L11: Flora of Goa & Sahyadri / Western Ghats

Good morning, everyone! Come in, come in, find your seats. Lovely to see all of you bright and early. Before we begin today, I want to quickly acknowledge that in our last session — Lecture 10 — we wrapped up Unit I, where we looked at the historical and architectural heritage of Goa, from the Portuguese colonial legacy to the temple traditions of the Old Conquests and New Conquests. We spent quite a bit of time on the Indo-Portuguese architecture, the azulejo tile work, the churches of Old Goa. Excellent discussion last time, by the way — some of you asked very sharp questions about how Hindu temple architecture survived Portuguese rule. Today we move into something completely different in spirit. We begin Unit II. [INTRODUCTION — 0 to 10 minutes] Unit II is called Flora, Fauna, Performing Arts, and Culinary Food. Now I know some of you are wondering — what does botany have to do with a BBA course on cultural heritage? And that is exactly the right question to ask, because the answer tells you everything about how we define heritage. Heritage is not only buildings and temples. Heritage is the living landscape — the trees under which our ancestors worshipped, the plants that gave us our medicines, our food, our dyes, our boat timber. Heritage is the forest that the Kunbi farmer walked through every morning. Today's lecture is titled Flora of Goa and the Sahyadri, which we also call the Western Ghats. And I want to begin with a simple image. Close your eyes for a moment — just for ten seconds. Picture the drive from Panaji to Ponda on a monsoon morning. The road is wet and glistening. On your left, as you cross the Zuari river bridge, you see the mangrove fringe, dark and tangled. On your right, as you climb toward Ponda, the hillside is an almost impossible green — layer after layer of trees, vines, ferns. That landscape, that green wall you are seeing, is one of the most biologically rich places on Earth. That is what we are studying today. Goa sits at a remarkable geographical crossroads. To the west, we have 105 kilometres of coastline along the Arabian Sea. To the east, we have the Western Ghats — or the Sahyadris — which form our natural boundary with Karnataka and are one of only 36 biodiversity hotspots recognised globally by Conservation International. Goa's total geographical area is about 3,702 square kilometres — we are the smallest state in India — but we contain extraordinary ecological variety within that small space. [CORE CONTENT — 10 to 40 minutes] Let me divide the flora of Goa into its major ecosystem types, because the plants you find depend entirely on where you are standing. The first and most dramatic is the Western Ghats forest zone. This covers roughly the eastern third of Goa — the talukas of Sattari, Canacona, parts of Sanguem and Quepem. Here we have what ecologists call tropical wet evergreen forests and semi-evergreen forests. The canopy can reach 40 to 45 metres in height. These forests receive between 3,000 and 5,000 millimetres of rainfall during the monsoon months of June through September. What grows here? Let me give you some flagship species. The Anjun tree — Hardwickia binata — is one of the most culturally significant trees of the Ghats. It has an enormous spreading crown and Goan tribal communities have worshipped it as sacred. Then there is the Teak — Tectona grandis — though much of the natural teak forest in Goa was exploited during the colonial period for shipbuilding at the port of Goa. The Portuguese needed timber for their fleets, and our forests paid a heavy price. You also find Indian Laurel, Malabar Kino — known locally as Bibla — and the spectacular Terminalia species, which turn brilliant red and bronze before the monsoon. Now, a very important plant for Goan culture — the Cashew tree, Anacardium occidentale. Here is something your textbook may not emphasise enough: cashew is NOT native to Goa. The Portuguese brought it from Brazil in the 16th century, originally to prevent coastal soil erosion. And what happened? Within a century, Goa had adopted the cashew so completely into its culture that today we distil feni from cashew apple, we roast cashew nuts as a snack, we use cashew in our curries. The cashew became more Goan than many things that were originally Goan. That is a beautiful lesson in cultural absorption. Moving down from the Ghats, we enter the midland zone — the area of laterite plateaus. Laterite is that distinctive red-orange rock you see everywhere in Goa, cut into blocks for building. The vegetation here is what we call scrub forest and open deciduous forest. You find Mango — Mangifera indica — in abundance here, and mango in Goa is not just a fruit, it is a seasonal event. When mangoes ripen in April and May, Goan families congregate, they make pickles, they make aamras, they squabble over whose orchard has the best Mankurad variety versus the Mussarad or the Xavier. The Mankurad mango — also called Malcorada — is considered the king of Goan mangoes, with a GI tag now protecting its name. The Coconut palm — Cocos nucifera — deserves its own lecture, really, but let me touch on it here. Goa has been called the land of coconut palms. The coconut is the tree of life in Goan culture. Every part is used — the fruit for cooking, the water for drinking, the shell for fuel, the coir for rope, the fronds for thatching, the toddy for drinking and for fermenting into vinegar, the trunk for building. Goan houses traditionally used coconut palm timber for roof beams. The coconut palm is a cultural institution. Now let us go to the coast. The coastal ecosystem of Goa includes three remarkable plant communities. First, the beach vegetation — the strand flora. Here you find Casuarina plantations, which were again introduced, not native, but are now so embedded in Goan coastal scenery that Goans call them Suru trees. Behind the beach strand, you find Sea Purslane, Beach Morning Glory, and the Screw Pine — Pandanus tectorius — whose leaves are woven into mats and baskets. The second coastal plant community is mangroves. Goa has approximately 18 to 20 species of mangroves, and some of the most extensive mangrove forests in peninsular India. The Zuari and Mandovi estuaries are fringed with mangroves. The dominant