bande bartade. Banda:ga hoṭṭe

oḷage e:vadondu gaṇṭu irtade. Idda:ga adakka gotta:itade a:ga. “E:vadondu nanaga

ka:yalu ade” endu ho:gi ondu beṇḍe marada tokkeya iḍidu, a: tokkeya tinda:ga—beṇḍe

tokke biri lo:ḷi—adava a:ne tindade, matte kaḍave, kuri elegaḷa tindave... a: ele tinda:ga i:

be:re ja:ti pera:ṇigaḷa hoṭṭeli ira ka:yalu kaḷadodde... Tinda:ga lo:ḷili kaḷadodde.

An elephant falls pregnant... when the time of birth draws near, it takes some sirhonne bark,

munches it up, and swallows it. Then there are no problems with childbirth. Childbirth pro-

ceeds smoothly. Next, something may happen to its guts... it may feel some discomfort. When

that happens, there may be a blockage in the gut. At that time, it knows, “There’s something

wrong with me,” and it goes and grabs some beṇḍe bark, and eats it— beṇḍe bark is very

soapy— elephants eat it, and the sambar and barking deer eat its leaves... when they eat it,

whatever’s wrong with the guts of these animals goes away. The soapiness takes it away.

Innu be:di a:dde a:neka. A:nega be:di a:da:ga, aranelli marada sekke tinda:de. Matte

kaũri giḍuvina tokke bari togaru. A: kaũri na:ra murtu tindu uṭṭale a:neka be:di nindottu.

Adara uccalu nindottu. Hi:ge a:neya aũsti adu. Innuve adaka be:di sariya:gi nilalle endale,

innu ondu kelsa ma:ḍda:de. I: uppu maṇṇu, lakke maṇṇu endu ade... ond-ondu ja:gada

maṇṇu, rusi a:girtade. Tindare gamm-ennadu. Ondu tara ba:eke rusi to:radu. A: maṇṇa

ho:gi ondu eraḍu ba:e ka:linalli oddu, adava tindu uṭṭale a: be:di a:ga:du nintodde... Huḷu

bandu uḍtade, a:ne hoṭṭeli. Adakka i:ga e:va sariya:da aũsti sikka:dille. Bidiru soppu

be:ku, kiribidiru. Adu i:ga sikka:dille. Kiribidiru soppu, adu oḷḷedu a:neka.

Next, elephants get diarrhoea. When that happens, it eats the bark of the aranelli tree.

And the bark of the kaũri plant is very pungent. When the elephant breaks off some kaũri

fi bres and eats it, the diarrhoea stops. That’s elephant medicine. If the diarrhoea still doesn’t

go away, it does another thing. That salty clay, it’s called lakke maṇṇu ... you fi nd it in some

Table 6.1 The preferred plant foods of various animals

Animal Plant food

a:ne ‘ elephant’ ba:ṇe , na:ralu , ko:ḷi grasses, fruit of doḍḍa ka:re , doḷḷi trees,

fi bres of beṇḍe , daḍasu trees, kaũri vine

ka:ṭi ‘gaur’ ba:ṇe , na:ralu , joṇḍu , sabbe , ko:ḷi grasses

kaḍave ‘sambar’ Various leaves and grasses, ku:ḷi fl owers and fruits, ne:ri fruit,

unripe si:ge , aṇṭuva:ḷa fruit

kuri ‘barking deer’ ne:ri fruit

ku:randi ‘chevrotain’ Fruit of ku:ḷi , ne:ri trees

karaḍi ‘sloth bear’ Fruit of ciriporika plant and gokkoruḷe vine

ka:ḍabekku ‘civet’ Various fruit

o:ṭe handi ‘pangolin’ Flowers of a:sa:ḍi plant

handi ‘wild pig’ Bulb of ku:re pandi plant

a:regã ‘fl ying squirrel’ Unripe matti , bejja fruit, young doḷḷi leaves

kuṭrakki ‘barbet’ Fruit of kara:va:di tree

Birds Fruit of ta:re , icci , ne:ri trees, ra:gi grain

6 Signs and Relationships