Features
Coconuts
Who would have thought the coconut would be ludicrously measured round its middle and its price decided thereupon. Who would have imagined the day would come when coconuts were heaped and VIP politicians stood in rows taking turns to dash them with curses upon tongue against enemies or opponents. All this done to that much respected nut!
These miseries came upon the coconut in the recent past, proving that we live so different from peaceful times when coconut was an integral part of the good life, with its kernel used to enrich our curries, its water drunk to slake thirst and for good health. Oil was extracted and used for a number of purposes: to fry and temper, to keep hair tidy and unblown, to light pahanas in the midula, and in temples with the deeply meaningful messages of the impermanence of life and the light of the Dhamma dispelling the darkness of ignorance . We used its leaves as a covering ; its fibre as strong coir and is dried ekels for sweeping. What didn’t we use of that tree, all for free? Thus the Sinhala name of appreciation for it: thura suva meaning ‘heavenly tree’ with its implied connotation of ‘tree of the gods’.
Coconut is an ingredient of our staple diet and that of farm animals too including elephants – its leaves, its pith, and poonac made from the kernel. Thus a large proportion of coconut yields is used for home consumption. Coconut is also a cash crop with its oil and desiccated kernel exported. In 2009, FAO noted that Sri Lanka was the fifth largest exporter of coconut products. Statistics show that the annual production of nuts is between 2,500 million to 3,000 million nuts. To ensure a steady supply for export and to sustain home consumption the annual amount should rise much closer to 4,000 million nuts. (Internet)
The coconut palm was almost a sacred tree as every part of it was used, more so in the days of long ago. Never to be forgotten is the chore of writing essays as junior school kids on ‘The Coconut Palm’. The tender leaves and inflorescence were used as auspicious decoration, particularly for the pirit mandapaya and marriage poruwa. The spathe of the leaf was cut and made plates of in my grandparents’ house for the padu caste workers. We also used it as a plaything – pulled along as we sat clinging to its stem. The plaited leaf was used in various ways, most remembered is the play houses made for us with walls and roof of the leaves, and the temporary dining room put up in the front midula for a village wedding. And of course coconut toddy and arrack which I remember was favoured if it was ‘pol’. Treacle too which is second to kitul peni. And thus the fame of the coir rope walkers in coastal areas from tree to tree, who collect the sap from incised inflorescence .
History
Answering my query about the origin of coconut in our island, one time Director/ Coconut Research Institute, Dr Upatissa Pethiyagoda said much. Yes, coconut is not indigenous to the country, but nuts floated across seas from eastern countries like Indonesia to take root along the coastline. He added that coconut offers 310 uses, of which we, having so much under cultivation, use it for just a few purposes. Coconut plantations according to him are the best and least injurious to soil and environment. He added that tea is the worst and should be thrown out! He had made this suggestion to Dr Rohan Pethiyagoda, ex-Chairman Sri Lanka Tea Board (2015 -2018) with a father, who was a long serving manager of upcountry tea plantations. Being a nephew to Upatissa, Rohan had respectfully refrained from strong argument!
Distant memories
Remembered is the fact that my maternal grandparents who lived in a village in Peradeniya were almost self sufficient in their food requirements, buying from Kandy only mutton (cooked in an outhouse for Grandfather and uncles), fish, salt, dried fish and sprats. Coconut trees grew well all over the godabima which were sufficient for the Mahagedera and many village homes. I remember with affection how Grandmother, sleeping proximate to the warm kitchen with its eternally smouldering hearth, would suddenly cry out loud: “Kelle, pol gediyak vetuna” and she would pinpoint its exact location through her extra perceptive hearing.
Many sweets made for afternoon tea of then had scraped coconut as an ingredient – aggala, pani pol in vellavahun or narang kavun. Oil for cooking, lighting the pahanas and anointing the head was made in-house. A thambaheliya (large brass pot) was half filled with kernel scrapings of several coconuts, for which a village woman was specially employed. This was ‘cooked’ over the hearth for several hours. Finally the kernel reduced itself to oil and a deposit called thelkaha which was heavenly delicious, more so as it was forbidden eating. Oil for grooming the hair was from tambili kernel and had many roots immersed in it, one being savandara.
The present
And so to now. Scarcity of coconuts and one costing a hundred rupees! Again the question why to the ex Director/CRI. Upatissa mentioned the fact that coconut takes long to develop to full maturity and weather conditions impinge much on produce. I remember the heartache I used to develop on seeing coconut land with palms savagely cut and the land divided into allotments by housing project developers along the flat areas of the Colombo Kandy road.
Owners of coconut lands moan the dearth of pluckers. Living for a few years on a coconut estate near Ahangama I remember the pluckers used kekkers – very long poles with knives attached as the trees were very tall. Maybe the solution would be coir rope walkways from one treetop to another. We saw the admittedly ludicrous sight of the State Minister of Coconut etc being hauled up an invented motorized seat for reaching the tops of palms. He got stuck in it, while the young inventor, slim and agile, proved the utility of his invention.
Ban the ritual of coconut smashing at devales, we plead. It’s a Hindu rite isn’t it, so why do Buddhists waste coconuts thus? Nan