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Karnataka 1st PUC English Textbook Answers Reflections Chapter 3 Around a Medicinal Creeper
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Around a Medicinal Creeper Questions and Answers, Notes, Summary
Around a Medicinal Creeper Comprehension I
Around A Medicinal Creeper Notes Question 1.
What did Mara do when he found the creeper?
OR
Where did Mara tie the creeper?
Answer:
Mara caught hold of one of the tendrils of the creeper and tied it to a nearby tree.
Around A Medicinal Creeper Question 2.
Mention the curse about the medicinal plant.
OR
What was the curse of the sage on the medicinal creeper as narrated by Mara?
Answer:
The curse on the plant by a sage is that when someone needs the plant, he will not find it. It was this curse which led to the practice of tying the creeper to a nearby tree so that people would find it when they needed it.
Around A Medicinal Creeper Questions And Answers Question 3.
What surprised the white man?
OR
What surprised the white man when he removed the bandage on Mara’s hand?
Answer:
The white man was surprised that Mara’s wounded hand had got cured within a couple of hours of getting cut, just by placing the leaf of a medicinal plant on the wound and bandaging it.
1st Puc English Around A Medicinal Creeper Notes Question 4.
How did the mongoose and the cowcal cure themselves of a snake bite?
OR
Why do the mongoose and the cowcal chew the medicinal creeper?
Answer:
They chewed the leaf of the medicinal plant if they were bitten by a snake.
Around A Medicinal Creeper Pdf Question 5.
Why had Mara lost his teeth on the right side?
Answer:
Mara had brushed the right side of his mouth with a small stick broken from a nearby plant and when he gargled and spat the water out, the teeth which had been touched by the stick tumbled out of his mouth.
1st Puc English Notes Around A Medicinal Creeper Question 6.
What did Mara’s wife find on opening the packet of meat?
Answer:
Mara’s wife found a live wild buck instead of the meat of the barking deer on opening the packet.
Around A Medicinal Creeper Notes Pdf Question 7.
What happened when milk was mixed with the juice of the creeper’s leaves?
OR
What was the effect of the juice of the medicinal creeper on milk?
Answer:
The milk became thick.
Around The Medicinal Creeper Question 8.
When would the medicines lose their potency, according to the belief of native doctors?
Answer:
The native doctors believed that if they told others about their medicines, the medicines would lose their potency.
Around a Medicinal Creeper Comprehension II
Around A Medicinal Creeper Solutions Question 1.
How long did it take the narrator to learn the facts about the medicinal creeper? What does it signify?
Answer:
It took almost twenty years for the narrator to learn the facts about the medicinal creeper. First of all, it shows that not enough research work has gone into the field of herbal medicine. The illiterate natives know that some plants are medicinal, but they don’t know the exact benefits that can be reaped from these plants. Moreover, even the ones who know the value of the plants don’t let out the secret because of the belief that if spoken about, the plant might lose its potency. There is also the question of exaggeration.
People like Mara knowingly or unknowingly add a few juicy bits to their experiences and hence, for a third person, it’s difficult to differentiate between fact and fiction. As a result, even a fact is confused about fiction. Lastly, even people like the narrator, who have an interest in the medicinal plants and conclusive proof of its benefits fail to pursue the matter in a consistent manner with concerted efforts.
Around A Medicinal Creeper Answers Question 2.
What does the incident of Mara’s wife throwing the leaves into fire tell us about Indians in general?
OR
The incident of Mara’s wife throwing the leaves into the fire reflects the ignorance of India’s native medicinal systems. Discuss.
Answer:
When a live wild buck appeared in the place of the meat of the barking deer and ran away, Mara ran after it. Mara’s wife, without knowing anything about the background of the episode, picked up the leaves and threw them into the fire. It shows that even after such an unusual incident of the dead meat turning into a live animal, the woman was not interested in finding out what could have led to the miracle. It shows the casual attitude Indians have towards the medicinal plants.
Medicinal Creeper Question 3.
How was Krishna cured of his illness?
OR
How was Krishna cured of piles?
Answer:
Krishna had piles problem and the only cure for it in allopathy was surgery. Krishna, an illiterate, was terrified of surgery and hence he went to the village godman for treatment. The godman, being old, could only give the description of the plant which could be used for his cure.
Since the description matched the features of the miracle creeper, the author took him to the creeper which Appanna had tied to a tree and Krishna drank the ground tuber of the creeper with milk. He was cured completely in five days.
Around a Medicinal Creeper Comprehension III.
The Medicinal Creeper Question 1.
Do you think the author is suggesting that Indian herbal medicine is better/safer than allopathic medicine? Discuss.
Answer:
Yes, he does. Although he expresses doubt over the incredible stories of Mara about the efficacy of certain herbs and plants, he shows very clearly that Indian herbal medicine can work wonders with illnesses which in allopathic medicine have either no cure or cure only through surgery with all its I associated problems.
Right at the beginning of the piece, he avers that out of the many stories about an unusual medicinal creeper, though some are imaginary and some false, some are true also. He also states that it took him twenty years to arrive at the facts with regard to this creeper. Though he keeps referring to Mara’s stories as improbable, he concedes that not all of them can be dismissed as bunkum. Even after Mara’s death, the author is troubled by what Mara had to say about many a plant in the forest. His speculations get a fillip when milk gets curdled and becomes rubbery after squeezing the juice of the medicinal creeper he had seen Mara and Appanna tying to a tree into the milk.
