Professor Anil K. Gupta of IIM, Ahmedabad is one of my heroes. Instead of just being a college teacher, twenty years ago he made his students into an NGO called Sristi to start looking into the practices of villagers with a special eye towards organic farming practices and animal medicine. He went on to patenting rural inventions and holding organic food festivals which lakhs of sellers and buyers attend. He has a magazine called Honeybee and if anyone ever deserved the highest government honour for recording cultural practices, it is Anil Gupta. His teams walk for hundreds of miles every year to scout and celebrate grassroots innovations and outstanding traditional knowledge and local conservation ethics. According to him “The Indian dream to become a knowledge society depends upon India’s ability to make knowledge assets more valuable and precious than physical assets. The lack of possession of physical or financial assets would then determine to much lesser extent the destiny of an individual or group than the possession of ideas, innovations and other knowledge assets. We must sow the seeds of imagination and innovation early in life.”

 

In the course of investigations, their team has found many practices that would be called “magic” today: the farmer of old could predict which day it would rain six months from now, just by looking at the weather of today. E.g. If the moon is full on the 18th of January, it will rain on the 20th of October. They look at questions like “Why do sugar grains attract small red ants whereas jaggery attracts bigger black ants?”

 

Read this: It used to be an age old practice in India to collect herbs by following animals, e.g. the mongoose is an enemy of the snake. After fighting with it the mongoose, the mongoose runs into the forest and rolls over an herb to get rid of the snake bite. The healers follow the mongoose and collect this herb for healing snake bites. 

 

He and many other cultural scientists say that most omens are rooted in the wisdom of ancients, that they have a basis in science. Study of Omens by Bhojraj Dwivedi is a well researched book into Sakuna Shastra, the ancient science of omens. It talks about the study of the seers of the sounds and actions of animals and birds with a modern science based interpretation. The signs that foretell the future are not based on superstition but on a very sharp observation of animals whose perception is much keener than ours and who can interpret the coming effects of our actions much quicker than humans. Who has forgotten the panicky movements of animals away from the shores and lowlands, days before the tsunami came?

 

I am still reading Shankar Adawal’s Charms Talismans and Spells and the last chapter is about omens. Let me repeat some: 

 

· If a cow is met at the start of journey that is auspicious
· If a cow is surrounded by many flies or dogs, rain will set in.
· If a cow bellows at night it is not a good sign. If a bull bellows at night, it is.
· If a dog brings a wet bone before the person, that is considered auspicious and a good omen for some good work
· If a dog standing in a southeasterly direction, howls while facing the sun, he is warning you of theft or fire
· If a dog picks up a shoe and approaches a person with his mouth upward, it is a fortunate indication. A dog that smells a shoe indicates a fruitful journey ahead
· If a group of dogs howl at night it indicates an earthquake  

 

If in the last part of the day, you see a crow coming from the southeast direction ,you will earn some money by the morning .

 

· While starting a journey, if a crow appears from the east, it indicates a fruitful result.
· If a crow crows in the house, you should be ready to receive a guest.
· In case two crows feed each other, the person proceeding on journey will remain comfortable.
· If you see a crow in the early part of the day flying from the northeast direction, an important and auspicious message is coming.
· While leaving the house , if you see a crow sitting on a pig, there is going to be legal trouble. A crow sitting on a donkey or camel is auspicious
· Crows sitting in a circle means a loss through an enemy
· If leaving the house, if you hear the squawk of a wild parrot, your work will be completed successfully
· An appearance of a horse from the North is always auspicious while starting a journey. The same result if you find a donkey on your left. If you talk about a rabbit or a snake while starting off, it is auspicious.
· If at the last part of the day, parrot speaks while facing the southeast, your enemies will be destroyed.
· If a man sees a Neelkanth (Indian roller bird) on his way it is an auspicious omen.
· If you come across an elephant, horse, peacock, bull, swan, a pot full of water, ornaments, lotus flower and a virgin carrying washed clothes you will have success in your mission.  

 

If you get into the habit of observing and recording animals you will see how much they tell you about themselves and you.

 

To join the animal welfare movement contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.