Warli art: A window to the ancient cave paintings of India

The name Warli art comes from the Warli tribe of Maharashtra, India. An indigenous tribe or adivasi community living in the mountainous and coastal regions of Maharashtra and Gujarat border. The reason for me to post this time about this tribe is because I painted a Warli mural on the training walls at my work place. I was drawn into the realm of ancient people who depicted what they saw around them in the form of cave paintings. Paintings that portray a window into the minds of our ancestors. An indirect glimpse into the daily life and culture of ancient people that still exist in minority in India, where it is still portrayed on the mud walls  of these tribal people. The Warli paintings have close resemblance to those done between 500 and 10,000 BCE in the Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka, in Madhya Pradesh an archaeological World Heritage site.

For those who don't know what is a Warli painting or who are Warli tribe, here is quick intro (following excerpt below is taken from the Warli website)  - Warli art is a beautiful folk art of Maharashtra, traditionally created by the tribal women. Tribals are the Warli, Malkhar koli, Kathodi, Kokana, Dhodi tribes found on the northern outskirts of Mumbai, in Western India. This art was first explored in the early seventies & from then it was named as “Warli art”.  Tribal people express themselves in vivid styles through paintings which they execute on the walls of their house. This was the only means of transmitting folklore to a populace not acquainted with the written word. Warli paintings were mainly done by the women folk. The most important aspect of the painting is that it does not depicts mythological characters or images of deities, but depict social life. Pictures of human beings and animals, along with scenes from daily life are created in a loose rhythmic pattern. Warli paintings are painted white on mud walls. The paintings are beautifully executed and resembles pre-historic cave paintings in execution and usually depict scenes of human figures engaged in activities like hunting, dancing, sowing and harvesting. A useful further reading on the Warli tribe, its history and place can be found here. 

Warli painting that I made was on a rough textured surface wall (ideally should be made on smooth surface), so was not an easy one in making clear circles, triangles or lines but was somehow possible. I used red oil paint to give the background and white oil paint to paint the Warli figures. In the first four Warli murals I have tried to depict the four areas the organisation that I am associated with (Grampari) are focused on - WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene), Livelihood, Watershed, Governance and leadership respectively. The very bottom two Warli murals, I have tried to depict the village daily life that I am exposed to. It is interesting to note out here is that the traditional Warli painting is made by plastering the mud wall with cow dung, colouring the wall with red ochre colour and drawing the Warli figures with white pigment made of rice paste mixed with water and gelatin as a binding material. They use bamboo stick chewed at one end to make a simple paint brush. Isn't that really a natural drawing!!

I am novice and a tyro in this art form, but got all the inspiration from the people who have kept this art form alive and tons of material that already exist on the internet. Below are the Warli mural that I did, stretching for almost 9 and half days.... finally it is over!!! But I really enjoyed doing it and maybe in some ten thousand years from now will be an evidence of what was happening out here. :D 

Warli mural depicting tippytap program. (WASH) © R. Thomas

Warli mural depicting livelihood program. © R. Thomas

Warli mural depicting watershed program. © R. Thomas

Warli mural depicting leadership and governance program. © R. Thomas

Warli mural depicting village life and the wildlife surrounding the community.  © R. Thomas

Warli mural depicting Agrarian village life. © R. Thomas

"Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence"

There is apparently a great deal of interest among people to believe in stuff which are no where close to the truth and reality. I hope you guess it right, 21st December and the End of the world hoax. Well we all have to die one day or the other but I realized people have been believing and continue to believe lies that have no credibility from centuries on. (Link -  list of dates predicted for the apocalyptic events) 

Dates for the end of the world are proposed, that keep postponing and preponing when realizing that the world did not end on the day that was prophesied. I found a interesting article posted on the NASA website that just refutes the claims of the end of the world that is supposed to happen TODAY.

And actually "extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence." (quote by Carl Sagan) which is just lacking in the so called claims of the dooms day people. 

Are we banking on more dams to reap more disasters?