Although he is still not sure of what medicinal quality the creeper might have had, he is certain that the creeper has certain unusual qualities. The incident with Krishna, his former farmhand, further confirms his notion. First of all, the writer tells us that Krishna was cured of his rashes by the medicine given by a Malayali Sadhu, concocted out of the bark of some tree crushed and mixed with duck’s eggs and eaten. Secondly, the writer cites the incident of Krishna getting cured of his piles by drinking the ground root of a creeper, mixed with milk. Further, the author points out that just by eating a small piece of the tuber to see how it tasted, he seemed to have helped his heel which had been paining for quite some time.
The swelling that had appeared next to the bone of the heel also disappeared. Though the writer is not very sure whether the healing is the result of the medicinal properties of the creeper or not, r he is of the opinion that the possibility is worth exploring. That is why he laments that India’s native medicinal systems are on the verge of extinction.
Around The Medicinal Creeper Notes Question 2.
What has made the modern man lose the knowledge of traditional medicine?
Answer:
As the author himself points out, the belief of the native doctors that if they told others about their medicines, the medicines would lose their potency has resulted in the loss of knowledge of traditional medicine. Secondly, since the sadhus and godmen have more or less been illiterate, the knowledge has not been carried forth in the written format. Thirdly, those like Mara who have benefited from such medicines, exaggerate the facts and hence the facts are mistaken for fiction. Fourthly, even the educated lot, like the author himself, take a long time even to pursue the matter and see if there is truth in the claims made by people such as Mara. In addition to all this, Ayurveda is dismissed by allopathic practitioners as bunkum.
So, Ayurveda has to fight the ignorance of the illiterate and the arrogance of the literate. Moreover, it has to combat the indifference of the government which has not really tried in a significant way to explore the possibilities of ayurvedic cure.
Around A Medicinal Creeper Pdf Download Question 3.
‘Our natural resources are our vital resources’. Explain the statement in light of several ‘developmental’ projects that are being promoted today.
Answer:
India is a peninsula covered by water on three sides and protected by the Himalayas on the other. The land has many mountains and rivers and three-fourth of our land is agricultural. In addition, our human resource, which is also a natural resource, is strong. Thus, the topography and eugenics of India make it very clear that our natural resources are our vital resources. Hence, we should try to improve our economy in the area of natural resources instead of technology and industry.
When we do this we will tap the potential of our human resource. But, the sorry state of affairs is that we are promoting projects which harm natural resources as they involve machines instead of people. It is farcical that we consider them ‘developmental’. They are far from being developmental and they have brought the nation and the people of the nation to the brink of disaster. We should have projects which would tap solar energy, harvest rainwater, and recycle natural resources.
Around a Medicinal Creeper Additional Questions and Answers
I. Answer the following questions in a word, a phrase or a sentence each:
Around A Medicinal Creeper 1st Puc English Question 1.
Name the plant pathologist mentioned in the story.
Answer:
Chandru.
Around A Medicinal Creeper Lesson Notes Question 2.
Whom did Mara go to, when he had a cut in his hand?
Answer:
The white man at Hulihindalu.
Around A Medicinal Creeper In English Question 3.
Why is India’s native medicinal system on the verge of extinction?
Answer:
Because of the belief of the native doctors who think that if they told others about their medicines, the medicines would lose their potency.
Around A Medicinal Creeper Textbook Questions And Answers Question 4.
Who treated Krishna when he had got boils all over his body?
Answer:
A Malayali sadhu.
Around A Medicinal Creeper Question And Answer Question 5.
What was Krishna suffering from?
Answer:
Krishna was suffering from piles.
Around A Medicinal Creeper Lesson In English Question 6.
What treatment was prescribed to Krishna to cure him of the boils on his body?
OR
How did the Malayali sadhu treat Krishna when he had boils all over his body?
Answer:
To cure him of the boils on his body, Krishna was told by a Malayali Sadhu to crush the bark of a particular tree with duck’s eggs and eat.
1 Puc English Around A Medicinal Creeper Question 7.
How long did the author take to learn about the medicinal creeper?
Answer:
Twenty years.
Around A Medicinal Creeper Class 11 Question 8.
The entire system of Indian medicine suffers from a kind of ______
Answer:
mystification.
1 Puc English Around A Medicinal Creeper Question 9.
Where did the white man live, in the lesson ‘Around the Medicinal Creeper’?
Answer:
At Hulihindalu.
Question 10.
The author says, “one must realize that if one disappears the other becomes useless.” Here, ‘one’ and ‘the other’ refers to
(a) the author and his doctor friends
(b) the curse of the sage and the medicinal creeper
(c) the medicinal plants and the people who know about them.
Answer:
(c) the medicinal plants and the people who know about them.
Question 11.
What did the white man offer Mara if he showed him the plant?
Answer:
His entire plantation/estate.
Question 12.
What was to be protected from the sun by putting up a shade over it?
Answer:
A coffee seedbed was to be protected from the sun by putting up a shade over it.
Question 13.
Who brought some creepers from the forest?
Answer:
Sanna brought some creepers from the forest.
Question 14.
Where did Sanna bring the creepers from?
Answer:
Sanna brought the creepers from the forest.
Question 15.
Why did Mara scold Sanna?
Answer:
Mara scolded Sanna for plucking a medicinal creeper.
Question 16.
“Hey, why did you pluck this, you fool?” said Mara. Here ‘fool’ refers to ______
(a) Sanna
(b) the author
(c) medicinal creeper.
Answer:
(a) Sanna.
Question 17.
Who tied the medicinal creeper to the tree?
Answer:
Mara tied the medicinal creeper to a tree.
Question 18.
According to Mara, ‘the thief’ was _____
(a) Sanna
(b) the author
(c) the medicinal creeper.
Answer:
(c) the medicinal creeper.
Question 19.
According to Mara, who had cursed the medicinal creeper?