species are Rhizophora — the stilt-rooted mangrove — Avicennia marina, and Sonneratia. These mangroves are critically important not just ecologically but culturally. Fishing communities orient their entire lives around mangrove-lined creeks. The mangrove roots are nurseries for fish and prawns. Traditional Goan fishing knowledge is essentially mangrove knowledge. The third coastal community is the Khazan lands — and this is uniquely Goan. Khazan is a system of low-lying coastal fields protected by a network of bunds and sluice gates, called manos. This is a centuries-old hydrological engineering system that converts tidal wetlands into rice paddies and prawn culture areas. The vegetation of khazan fields includes rice varieties adapted to brackish conditions, and a suite of wild plants used as fodder and medicine. The khazan system is currently under severe threat from urban encroachment, and this is a major conservation and heritage crisis that we will return to later in the course. Endemic species deserve special attention. An endemic species is one found nowhere else on Earth. The Western Ghats have over 5,000 species of flowering plants, of which about 1,800 are endemic. In Goa's portion of the Ghats, notable endemic trees include Garcinia species used for kokum — the reddish-purple souring agent that is as fundamental to Goan Hindu cooking as tamarind is to Tamil cooking. Kokum — Garcinia indica — gives us the famous solkadhi, the pink kokum drink, and the dried kokum skin used in fish curries. This is a plant whose ecological range and cultural significance are inseparable. Let me also mention the sacred groves — called Devrai or Dev Van in Goa. These are forest patches protected by local communities for centuries because they are associated with village deities. No tree is cut in a devrai, no hunting is allowed. These sacred groves function as biodiversity refuges, and ecologists have found that they contain some of the last remnants of original Goan forest flora. Villages in Sattari taluka — Valpoi area — have particularly well-preserved devrais. This is indigenous conservation, predating modern forest departments by many centuries. Medicinal plants are another critical dimension of Goan botanical heritage. Goa has a strong tradition of traditional medicine — both Ayurvedic and folk. Plants like Neem — Azadirachta indica — Tulsi, Ashwagandha, Brahmi, and many forest herbs are part of everyday Goan domestic knowledge. Elderly Goan women in villages still know which leaf to apply to a wound, which bark to boil for fever. This ethnobotanical knowledge is intangible heritage, and it is disappearing as younger generations move to cities. [ACTIVITY AND DISCUSSION — 40 to 55 minutes] Alright, let us do something interactive now. I want you to turn to the person sitting next to you — yes, go ahead, turn around — and I want you to spend five minutes on this exercise. Think of one plant that you associate strongly with your family's Goan identity. It could be a food plant, a garden plant, a plant from your village. It could be the mango tree in your grandmother's yard, the tulsi plant in the courtyard, the coconut palm you climbed as a child. Just one plant. And then tell your partner: what role does that plant play in your family's cultural life? Is it used for food, for ritual, for medicine, for building? Is there a story attached to it? [pause for discussion — approximately 5 minutes] Wonderful. Let me hear some responses. Yes? The jackfruit — absolutely, the jackfruit is a staple of Goan Hindu vegetarian cooking, particularly in Sattari and the interior villages. The raw jackfruit curry is called ghiren-aam in Konkani. Excellent choice. Anyone else? The Areca nut palm — very good, the betel nut used in every Hindu religious ritual, offered at temples, chewed with betel leaf — the pan. Yes, that is a hugely culturally significant plant. The coconut palm — of course, someone had to say coconut. Now I want to pose a question to the whole class — and I do not need an answer right now, I want you to think about this: Discussion Question 1: The cashew tree was introduced by the Portuguese — it is not native to Goa. Yet Goans consider it deeply part of their cultural identity and livelihood. What does this tell us about how cultural heritage works? Can a non-native species become heritage? Where do we draw the line? Take a moment, think about it. We will continue this thread when we discuss feni and culinary heritage in Lecture 18 onwards. Here is a second question for the more ecologically minded among you: Discussion Question 2: Sacred groves — devrais — have protected forest biodiversity for centuries without any government intervention. Do you think this model of community-based conservation is more effective or less effective than government-protected wildlife sanctuaries? Why? I want you to jot down two or three points on each question in your notebooks. These will be useful for your internal assessment. [SUMMARY AND ASSIGNMENT — 55 to 60 minutes] Let me quickly recap what we covered today. We explored the flora of Goa across its major ecosystem zones: the Western Ghats tropical evergreen forests, the midland laterite scrub, the coastal strand, the mangroves, and the unique khazan wetland system. We looked at flagship species — teak, anjun, Mankurad mango, coconut palm, cashew, kokum. We discussed endemic species, the role of sacred groves as indigenous conservation zones, and the cultural significance of medicinal plant knowledge. For your assignment this week — I want a short written response, not more than 400 words. Visit either a local market — the Mapusa Friday market, or the Panaji municipal market, or whichever market is near your home — and identify five plants, plant products, or plant-derived items on sale. For each one, write: what is it, where does it come from in Goa, and what is its cultural use? Submit this by next week before class. Next lecture — Lecture 12 — we will turn to the fauna of Goa. We will look at the wildlife of the Western Ghats, the birds of Goa, the marine creatures of our coastline, and the endangered species of Bhagwan Mahavir Wildlife Sanctuary and Cotigao. So if you have never been to Bondla or Mollem, it might be a nice weekend to go. See you on Thursday. Thank you!