Exploring Khona

A news report published in the print media recently reminded many of Khona, the great Bengalee woman with a gift for folk wisdom. The report deals with the practice of growing vegetables in hanging earthen pots. It is practised by village women on their yards in flood-prone districts. They grow the potted vegetables in the pre-monsoon months. As a result, they do not have to bear with the dearth of vegetables in the months of normal or severe floods. While teaching villagers how to get used to practical agriculture, Khona spoke of scores of ways which had been unheard of in her times. In her veritably evergreen proverbs, Khona advocated myriad types of farming styles. Many in the country ascribe the style of growing potted vegetables to this Bengalee woman.

The use of hundreds of proverbial quotes by Khona in our daily lives is common even in the 21st century. The wise lady living in Bangladesh eight hundred years ago has applied her experience and insight related to day-to-day Bengalee life. Watching the land's rural life closely, she reached conclusions about the practices and norms, linked mainly to agriculture, which resulted in fruitful outcomes. Khona will remain relevant to the country, as long as it continues to be dependent on agriculture. Her target audiences, presumably, were farmers and village women growing kitchen gardens.

It is really amazing when we see how the observations of Khona have become integral to the country's agriculture without the peasants being aware of it. Farmers wait eagerly for showers at the end of Magh, the last of the two-month Bangla winter. Khona says spells of rain around this time herald good crop yields. In a mild exhortation, she asks the village folks not to chop off the leaves of banana plants. In her view, which later proved correct, this practice leads to the premature death of this crop. Believed to be self-taught, Khona had a vast range of knowledge about rural life.

Apart from agriculture and farmers, Khona also dealt with livestock and cattle and poultry rearing. Moreover, her observations on village rituals and common practices in rural society are among the nation's eternal possessions. A thorough appraisal of Khona's life and times and of her proverbs has long been overdue.

Mir Shafiuddin

Munsef Para

Brahmanbaria