Associate Professor&Head
Department of Malayalam
The increasing attention indigenous knowledge is receiving by academia and the development institutions have not yet led to a unanimous perception of the concept of indigenous knowledge. Indigenous knowledge is the local knowledge-knowledge that is unique to a given culture or society.
The basic component of any country’s knowledge system is its indigenous knowledge. It encompasses the skills, experiences and insights of people, applied to maintain or improve their livelihood. Significant contributions to global knowledge have originated from indigenous people, for instance in medicine and veterinary medicine with their intimate understanding of their environments. Indigenous knowledge is developed and adopted continuously gradually changing environments and passed down from generation to generation and closely inters woven with people’s cultural values.
Today, many indigenous knowledge systems are at risk of becoming extinct because of rapidly changing natural environments and fast pacing economics, political, and cultural changes on a global scale. Practices vaninsh, as they become inappropriate for new challenges or because they adapt too slowly. However, many practices disappear only because of the intrusion of foreign technologies or development concepts that promise short-term gains or solutions to problems without being capable of sustaining them. The tragedy of the impending disappearance of indigenous knowledge is most obvious to those who have developed it and make a living through it. But the implication for others can be detrimental as well, when skills, technologies, artifacts, problem solving strategies and expertise are lost.
In this context the paper Indigenous Beauty Care and Cosmetics of Kerala, attempt to document the concept of beauty care and cosmetics used.actully it is an under-utilized resource in the development process. Learning from indigenous knowledge, by investigating first what local communities know and have, can improve understanding of local conditions and proved a productive context for activities designed to help the communities.
Objective:
Enable the development community to learn more about the indigenous/traditional practices in local communities, so as to better adapt global knowledge to local conditions, and to design activities to better serve the community needs.
- Developing pilot instruments for the capture, dissemination, and application of indigenous/traditional knowledge of development practices.
- Facilitating the sharing of indigenous practices and innovating among local communities through a south-to-south exchange.
- Promoting the integration of indigenous/traditional knowledge in the development process.
- Establishing partnerships.
Indigenous Beauty Care and Cosmetics
“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder”- isn’t it? It is an old saying and now beauty is within the multinational companies. In India
Me, Revelone and Fair&Lovely etc.Actualy we are the pioneers of this field. But unfortunately our indigenous knowledge is not yet used properly. For example Turmeric usage dates back nearly 4000 years, to the Vedic Culture in India
Indigenous beauty care starts when a child was born. It is a continuous and systematic process of approach from child to grown-up person. It deals with Beauty Skin &Body Care, Beauty Hair Care, Eye Care and Makeup.
1. Beauty Skin
In cosmetics turmeric (Curcuma longa) has a major role. It is an inexpensive and indigenous beauty aid. Considerable quantities of turmeric are converted as “Kumkum” used for tilak by Indians. Smearing with turmeric paste cleans skin and beautifies it. Its antiseptic and healing properties prevent and cure pimples.
For Soft and Rosy Skin
By means of smearing a specially made oil [coconut wax oil] locally called URUKENNA and made the children to run for few minutes and then if they are given bath, then the children’s’ body seems to be shinning.
Likewise smearing olive oil also gives rosy and shinning skin to the children. If a child is smeared with green gram powder and turmeric [Ksturimanjal]
Powder and given bath the co lour of the skin is changed slowly into good complexion.
For grown-up persons, instead of soap they use IEENJA to scrap the body and remove the dirt. They also smear the green gram powder for bath.
Grown-up ladies apply coconut oil on their face and smear a mixture of paste consists of pacha manjal and kochinga [a small coconut] before taking bath. Then allow it for drying. After certain period washed it with water.
Take some scratched coconut then squeeze it. The squeezed coconut milk is poured into a frying pan and boil it till the oil comes above the layer of the pan. When it becomes in a semi- fluid state sieve its grains and separate the oil. Now the urukenna is formed.
Preparation of special oil
Grind the Cheelanthi [Poovarasu] Patta with Red Onion and mix it with Urukenna and then boil it. After boiling, keep it for cooling then sieve it. Now the filtered oil is ready for application.