An article in the International weekly Journal of Science - Nature on Flood of protest hits Indian dams, Himalayan plans pose ecological threat, researchers warn raises concerns and highlights the agitations by native people on huge number of dams to be built on the youthful rivers of Himalayas. More than all the concerns raised, I am surprised that such places are focal areas of huge earthquakes and are totally ignored when building such reservoirs. Haven't we had enough deaths and have enough problems with displacement of people, loss of livelihood, loss of biodiversity, slicing of our beautiful mountains, loss of culture and language ...and the list goes no. Are we banking on more Dams to have a so called 'Economic growth' and want to reap disasters with more interest??

Courtesy: Nature, International weekly journal of Science.

Recent conclave concluded at Mahabaleshwar for Saving the Western Ghats highlighted the very dangers of big reservoirs that has posed on the rich biodiversity nestled in the Western wall of India, session taken by South Asia network on dams, rivers and people. I hope my readers would take note of the articles published by SANDRP, which are really insightful into the problems of our unplanned development. Also worth mentioning was the accelerated transformation of the landscape in the Western Ghats in the past couple of decades and its future changes expected due to rising population was really scary given by a research institute on Population studies based in Bangaluru (Just don't remember their name right now).

I hope that our Earth is protected from the greed of having more than what we require, but I don't think that the motion we have set in can be undone anymore, if at all there is an inner revolution in every individual to change this present scenario and restrict our wants. There would be more conflicts and tensions over sharing this limited natural resources in the years to come and it is already happening (eg. Water) with ever increasing population. And I don't think that we can really change the wishes, thoughts and actions of people, only if it starts from 'Me'.

Lead in History and the decline of Roman empire??

You might be wondering what is the link between lead and the decline of the Roman empire. Well this was the very same question I had when, I came across an unusual explanation of lead poisoning being one of the reasons for the downfall of the Roman empire. History imputes the final fall of Rome in 450 AD due to the Barbarians over taking the Empire but one of the eventual weakened condition has been attributed to mental and physical deterioration due to excessive quantities of lead found in their wine, food and cosmetics.


A theory put forward by Jerome Nriagu in 1983 in the New England Journal of Medicine sparked and reopened a public debate over the lead poisoning. But for me, inspite of all the controversy surrounding the importance and validity of lead poisoning to imagine the slow process of Geology having a part in the decline of the Roman Empire is startling.

Lead Pipe in Roman baths (Courtesy: Wikipedia)

Roman Lead water pipes with taps (Courtesy: Wikipedia)

The ancient Romans used lead for making water pipes and lining baths, and the plumber who joins and mends pipes takes his name from the Latin word plumbum, meaning lead. Plumbum is also the origin of the terms 'plumb bob' and 'plumb line,' used in surveying and also the chemical symbol for lead, Pb. In medieval times, lead came to be used for roofing, coffins, cisterns, tanks, and gutters, and for statues and ornaments. But water that supplied the Roman towns originated in the limestone terrain, these water carried dissolved lime and coated the inner linings of the pipes, not allowing the water to react with the lead pipe. Neither swimming in tanks lined by lead nor drinking water from the lead pipes were the reason for lead poisoning.

Romans were blithely ingesting huge amount of lead in the wine on a daily basis all their lives, including those famous multi-course, hours-long meals the upper class was fond of. So it seems like lead poisoning would have significantly impacted Rome's population, its decision makers, army, etc., especially over a long period of time and that's how Geology works.

Not only did the Romans had huge appetites and drink legendary amounts of wine, does Jerome sites but they flavored their wines with a syrup known as 'Sapa' made from simmered grape juice that was brewed in lead pots. The syrup was also used as a sweetener in many recipes favored by Roman gourmands. In all they probably had 20 milligrams led  input on a daily bases thus leading to physical and mental deterioration which may explain some of the bizarre and unusual behavior of Tiberius, Caligula, Cladius, Galba, Nero, Nerva and almost all of the late-Empire emperors were known to be both heavy drinkers and suffer gout-like symptoms. Elagabalus in particular was a huge pleasure seeking emperor, with enormous banquets, exotic dishes and blended wines. He was also, no doubt due to lead poisoning, mentally impaired.

