NOMADISM IN THE HIMALAYAS AND MODERN DAY PAKISTAN

(A HISTORICAL NARRATIVE)

For 2.5 million years, humans were hunters and gatherers. It is only 10,000 years ago, humans engaged themselves with sowing seeds and rearing animals such as sheep. Prior to that, hunting and gathering was prevalent. During this phase, hunters and gatherers were mobile but their area of movement was limited within small regions. According to Louis Leaky their movements were restricted to specific territories. Tracing the history of these people is an arduous task due to limited information. However, we do know that these groups which usually consisted of 30-50 members were on continuous move in search of food. These hunters and gatherers passed through a process of change and development with the a certain period of time which is called as "The Great Transformation", when the Holocene era began making the weather warmer ushered many changes across the globe. For example, in Europe the snow melted away and forests grew, similarly in West Asia deserts waned and forests grew. This resulted in new adaptation by hunter gatherers. It was during this period that the foragers began cultivating plants. However, they did not settle down. This devised new forms of adaptation which were Pastoral Nomadism and Agriculture. The first evidence of cultivation was found in the Levant with a variety of crops. However, with the advent of the Bronze Age and the emergence of civilizations such as the Indus Valley Civilization, Mesopotamian, Egyptian civilization etc. Agriculture became the central part of the lives of the people. Humans now started settling, the small societies with more spare time started focusing on other aspects of life.

Hunter Gatherers.(source: history.com)

By this time, the hunting and gathering started waning away. Now, the food could be grown, which eliminated the dependence of humans on hunting and gathering which in turn resulted in the formation of Urban societies, which is also termed as "Urban Revolution". The term "Urban Revolution" was coined by Gordon V Childe. He also coined the term "Neolithic Revolution '' in his book Man Makes Himself (1936) in which he stated that this earmarked the beginning of a change from hunting and gathering to a permanent settled phase where humans began cultivating and breeding animals for food. The characteristics features of the Neolithic Revolution being domestication of plants and animals and farming along with the use of pottery, weaving etc. So by this time, humans who were mobile, now became settled. Due to this humans adopted a sedentary lifestyle and relied on farming, which also led to the food sufficiency and surge in the population. This was also a cue for the advent of sedentism. It is crucial to note here that some scholars have rejected the notion of 'Revolution' to signify the change. Gordon V Childe considers food production as the greatest economic revolution after the invention of fire. This clearly led to the sedentary way of living, since the food grown could be stored and used at the time of crisis, people engaged themselves in other productive activities in order to improve their lives. This also resulted in severe change in the pattern of settlement, which as discussed above gave rise to the villages and on a large scale; a civilization. Historically, this shift was possible in most cases due to the domestication of plants and animals. Domestication of animals was the first step towards Pastoral Nomadism. According to Sandor Bokonyi "Domestication is a long and complicated process. It was the culmination of experience and knowledge gained through tens of thousands of generations of hunting and by tracing behavior of wild animals"(History of Humanity).

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Pastoralism is dependent on the breeding of herd animals which are central to the economy of such societies. Examples of herd animals being sheep, goat, buffalo, yak, horse, camel etc. For the survival of their herd, such societies require pasture land to feed the herds. Hence, the Pastoral society maintains a periodic mobility, moving to specific grazing lands with their herds. Semi nomadic pastoralism is characterized by domestication/breeding of animals along with agriculture as the secondary or supplementary activity. Again, it should be kept in mind that the definition of these terms vary according to the geographical location. For example, in North Eurasia semi nomadic pastoralism includes other economic activities as well. One of the variations which is predominant in semi nomadic pastoralism is the condition in which men move out with the livestock and women are engaged in agriculture. Shifting cultivation could be an excellent example to demonstrate how semi nomadic pastoralism operates. According to Soviet ethnographers the social organization could be divided on two fronts viz; communal ownership of pasture and family ownership of herds. In contrast sedentary farming began in North Western India around 900 BCE. By definition, sedentary farming is a form of agriculture in which the same land is used every year. Generally the farmers are settled and do not move, so the mobility factor remains absent among these societies. Compared to other human societies, pastoral nomads too engaged themselves with outside world. According to A.M Khazanov, pastoralism developed due to interaction with the sedentary agriculturalists. He propounded that nomads could never have existed in "isolation" and their emergence was a late phenomenon that occurred after early Neolithic agriculture became completely sedentary. Also, it formed regional and interregional "interactions" and apparently relied upon external economies via trade, barter etc.

