Indigenous Knowledge from Livelihood Perspectives in Rural Households of Sikkim: An Analysis

Abstract

The idea of making a living is closely associated to the development process the society has passed through. Literatures reveal that indigenous knowledge is practiced locally in different parts of the world to meet several pursuits. In context of Indian Society, indigenous knowledge has played an important role in several aspects of people's life. Especially when it comes to the context of people's livelihoods in Sikkim a state which very recently got transited from a Feudal to Democratic Federation in India, locally produced knowledge in many forms has been seen to be of great importance. Even though, Sikkim has undergone profound social, economic and technological change after merger, yet indigenous knowledge has shaped people's life through food cultures, basic healing methods, and conservation of natural resources through worshiping nature. Practice of the locally developed knowledge has collectively directed the way in which a living is made of the people in rural areas. Using random samples from 200 rural households, this paper complements and extends understandings of how indigenous knowledge is transmitted in practice to attain different objectives like management and conservation of resource, making of food, human survival and well being in rural Sikkim.