Answer:
According to Mara, a sage had cursed the medicinal creeper.
Question 20.
What do the leaves of the medicinal creeper resemble?
Answer:
The small leaves of the medicinal creeper resemble betel leaves.
Question 21.
The medicinal creeper bears fruits in a bunch like _______. (Fill in the blank)
Answer:
grapes.
Question 22.
When does the medicinal creeper come up every year?
Answer:
The medicinal creeper comes up in the rainy season every year.
Question 23.
Mara.tied the medicinal creeper to a tree so that it ______
(a) needed the support of a tree
(b) should not run away
(c) could be easily located.
Answer:
(c) could be easily located.
Question 24.
When did Mara cut his hand?
Answer:
Mara cut his hand when he was cutting a bamboo shoot.
Question 25.
How did Mara convince the white man that he had a wound on his hand?
Answer:
Mara showed the white man all the blood on his clothes and body and cringed before him saying that he was not lying. Looking at all this, the white man was convinced that Mara was telling the truth.
Question 26.
The white man threatened to shoot Mara if he _____
(a) didn’t take him to the forest
(b) didn’t show him the plant
(c) had no wound on his hand.
Answer:
(b) didn’t show him the plant.
Question 27.
On which side did Mara not have any teeth?
Answer:
Mara did not have any teeth on the right side of his mouth.
Question 28.
How did the stick taste when Mara was brushing his teeth?
Answer:
When Mara was brushing his teeth, the stick tasted sour.
Question 29.
What did Mara and his friend wrap the meat of the barking deer with?
Answer:
Mara and his friend wrapped the meat of the barking deer in some leaves.
Question 30.
Where did Mara’s wife throw the leaves which were used to pack the meat?
Answer:
Mara’s wife threw the leaves, which were used to pack the meat, into the fire.
Question 31.
What did Appanna say about the medicinal creeper when it was mixed with milk?
Answer:
Appanna said that if we squeezed the juice of the leaves of that medicinal creeper, milk would become hard.
Question 32.
What was Mr Chandru in ‘Around a Medicinal Creeper?
Answer:
In the lesson ‘Around a Medicinal Creeper’, Mr Chandru is a plant pathologist.
Question 33.
Krishna was working as a ______ after stopping his work in the narrator’s estate.
(a) rickshaw driver
(b) doctor
(c) plant pathologist.
Answer:
(a) rickshaw driver.
Question 34.
What was the only allopathic treatment for piles, according to the narrator?
Answer:
According to the narrator, the only allopathic treatment for piles was surgery.
Question 35.
What did the doctor advise for Krishna’s piles?
Answer:
The doctor advised surgery for Krishna’s piles.
Question 36.
‘Godman’ refers to _____
(a) Mara
(b) Krishna
(c) Malayali sadhu.
Answer:
(c) Malayali Sadhu.
Question 37.
What did the author do when he found the tuberous root of the medicinal creeper?
Answer:
When the author found the tuberous root of the medicinal creeper, he ate a small piece of it, just to see how it tasted.
Question 38.
What was the taste of the tuberous root of the medicinal creeper?
Answer:
The tuberous root of the medicinal creeper tasted slightly bitter.
Question 39.
When did the swelling in the author’s right heel disappear?
Answer:
The swelling in the author’s right heel disappeared after he had eaten a piece of the root dug up by Krishna.
Question 40.
Why did the Malayali sadhu share his knowledge of the medicine with Krishna?
Answer:
The Malayali sadhu shared his knowledge of the medicine with Krishna, probably because he wanted to pass on his knowledge to posterity so that his knowledge would continue to be useful even after his death.
Question 41.
Why did Mara once lay a trap in the forest in ‘Around the Medicinal Creeper’?
Answer:
In ‘Around the Medicinal Creeper’, Mara laid a trap in the forest to catch rabbits.
II. Answer the following questions in 80 – 100 words each:
Question 1.
Why are India’s native medicinal systems on the verge of extinction?
Answer:
India’s native medicinal systems are on the verge of extinction because of government apathy, scientists’ indifference and people’s ignorance.
As the author himself points out, the belief of the native doctors that if they revealed to others the secret of their medicines, the medicines would lose their potency has resulted in the loss of knowledge of traditional medicine. Secondly, since the sadhus and godmen have more or less been illiterate, the knowledge has not been carried forth in the written format. Thirdly, those like Mara who have benefited from such medicines, exaggerate the facts and hence the facts are mistaken for fiction.
Fourthly, even the educated lot like the author himself takes a long time even to pursue the matter and see if there is truth in the claims made by people such as Mara. In addition to all this, Ayurveda is dismissed by allopathic practitioners as bunkum. So, India’s native medicine has to fight the ignorance of the illiterate and the arrogance of the literate. Moreover, it has to combat the indifference of the government which has not really tried in a significant way to explore the possibilities of ayurvedic cure.
Question 2.
Why was the white man ready to give his entire plantation to Mara?
Answer:
Though the title of the article by Poornachandra Tejaswi is ‘Around a Medicinal Creeper’, we see that the whole lesson revolves around the stories narrated by Mara about a medicinal creeper. Most of the stories seem to be improbable though Mara swears to their veracity. One such story is about Mara going to the forest to bring bamboo shoots home and accidentally cutting the artery of his hand while cutting bamboo shoots. Mara told the author that the wound was bandaged after some leaf brought by someone had been placed over it. Mara had then gone to a white man at Hulihindalu for proper treatment. But, when the white man opened the bandage, there was not even the sign of the wound.