AM Khazanov (Anthropologist and Historian)

**Comparing semi nomadic pastoralism and sedentary farming becomes an area of research and a humongous task in itself. The research in this field is limited which limits the ability to gather more information about the way we could actually compare the two societies and that too bringing them together in the realms of history. Considering the geographical extent of our country and regions asked in the question, the task of framing a comprehensive answer is grueling. There will be always a scope of expansion. Seemingly all regions couldn't be covered considering the extent of geographical locations mentioned. Hence, I will try to cover the answer with respect to socio-political, economic and cultural aspect in addition with the role of modernization and mobility rather than the regional focus. In this way, some of the important regions would be discussed through the spectacles of history.

SOCIO-POLITICAL STRUCTURE :

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V A Smith in 1919 proposed that pastoral nomadism was present in Rig Vedic society. This theory received archeological validation from V Gordon Childe in 1924.Eventually,through the writings of D.D Kosambi this found an eminent place in the arena of Marxist Historiography. The Nomadic way of life was seen as barbaric, however the societies of pastoral nomads are not violent, though it appears they conquered territories by force, which is again a matter of thorough investigation. Indubitably, they have founded empires. This enabled the historians to look at social and political institutions of nomadic societies that have been steered by their military characters, by their defense, and cohesion. At times, feudalism was also credited to nomads, it was Vladimir Tov who put forward this theory.(Mongol Nomad Feudalism). L.P Potapov says that nomads passed through three different stages viz; as pastoral nomads, primitive communism, patriarchal society and feudalism. According to Tolybekov, he claims that no feudalism is possible without sedentarization. He rejected the notion of feudalism in nomadic pastoral societies. It is important to mention that Tolybekov himself characterized the nomadic societies as "patriarchal feudalism" though he terms it as "transitional" with feeble feudal traits. Several Western scholars have termed the social structure as "segmentary", with less political centralized, wide distribution of power, feeble political participation and the practice of mutual aid and self defense.

Pastoralists have immensely influenced the course of history. They have hugely influenced the political system of civilizations in India. Also, it's worth mentioning that they were not linked to changing social trends outside their geographical locations. For example: mountain pastoralists of the Himalayas have remained isolated. It is also true that due to this aloofness, we do not seem to have garnered much information about them. WH Newells and Veena Bhasin's study of Gaddis have provided relevant information about them. Similarly we tend to find a bulk of information about Gujjars and Bakarwals of Jammu and Kashmir.

Gujjars of Jammu and Kashmir

Due to environmental and social factors, semi nomadic pastoralism evolved historically in different parts of modern day Pakistan. Baluchistan in west Pakistan is populated by Balouch tribes. Historically, Balouch flocked into the region around 200-250 years ago. These are nomads but also prefer farming to supplement their livelihood. Linguistic and historical evidence suggest their arrival in 1100 AD. Socially, they were engaged as warriors and included in the fighting forces. They were required to serve their leader who was known as "Sardar or Hokam". Due to the scarcity of water, when Balouch people moved here, they turned towards breeding and herding of sheep and goat. According to some sources, they came to Baluchistan for refuge due to power tussles between Safavid, Uzbegs and the Mughal empire. For example people of Salah Koh are Balouch. Since there was no food in the mountains, they wandered and eventually took shelter in political organizations under Hokams/Sardars. Also, they were the best riders as well as fighters who actively raided their adjoining areas for their survival. Hence, traditionally Balouch formed the fighting force of the chiefs. Many of them owned slaves as well, who were generally East Africans and Oman, while others were captured during the raids especially Persians. Strong attachment to their lands is prevalent among Balouch since the time immemorial. Today when sedentary farming has arrived, and modernization has occurred, they have gone isolated. Due to Land Reforms, the area under these tribes has reduced and this has got replaced by sedentism.

