Local Technologies

Man has developed many technologies for their use since the beginning of human civilization. many technologies that are assisting us in different ways. This kind of technology is called local technology. In other word, technology that people use to assist their activities in daily life is called local technology. Traditional technologies are more sustainable, cheap and reliable as well. They are based on local resources and skill. So they are environment friendly. These local technologies do not need any energy. In Kathmandu valley, local technologies persist in making statue and pottery. In Hilly region, carpet, plague, water grind mill are the prevailing technology. Nepal is rich in diversity in terms of biology, culture, geography and natural resources. So, local technologies are good to use in occupations. Many technologies are in practice from many years in Nepal. Nepal is an agricultural country. Many local technologies were used for farming. These technologies are replaced by modern technologies now a day. Some traditional technologies are still in use. Some local technologies are given below:-

Dhiki

Dhiki

Dhiki is a traditional grinder made up of wood. It is similar to the seesaw, in which applying force on one side will lift the other side and vice versa. One side of Dhiki has a short but strong pole attached to it at the bottom to apply pressure to the item being ground. Another side is plain and usually pressure is applied from that side with human legs. The surface where it is to be ground is also made up of wood and usually the Dhiki is placed on the earthen floor. It is used to grind rice grains.

Jaato (Hand Mill)

Jaato is a circular grinder made up of stone and a wood handle at the top to make it easier to roll it. It is mostly used to grind lentils.The english name of Jaato is "Hand Mill".

Jaato

Silauto and Lohoro

Silauto and Lohoro 

A pair of grinding stone machine “Silauto and Lohoro” commonly used to make chutney, pickles (achaar). This is also used to grind or crush the items like cumin, garlic, coriander seeds, mustard seeds etc. The flat stone is known as “Silauto” and small round oval stone is known as “Lohoro”. Items are places on silauto and Lohoro is used to crush the spices getting help of  flat stone, and I personally say it gives the correct consistency taste.

Khal Bachha

It is used mostly to beat and separate rice grains from its broken parts (Kanika). It is also used to crush and grind the whole turmeric, chilies when making them into powders. A relatively larger Khal Bachha, made of wood is used for grinding chilies into powder while, a smaller sized Khal Bachha has been introduced in the market to make crushing spices like cinnamon, cardamom etc. easier. This consists of a larger, cylindrical and slender bachha and a jar like khal, both made of iron and usually black in color. The popular name of Khal Bachha is "Okhal."

Old Khal Bachha

New Khal Bachha

Aaran

Aaran is a kind of oven which is made on the ground. Coal is burnt to produce heat and fire. The oxygen needed for burning is supplied through one side in which hand pumping machine is usually fitted. It is used for sharpening the iron rod. During the process, the copper or iron is heated in very high temperature so that those materials get melted and they can be converted into any shape we want to make out of them.

Boat 

Boat is kind of local transportation technology. It's made by wood. It is risky transportation but used to cross the river. 

Boat in the Sunkoshi River

Tuin 

Tuin

It is a kind of local transportation technology. It is a wood box  which is hanged in an iron rope with the help of pulley. Iron rope is supported by the pillar in both sides of the river. People sit in the box and pull the iron rope that will make wood box to move towards other side. It is used in absence of bridge. If there is no bridge in river, tuin is the only option that can be used to cross the river. This is cheap local technology.

Pottery

Pottery is a local technology that is used to make pots from the clay. Clay is mixed properly and placed in the circle made up of wood. There is a small hole in the middle of the circle in which iron rod is inserted. The circle is rolled along with the clay. Proper shape is given to the clay by hand. The pot is placed in sun light and dried. Then it will be ready to use.

Water Grinding Mill

Water Grinding Mill

Flour is made by grinding the food grains like paddy, wheat, corn etc. These can be grinded from the mill. Water grinding mill is kind of mill that is operated from water energy. It is very useful technology for the place where there are rivers but not electricity. The mill moves the stone plate with the force of flow of water. When the stone plate rolls, grains are inserted in between the stone plate. Flour is produced after grinding the grain in between the stone plate

Madani and Theki

Theki

Theki is locally made by people from wood and is usually used to store milk fat (Taar), make butter (i.e. NAUNE GHYU)out of it; which can later be cooked to make the clarified butter also known as ghee and also make buttered milk (i.e. MOHI). The "Theki" is only a vessel, where as the "Madani" is like a thick stick with turbines at one end.

To make all these products we first need to keep the "Theki and Madani" near a pillar so that Madani can be tied very loosely (infact right parallel to the pillar). The "Madani" than needs to be wrapped around spirally by another rope in such a manner that when you pull one side the other gets smaller (if that makes sense just like a hand exercise).The "Madani" is then kept inside the "Theki" with milk fat in it. Slowly the person starts to rotate the "Madani". As there are turbines present it works like a mixer grinder and separates the fat and the butterd milk. The fat floats on the top which is collected either ready to eat or make clarified butter and the buttered milk remains at the bottom ad is usually sour but thoroughly enjoyed by everyone including me.