The white man, who initially thought that Mara was trying to fool him, was later interested in finding the plant. But, though Mara searched for the plant for an entire day, he could not find the plant. The Englishman, who had offered Mara his entire estate in exchange for the identification of the plant, was angry with Mara and even threatened to shoot him down. The Englishman thought that Mara was unwilling to show the plant because he was so greedy that the offer of the estate also did not satisfy him. The author too considers the story a cock-and-bull story and tells Mara that it should have been possible for him to find the plant if he had gone to the same spot where he was cutting the bamboo shoots.
For this Mara has no answer, but comes up with another fantastic story about the plant and its leaf. Thus, Mara’s narratives fall between the probable and the improbable because there is no particular reason for Mara to lie, but at the same time, the stories talk about such miraculous effects of the medicinal creeper that it is difficult to accept them as true.
Question 3.
How does Tejaswi come to the conclusion that “it is difficult to dismiss all of Mara’s stories as bunkum”? Why does he say that some little details remain to bother our conscience?
Answer:
Although Mara’s stories are tall tales which no sensible man would believe to be true, the author is conscious of the fact that Mara has nothing to gain by narrating such stories. Even if we take it as Mara’s compulsive lying, we should remember that he comes up with the stories only when questioned and doesn’t try to defend his stories passionately. There is a certain level of detachment in Mara when he shares these stories with others.
Moreover, there are others like Appanna who believe in the efficacy of the plant and the experiment which the author conducts with the help of his friend Chandru – a plant pathologist shows that the plant has some special qualities. The fact that Krishna, a farmhand, gets cured of piles without surgery is also proof of the efficacy of herbal medicine. That is why the author is of the opinion that India’s native medicine is worth being researched.
Question 4.
Narrate any two incidents narrated by Mara that bring out the miraculous healing power of the medicinal creeper.
Answer:
Mara has many fantastic stories about the miraculous healing power of the medicinal creeper. One such story is about Mara going to the forest to bring bamboo shoots home and accidentally cutting the artery of his hand while cutting bamboo shoots. Mara told the author that the wound was bandaged after some leaf brought by someone had been placed over it. Mara had then gone to a white man at Hulihindalu for proper treatment. But, when the white man opened the bandage, there was not even the sign of the wound.
If this narration sounds improbable, another incident that Mara narrates goes beyond all boundaries of reason. Mara told the author that a barking deer which had been killed and divided by him and his friends, transformed into a live buck and ran out of the house when the packet made out of the special leaves was opened. Mara added that his wife, without knowing the value of the leaves, threw them into the fire.
It is easier to believe the first story rather than the second because in the first story Mara talks about the healing power of a plant, and the miraculous effects of herbs is a generally accepted idea. However, the idea of a dead deer which has been skinned, cleaned and divided and then wrapped in leaves becoming alive on the packet being opened is next to impossible. So the question arises whether Mara was lying. If we defend Mara and argue that Mara had no reason to lie, then the only possibility is that Mara and his friends hunted a deer, brought it home assuming that it was dead and when released from the bundle, the deer, which was not really dead, ran away.
Question 5.
What story did Mara narrate about his fallen teeth?
OR
What story did Mara narrate about losing the teeth on the right side of his mouth?
Answer:
Mara’s stories were not limited to the miraculous medicinal creeper. Mara explained the loss of the teeth on one side of his face with another totally cock-and-bull story. He told the author that he had lost his teeth when he had gone hunting rabbits to the forest before daybreak. According to him, when he brushed his teeth with a small stick of a plant, he lost the teeth which had been touched by the stick. The teeth were all from one side because on finding the taste of the plant to be sour, he had thrown the stick away and had gargled his mouth with the water of a nearby stream.
Question 6.
How was Krishna cured of his illness?
Answer:
Krishna had piles problem and the only cure for it in allopathy was surgery. Krishna, an illiterate, was terrified of surgery and hence he went to the village godman for treatment. The godman, being old, could only give the description of the plant which could be used for his cure. Since the description matched the features of the miracle creeper, the author took him to the creeper which Appanna had tied to a tree and Krishna drank the ground tuber of the creeper with milk. He was cured completely in five days.
A Malayali sadhu had treated Krishna when he had started developing boils all over his body. The godman had given Krishna the bark of some tree, which he was supposed to crush and mix with duck’s eggs and eat. The full course of treatment was ten days. Krishna had been completely cured and after the treatment, he never got a boil again.
Question 7.
Why did Mara tie the medicinal creeper to the tree?
Answer:
Once the author was putting up a shade over a coffee seedbed. They needed something to tie the Cane pieces placed across the frame. So, he sent Sanna to get some creepers from the forest. He brought a whole bundle. Mara opened the bundle and while sifting he suddenly looked at one of the creepers and scolded Sanna for plucking it. On knowing from Sanna that there were many of these creepers in the forest, the writer along with Mara and Sanna went to the forest out of curiosity. There he saw Mara tying the creeper to a nearby tree referring to it a thief. Mara explained his actions by saying that the creeper was cursed by a sage that it wouldn’t be found by people when they needed it and searched for it. That is why it had to be tied to a nearby plant as soon as it was found.
Question 8.
What story of Mara surprised the white doctor?
Answer:
Mara had once accidentally cut the artery of his hand in the forest where he went to get bamboo shoots. As he started bleeding profusely, everyone was alarmed and took him to the white man at Hulihindalu for dressing his wounded hand. However, before going to him, people around him had pressed some leaf against the wound and bandaged it using a piece of cloth torn from their lungi. But when the white man opened the bandage, there was not even the sign of the wound. The white man initially thought that Mara was trying to fool him. But when Mara showed him the blood on his clothes and body, the white man believed him. The white man was surprised at the magical power of the leaf and offered his entire plantation if Mara could show him the plant.
Question 9.