HUNZA VALLEY, PAKISTAN

Copyright: Bruno Morandi
                                                  

Similarly, in Pakistan we also witness Hunza Valley as the bastion of semi nomadic pastoralists. Hunza Valley was a central trading route from central Asia to the subcontinent. It is a mountainous region in the northern part of Gilgit Baltistan. In the past, the Burusho tribe used to dwell in the villages called "Khan". The lower valley was populated with Shina speaking settlers who were called Shinaki. Moving slightly towards the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, we happen to witness a perfect example of semi nomadic pastoralism among the Gujjars and Bakarwals. Gujjars appeared in 5th or 6th century AD India which is a conjecture. Actually, we find several historical references and anecdotes about the origin of Gujjars. Here it is none of our concern. The social organization of Gujjars in the earliest times remained nomadic but with the period of time they shifted towards semi nomadic pastoralism.The primary functional unit in their social system is called as "Dera". In contrast to the sedentary population, the lifestyle of these people is tough. They live in "Dhoks" which is a wooden hut surrounded by muds and obviously they lived here with their flocks for a long time. Also since they are semi semi-nomadic, they used to migrate in search of pastures towards Peer Panjal range. Gujjars adopted nomadism because they had to counter the invaders. In "Tareekh e Gujjar" Rana Ali Hasan Chauhan writes, when the Gujjar strengthened their position, they revolted against the Mughals under their commander Ahmed Sultan Gujjar. In 1618 AD when Jehangir was traveling and tried to enter Kashmir, he was stopped by Ahmed Ali Gujjar and was threatened by him. Jehangir, in 1620 defeated Ahmed Ali Gujjar who had declared himself as the ruler of Kashmir. In this battle a large number of Gujjar soldiers were slaughtered. Jehangir also ordered the slaughter and confiscation of their lands from them. Many Gujjars got frightened and hence they fled leaving behind their native land and took shelter in the upper hills of Peer Panjal range to protect themselves from the atrocities of the Mughal army. (Nomadic and Semi Nomadic Tribes - KD Maini).

Gaddis of Himachal Pradesh

The mountains of Himachal Pradesh inhabits the agro pastoral communities. According to B S Parmar(1959) peasants of Himachal prefered to keep large flocks of sheep and goats instead of agriculture. Gaddis of Brahmaur/Gaddis spent most of their year shepherding while some of them also worked as servants in other people's houses. This enabled a mutual relationship and a social interaction between the settled and tribal population of Gaddis. A "warisi" was the hereditary right of a Gaddi family to graze its flock which originated from a title granted by the Raja. (JB Lyall). For this they used to pay fixed rent in cash. A person or warisi used ti to be the "master of the flocks"(mahlundi). The mahlundi used to negotiate with the rulers on behalf of other shepherds obviously for pasture lands. The legitimacy of "warisi" was even recognized by the British officials, hence it could be said that they had a considerable amount of power in their hands. A "Trini" was the grazing tax. Gaddi society, unlike the rest of the nomadic societies, was not egalitarian.

Raikas of Rajasthan

In Rajasthan, we see "Raikas" shepherds. These are the pastoral community herding camels, goats and sheep. Considering the low rainfall and scarcity of vegetation in most parts of Rajasthan, it's quite apparent that Raikas were more involved in pastoralism rather than cultivation or sedentary farming. Raikas in search of pastures used to move from one place to another. They used to move in numbers to almost 50 persons per camp. The leader of the camp was called Nambardar. The second in command of the camp was called as Kamdar. Mukhiya was the leader of the flocks. The first reference to Raikas dates back to the time of Mughal emperor Akbar. In Ain-e-Akbari they are mentioned as camel experts, and in another source it's mentioned that they were the only people who knew how to milk camels. (Ibbotsons) Later on the Maharajah of Rajasthan too established camel corps (shuturkhana) and camel breeding herds (tola). All this was taken care of by the Raikas. Bawarias are also buffalo herding community which used to live near the forests but with time started living in makeshift tents called “Dera”.

Diving deep into the regional population of other regions would be beyond the scope of the answer. More or less the central idea as to how socio-political could be a factor in drawing a parallel between the semi nomadic pastoralists and settled farmers is being conveyed.