I guess the lifestyle speaks for itself for the decline of the huge empire, but I hope we don't overlook this important page of history while going about with similar lifestyle that exist today.

Courtesy: (Cover page) The history of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire.

References:

[i] Jerome O. Nriagu.(1985) : Saturnine Gout among Roman Aristocrats, New England Journal of Medicine, pp 660-3

[ii] Lead Poisoning and Rome; retrieved November 15, 2012 from <http://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/wine/leadpoisoning.html>

[iii] Decline of the Roman Empire:Wikipedia; retrieved November 15, 2012 from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decline_of_the_Roman_Empire> 

[iv] Roman Empire's fall is linked with Gout and Lead Poisoning (1983), New York Times,  retrieved November 15, 2012 from <http://www.nytimes.com/1983/03/17/us/roman-empire-s-fall-is-linked-with-gout-and-lead-poisoning.html>

[v] Edward Gibbon: General Observations On The Fall Of The Roman Empire In The West. Fall In The West — The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire, Christian Classics Ethereal Library, Calvin College Computer Science, retrieved November 14, 2012 from <http://www.ccel.org/g/gibbon/decline/volume1/chap39.htm>

A positive step towards sustainability

The Municipal Assembly of Saku, Nagano Prefecture, in central Japan passed a draft plan for preserving groundwater and spring water on June 29, 2012. The draft defined groundwater as a valuable common property of the local community indispensable to citizens' daily life, and set forth restrictions on groundwater pumping so that citizens can continue to benefit from plentiful, high-quality groundwater into the future. 

The city of Saku is dependent on groundwater for most of its water resources; it regards groundwater as public property and thinks it necessary to raise people's awareness on groundwater and to make efforts to preserve it. For this purpose, the ordinance sets down standards for requiring permission for or reporting groundwater pumping, and also a set of rules for setting up wells.  The city intends to cultivate groundwater, protect it from risks, and make sure it can be passed down to future generations.*[i]

The Groundwater rules and regulations in Maharashtra are also in place, but so far my experience in working closely with rural communities in Maharashtra has showed that the rules are quite easy to surpass/override if the land belongs to highly influential rich people who are backed by politicians. Every day so many open wells and borewells are sunk in the hard basaltic rocks with or without permission. 

The government role should be of more of an activist, a proactive role in protecting the precious water resource and the interest of the poor people. Well I am not writing to blame a particular group here, all the people are responsible including me and have an active role in preserving their water resources; it is just like a everyone having a bank account in a common bank. If all withdraw and don’t try to save or deposit in the bank (aquifers) then nothing will be left in the account and the result is bankruptcy.

Land belonging to poor people and having good amount of water are sometimes carried away by the greed of notes offered by people to buy and develop that land are not really the wealth – it the water that has real value. Money notes are in place just to make transaction easy but it should not substitute in valuing and protecting the real wealth. Hivre Bazaar is an excellent example where water is valued more than development.

During my work I realized that the village communities don’t even know that there is law to protect this precious water resource. The links below will be helpful to those who are working with the rural communities and active youths of the village.

Link to the Maharashtra Groundwater Law, 1993 and the recent bill passed in the state.

http://ielrc.org/content/e9301.pdf

http://envis.maharashtra.gov.in/envis_data/files/eGWDevpMgmtAct2009.pdf

The copies of the Bill are available in the Office of all Zilla Parishads, Panchyayat Samitis, District libraries and the District office of the Groundwater Survey and Development Agency.

We should never forget that it was along rivers and streams that the civilizations began around the world. It is water that is the key to modern civilization, it this one resource more than any other that has potential to limit are ambitions. The fundamental limits of water cycle are still there but the lesson of history is that the most successful civilizations learn to adapt to those limits. The problem is more to do with us and that prospect may find you gloomy but the fact is shaping our future is in our hands and how we use our water resource.