2. Beauty Hair
In olden days for hair conditioning mostly used coconut oil. One has to grind the leaf of the Cemparuti plant and smear on the head before bath to have black hair.
To stop hair fall and dand draff one has to smear the home made oil.
It is made up of the squeezed juice of Kattarvazhappola and Kaioni is boiled with coconut oil and allow it to cool. Then filter the oil and use.
Karralai is boiled with coconut oil and if one smeared the oil daily then the hair will grow thick and black.
For conditioning the hair grind the Thali [Pavattathali] leaf into a paste and smear it on the head for sometime and then wash it.
If one is affected by heat then to reduce it one has to soak the Venda
In olden days the people will not cut hair [men also]. They allow it to grow longer and tie it beautifully. Then wear jasmine flower on their hair. It is weaved in length with the help of a thread[mainly Vazha Naru].In North India ,some communities use this flower to cover the face of the bridgegroom.Other flowers like Kanakambaram is also used by Indian women to decorate their hair.
3. Eye Care
Cleanliness and hygiene should be followed when using eye cosmetics. To beautify the eye the home made Kanmashi is used.
Preparation of Kanmashi
For preparing Kanmashi the following vessels and ingredients are used - a small clay pot, a Nilavilaku, a half cup of juice of lime, cotton cloth coconut oil, some quantity of Avanaku seed and one or two dry coconut leaf needle.
Steps for preparation
-Pour pure coconut oil/urukenna [wax oil] in the Nilavilak
-take the cotton tread which is immersed in the juice of lime and put
It in the nilavilaku.
-light the nilavilaku
-then take the upper portion of the vilaku and put it in the floor
-then take the clay pot and covered the lighted nilavilaku with the
Pot.
-keep it like this for one hour
-then take the clay pot and allow it to cool
-with the help of the dry coconut leaf needle scratch the tar
Sediments in the pot.
-take the seeds of avanaku and weave it in the coconut leaf needle
-then placed this needle in front of the lighted nilavilaku and boil it.
-under the vilaku, keep that pot
-then the avanaku oil will drop into the pot
-then mix the tar and oil and preserve the paste
The kanmashi is ready for application.
Kattarvazha is also used for making kanmashi.For that take some leaves of Kattarvazha and burn it. When the leaves are completely burnt the ashes were taken of and mix it with water and use it as kanmashi.
1. Lip Cosmetics
For lip care apply the juice of lemon skin for avoiding black co lour of lips. For soft and rosy lips coriander leaf juice massage is used. The betel leaf chewing is also meant for showing the red lips.
2. Chanthu potu-Markings on the head.
Chanthu is used by women to put potu [bindi]. It is put between the eyebrows, on the lower part of the forehead. It is also a very important home made cosmetic.
Preparation of chanthu
- Take some Cemparuti flower and boil it in a clay pot.
- Then take desired quantity of dry and broken rice in a pot and fry it.
- After that take the first pot and squeeze the boiled cemparuthi and then
- Poured this semi-fluid solution in to the pot where the fried rice is kept and then make a mixture and filter it and then boil it till the mixture comes into a semi-fluid state. Then take a clean Chirata and pour this fluid into it. Keep this vessel in direct sunlight for one or two days. After that take sufficient amount of this cake and mix it with water and use it as chanthu potu.
Chandanam is a paste of sandal wood worn by women on the forehead. It is also worn by men on their forehead. In Hindu temples sandal wood paste offered to the gods, is later given along with ‘Prasad am’ to people who visit the temple. This paste gives a cooling effect to the head.
3. Mailanchi [Mehendi]
The tradional and artistic beauty on the palm and feet.Mailanchi, a common shrub is known to have been in use in all parts of the world since time immemorial. The traditional way of painting hand and feet with mailanchi is still popular especially among brides.
Decorating the brides’ hand and feet with the application of mailanchi is symbolic of the auspicious occasion. Besides decorating the hands and feet it is a popular dye to co lour hair. It is also used as a home remedy for various minor ailments.
