Srilankan People’s Life Associated With Beraliya
Beraliya Lowland Tropical Wetland Forests in Sri Lanka: Orchard
In the canopy, a canopy layer can be seen. Thus, in the low country rain forests, Kanneliya, Dediyagala, Nakiyadeniya, Gilimale, Dellawa and the world famous Sinharaja Forest Reserve, the Beraliya plant can be found.
The beryl tree, which grows to a height of about thirty to forty meters, is a large tree, similar to the ‘hora tree’: rusachaeradajrachami ‘hokbasajami *. The fruit of this plant is called barley. They have been used for food and other human purposes from ancient times to the present.
Beraliya belongs to the genus ‘Dunu’: All species of plants in the genus Echidaceae are endemic to Sri Lanka. There are several varieties of barley. ‘Beraliya’: Children’s Love Story * ‘Hobaraliya’: A Baby Patasi Edayachak * Also known as ‘Kahaberaliya’, ‘Mahaberaliya’ and ‘Hodhaberaliya’, the same type of hoberaliya. In addition, there is a small species of barley called ‘Abittanberalia’ or ‘Hinniperalia’ by the villagers.
There are two varieties of barley, the red barley and the green barley. But this does not mean that the beryl is a subspecies, but how long it has been since the beryl fell from the fruit tree.
‘Kolaberaliya’ is the new beraliya. A ‘red barrel’ is a barrel that has long since fallen from a tree. The so-called ‘pelaberaliya’ refers to the stalks that fall from the tree. The ‘raw barrel’ is the fruit of the barrel that fell under the nomora trees. The berry that bears prematurely is the ‘Aware Barrel’. ‘Beraliya Adukkotte’ is a term for the beraliya fruit that falls from the tree at the end of the beraliya season.
The berry plant bears fruit in February-April. But every four to five years there is a year with very good yields. This is a ‘Great Barrel Season’.
The beryl fruit is covered with three wings as a result of the germination tactic. It looks a bit like a fake nut. But the berry nut is a fake nut
Smaller in size. The fork has two wings, but the barrel has three wings. The beraliya wings are also smaller than the pseudo-wings. Although the false fruit and the barrel fruit are similar in appearance when the wings are removed, the barrel fruit is small. Fruit and Seed: Fruit and Seed: Gradually, it turns pale, dark red, and eventually black. The barrel can fly farther than a barrel. Weight loss will be followed by fatigue and constant tiredness. Sometimes a wind-blown barrel can fly two or three miles away.
Berelia begins to bear fruit in April-May. This is the time when villagers gather barley in the forest. The Sinharaja Forest in particular is a well-known forest reserve for Beraliya.
The areas where beryl is abundant in the forests are known by the villagers as ‘beryl mandi’. Beraliya mandi is not associated with ‘Laval’, ‘Deni’, ‘Oviti’ and ‘Badavati’. The villagers divide the forest into two parts by word of mouth. That is, ‘outer jungle’ and ‘great jungle’. The outer jungle can be described as a protected belt that does not grow so densely around the main jungle. In this outer jungle, there are (several) barrel plants, but the real barley blooms are in the ‘Great Jungle’.
The villagers explore the forest with their traditional knowledge and collect barley. The barrel that is collected and brought home should be ‘cleaned’. What happens here is that the ‘wings’ are removed and the fruit is separated. The separated barley nuts are placed in a bowl of water. The bark is a bitter fruit. The bitterness can be removed by removing the wings of the fresh berry fruit and soaking it in water for a few evenings. The barrel is then washed again with clean water and dried in ‘sun’ or ‘smoke’.
Preparation of food from baraliya.
A delicious curry can be prepared from barley. For this purpose fresh barley which has not been dried is used. The shredded barley is prepared in such a way that a fruit meat or mushroom curry is prepared. Beraliya curry is a curry with a bitter taste. Boil the barley flakes in hot water and remove the bitterness to get rid of the bitter taste. But many villagers prefer the bitter-tasting beraliya curry.
‘Beraliya Pittu’ is a popular dish made from beraliya. To grind the well-dried barley, put it back in the water to ‘melt’ (soak) and leave it for a few hours. Two and a half cups of red raw rice are mixed in a sieve and ‘jungled’ and chopped. Although pitta can only be made from barley flour, it is common to mix red raw rice flour.
Policy. Beraliya pittu can be prepared from the flour mixture prepared in this way in the same way as ordinary pittu.
‘Beraliya sand dunes’ can be prepared by melting kithul honey in Beraliya pittu. It is a very tasty dish. Beraliya Roti, Beraliya Kawum and Beraliya Halapa can be prepared from a mixture of flour prepared in the same way as rice flour mixed with Beraliya. Beraliya Halapa is a delicious dish made with a mixture of ‘coconut honey’ mixed with coconut with kithul honey.
Gamilio is able to mix powdered barley flour with coconut and kithul honey and make a delicious dough that can be added to tea. These are known as ‘Berylia guli’ and ‘Berylia aggala’. Not only with tea, but also with drinks such as ‘Ranawara’, ‘Eramusu’ and ‘Belimal’. The remaining ‘sludge’ after grinding the dried barley can be boiled and drunk like coffee. It is a tongue remedy for indigestion
The villagers believe that the food prepared from barley is a ‘heavy food’ like the food prepared from Kurakkan. They say that they do not feel hungry until it is too late.
Bereliya is also used in many ways as a medicine for many ailments such as gastrointestinal diseases, intestinal diseases and indigestion. The villagers collect barley from the forest for their own use as well as for trade. There is a good demand in the market for this rare wild food. But the barrel is hard to preserve. Dry barley begins to ‘gulp’ in two to three months. Therefore, it should be consumed first.