What was the curse of the sage? What did Mara do when he found the medicinal creeper?
Answer:
Once the author was putting up a shade over a coffee seedbed. They needed something to tie the cane pieces placed across the frame. So, he sent Sanna to get some creepers from the forest. He brought a whole bundle. Mara opened the bundle and while sifting he suddenly looked at one of the creepers and scolded Sanna for plucking it. On knowing from Sanna that there were many of these creepers in the forest, the writer along with Mara and Sanna went to the forest out of curiosity. When Mara found the medicinal creeper, he tied its tendrils to a nearby tree. Mara explained his actions by saying that the creeper was cursed by a sage that it wouldn’t be found by people when they needed it and searched for it. That is why it had to be tied to a nearby plant as soon as it was found.
Question 10.
What was the narrator’s opinion about Mara tying the medicinal creeper to a tree?
Answer:
The first incident the author narrates revolves around his putting up a shade over a coffee seedbed to protect it from the sun. The author tells us that Mara, a servant, was annoyed with Sanna, another servant, for plucking a medicinal creeper. On knowing from Sanna that there were many of these creepers in the forest, the writer along with Mara and Sanna went to the forest out of curiosity. There he saw Mara tying the creeper to a nearby tree referring to it a thief. Mara explained his actions by saying that the creeper was cursed by a sage that it wouldn’t be found by people when they needed it and searched for it.
The narrator opined that since the creeper was not seen for most of the year and was seen only in a particular season, Mara tied it to a nearby tree to secure it so that it can be easily identified when someone needed it. After offering this explanation, the author laments the fact that even if the creeper has some medicinal property, it would get lost in the tales woven around it.
Question 11.
How differently did Mara and the author think about tying the medicinal creeper to a tree?
Answer:
Once the author was putting up a shade over a coffee seedbed. They needed something to tie the cane pieces placed across the frame. So, he sent Sanna to get some creepers from the forest.
Sanna brought a whole bundle. Mara opened the bundle and while sifting he suddenly looked at one of the creepers and scolded Sanna for plucking it. On knowing from Sanna that there were many of these creepers in the forest, the writer along with Mara and Sanna went to the forest out of curiosity. There he saw Mara tying the creeper to a nearby tree referring to it as a thief. Mara believed that the plant would not be seen when anyone needed it urgently because it had been cursed by a sage. On the contrary, the author believed that the medicinal creeper was a seasonal plant which appeared only after the rains, put forth flowers and fruits and died quickly. That is why no one saw it until the next rainy season.
Question 12.
What happened when Mara was cutting the bamboo shoot? How was he cured?
Answer:
Once when Mara was cutting bamboo shoots, he accidentally cut his hand. The sharp sickle had apparently cut an artery and it started bleeding copiously in spurts. Someone brought some leaf, pressed it against the wound and bandaged it with a cloth torn from one of their lungis. Mara then went to a white man at Hulihindalu for treatment. But, when the white man opened the bandage, there was not even the sign of the wound. The juice from the leaf had stopped the bleeding and there was no wound. The white man, who initially thought that Mara was trying to fool him, was later interested in finding the plant. But, though Mara searched for the plant for an entire day, he could not find the plant.
The Englishman, who had offered Mara his entire estate in exchange for the identification of the plant, was angry with Mara and even threatened to shoot him down. The Englishman thought that Mara was unwilling to show the plant because he was so greedy that the offer of the estate also did not satisfy him.
Question 13.
Why did the white man threaten to shoot Mara?
Answer:
When the white man opened the bandage and removed the leaf, there was no sign of any wound. When Mara showed him all the blood on his clothes and body and cringed before him saying that he was not lying, the white man was convinced that the leaf had medicinal properties and hence had cured the wound. Therefore, he asked Mara to show him the plant from which he had plucked that leaf and offered his entire estate in return. However, when Mara failed to show him the plant even after searching for it an entire day, the white man thought that Mara was so greedy that he was not satisfied with the offer he had made. He got furious and threatened to shoot him down.
Question 14.
How was Mara treated when he had a cut in his hand?
Answer:
The whole lesson ‘Around a Medicinal Creeper’ revolves around the stories narrated by Mara about a medicinal creeper. One such story is about Mara going to the forest to bring bamboo shoots home and accidentally cutting the artery of his hand while cutting bamboo shoots. Mara told the author that the wound was bandaged after some leaf brought by someone had been placed over it. Mara had then gone to a white man at Hulihindalu for proper treatment. But, when the white man opened the bandage, there was not even the sign of the wound. The white man initially thought that Mara was trying to fool him. But when Mara showed him the blood on his clothes and body, the white man believed him. The white man was surprised at the magical power of the leaf and offered his entire plantation if Mara could show him the plant.
Question 15.
How did Mara lose his teeth only on the right side of his mouth?
OR
How did Mara save himself from losing all his teeth?
Answer:
Once, Mara laid a trap in the forest to catch rabbits. He went into the forest before daybreak to take his catch. The trap was empty and so he had to trek back home empty-handed. Since there was a stream flowing nearby Mara decided to brush his teeth and wash his face before trekking back home. He broke a stick from a nearby plant and brushed his teeth a couple of times. When he brushed the teeth a fourth time, he felt a sour taste in the mouth. Then he rinsed his mouth taking some water from the stream. When he spat it out, all the teeth which had been touched by the stick tumbled out of his mouth. Then Mara realized that he had brushed only the teeth in the right side of the mouth and hence they had fallen out, whereas the teeth in the left side were intact, as he had not brushed them with that stick. Thus by brushing only the teeth in the right side of his mouth, Mara had escaped losing all his teeth.
Question 16.
