Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge Vol. 7(1), January 2008, pp. 74-76

Preparation of Maravuri from Antiaris toxicaria (Pers.) Lesch. by Muthuvans of Kerala

Johncy Manithottam & MS Francis* Spices Board, Government of India, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Sugandha Bhavan, Cochin 682 025, Kerala *Center for Postgraduate Studies and Research, Department of Botany, Sacred Heart College, Thevara, Cochin 682 013, Kerala E-mail: [email protected] Received 22 August 2005; revised 13 March 2007

Tribal populations of Kerala are rich in ethnobotanical information. Muthuvan tribes of Idukki district are experts in preparing Maravuri, a type of cloth from the bark tree Aranjali [Antiaris toxicaria (Pers.) Lesch.].This skilled work was carried out after constructing tall supports around the tree, require much experience. The cork is carefully removed with a sharp knife; bark is softened by beating with wooden hammers, and separated and cured by sun drying. It is used as bed spread. As modernization is fast progressing, the new generation is unaware of the technical know how to prepare the bark for cloth. So, it is highly important to record and preserve such valuable information. Key words: Muthuvan tribe, Antiaris toxicaria, Western Ghats, Fiber curing, Maravuri, Kerala IPC Int. Cl.8: D01

Muthuvans of Kerala are rich in ethnobotanical staying in the settlements, traveling with these people information. They are mostly seen in Devikulam taluk through the forest and participating in various of Idukki district, Kerala state. They live inside forest, activities has helped in recording this valuable isolated from other tribal groups and local population. traditional practice. The was identified with the Muthuvans were believed to have migrated to the help of informants, brought back to the settlements Western Ghats from the plains of Tamil Nadu. and confirmed with elders. Herbariums were prepared Antiaris toxicaria is a large tree found in the Western and confirmed with the help of authentically Ghats of Kerala. The bark is brownish gray and is identified specimens of Calicut University smooth. The inner bark is fibrous. The wood is white Herbarium1. There are only a few studies available on soft and perishable. The milky juice from the bark is the plant use and ethnobiological practices of the poisonous. The are alternate, bifarious, Muthuvan tribes of Kerala2-6. Specific report on the penninerved; stipules small, connate, and caduceus. method of preparation of Maravuri from Antaris The flowers are monoecious; male crowded on the toxicaria (Pers.) Lesch. is lacking. surface of an axillary pedunculate receptacle. Female minute solitary in an involucre of many bracts. Results and discussion are fleshy and the pericarp confluent with the Antiaris toxicaria (Pers.) Lesch. of fam- receptacle. The paper deals with various steps ily is a tall tree with thick bark seen in the Western involved in the extraction and the methods of curing Ghats of Kerala. The bark is characterized by the the bark of Antiaris toxicaria (Pers.) Lesch., which presence of gums. Muthuvan tribes are quite familiar was used as cloth in the past. with this plant and are experts in extracting the bark of this plant. The various steps involved in this proc- Methodology ess are selection of the plant, construction of support, The ethnobotanical data is collected from peeling the cork, beating the bark, separation from Muthuvan tribes of Devikulam taluk of Idukki district. wood and curing of the removed bark. The bark is All the data are collected through repeated field visits usually collected in November-December. The selec- to the Muthuvan settlements and careful interaction tion of the plant is done based on the following fea- with them. Semi-structured interviews, photographs, tures: the tree should have a minimum girth of 75 cm; —————— tall and straight without branches; thickness of bark *Corresponding author should be above 2.5 cm; free flow of sap in between MANITHOTTAM & FRANCIS: PREPARATION OF MARAVURI FROM TREE BARK 75