References:

[i] Japan to the World - Japan for Sustainability, retrieved on October 19, 2012 from <http://www.japanfs.org/en/pages/032282.html>

'Geologie' comes across TippyTap

You might be wondering how come I switched my post article for this month from geology to health and sanitation. Well don't forget! Everything in life is interconnected - Wars, cyclones, earthquakes, tsunamis, disease outbreaks, famine, radio-logical incidents and chemical spills – all are emergencies that, invariably impact on public health and sanitation. Internal emergencies in health facilities – such as fires and loss of power or water – can have adverse impacts on health and hygiene of the people in general. If you have to compare deaths due to natural disasters to loss of life due to poor health, then poor health will overtake the figures of natural disaster death toll [i]. 

Over 1.5 million children under five die each year as a result of diarrhea [ii] and it is the second most common cause of child deaths alone worldwide [iii] compared to average 0.06 million deaths per year from natural disasters. Just washing your hands with soap can cut the figure to almost 30%. Now isn't that amazing! Small interventions and little behavioural change can have such big impacts.

Tippy Tap film has been shortlisted for the 2012 Golden Poo Award. This is an award that works to promote water, sanitation and hygiene through different mediums. This year, the contest is for film shorts and the video has made it to the final round. The winning film receives promotion for Global Handwashing Day and World Toilet Day as well as getting access to groups like DFID and WaterAid.

I hope you will do all your bit to help TippyTap.org raise awareness on water, sanitation and hygiene by just watching the video and also invite others to watch the same, that can SAVE LIVES and SAVE WATER and I am  sure you all will like it. Lets support the initiatives of WMG and Grampari in reaching out to more kids.

Kids enjoying washing hands with the Tippy Tap (Photo Credit: Grampari)

Click on the caption below to visit the website and have access to tones of information on how to make a Tippy Tap and reach out to more people with it. Cheers!!!

(Photo credit: TippyTap.org)

References:

[i] Emergencies: Global and Local Impacts (2009) World Health Organization, 2009, retrieved on September 3, 2012 from <http://www.who.int/world-health-day/2009/emergencies_impact/en/index.html>
[ii] Prüss-Üstün A, Bos R, Gore F, Bartram J.(2008): Safer water, better health: costs, benefits and sustainability of interventions to protect and promote health. World Health Organization, Geneva.
[iii] UNICEF (2008). The State of the world’s children.

"Laterites" - The WATER BUCKETS of Western Ghats

Plateaus of Panchgani and Wai and the places located along the Western Ghats in Satara is capped by an interestingly looking reddish black rock called as Durricrust or Ferricretes *(1) also popularly known as Laterites *(2,3). A micro-habitat for diverse creatures and plant life. Alot of work is underway to document little known flora and fauna of these region but I would like to direct my readers attention to the Geological setting of this magnificent landscape which is one of the second highest plateau in Asia after the Tibetan plateau and are the Water buckets of the Western Ghats. 

Panchgani Ferricretic Table land. (Photo Credit: Aparna Shrivastava)

Understanding what they are made off, how they are formed, when they were formed, where are they found or the spatial extent of this rock type and why is it important; will help in appreciating the value of protecting mesas and plateau capped by Ferricretes.

Reddish black Ferricrete rocks resting on the hard volcanic Basalts in Wai.

Weathered in-situ Lateritic soil,Wai.

Parent rock Basalts below the Ferricrete blanket showing columnar jointing, Wai.

The first ever laterites being documented and named was in Kerala by a Scottish physician Francis Buchanan- Hamilton during his stay in India *(3), since then on extensive studies were carried out in understanding what they are made of and their origin. The rock looks grippingly reddish with holes, having yellowish halos that has resulted in pisolitic and vermicular structure. These ferricretes are developed by intensive and long-lasting weathering of the underlying parent rock, that have been created due to leaching away off more soluble elements within the Basalts like calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium and finally silica in rain water solution, leaving behind concentration of insoluble hydroxides of aluminium and iron; which on hardening to exposure to the atmosphere form hardened crust - the Duricrust.