Narrate Mara’s story about the meat of the barking deer changing into a live wild buck.
Answer:
Once Mara and his friend laid a trap and caught a barking deer. As they had to divide it equally between them, they took it near the stream, skinned it, cleaned it and divided the meat. They wrapped their portions in some leaves and brought them home. In Mara’s house, they prepared the masala with spices, put the water to boil and opened the packet to take out the meat. Instead of the meat, there was a live wild buck. The meat of the barking deer had been changed into a wild duck by the leaf in which it had been wrapped.
Question 17.
How did the milk become firm and rubbery?
OR
Describe the experiment conducted by the narrator and his friend Chandru to know about the hardening of milk.
Answer:
The narrator learnt from Appanna that if the juice of the leaves of the creeper was put into milk, it would become hard. The narrator decided to test it. The narrator plucked some leaves from the creeper and told his friend Chandru, who was a plant pathologist, about it. They put the milk and leaves into a mixer and switched it on. After mixing the juice of the leaves and the milk thoroughly, they poured it out into a vessel. After a while, the milk had become firm and rubbery. When they inverted the vessel, the whole thing fell out like a moulded cast.
Question 18.
How did the Malayali sadhu cure Krishna of his piles and boils on his body?
Answer:
Krishna approached a Malayali sadhu for help to cure his boils which had started developing all over his body. The godman gave Krishna the bark of some tree. He had to crush the bark, mix it with duck’s eggs and eat. He had to take this course of treatment for ten days. Krishna was completely cured, and after the treatment, he never got a boil again.
Later, when Krishna changed his job and became a rickshaw driver, he developed piles and started passing blood with his stools. The only allopathic treatment for piles was surgery, and if he opted for it he would be forced to be in the hospital for several days and he would lose his income. Therefore, Krishna went to the Malayali sadhu again for the help. But, the sadhu had grown old and did not have the strength to search for the plant which was needed to cure bis piles.
However, the sadhu gave Krishna a good description of the plant and advised him to dig out the tuberous root, mix it with milk and drink the medicine for five days. The next day, when Krishna was looking for the medicinal creeper, the narrator inferred that Krishna was also looking for the same creeper which Mara and Appanna had tied to the nearest tree. The narrator took him to the plant and both of them dug up its tuber. Krishna ground the root and drank it with milk. Within a day his piles improved and were completely cured in five days.
Question 19.
Narrate how the swelling of the narrator’s right heel disappeared.
Answer:
While Krishna and the narrator were digging up the root, the narrator happened to eat just a small piece of it to see how it tastes. It tasted slightly bitter. The narrator’s right heel had been paining for quite some time. Then, there appeared a swelling next to the bone of his right heel. When he consulted a surgeon, the surgeon advised the removal of the swelling through surgery. But a few days after the narrator had eaten the piece of root, the swelling had disappeared.
III. Answer the following questions in 200 words each:
Question 1.
“India’s native medicinal systems are on the verge of extinction because of the superstitious beliefs of the native doctors”. Examine this with reference to ‘Around a Medicinal Creeper’.
Answer:
The lesson titled ‘Around a Medicinal Creeper’, presents a few anecdotes which tell us interesting stories about Indian medicinal plants growing in their natural habitat. To cite a few examples, in the first part of the lesson the author tells us about a medicinal creeper which was plucked by Sanna so as to tie up a bundle of bamboo shoots. Incidentally, Mara, his friend, informs that the creeper has a lot of medicinal properties and they need to secure it by tying it to a nearby tree. If he does not secure it that way carefully, it will disappear because it has been cursed by a sage.
Next, he tells another story in which he had used the leaves of some plant to stop a bleeding wound. However, when he went to the doctor, there was no sign of the wound. In another incident, Mara tells us how he lost the teeth in the right side of his mouth. In the next part of the lesson, the author tells the story of a Malayali Sadhu who had given Krishna, the author’s farmhand, the bark of some tree as medicine and had cured the boils on his body. However, the next time, when Krishna went to him seeking his help to cure his piles, the godman asked Krishna himself to search for the tuberous root, mix it with milk and drink it for five days.
Finally, in the concluding part of the essay, the writer opines that Indian native medicinal systems are on the verge of extinction because of the superstitious beliefs of the native doctors who fear that if they disclosed the secrets of these medicines, the medicines would lose their potency. What the author has said is undoubtedly true because the author has given enough anecdotes which cannot withstand any logical examination.
Around a Medicinal Creeper Vocabulary
I. A note on spelling
Many words are spelt differently in British and American English.
| British English | American English |
| Realise | Realize |
| Marvellous | Marvellous |
| Criticising | Criticizing |
| Litre | Liter |
| Mould | Mold |
Can you think of other words? List them.
Words ending in -re
British English words that end in -re often end in -er in American English:
| British | US |
| Centre | Center |
| Fibre | Fiber |
| Litre | Liter |
| Theatre | Theater or Theatre |
Words ending in -our
British English words ending in -our usually end in -or in American English:
| British | US |
| Colour | Color |
| Flavour | Flavor |
| Humour | Humor |
| Labour | Labor |
| Neighbour | Neighbor |
Words ending in -ize or -ise
Verbs in British English that can be spelt with either -ize or -ise at the end are always spelt with -ize at the end in American English:
| British | US |
| apologize or apologise | Apologize |
| organize or organise | Organize |
| recognize or recognise | Recognize |
Words ending in -yse
Verbs in British English that end in -yse are always spelt -yze in American English:
| British | US |
| Analyse | Analyze |
| Breathalyse | Breathalyze |
| Paralyse | Paralyze |
Words ending in a vowel plus ‘l’
In British spelling, verbs ending in a vowel plus ‘l’ double the ‘l’ when adding endings that begin with a vowel. In American English, the ‘l’ is not doubled:
| British | US |
| Travel | Travel |
| Travelled | Traveled |
| Travelling | Traveling |
| Traveller | Traveler |
| Fuel | Fuel |
| Fuelled | Fueled |
| Fuelling | Fueling |
Words spelt with double vowels
British English words that are spelt with the double vowels ae or oe are just spelt with an e in American English:
| British | US |
| Leukaemia | Leukemia |
| Manoeuvre | Maneuver |
| Oestrogen | Estrogen |
| Paediatric | Pediatric |
Note that in American English, certain terms, such as archaeology, keep the ae spelling as standard, although the spelling with just the (i.e. archaeology) is acceptable as well.
