Home remedies

Indigenous is the byword in the water harvesting techniques followed in India's northeast. In Meghalaya, an intricate network of bamboo pipes is …

Legacy of an empire

Encouraged by their ninth century benevolent rulers, Gond landlords and villagers had set up an intricate and immensely useful network of …

The State's non-bureaucratic role of encouraging the people

Indian rulers rarely built water harvesting structures themselves. They, however, encouraged their subjects to build them through fiscal …

Diverse technologies: a treasure trove

Our traditional water harvesting structures demonstrate the people's ingenuity at its best. Using unique modes and basic engineering skills, …

Hunting for the snark

Problems in conservation of sacred groves first have to be identified. The solution lies in measures that involve and encourage local people

Local smorgasbord

Book>> The food of a younger land: A Portrait of American food from the lost WPA files • by Mark Kurlansky • Riverhead books •…

A date with the palm

Savvy Soumya Misra spends a day with Mahoba’s palm collectors to find out why a card touches a raw chord amongst them

Little boxes of herbs

SUMANA NARAYANAN finds a 125-year-old shop selling herbal medicines in the lanes of Chennai

Potters’ wisdom for last journey

Agents Of Change, Animal Dung, Bihar, Scientists, Forest Conservation, Traditional Knowledge

"Biodiversity treaty is misleading the Third World"

A known a crusader for traditional Indian medicine. P Pushpangadan, who completed his Ph.D from Aligarh University, is currently the director of …

Variety comes home

Snack, curry or soup, be spoilt for choice with the nutritious vadiyaan

There is a tendency, across governments and over time, to disregard local knowledge systems: Arati Kumar-Rao

Landscapes suffer because we do not learn from extreme events, the author of ‘Marginlands’ tells Down To Earth

A touch of poison

Amrita Singh discovers culinary versatility of a potentially poisonous weed

Digital medical library

Herbal remedies

A new venture makes a foray into the world herbal market

Bundled in a sacred basket

Tribal farmers in Jharkhand use mora made of rice straw to store grains

Bite into bitters

Maharashtra tribals’ way of warding off monsoon maladies

Curing our medical vision

Making science of mumbo-jumbo

Scientists compile India's ethnic knowledge. They find a veritable gold-mine

Moses of Longleng

How the efforts of an individual brought prosperity to a remote town in the Northeast

Growing killer

As the menace of AIDS spreads in India, there is an interest in traditional cures

Trends in high places

Traditional timber-and-slate houses vs a neo-concrete nightmare in a Himachal village

Home remedies

Right from the backyard

Written word protects

Registers can help preserve the traditional knowledge of India's healers

Jaisalmer's architectural wonders beat the heat