Sri Lanka is today akin to a paradise of wellbeing in this Coronavirus plagued times when much of the world, South Asia, including neighbouring India is reeling with a high level of community infections.
In the backdrop where the global Covid-19 pandemic is still a major threat, we focus on Sri Lanka amid fears that there may lurk the possibility of a second wave as in New Zealand and Singapore.
We, therefore, examine in this article the importance of promoting a collective national consciousness for encouraging a strong immunity of the populace. Promoting such an overall national culture will merely be reverting to nature the way our ancestors did, re-assessing our connection with the soil (and not abuse it with chemicals). It will include inculcating in every child and adult the habit of growing at least the basic herbs/vegetables we need in everyday cooking such as turmeric, garlic, onion and karapincha. Merely promoting a traditional diet for immunity will not do when the country has to import such basic produce that used to be grown in every household as most of us would remember.
Organic agricultural activist and Ayurveda doctor, Palitha S.G. Arachchige who writes to the Sinhala media on using our native leaves/herbs to prevent, pre-empt and cure illnesses and especially boost immunity, in a conversation last week with this writer was reminiscing our now almost forgotten home garden tradition, where every household had its own mandatory kaha pathiya enough to provide around three kilos of tumeric a year for the culinary and medicinal needs of the family.
The kaha pathiya was not grown in isolation; it co-habited with many other plants and herbs that grace our kitchen and this carefully nurtured garden patch was a boon to the household. Lacking garden space was never an excuse as we used to cultivate our herbs and even vegetables in every old basin, bucket or vessel. Today, we are facing a turmeric shortage and have to depend on importing it but the way to reverse such problems is to work systematically with the people to inject back the values we had.
Speaking of these aspects, therefore, is vital and should be interlinked in any discourse on traditional diet for promoting health. Mainstreaming such focus through government ministries, the media, schools and the private sector is especially needed at this time when we are contemplating the opening of our airports through the post Covid-19 phase of opening up tourism.
So far we have handled the pandemic in an exemplary fashion that will baffle some of the so-called advanced countries which have resorted to letting Covid-19 patients die in their homes. The quarantine centres of Lanka adopted a typical normal everyday Lankan traditional diet, replete with kola kanda, ginger tea and coriander.
Given that there is no Allopathic or any other ‘cure’ for this virus strain, the only silver lining is (as many doctors worldwide and in Sri Lanka; Allopathic and Ayurvedic have asserted) that it is within the individual to build barriers through diet and other practices for the body and mind; such as exercise and meditation, that would ensure a truly wholesome system that resists infection. The question is how we mainstream such practices to ensure that people do it.
Where food is concerned it is likely that there are few other diets in this world to match the nutrition of the Sri Lankan authentic traditional diet which we have deviated from with imported so called ‘improved’ rice varieties that depend on chemical agriculture dominating the market. We have great potential to promote as a policy our native rice varieties which have high medicinal value and known to be the base of rice gruel- kola kenda and lunukenda, the health benefits of which are widely acclaimed.
Serious discourse is needed on protecting and promoting our traditional seed varieties. “The typical Kandyan home garden of yesteryear were well known for being mini pharmacies, because these gardens had many important herbs, leaves and several fruits and vegetables that every household needs for daily consumption,” says Dr. Palitha S.G. Arachchige who has authored books on Ath Beheth and traditional lifestyle for health.
In his book Jana Yahaguna Divi Pawathuma, in chapter two titled Ayu Sepa Bala Deru Jeevana Ratawaka Gathi Soba he highlights a traditional Sinhala lullaby (DaruNellawilla) that speaks of a lifestyle inculcated from cradle. It goes as follows:
AthataWeraluAhinda Gene
Inata Pala nela gene
BataramaDarakada gene
EiAmaWigasakine
A careful analysis of this lullaby will help us to analyse a lifestyle before concrete structures overtook us euphemistically labelled as development and cemented away our health.
Focusing on the cultivation/consumption tradition of food as medicine that we had, the book touches on a few of the main vegetables/herbs, such as karawila and the use of kurundu-bee honey combination for immunity.
Sri Lanka does not lack experts on our traditional knowledge/intangible cultural heritage as used for health and if there was ever a time we desperately needed to put such knowledge into everyday use, it is now.
We need to revive it, teach it and practise it. Hence we need to create mechanisms to make it part and parcel of policy and practice. It is up to both the Government and the citizen to do so. If we genuinely do all this with commitment, we are preparing to adequately and systematically shield ourselves in the long run against not only Corona but also other variants of dubious viruses that may invade the world. With a strong immune system equipped population, the Coronavirus will be akin to a simple cold if it manages to attack a healthy body or if the immune system is truly formidable it would never survive. But if we as a populace are ridden with conditions such as diabetes, cancer, heart ailments, kidney issues, obesity and malnutrition, then Covid-19 will be a national menace. In the days and weeks to come it will be crucial for us to keep this in mind. It may be also vital for us to remind ourselves that we are from the lineage of ancients who built Sigiriya and other engineering marvels that the West cannot fathom and thus that good health, strength and resilience were and still are within our genes and psyche. To see that we do not destroy our soil, our land and be careless with it in how we administer it, is up to us as a nation.
It would be prudent not to rest on our laurels or be complacent that we have done well. With mindful action we need to go well beyond masking and testing to set a national policy that will encourage everyday health as part of promoting our intangible cultural heritage and traditional knowledge.
This is the need of the hour for Sri Lanka.