Nouns ending with -ence
Some nouns that end with -ence in British English are spelt -ense in American English:
| British | US |
| Defence | Defense |
| Licence | License |
| Offence | Offense |
| Pretence | Pretense |
Nouns ending with -ogue
Some nouns that end with -ogue in British English end with either -og or -ogue in American English:
| British | US |
| Analogue | analog or analogue |
| Catalogue | catalog or catalogue |
| Dialogue | dialog or dialogue |
The distinctions here are not hard and fast. The spelling analogue is acceptable but not very common in American English; catalog has become the US norm, but the catalogue is not uncommon; the dialogue is still preferred over dialogue.
II. Word Formation
Prefixes are added to the beginning of a root word while suffixes are added to the end.
Pick out from the essay, words that are formed by adding either prefix or suffix or both.
Prefixes:
Around, unusual, almost, another, discover, because, upon, again, exchange, dismiss, disinterest, become, untie, erstwhile, never, research, because.
Suffixes:
Medicinal, creeper, stories, imaginary, totally, protected, putting, erecting, heeded, opened, sifting, suddenly, looked, scolded, enquired, curiosity, eagerly, showed, surprised, lying, cursed, needs, immediately, explained, resembling, leaves, comes, quickly, rainy, seen, probably, identified, located, confined, Indian, mystification, wanderings, gleaned, learnt, leaving, useless, annoyed, saying, exactly, simply, exciting, likely, seriously, marvellous, cutting, accidentally, apparently, bleeding, copiously, pressed, dressing, treatment, having, joking, looking, believed, plucked, plantation, offered, satisfied, pointing, shivering, started, crying, loudly, begged, hearing, showed, irritation, fabricated, replied, hunting, bitten, poisonous, aged, fallen, naturally, asked, interesting, advancing, worried, walked, flowing, nearby, decided, trekking, fourth, wanted, churning, tumbled, rebuked, believable, different, asking, accusing, barking, skinned, cleaned, divided, wrapped, prepared, opened, jumped, ignorantly, heard, speechless, elaboration, explanation, inventive, showed, trying, something, hardening, basis, criticising, plucked, decided, laughed, wasting, listening, decided, switched, thoroughly, mixed, curdled, happened, touched, inverted, moulded, seemed, nearest, muttering, actually, ailment, perfectly, healthy, standing, breathless, stopped, working, driving, apparently, changed, started, passing, breathless, wheezing, allopathic, living, wondered, advised, scared, treated, started, developing, given, supposed, treatment, completely, tuberous, listened, nearest, improved, completely, cured, happened, tasted, slightly, paining, limping, addition, surgically, eaten, purely, accidental, effective, going, extinction.
Both suffix and prefix:
Removed, mistaken, disappearing, information, alarmed, bandaged, carefully, disappeared, disappears.
Question 1.
Form words with the roots given under column A, with prefixes and suffixes given under B.
| A | B |
| join, worth, head, quiet, child, partial, permit, starve, noble, serious, pay, beauty, wave, tempt, conscious, culture, resemble, misery, technology, symbol, relation, engage, approve, comfort, finger, possible, fortunate, easy, dependent, prison, willing, regular | ir-, re-, im-, un-, in-, dis-, fore-, -y, -en, -ness, -ity, -ment, -al, -ful, -let, -able, -ation, -ance, -ical, -ship, -ion |
Answer:
Rejoin, worthy, forehead, disquiet (quietly), child (none of the listed prefixes/suffixes goes with child), impartial (partiality, partially), permission, starvation, nobility (nobleness), seriousness, payable (repay, payment), beautiful, wavy, temptation, unconscious (consciousness), cultural, resemblance, miserable (misery), technological, symbolical, relationship (relational), engagement (disengage), approval (disapprove, reapprove), comfortable (discomfort), forefinger, impossible (possibility, possibly), unfortunate, uneasy (easiness), independent (dependable), imprison, willingly (unwilling, willingness), irregular (regularly, regularity).
Around a Medicinal Creeper by Poornachandra Tejaswi A Note on the Author:
K.P. Poornachandra Tejaswi (1938 – 2007) is a prominent Kannada writer, novelist, photographer, ornithologist, publisher, painter and environmentalist who made a great impression on the ‘Navya’ period of Kannada literature and inaugurated the bandaya epoch with his short-story collection ‘Abachoorina Post Offisu’.
In the early stages of his writing career, Tejaswi wrote poems but later concentrated on short stories, novels and essays. He has a distinguished style of writing which has heralded a new era in Kannada literature.
Around a Medicinal Creeper Summary in English
‘Around a Medicinal Creeper’ by Poornachandra Tejaswi is about an unusual medicinal creeper about which the writer had heard many stories. Though he knew that not all stories were true, he also knew that not all stories were purely imaginary either. In this piece, he narrates various incidents that led to the discovery of the medicinal properties of the creeper. However, he admits that it took him almost twenty years to learn these facts.