Beraliya honey
Extraction of honey from the forest: During the month of February when beraliya flowers bear fruit, bees also take beraliya flower dragons to the honey bee colonies near Beraliyamandi. The result is a honeysuckle with a hint of aroma and flavor. ‘Beraliya Honey’ is the name given to the honey that is made from the beraliya flower pollen.
Normal honey takes on a yellowish-golden color. But the berry honey is dark black. It has a ‘thicker’ (density) than normal honey. When a drop of pure barley honey is added to a bowl of water, it sinks to the bottom without dissolving in water. It is a technique used to test the quality of honey.
‘Honey’ is a word that means ‘very tasty’. But barley honey has a ‘bitter’ taste. Beryl honey is also considered a very rare herb.
Beliefs associated with beraliya
From ancient times the villagers have been accustomed to treating the forest with respect mixed with fear. The villagers believe that the ‘Sinharaja Forests’, which are especially famous for ‘Beraliya’, are a place famous for the love, sight and miracles of Sumana Saman. Although there are many edible things in the Sinharaja forest, many villagers have a convincing belief that if they are obtained in a way that incurs the wrath of God, it will cause many ‘sufferings’. Enter this forest and ‘eat as much fruit as you can, but you can’t bring it’. Is a very popular opinion. If one wants such a thing to happen, one should pray to Sumana Saman and ask for permission. The same is true of beraliya.
“Sumana Saman, the future Buddha, who received the fruits of Sovan, who resides in Samantha Koota, the Supreme Being, the Supreme Being, the Supreme Being, the ‘Beraliya’ built on this site, which is dedicated to the food of us, two-legged, four-legged, wild animals. May you allow me and my family to take part of it for use …….. I will not tarnish your sanctuary. I will not break the branches. I will not frighten wild animals … ”
Etc. It is a traditional custom to ask God before collecting the barrel. Then a leafy branch is broken off and hung on a mature tree, pleading with all the gods and goddesses to “return to the ‘country countries’ without any misery, despair, or forest disaster.”
Forests are usually taken collectively to collect barley. It is attended by men, women, children, young and old alike. ‘Beralianade’ is almost always led by an adult with experience in the forest. Pregnant women, lactating women, menopausal women (menopausal women), those who have not been in the tomb for more than an hour, those who have not been in the morgue for more than an hour, those who have ulcers, eczema, leprosy, ghost sight, Those who do not spend more than an hour drinking, those who do not spend more than an hour eating ‘poles’, those who do not spend more than an hour talking, those who do not believe in God, are not called to collect beraliya
The villagers consider barley to be a food that causes ‘loneliness bugs’. Especially in the villages around the Sinharaja forest which is famous for Beraliya
Such legends abound among the villagers. When going to collect barley in the Sinharaja forest, ‘talking’, ‘talking about the time of return’, ‘talking about tomorrow’, ‘taking meat and drugs into the forest’, etc. are ‘prohibited acts’ The villagers consider. There is a unique vocabulary that is used after the barley has been collected. Since the future is unspoken, the term “once alive” is used instead. It is the belief of the villagers that they should not be unnecessarily rhetorical, joking, shouting or hooting when adding the barrel. The villagers are careful not to add beryllium to ‘Wanamond’ which has ‘Peretha …..’ and ‘Yaksha Dishti’. Such forest lands they had identified with traditional knowledge. Many of the legends, as well as documented information about the victims of such mysterious disasters, who went to collect the Beraliya, have been recorded in the village consciousness associated with the Sinharaja forest. Among them, information about the victims of ‘Yaksha Dishti’ and ‘Loneliness Errors’ is the main one. Although some of those who suffered from these conditions were cured of ‘thovil-pavil’, some of their lives were even damaged.
In 2005, a woman from Kudawa village in the Sinharaja forest terminals went to collect beryl and suffered a similar tragedy. She is a 65 year old village woman. With a group of ‘during the Great Barrel Season’, she went to the forest to collect the barrel and felt that she could not walk in the forest. There she told the others, and a few others called her out of the woods and ‘left the house as far as the eye could see’ and went back into the woods. Coming out of the forest, she states that she was again attracted to the forest by a demonic force and called there. There she was walking into the ‘Russa jungle’ without knowing a smile. Here, various mysterious sounds, images, streams of light, voices are visible to her body.
When the group that went with her to collect the beer came home in the evening, they found out that she had not come home, and the group was shocked and frightened and started looking for her again in the jungle. But after several days of scouring the jungle, she could not be found. Later, the police and the surrounding villagers joined the group and searched the forest but could not find any clues about her. The villagers and the police had to end their search for a few days after they came to the conclusion that she was an old woman who had been killed by an animal or some other such disaster. But to everyone’s surprise, six days later she was found lying in a bush. During these six days, she ate only barley. In addition, clean water from streams is drunk. She believes that she was able to survive ‘because she was in a trance and in remembrance of God’.
She says she did not feel sad, scared or lonely during her absence and felt close to her children’s friends. Admittedly, such attitudes can be caused by extreme fear, fear, or loneliness. But the important thing is that for six days her main food has been only ‘raw barley nuts’. It shows its importance as a food.
The above story has been added to the folklore, folklore and folklore that has been formed based on the thousands of experiences faced by the people who went to collect the beer. The protagonist can still be seen living in the village of Kudawa.
Beraliya is a sacred object that gives great fruits to the villagers associated with the rainforest who live with the forest. Truly the indigenous berry is like a blue cool stream flowing from the past through the fertile land of bitterness and mixed rural fragrance.
CREDIT- H. I. G. C. Kumara,
Lecturer,
Department of Geography,
University of Ruhuna,
Matara.
This is a translation of the Sinhala version.