Author: moikikorim

It is an elongated implement with a shovel shaped or pan-shaped head for carrying water attached to a long bamboo handle. It is made of bamboo strips by fastening one with another. The main body is triangular in shape with a handle. It is used for pullout water from one place to another during agricultural activities or while fishing.

The bow and arrow is an age-old hunting implement. The bow is the elastic launching device and the arrows are long projectiles having a pointed tip. These are mostly made of split bamboos and used by the most of the ethnic communities for chasing and hunting animals like birds, rabbits, deer, porcupine, boars etc. A flexible and sturdy bamboo is selected which can be bend up to an arc. A string prepared of the upper skin of young bamboo plant with two notches on both sides is tied to the two limbs of the bow with small chords. The chords are made of jute. The bamboo slits used for making the arrow are straightened by wrapping them in taro (Colocasia esculenta) or sal (Shorea robusta) leaves and heating them slowly over fire. On one end of the shaft, an iron tip is notched whereas on the other end, a pile of uniformly trimmed feathers (mostly of eagle/vulture/pigeon) is tied or stuck into small gouges made on the surface of the bamboo. In earlier days it was used as a weapon for defense against intruders and even dangerous animals, now its usage is limited to simple hunting activities.

Jekhai is a fishing scoop made of bamboo used for catching fish from shallow ponds, rivers and paddy fields. This triangular basket-shaped scoop with a handle is mostly used by women fishers. There is a flexible jute or plastic wire connected from one edge to the other of the scoop. This is used for dragging purpose, in the low water or muddy water for catching small fish. Moreover, this implement is dragged in the water channel or shallow water bed for churning up the water or while trampling the weed and the fish which enters the scoop eventually get caught.