holi-fire-helps-farmers-decide-season-s-crops

Did you know that farmers take several decisions based on the traditional science that dates back to as far as the 8th century? This also includes studying the direction of the wind and other stuff during Holika dahan to predict the monsoon’s character and decide the crop to be sown based on that knowledge.

 

Dr Purshottam Kanani who was an agricultural extension educationist at Junagadh Agricultural University, has done research on the subject for over 30 years. According to Kanani, “The traditional science is not written anywhere but it does exist and is passed on from one generation to another. For example, we already knew in advance that the rainfall is going to continue till the last days of monsoon in the last two seasons. During my years at University, we used to give advertisement in Gujarat-based newspapers before Holi, asking farmers to write to us. We used to get letters from two-three thousand farmers from different parts of the state regarding wind direction in their region that influences the Holika dahan flame. Based on this, we used to analyse for different regions and tell which crop should be sown in which region.”

Kanani also founded a non-profit community called ‘Varsha Vigyan Mandal’ (Rainfall Science Association). “During the association’s annual meeting every year, farmers presented their analysis of weather using traditional methods. Based on this, weather prediction for the entire year was made.”

 

Gondal-based 47-year-old farmer Ramesh Rupareliya says he has inherited the knowledge of traditional science from his forefathers. According to Rupareliya, “If the Holi flame is steady with no wind, it is going to be a medium year for the farmers. If the wind that hits the flame is coming from ‘Agni’ (south east) direction, the rainfall is going to be very bad during the year. This means we have to sow the crops of sesame, mung beans, castor etc, which requires less water and has short turnaround times. If the wind on Holi is from north-east, there will be good rainfall and we plan to sow crops like groundnut, soyabeen, chilly, brinjal, sugarcane, bottle gourd etc, which can survive even if they are over-watered due to excess rainfall.”

Kanani has also presented a paper on this at IIM Ahmedabad in the presence of Mark Tully. The paper was called “Everything is written in the sky - but it requires the alphabets”.

 

Farmer Arja Kashwala of Probandar’s Vishavala says, “After the Holi flame dies down, we observe the cloud and make some predictions for the upcoming season. We also burry a pot full of pulses below Holi bonfire and later take it out. If the pulses are watery, it predicts good rainfall for the upcoming season. If the pulses are dried up, the prediction is otherwise.”