Basalt and Ferricretic pebbles for comparison from Konkan Coast. (Photo Credit: Abhijit Gandhi)

But you will be curious how these Ferricretes ever happened to rest on these hard volcanic rocks, well there is an interesting mechanism put forward by Ollier and Sheth which suggest of inversion of relief which sounds quite intriguing. Well it is all about Geologising it!! Schematic diagram below shows possible mechanisms for formation of Ferricrete/Lateritic Tableland put forward by Ollier and Sheth compared to general accepted theory of formation of Laterites. *2

Mechanism for formation of Ferricrete. Courtesy: Ollier & Sheth (2008)

• Widdowson & Cox explanation: A period of chemical weathering along a widespread area of basalts formed a continuous blanket of ferricrete. Subsequent erosion of most of it left discontinuous patches. 
• Oliier & Sheth explanation: The ferricrete formed in shallow flat bottomed river valleys that developed on the basalt surface. The alluvium and colluvium of these basalt valleys got converted to ferricrete. The surrounding highlands got eroded away being softer than the ferricrete. The mesas represent an "inversion of relief". Former valley bottom now standing in higher relief.

These dark patches streching north-south outline a dendritic pattern (shown in the map below), just like a river system. So if the mechanism put forward by Ollier and Sheth is right then this ancient river system might have flowed in a northerly direction depositing iron rich sediments and forming Ferricrete which later on due the differential uplift of the Western Ghats got uplifted and reversed the drainage flow direction to today's existing southeasterly direction.

Courtesy: Ollier & Sheth (2008)

Ferricretes are chemical weathering products and such surfaces of intense chemical weathering was possible only during times of tectonic stability. The ferricretes around Panchgani and Wai tells us that after the eruption of the Deccan Basalts in the late Cretaceous there was a long period of intense chemical weathering in a tectonically stable regime. An initial period of uplift in early Cenozoic post deccan volcanic eruption lifted the Ghats as well as the coastal plains followed by a period of stability. Weathering on a stable block of crust formed flat surfaces or peneplains or planation surfaces which is what the Panchgani and Wai tableland and other such surfaces further south of Satara are made of. Later episodic uplift alternating with periods of stability resulted in development of such flat weathering surfaces at various altitudes as mountain ranges rise and get weathered and chamfered and then rise again. The younger surfaces will occur at lower altitudes.and that is the the reason we have the presence of ferricretes along the konkan region, west of the Sahyadri ranges.*(1)

The majority of the land areas with Laterite cover occur between the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn. That suggest Tropical climate for formation of Ferricrete. Tropical weathering (laterization) is a prolonged process of chemical weathering which produces a wide variety in the thickness, grade, chemistry and ore mineralogy of the resulting soils. This active laterization period extended from about the mid-Tertiary to the mid-Quaternary periods (35 to 1.5 million years ago) *(1). The spatial extent of these Ferricrete capping over basalt in Satara can be seen in the map shown below. *(3)

Spatial extent of Laterite/Ferricrete in Satara district.  Courtesy: Grampari

The thick Ferricrete layer is porous and slightly permeable so the layer functions as an aquifer in rural areas of Wai and Panchgani. 

Spring water oozing out from the contact of Ferricrete and Basalts. This water is used  by the  village communities for drinking and other domestic use, Wai.

