Abstract:
“Ashta Garunda Chakraya”, also known as “Ashta Guruluwa”, is unique traditional
astrological systems that resemble the eight directions via eight animal energies
while utilizing the interactions between nine planets, stars and rashi in the astrology.
It is mainly composed of five major components, namely, “Brahma Guruluwa”,
“Vishnu Guruluwa”, “Shiva Guruluwa”, “Uma Guruluwa” and “Indra Guruluwa”.
The current study attempted to evaluate the efficacy and applicability of the Ashta
Garunda Chakraya for repelling of macro herbivores that prey upon agricultural
crops. Eight agricultural areas were selected randomly within the kurunegala and
Nuwara Eliya districts as the intervention sites. The auspicious time that can repel
the target herbivores was calculated at each instance and four sticks that could
emerge the energy of the auspicious time were placed at the four boundaries of the
selected agricultural plot. At each occasion four sticks similar to the above ones were
placed in the neighbouring agricultural plot without following along with specific
auspicious time as the control. The numbers of target pests (elephants, buffaloes,
wild boars, rats and monkeys) that enter both intervention and control sites were
enumerated throughout a year, while inspecting any damage done to the crops. As
suggested by the results, zero damage was done to the cultivated crops by the target
pests (except for the case of monkeys) within the intervention land plots in contrast
to the control sites, at which a notable damage was observed. For the case of
monkeys, it was observed that the effective period of the method lasted for only 5-7
days. In conclusion, it can be recommended that the “Ashta Garunda Chakraya”
could be utilized as an eco-friendly solution for repelling of macro herbivorous pests
(except for the arboreal species such as monkeys) in agricultural activities to
minimize the impact of pests.