76 INDIAN J TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE, VOL. 7, No. 1, JANUARY 2008

the wood and the bark. Strong supports around the remain for 20-25 yrs in use. Care should be taken to tree are required to work at a height of 6 to 8 m. For protect it from moisture and should be exposed to sun this purpose, they cut small trees available from the for 2-3 hrs once in a year. surroundings like Terminalia sp., sp., ra- Changes have taken place in the clothing pattern of chis of Aranga wightii Griff. and pseudostems of Muthuvan. In olden days they used the bark of this Ochlandra travancorica Gamb. Leaflets and fibre plant as cloth. Even now they are experts in extracting from the Aranga wighti Griff. and tender pseudostems the bark from Antiaris toxicaria (Pers.) Lesch. of Ochlandra travancorica Gamb. are used as fibre However, the knowhow is limited to few members of and rope. The support will have different stages so the settlements. This is mostly because of the non- that more than one person could work at a time availability of big trees, very tedious physical work (Figs.1 & 4). Peeling and removing the outer cork involved in extracting the bark and objection from layer uniformly at 1cm thickness requires experience. Department of Forests. Muthuvans utilize only It is done with a sharp knife after conveniently posi- and fiber from the surrounding, but no plastic for tioned on the stage built for the purpose. A circular making support to work with the bark. Skill, marking is given on the bark with knife from where it experience and teamwork have to go together and has to be peeled and removed. The peeling is done even small mistakes will spoil final produce. Today, from top to bottom (Fig. 2). Muthuvan sell the bark to the local people as source of income. They also use it as bed spread and claim After the removal of the cork region, the remaining that it will keep away rheumatic problems. The portion of the bark will be mostly of phloem fiber approximate income from one single coat bed spread (Fig. 3). Beating is done to separate the fiber from the is rupees five hundred. wood. It requires experience and skill. Excess pressure on the same region will lead to the splitting Conclusion of fiber resulting in inferior quality. The beating is The investigation has brought out and recorded the done perpendicular to the axis of peeling with wooden method used by Muthuvan tribal community of Idukki hammers. Beating the bark will finally result in the district, Kerala state for preparing cloth from the bark separation of bark from wood. When the beating is (Maravuri). Even the new generation of tribal people completed the bark looks like a soft loose garment is not interested and unaware of the methods involved around the wood (Fig. 4). Convenient length is fixed in the extraction of bark from Antiaris toxicaria and at first a cut is made at the bottom around the (Pers.) Lesch. as they are very much attracted to the wood and the bark is separated from unbeaten area. modern cloths. So, it has become highly essential to This is followed by a longitudinal cut from the base to record and preserve this valuable information. the top. One more circular cutting around the wood on top will allow the complete separation of the bark References from the wood (Fig. 5). The separated bark looks like 1 Bridson DM & Forman L, The Herbarium Hand Book, a thick rectangular piece of cloth. Sun drying is the (Royal Botanical Garden, Kew), 1999. common curing method adopted. The fresh bark is cut 2 Sajeev KK & Sasidharan N, Ethnobotanical observations on into convenient length and dried in sunlight for 3-4 the tribals of Chinnar wild life sanctuary, Ancient Sci Life, days by spreading it on rocky surface. The sun dried 16(4) (1996) 284-292. 3 Nair KKN & Jayakumar R, Ethnobotany of Hill-Pulaya tribe product is thin and brown in colour and will be ready in the context of bio-diversity rehabilitation at Chinnar wild for use within a week’s time. Curing is also done after life sanctuary, Western Ghats of India, J Econ Tax Bot, 23 washing the fresh bark several times in running water (2) (1999) 431-441. followed by sun drying. The resulting product is off- 4 Johncy M, Francis MS & Rao YS, Ethnomedicinal practices of Muthuvan tribes of Kerala, In: Ethnomedicine and white in colour. The amount of bark extracted from Welfare, Vol I (Ukaaz Publications, Hyderabad), 2004, 60-91 the plant depends exclusively on the girth and height 5 Kishore Kumar K, Sasidharan N & Swarupanadan K, of the plant. A plant with 76 cm of girth and 12 m Ethnobotanical studies on the hill tribes in the Shola Forest height can yield seven numbers of bedspreads of size of high ranges, Kerala, South India, J Econ Tax Bot, 23 1 m breadth and 2 m length. The whole work requires (2)(1999) 451-466. 6 Kumar KK & Sasidharan N, A case study from the Shola a minimum of 6 man-days. After the extraction of the forests of Kerala, India, In: Recent Progress in Medicinal bark, the plant dies immediately. The bedspreads, Plants: Ethnomedicine and Pharmacognosy, (SCI Technical which are correctly processed and maintained, will Publishing, Huston, Texas, USA), 2002.