ECONOMIC AND CULTURAL STRUCTURE :

Generally speaking, the ethnographic details of the social and political sphere of pastoral life are rich as we have discussed. Khazanov (Nomads and the outside world) says that the economic relationship is dependent upon the private ownership of livestocks rather than ownership of pastures. This means that the livestock in terms of economic value was the most important thing among these people. Also,Khazanov vehemently supports the idea that there was an intricate relationship between the sedentary or settled community and the nomadic tribes which was established by a network of exchange. They used to obtain grain and other products in exchange for their animals. This clearly indicates the presence of a barter system. Khazanov also states that the pastoral economy was unstable and lacked self sufficiency. And hence, it would have never existed without the assistance of the outside world. On the other hand their economy which revolved mainly around pastoralism proved to be quite efficient in the sense that it was able to provide a stable food producing economy in arid, semi arid, and tundra zones. This also means that pastoral nomadism can be seen as an alternative subsistence system suited to regions otherwise unsuitable for plant based agriculture (Galaty and John) . Herd animals are an asset to their owners. Khazanov views" pastoral nomadism as a food producing economy based on animal husbandry". According to Marxist Historians, the Rigvedic economy was based upon pastoralism. R S Sharma termed this economy as marked by loot and herding. It should be noted that agriculture was mentioned in the sixth book of Rigveda and refers to an urvara providing subsistence to a thousand people. But I believe this can't be explained in terms of pastoralism.

Pasture Land, Himalayas

For semi nomadic people, the control over pasture was important to fuel their economy, since their economy hinged upon their assets which were animals/herds. During the Mughal times, the grazing rights were fairly well developed. One of the primary sources which corroborates this is Ain-e-Akbari which states that tax was paid on cattles, if the person was not a cultivator. It's pretty apparent that these provisions were meant for the nomadic people. In certain regions usufructuary rights were apparent during this time. One such area was Chamba of Himachal Pradesh, where land grants were quite common, and ultimately these lands were used as pasture land by nomadic people. These lands were donated by the Rajahs or the rulers. Also, reserved land was fairly common in the region which was called Ghali. For example the Land of Gaddi shepherds was called Ghali. This also points to the fact that the pasture land was depleting during this period. Historically, the mountainous people were accustomed to trade and transportation which relied upon animal husbandry as well. Initially, they did not practice crop cultivation to supplement their economy, later on they resorted to cultivation. A "trini" was levied in the regions of Chamba of Himachal. Migratory flocks of professional shepherds had to pay more taxes than the local peasants. Trini was collected in the form of wool or sheep and goats. Gaddi who were primarily shepherds passed through a number of villages while moving from one place to another. These villages provided them with resources but at the same time they used to charge a fee from Gaddis especially those villages which were located near the mountain passes or river crossings. Also, during the winter season, these flocks were used by peasants to manure their fields. For this the shepherds were paid a handsome amount by the peasants. This proves the point that the nomadic tribes and sedentary farmers were interdependent upon each other in many ways. The imposition of Forest Laws by British colonial government had immensely affected the economy. The practice of taxing the goats and sheep was dominant under the British rule. The tax allowed the flocks to graze, somewhat like modern day toll taxes.

In the Hunza Valley, one of the major sources of revenue was taxation on livestocks. Every summer, Khirgiz nomads used to come for fresh pastures, since they used to travel to a territory which they didn't own; they were obliged to pay grazing taxes to the Mir. It is interesting to note that Mir Silum Khan III expanded his territory to accrue more benefits out of taxations. But on the flip side it also discouraged animal husbandry in the Hunza Valley. Hence, the population of these tribes reduced or it won't be wrong to say that they resorted to some other occupation. Talking about Baloch, historically, they used to supplement their subsistence by regular raiding. In maintaining their relationship with the settled peasants of the region, economy did play an important role. Due to the unavailability of natural resources and flooding in the region, it was difficult for the Baloch to survive on agriculture. Also, for a significant period of time they remained too isolated from the neighboring areas. Point with the passage of time, their economy got hitched to settlers. For example, the peasants needed clarified butter and the nomads needed dates. So there was an exchange which might have had an impact not only in fueling their economy but also to frame a socio-cultural bond with the settlers.