Recent anthroprogenic or human interest in such so called 'barren lands' has lead to decrease in water table at these plateaus due to sinking of bore-wells that intercept spring flow and reducing the overall water table of the ferrcretic plateau. It may seem mostly barren, but there has been various articles that have metioned such plateau environs are teeming with plant and animal life, specialized to live in crevices and along the slopes and depressions and hollows and water seeps that have formed by the action of physical and chemical weathering. *(4)

Expected stages of changes in the ground-water outflow at springs. (A) Stage I—before sinking of borewells in Lateritic aquifer, groundwater comes out as springs from the contact of Ferricrete and Basalts filling the spring box. (B) Stage II— initiation of drawdown due to pumping at the borewell has caused movement of water away from the spring, but the spring has become losing or possibly intermittent. (C) Stage III—after a substantial period of pumping in excess of rate of ground-water recharge from the Lateritic aquifer, the spring may be disconnected if groundwater flow cannot provide enough recharge to maintain the water table. The spring has become ephemeral. (D) Stage IV — the spring source becomes disconnected due to no water in the lateritic aquifer pushing the groundwater table further down. (© Grampari)

These rocks has considerable water-holding capacity, depending on the depth of the formation. These Ferricrete aquifers recharges rapidly with the first two months of the monsoon, and continues to fill with the monsoon rains. The water table recedes slowly and is recharged several times during the rest of the year but this natural annual recharge can be affected if there is an overdraft from these aquifers.

The springs, streams and rivers originating from the Western Ghats upstream in Satara are capped by Ferricretic rocks needs due protection as these rock formations absorb and retain monsoon rainfall and slowly release this water throughout the year. This not only feeds the springs but also groundwater and base flow in nallas and in adjacent valleys supporting unique vegetation and endemic flora and fauna of the region and providing drinking water to million of vulnerable communities situated up-slope. These upstream areas are a treasure trove of the Western Ghats and for the rural people.

Water percolating slowly down through the Ferricrete.

Criss-crossing pipes that direct spring water downslope to villages under gravity.

Traditional spring water protection cum collection tank carved out into Ferricrete rock during the reign of King Shivaji at Kamalgad fort, Wai.

Recent decades have seen a boom in building of second holiday homes, tourist resorts housed in plantations and new hill stations. Rapid spurt in growth of roads as well as railway lines across the Ghats with resultant disruption of connectivity between natural habitats. With rapid increase in means of communication and transport, emergence of a large wealthy middle class and availability of powerful earth-moving machinery, the Western Ghats are beginning to be urbanized with a proliferation of holiday homes and resorts. These tend to be accompanied by a total decimation of natural biological communities and displacement of local people. The people of the Western Ghats traditionally depend heavily on natural vegetation for meeting their requirement of shelter, fodder and fuel *5. And it is our responsibility that we protect these areas and not be driven by our greed.

Excavation of 4 m depth of  Ferricrete for foundation pillars, upsetting the delicate groundwater flow at Yeruli, Wai.

Tourist resort being built and bore-wells being sunk, sucking all the groundwater on the ferricrete outcrops at Yeruli, Wai.

I hope my small writing endeavour and my personal experience while working with these people and in the region highlight the concerns and threat to the ferricrete outcrops, which will help in keeping these geological heritage intact and help in protecting the rich biodiversity of these region. Such plateau capped by Ferricrete should be also included under the ecosensitive zones apart from other already declared and minimal anthropogenic interventions is essential to preserve this natural heritage and biodiversity of the Western Ghats. 

Protected forest at the base of Kamalgad fort which is made of ferrricrete rocks, Wai.

References:

*1 Ollier, Cliff D., H.C. Sheth. (2008): The High Deccan duricrusts of India and their significance for the ‘laterite’ issue. Journal of Earth System Science. Volume 117, Issue 5, pp 537-551.

*2 Laterite: Wikipedia; Retrieved on August 31, 2012 from < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laterite>

*3 Shellmann Werner: An Introduction to Laterites; Retrieved on August 31, 2012 from <http://www.laterite.de/>

*4 Jared Bouno, R. Thomas (2012): Spring Protection Proposal: Safe, Sustainable, Gravity-Fed Drinking Water – A Model for the Western Ghats; Retrieved on August 31, 2012 from  < http://grampari.org/>
*5 Report of the Western Ghats Ecology Experts Panel (2011); Retrieved on August 31, 2012 from <http://moef.nic.in/downloads/public-information/wg-23052012.pdf>