Making butter and buttered milk 

Gagri and Ghaito

Gagri 

 GAGRI and GHAITO are the basic water vessels that are used in Nepal to store water in house for different purposes especially in places where there is no 24 hour water supply in the house or in villages where there is a common tap. In the above picture the top one is GAGRI and the bottom one is GHAITO.

There is mainly two basic differences in GAGRI and GHAITO. The first one is visible in the picture above i.e the shape; GAGRI is long and slender whereas GHAITO is more round and curvy. The second difference however is due to the raw materials used in its making. The first one is made up of metal and the latter is made up of clay. GHAITO usually is plain as there is rarely any carving done in clay goods but GAGRI is more versatile in its appearance and it is made up of metal. A GAGRI can be simple with no carving or be exotic with all the metal designs around the body.  

A woman taking drinking water in Gagri

A Woman carry Ghaito with drinking water 

Dalo

DALO is a bamboo basket that is normally used to store dry food(rice, maize,pulses etc.), transfer small quantity of goods or even used as decorative item. It is a good storage idea to make your room clutter free. It comes in different shapes and sizes and are light to carry, hence making it easier to relocate or transfer in them. DALO is mostly "kind of" half oval shape and has four corners supporting the structure and also extended at base for easy grip.

Dalo ready for sale

Making Dalo

Sukul

Sukul is another type of mat which is popular among the Newar culture in Nepal. It is made up of hay (PARAL) and is long rectangular shape (long enough to seat almost 15 people in a single line). It is usually used in "Bhoj" or "Na-kha-tya" where there is assemble of huge number of people and food is distributed by cooks to all the people. It is generally rolled and stored for reusing next time. Since it is made by hay locally, it is cheap, effective and biodegradable as well.It is also said that walking in "SUKUL" also increases blood circulation to your legs and feet... hence reducing oedema to lower extremities.   

Sukul 

Chulo

Chulo 

Chulo requires wood for burning. Cooking in a chulo is time consuming as one cannot turn on or off the heat level as easily as in the gas stoves. However, the food cooked in this traditional Nepali wood stove is much tastier than that of any other oven or gas. It is made of mud and also uses some sticks in order to give it support. It has two holes, one on the upper part where the utensils are kept and another on the side from where the woods are put in. A pipe usually made out of wood or metal, locally known as Dhungro, is used to blow to light up the fire. The utensils are coated with mud on the base before using it for cooking on the chulo. It is done to protect the base of the utensil from burning and also to protect it from turning black.

Traditionally, it used wood for cooking but it can be found in modified forms that use coal instead of woods that are cheaper and easily available. It is commonly used in rural areas, however, due to the continuous rise on the price of the petroleum products and also the rich taste in food cooked on it, many people in the various parts of the urban areas use it as an alternative stove.

The taste of the food cooked in chulo makes you forget all the hurdles faced while cooking. Despite the lengthy and tiresome procedure, the food cooked in a chulo gives an authentic Nepali taste. Most of the Nepali people still prefer the food cooked in a chulo than those on gas stove due to its rich taste. Most of the houses on the outskirts of the Kathmandu valley have at least one chulo for cooking purpose.

Cooking food on Chulo

Sarangi

Sarangi

Sarangi is the combination of two words ‘sa’, the first note of music and ‘rangi’, which means colourful.Sarangi is a traditional Nepali musical instrument that has four strings unlike the Indian Sarangi. It is a stringed wooden instrument that is carved in a single piece of wood. The instrument Sarangi is held in a vertical position and played with a bow. Pitch is determined by sliding the fingernail against the string.Traditionally, people from the Gandharva (singers) community used Sarangi in their Gainesongs. The spell-bounding voice of the Sarangi, that is often believed to resemble the sorrowful human voice, was so tempting that it has attracted many people. It is widely used in the folk songs of Nepal.

In past when there were no forms of communication and information, the Gandharvas were responsible for informing people with their songs. They sang the songs of any events happening around or any message a family member had sent to other and they were paid for their efforts. They used Sarangi when they were singing. The Sarangi is believed to be originated from the Central Hilly Regions, mainly the Gandaki region as it was the home for majority of Gandharvas.

The neck and the body of the Sarangi is made out of a light wood, locally known as Khirro. The body is carved into a hollow frame with two openings among which the lower is covered up with dried sheep-skin. Traditionally, the fine nerves from sheep’s intestine were woven to get the string and the bow string of the Sarangi was originally made out of the horse-tail hair.However, these days, those strings are replaced by nylon strings. The instrument is placed vertically on the left knee and is suspended by a chord around the left shoulder.

Sarangi is most commonly used in the folk songs, especially those which express hurt and tragedy as it is believed that the sound of a Sarangi resembles the pain human voice.