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| Cuckoo bird |
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| Erabadu flowers |
Koha
The koha aka Asian Koel or cuckoo heralds the season with its melodious call. Though many believe that the bird migrates to the island to bring the Avurudu message to our home, the cuckoo is found in Sri Lanka all year round. Most of these birds have entered the island to settle down from Singapore but the cuckoo resides in India, South China and Australasia.
The male cuckoo’s call actually signifies its need to find a mate. The cuckoo’s breeding season is in April and coincides with the Avurudu festivities. This black, red-eyed bird pursues a spotted brownish bird which is called the thith koha. This is not another cuckoo species but the female Asian
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The cuckoo also uses its call as a ploy to distract the crow. Generally known for its bad nestling habits and cuckoo is even nicknamed a brood parasite by ornithologists.
Though generally everyone welcomes the cuckoo’s call, the crow utterly dislikes it. The musical call of the cuckoo is lost on the crow.
It flies away leaving room for the female cuckoo to lay its eggs in the crow’s nest! It is not till the eggs hatch and the chicks are older that the crow notes the difference and chases the young cuckoo out of its nest.
By then the young cuckoo had made maximum use of the crow’s charity by gobbling up a large part of the food it had reserved of its young ones.
This trick had been noted by writers and poets for they have made use of the bird’s mischievous deed in their work. In the Kokila Sandeshaya the poet had made it a moral point of this fact in nourishing oneself by using alien cultures.
Some myths link the koel with the weather. People say that the koel’s call brings rain.
The bird is dubbed the ‘nightingale’ in India because its cry is sweet to our ears. Like the crow the cuckoo eats whatever it comes by but mostly it feeds on fruits.
Erabadu
Scientifically named Erithrina indica, the scarlet erabadu is also commonly known as the Indian Coral tree in other parts of the globe.
The tree is considered as tropical to Asia. According to biologists edabadu comes in two species.
The Yak Erabadu is also found in Northern India, high up in the Himalayas, and countries like the Java islands, Tahiti, Samoa, Myanmar and Malacca.
The crimson shaded erabadu bedecked with black seeds is a common sight in most of the remote villages of the country in April.
The large tree is mostly used as fences to separate houses from the road.
Though they show signs of blossoming in early March, the flowers remain in bloom till the end of May, scattering their fragrance and colourful petals as you make your way below the boughs of the trees.
An interesting fact in connection with the erabadu flower is that one petal among the many which forms a circle to join at the stem is slightly larger than the others. Flowers burst out of woody stalks at the end of firm branches.
Apart from its vibrant colours and beauty, the plant is considered for its medicinal value.
The young tender leaves are used in curries as well as to make a delicious mallum, quite a favourite among those in the rural villages.
The leaves and bark of the tree are also used in Ayurvedic medicine as they believe that it holds the power to purify blood and holds the power to ease the venom out of snake bites. The flowers and leaves are also recognized as an effective pesticide.
Our ancestors also clung to the belief that the erabadu tree wards off diseases, thus making it an essential component in their gardens much like today’s ginger or kohomba tree.
The erabadu tree was regarded as an omen of festivity in the North. Known as Mullu Murukku in Jaffna, a branch from the tree is planted before an auspicious time in a ceremony.
Sadly today in most areas of the island these trees have been substituted by concrete-poled barbed wire fences. Walls made of brick and stone have replaced tree-lined fences.
In a couple of years to come, who knows, would the future generation be deprived of setting their eyes on these crimson beauties? Would a day come when we will have to describe the beauty of the harbinger of festivity and show pictures of the flower to our children as the tree would be no more in years to come?
Daily News by Ruwini Jayawardana