The first incident he narrates revolves around the act of putting up a shade over a coffee seedbed to protect it from the sun. The author tells us that Mara, a servant, was annoyed with Sanna, another servant, for plucking a medicinal creeper. On knowing from Sanna that there were many of these creepers in the forest, the writer along with Mara and Sanna went to the forest out of curiosity. There he saw Mara tying the creeper to a nearby tree referring to it a thief. Mara explained his actions by saying that the creeper was cursed by a sage that it wouldn’t be found by people when they needed it and searched for it. The writer counters the story with the explanation that the creeper came up immediately after the rains and died quickly.
Hence, until the next season it was not seen. After offering this explanation, the author laments the fact that even if the creeper has some medicinal property, it would get lost in the tall tales woven around it. The author further points out that this is the fate of the whole system of Indian medicine as people from the medical field are of the opinion that everything about the unique properties of plants and herbs is imaginary.
Elaborating further on why the stories around the creeper seem to be false, the author shares with the readers a few more of Mara’s improbable stories. One is about Mara cutting the artery of his hand while cutting bamboo shoots. Mara told the author that he had bandaged the wound after placing some leaf brought by someone and had then gone to a white man at Hulihindalu for treatment. But, when the white man opened the bandage, there was not even the sign of the wound. The white man, who initially thought that Mara was trying to fool him, was later interested in finding the plant. But, though Mara searched for the plant for an entire day, he could not find the plant. The Englishman who had offered Mara his entire estate in exchange for the identification of the plant was angry with Mara and even threatened to shoot him down. The Englishman thought that Mara was unwilling to show the plant because he was so greedy that the offer of the estate also did not satisfy him.
Mara, who had told the author that every inch of the plant was medicinal, was not sure of what exactly it could cure. The author wondered if Mara hadn’t really known the properties or whether he wasn’t willing to let out the secret. However, the exaggerated element in his stories was such that no one would believe him even if there was truth in his stories. However, Mara had the knack of coming up with one more story when questioned about the authenticity of the previous one.
He avoids the direct questions of the author about the medicinal creeper by narrating another story of the cowcals – crow pheasants – who chewed the leaves of the medicinal creeper to cure themselves of the snake bite.
Mara’s stories were not limited to the miraculous medicinal creeper. The stories had a flip side too. Mara explained the loss of the teeth on one side of his face with another totally cock-and-bull story. He told the author that he had lost his teeth when he had gone hunting rabbits to the forest before daybreak. According to him, when he brushed his teeth with a small stick of a plant, he lost the teeth which had been touched by the stick. The teeth were all from one side because on finding the taste of the plant to be sour, he had thrown the stick away and had gargled his mouth with the water of a nearby stream. When the author asked him to show the plant, Mara argued that it was impossible to find the plant among the thousands of plants.
When the author made fun of him saying if he tried, he might find the plant which would bring back his teeth, Mara counter-argued that in the bargain he might eat something that was not supposed to be eaten and die also. When the author teased him saying that Mara could even find a plant that would bring back his youth, Mara said that he didn’t want to become young as he didn’t want to get married again.
Even after all the teasing and doubting, Mara continued with his stories, making them more and more unrealistic. The author was speechless when Mara told him that a barking deer which had been killed and divided by him and his friends, transformed into a live deer and ran out of the house when the packet made out of the special leaves was removed. Mara added that his wife, without knowing the value of the leaves, threw them into the fire.
Long after the death of Mara, the author came upon the same creeper again. But, this time it was Appanna who was tying the creeper to a tree and his version of the creeper was different. He said that the juice of the leaves of the creeper could harden milk. Initially, the author thought that the sourness of the leaves might have curdled the milk instead of thickening it. But, when he tried it out with his friend Chandru-a plant pathologist-he realised that the milk did become hard and rubbery. It was then that the author was convinced that the creeper had some special qualities. However, he still didn’t know which diseases it could cure.
The author had another revelation after the lapse of some time when his farmhand Krishna came to him. Krishna, who had earlier been healthy, was pale and breathless. He came to know from Krishna that he was passing blood with stool and he suspected it to be piles. When Krishna went to the hospital, the doctors advised him surgery. Krishna was scared of surgery. Moreover, earlier Krishna had been cured of rashes by a Malayali sadhu who had asked Krishna to mix the crushed bark of a tree with duck’s eggs and eat. But, this time the sadhu who had grown old described the plant to Krishna as he had no strength to search for the plant.
Since the description matched the features of the miracle creeper, the author took him to the creeper which Appanna had tied to a tree and Krishna drank the ground tuber of the creeper with milk. He was completely cured in five days. Moreover, the author who had eaten a small piece of the root to see how it tasted, got cured of the pain in his heel. The swelling that had developed next to the bone of the heel for which the surgeon had recommended surgery, also disappeared.
The author, even after the cure, has a few doubts. He wonders whether the cure is coincidental or the effect of the medicinal quality of the plant. Even if it were to be the effect of medicine, he knows that he cannot be sure of which type of swelling would be cured by the creeper. With these questions in mind, the author concedes that Indian medicine, even if effective, suffers from the problem of the native doctors not sharing their knowledge with others because of their fear that if spoken about, the plant would lose its medicinal quality. He avers that this situation has brought India’s native medicinal systems to the verge of extinction.
Around a Medicinal Creeper Summary in Kannada
Glossary:
- bizarre (adj): very strange or unusual (a situation, incident or story)
- glean (v): to obtain information or knowledge etc., sometimes with difficulty and often from various places
- ignoramus (n): a person who does not have much knowledge
- cringe (v): to move back or away from somebody because you are afraid
- bunkum (n): nonsense (informal)
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