In North India , application of Mehandi is a common custom. For them this is an auspicious day before the wedding. In Kerala among Muslim community observed this custom.
The application of mailanchi is an art that is fascinating and exciting. A combination of geometrical and floral patterns is used in this decorative art.
Preparation and application
Fresh leaves of mailanchi and kochinga [small coconut] are ground into a fine paste and apply it on the hand and feet. After sometime a little juice of lemon is poured onto the dried mailanchi paste. This process will repeat at regular intervals. For more intense and durable colouration it should be kept for five to six hours.
Merits of Indigenous Beauty Care& Cosmetics
-It starts with the very beginng of life.
-It dealt with the whole body care.
-It has systematic regular approach.
-It is connected with ayurvedic treatment
-no artificial synthetics used
-A collective folk is engaged in making things—a society/ a community is benefited.
B.8: Exceptions and Limitations
1. The application and implementation of protection of traditional knowledge should not adversely affect:
(i) the continued availability of traditional knowledge for the customary practice, exchange, use and transmission of traditional knowledge by traditional knowledge holders;
(ii) the use of traditional medicine for household purposes, use in government hospitals, or for other public health purposes; and
(iii) other fair use or fair dealing with traditional knowledge, including use of traditional knowledge in good faith that commenced prior to the introduction of protection.
2. In particular national authorities may exclude from the principle of prior informed consent the fair use of traditional knowledge which is already readily available to the general public, provided that users of that traditional knowledge provide equitable compensation for industrial and commercial uses of that traditional knowledge.
B.9: Duration of protection
Protection of traditional knowledge against misappropriation should last as long as the traditional knowledge fulfills eligibility for protection, in particular as long as it is maintained by traditional knowledge holders, remains distinctively associated with them and remains integral to their collective identity. Possible additional protection against other acts and more specific forms of protection, which may be made available by relevant national or regional laws or measures, shall specify the duration of protection under those laws or measures
B.13: Administration and enforcement of protection
1. An appropriate national or regional authority, or authorities, should be competent for:
(i) distributing information about traditional knowledge protection and conducting public awareness and advertising campaigns to inform traditional knowledge holders and other stakeholders about the availability, scope, use and enforcement of traditional knowledge protection;
(ii) determining whether an act pertaining to traditional knowledge constitutes an act of misappropriation of, or an other act of unfair competition in relation to, that knowledge;
(iii) determining whether prior informed consent for access to and use of traditional knowledge has been granted;
(iv) determining equitable compensation; determining whether a user of traditional knowledge is liable to pay equitable compensation; and, if the user is liable, as appropriate, facilitate and administer the payment and use of equitable compensation;
(v) determining whether a right in traditional knowledge has been acquired, maintained, or infringed, and for determining remedies;
(vi) assisting, where possible and appropriate, holders of traditional knowledge to acquire, use, exercise and enforce their rights over their traditional knowledge.
Lastly, indigeneous knowledge forms part of the global knowledge. In this context, it has a value and relevance in itself.Indigeneous knowledge can be preserved, transferred, or adopted and adopted elsewhere.
The role of intellectual property [ip] system in relation to traditional knowledge [TK] and how to preserve, protect and equitably make use of TK, has recently received increasing attention in a range of international policy discussions. While the policy issues concerning TKare broad and diverse, the IP issues break down into two key themes.1.Defensive protection of TK, 2.Positive protection of TK.
1. Defensive protective of TK
It measures which ensure that IP rights over TK are not given to parties other than the customary TK holders. Some countries and communities are also developing TK databases that may be used as evidence of prior art to defeat a claim to a patent on such TK.
2. Positive protection of TK.
The creation of positive rights in TK that empower TKholders to protect and promote their TK.In some countries, suigeneris legislation has been developed specifically to address the positive protection of TK.Provider and users may also enter into contractual agreements and/or use existing IP system of protection.
Traditional Cultural Expressions[F OLKLORE]
Traditional cultural expressions (also referred to as ‘expressions of folklore’) form past of cultural heritage and identity, and their protection and preservation are linked to the promotion of cultural diversity and human creativity.
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