MATOLI

BANASTARIM MATOLI

Goa has many eco-traditions, one of the most significant of which is the matoli tradition followed during the festival of Ganesh Chaturthi. The eco-tradition reflects society’s relationship with nature, with each individual custom dedicated of particular aspects of flora and fauna.

Matoli is much more than a decorative canopy laid out above the idol of Lord Ganesh during the festival. Fashioned out of wood, it is decorated with seasonal floral wealth that showcases the state’s indigenous plant diversity with emphasizes on medicinal plants.Both wild and cultivated leaves, flowers, fruits and tubers are used to decorate the matoli. The tradition forms an informal means of passing on knowledge of plants and their uses from one generation to another.

The matoli consists of all the fruits and vegetables that are available during the season. A traditional matoli consists of fruits like chikoo, banana, orange, melon, mango called porus ambe, apple, guava, breadfruit, pomegranate, pummelo (toringe), maulinge toringe, custard apple, coconut, pineapple, betel nut and many other fruits available in each region of the state. Vegetables comprise banana flower, pumpkin, lady finger, cucumber and different type of gourds. The list of berries include matulo, kangleo, nagsheo, gagrueo, kounna and karane, while the flowers include haranche fulla,

matuliche fulla, maddachi painni and of course, mango leaves.

Uses of few wild matoli plants.

1. Celastrus paniculatus: oil of therapeutic value is extracted from the seed known as Black-oil (Oleum nigrum); herbal drug as galactogogue.

2. Dioscorea bulbifera: tubers dried, powdered and applied to ulcers and also used in piles and dysentery.

3. Celosia argentea: seeds used in diarrhoea, eye troubles and mouth sore.

4. Connarus monocarpus: pulp of fruit used in eye troubles, root yield an oil applied to swellings.

5. Luffa acutangula: ripe seeds are purgative. Oil cake rich in nitrogen, used as manure.

6. Flacourtia jangomas: fruits contain tannin, seeds contain fixed oil, leaves and young shoots are stringent and stomachic.

7. Cucumis sativus: seeds have a number of ayurvedic properties.

8. Tabernaemontana alternifolia: roots chewed for relief from tooth-ache.

9. Costus speciosus: accredited with purgative and tonic properties, root used as tonic and anthelmintic.

10. Curcuma longa: rhizome highly medicinal.

11. Adenia hondala: roots and fruits poisonous.

12. Senecio belgaumensis: roots yield nerve tonic, emetic.

13. Michelia champaca: flowers are source of champa oil, bark contains tannins. 

14. Exacum bicolor: Plant pacifies vitiated pitta, inflammation, hemorrhage, fever and burning sensation and also it is used as a tonic, febrifuge, stomachic and skin disease, used as anti diabetic. 

15. Sterculia guttata: has larvicidal properties.

16. Zingiber zerumbet: rhizomes extracts have been used in Malay traditional medicine to treat various types of ailments like inflammatory- and pain-mediated diseases, worm infestation and diarrhea.

List of plants.

Botanical Name	Family
Abelmoschus esculentus	Malvaceae
Adenia hondala	Passifloraceae
Ananas cosmosus	Bromaliaceae
Annona sqamosa	Annonaceae
Areca catechu	Aracaceae
Areca macrocalyx	Aracaceae
Calamus rotang	Aracaceae
Celastrus paniculatus	Celastraceae
Celosia argentea var. argentea	Amaranthaceae
Cheilocostus speciosus	Costaceae
Citrus limon	Rutaceae
Citrus maxima	Rutaceae
Cocos nucifera	Aracaceae
Colocasia esculenta	Araceae
Connarus monocarpus	Connoraceae
Cucumis melo	Cucurbitaceae
Cucumis sativus	Cucurbitaceae
Cucurbita pepo	Cucurbitaceae
Curcuma longa	Zingiberaceae
Dioscorea bulbifera	Dioscoreaceae
Dioscorea sp.	Dioscoreaceae
Exacum tetragonum/bicolor	Gentianaceae
Ficus carica	Moraceae
Flacourtia indica	Salicaceae
Lagenaria siceraria	Cucurbitaceae
Luffa acutangula	Cucurbitaceae
Malus pumila	Rosaceae
Manilkara zapota	Sapotaceae
Michelia champaca	Magnoliaceae
Momordica charantia	Cucurbitaceae
Musa paradisiaca	Musaceae
Piper nigrum	Piperaceae
Psidium guajava	Myrtaceae
Psychotria  dalzellii	Rubiaceae
Punica granatum	Lythraceae
Pyrus communis	Rosaceae
Senecio sp.	Asteraceae
Spondias pinnata	Annacardiaceae
Sterculia guttata	Sterculiaceae
Tabernaemontana alternifolia	Apocynaceae
Terminalia elliptica	Combretaceae
Trichosanthes cucumerina	Cucurbitaceae
Zea mays	Poaceae
Zingiber zerumbet	Zingiberaceae

Photographs of few matoli exhibited at Banastarim Market.
 

Missing Facilities:

—No proper infrastructural development.

—Lacks of proper drainage system.

—Poor quality of basic facilities like illumination, water supply.

—No proper ventilation.

—Lack of overhead support and minimal sitting arrangements.

—No distinct area for other local sellers.

—Area not well maintained in terms of cleanliness. Gives an overall congested appearance.

Suggestions to promote festival market:

—A separate, well ventilated area could be arranged or the existing area could be transformed.

—Installing proper gating system to avoid stray dogs, cattles, etc from entering and hence destroying the displayed products.

—Creating awareness and encouraging the youth to volunteer in spreading the local knowledge regarding displayed products atleast a week prior to matoli market.

—Put up creatively decorated stalls to attract more local as well as foreign tourists.

—Encouraging children to participate in collection of locally available plants adding to overall enthusiasm.

—Arrangements to provide basic refreshments and meals for the vendors as well as for visitors.

To provide a reliable parking space for vehicles.