On March 5 morning, Rajan, 70, the mooppan or tribal chieftain of the Vachumaram Kadar colony, under the Vazhachal Forest Division in Kerala’s Thrissur district, ventured into the forest with his wife Valsala, 63, to collect Marottikkuru (Hydnocarpus wightianus), a seed used to make medicinal oil.
The Kadars, a forest-dwelling community, often venture into the forest to collect forest produce. Many of them construct temporary tents deep inside the forest during the summer to collect honey, tubers, and other forest produce. They leave the forest only when the monsoon begins. The rich floral and faunal diversity of the evergreen and moist deciduous forests of Vazhachal, situated in more than 400 sq km along the Chalakudy river, give them enough for living, including honey, wild mangoes, jackfruit, white dammar, arrowroot, soap seed, and shikkakai. The five tribal communities who live in this forest division are the Ulladar, Malayars, Kadars, Muthuvans, and Mannans.
“It was around 9.30 a.m. when we started collecting Marottikkuru a couple of kilometres from our colony. After collecting a headload of seeds, we began walking back home,” says Rajan. “I stopped to pick up some twigs to break open the seeds.”
