The Chena

A

n integral part of the dry zone is the Chena, the primitive fugitive cultivation of clearing in the jungle. The peasant here selects a plot in the jungle & clears it of all standing shrubs & under growth. The very large trees are left intact. The clearings are set fire to mostly at night. Lines of flaming jungle tracts are a familiar fight in the jungle areas, lighting the night sky with the crimson tongues of flames. The charred remains of jungle bushes are used as stakes to fence off the clearings, which have to be safeguarded against the visitations of the wild animals.

Cutting down the undergrowth & preparing the ground, is a laborious process. The process of the firing enriches the soil with rich deposit of ash, which fertilizes the ground & prepares it to receive the seeds, the chilly, the kurakkan (ragi) & tubers- the manioc, taro & sweet potatoes, gourds & pumpkins.

A Chena soon gets exhausted of its fertility after a few years, when it is abandoned & another opened. Abandoned Chena plots of the sort, overgrown with thick grass, tell a tale of destruction of jungle lands, occupied & left to the wilds. In large Chena, a conspicuous feature is the watch hut, erected on the forked branches of a high standing tree. The hut is reached by a rope ladder of the cane and jungle creepers. The peasant take turn and keep up a steady watch all through the night, when wild animals prowl in search of food- the wild bears, deer & porcupine & elephants, attracted by the luscious plants growing on the Chena.

During the day, the growing crops have to be saved from the depredations of birds. A variety of devices are installed to keep them away. Among the commonest is the turning bambaraya fixed on tree tops. Spinning like a miniature windmill, the arm turn with a continuous whirring sound and scares away birds. A reed whistle attached to one of the arm of the turning bambaraya is an additional appliance. The blowing causes the whistle to produce the droning note, scoring away, the predatory birds. A series of empty tins strung on a long line, with a tongue fixed inside the tins acting as a clapper & keeping ringing, is another contraption largely adopted in dry zone paddy lands & grain plots. One end of the long string is held in the hands of a boy who sits in a covered shed & constantly pulls the string. This sets the tins clanging which combined to the “shoo” shouts of the boy, keeps the birds at bay.