In many places around the world major breakthroughs in sustainable development and environmental management owe their success to tradition wisdom recorded artistically by indigenous peoples. From Australia to China, from India to Aotearoa-New Zealand, traditional wisdom is increasingly recognised as an essential cultural framework for sustainable development.

Traditional wisdom is the foundation and fountain of cultural intelligence. Passed from generation to generation, without requiring numerical literacy or knowledge based systems, traditional wisdom is widely understood by villagers even today. Historically, it has proven to be much more durable than recorded knowledge like biology, physics, maths or science.

Scientific knowledge is recorded in writings comprising mostly numbers and words. Cultural intelligence being unwritten does not require alpha-numeric literacy. Expressed in graphic forms such as symbols, seals, artworks and carvings, or celebrated in traditions, festivals, songs and common sense; it is learnt through living in a traditional community from a very early age.

Take as an example the archetypal Harappan seal of the Mohenjo-Daro (Seal 33) illustrated below. Scientists have interpreted this seal as representing a nude male deity with three faces sitting on a throne, wearing elaborate bangles and head-dresses (Asoka Parpola Deciphering the Indus Script 1994).

Left Right
And beneath give the source
www.harappa.com/indus/33.html

For traditional village peoples familiar on a daily basis with pictorial, symbolic, iconic and other cultural arts, Harappan seal 33 has practical meanings useful in everyday life.

Firstly, it is important to recognise that the seals were practical items establishing the identity and image of the owner in the same way as seals are still used in China today . It is more likely that Harappan Seal 33 is an accurate image conveying traditional wisdom about tree crops, bovine livestock, fishponds, wells and fertile family life. Likely as not, the original owner would be most amused to find that it is being interpreted as a complicated religious token reflecting some esoteric matriarchal cult or early religion.

Secondly, the Harappans were peaceful farmers and traders referred to by Indra in the Rig Veda as “noseless, flat faced godless demons”. The Harappans had no gods. They farmed integrated land and water systems called terraquacultures (Tane 2004) . Indra proudly declares he destroyed their dams and irrigation works and drove them into the sea (Watson 1974) . From studying their artworks and trade goods it is apparent they were also master craftsmen highly skilled in making minute objects like beads and jewellery. Accurate seals with specific information sets were probably a commercial necessity and a relatively straightforward matter.

Thirdly, because pictorial imagery varies idiosyncratically from place to place (and in dynamic ways as well) it is not scientifically measurable or replicable except by pictures, dance, music, myth and legend. Consequently, such matters are relegated by scientists to philosophy and the arts. From this perspective it is no wonder traditional cultural icons are misunderstood as ancient writing forms, interpreted as obscure deities or even more perplexing, simply ignored.

Sometimes the eclectic wisdom of traditional cultures is far too iconic and enigmatic for modern specialised sciences to recognise and comprehend. Coming from highly literate cultures modern scientists are sometimes unable to see and read these informative seals as accurate images of cultural intelligence. Perhaps they have forgotten the ancient wisdom

Cultural intelligence has its own language;
it speaks in pictures, songs and dances .

The Traditional Meaning?

Viewed from a traditional villagers’ perspective the figure on Harappan Seal 33 is plainly hermaphroditic (both male and female) sitting on a rustic three leg stool or platform with bovine legs. The arms of the figure are accurate botanical drawings of traditional medicine trees. The right side of the figure shows a female breast above a pregnant belly. The female gender is confirmed by her arm shown as a branch of the Tamarind tree (Tamarindus indicus); a tree traditionally favoured by pregnant women for satisfying mineral needs during pregnancy; indicated by compulsive urges for particular foods. The male side of the picture (left side of seal) has muscular pectorals and a strongly formed shoulder connected to an “arm” branch of a hardy leguminous tree with paired pinnate leaves called Babool (Acacia nilotica subs. indica). Babool is now sacred to village people in Rajastan and still celebrated in songs. It is treasured for its fuel, fodder and nitrogen fixing ability. During Harappan times, hardy acacias were particularly prized in arid regions and protected in “sacred groves” commonly found in Harappan settlements .

A third tree thought to be the Pipal (Ficus religiosa) is represented above the figure. Known much later as the Bodhi tree of Buddhist enlightenment, it was a special tree to the Harappans (Hageneder 2001) two millennia before Siddhartha Gautama became the first Buddha. Interestingly, the mythology of trees in the Asia-Pacific realm as well as traditional medicinal and sacred trees often involves gender connections (Hageneder 2001, also reference for Landscape and Memory in Rajastan et al).

The symbols at the top of the seal and their meanings are still being debated by scientists. There are an uncanny number of common elements between Harappan symbols on Seal 33 and ancient Chinese pictographs found along ancient trading routes both land and sea, dating back more than 4000 years. Using this approach, the symbols on Seal 33 describe the place of fish, streams and drop wells.

In summary, viewed from a practical villagers’ viewpoint Harappan Seal 33 is an iconic model of cultural intelligence illustrating floodplain terraquacultures integrating tree crops, fish ponds, buffalo and wells. From this perspective, Seal 33 presents some of the key ingredients of traditional rice paddy-fish pond-tree crop systems found throughout the Asia-Pacific realm; probably the most productive sustainable farming system found anywhere in the world.

( A new insight has been given to the LOGO of NOSD by Prof. Haikai Tane, Director, Watershed System : Center for Catchment Ecology , New Zealand and Ms Sanjeeta Singh, Chairman, National Organisation for Sustainable Development , India.)


(C) Haikai Tane, Sanjeeta Singh 2005
This is an abbreviated version of an unfinished manuscript
who were the Harappans ?

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