Baloch People, Pakistan

Gujjars of Jammu and Kashmir, have retained their unique lifestyle, and for the centuries their main source of livelihood and economy is fueled by dairy and animal products. In Rajasthan, Raikas too employed themselves with the Maharajahs to supplement their pocket and to sustain they were primarily dependent upon their flocks. Some of the points about them have been already covered, for example they were employed by the Rajahs. Since they reared sheep, it's very common that they too developed their interdependence on the locals. Historically, they were the ones who used to sell their sheep and sheep products such as wool.
Nomads do not seem to have much influence on the culture, since they lived their life in isolation. Many times, they were despised by the local populations. This hate reached its culmination during colonial rule when the British considered them as culturally backwards. Again, it's quite obvious that semi nomadic pastoralists and sedentary farmers followed different cultures,and differed in their beliefs, customs and practices. With the rise of colonialism and nationalism, these nomads were seen as primitive subjects. Tom Allsen has portrayed a complex picture of the relations between nomads and the societies. He showed that "the nomads significantly contributed to cross cultural exchange as active participants who transferred elements from one civilization to another". It is worth noting that the nomadic culture was never isolated, because of their mobility and interactions with the sedentary population. Thus it could be said that, historically, nomads acted as the agent of cultural change. Gujjars have rich cultural heritage, they have their own language "Gojri" which is a derivative of Indo-Aryan language. They have their own costumes, food habits. Bawarias of Rajasthan have their distinct culture and religious beliefs than the local communities. According to Rao and Casimir, when communication and roads were limited, nomads played an important role as carriers of news, goods and resources from other societies.

MOBILITY AND MODERNIZATION :

Historically, we could say the hunter gatherers were "wanderers". They moved from one place to another, gathered food, and hunted animals. With the passage of time especially, with the Neolithic Revolution, emergence of settlement occurred, and then of course rise of civilizations. It is interesting to note that mobility attained a central theme in drawing distinction between settled and nomads. Semi nomadic pastoralism is characterized by mobility, for example the mountain pastoralists like Himalayan Pastoralists who move from the lower valley to upper and upper valley to lower valley seasonally with their flocks. This pattern of movement defines them. Elaborating the concept of mobility would be again beyond the scope of answer which would only make this writing lengthy and repetitive. Also, I have drawn a distinction between wanderers and nomads already, plus we all know that many nomadic societies grew into large empires due to their military conquests and expansion. Sheep and goat pastoralism is a feature of traditional mountain societies. Gaddis, Gujjars, Bakarwals, Balochs, Kaulis etc followed the traces of resources for their flocks and this whole process was chiefly characterized by their mobility patterns. A large variety of pastoral systems are classified by the degree of mobility. According to Khazanov and Arbos, the extent of mobility was inversely proportional to the sedentarization. Thus, the mobility decreased with increase in sedentary activities. The settled phase where sedentary activities increased. Centuries after centuries people started settling down. One of the key factors in determining this was Modernization with its sub factors being industrialization, colonialism and nationalism. Modernization paved the way for the rise of many settled communities, still the nomads chose to remain isolated. However, some of them simply absorbed themselves in search of new opportunities and livelihood. For example, Balochs became warriors for their chiefs. Raikas also became servants of the Rajahs of Rajasthan. Bawarias became chowkidars. Also with modernization many forests were cut down, and many nomadic tribes were shifted from the native place to elsewhere. Example: Balochs and Gaddis. The concept of taxation was introduced which again deprived many nomadic communities of their native regions. Modernization remains an alien concept for most pastoral nomads, and the planning and policies of government are aimed at pastoralists. Until these nomadic groups remain isolated and primitive and refuse to become an integrated part of modern society, they won't be able to connect themselves with development.

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Sources:
~Nomads and the Outside World (AM Khazanov)
~Sapiens (Yuval Noah Harari)
~A History of Ancient and Early… (Upinder Singh)
~Early India ( Romila Thapar)
~Nomads as the agent of Cultural Change (Amitai and Biran)
~Archaeology and the Rigveda ( RN Nandi)


Suggested Readings;
~Debates on Nomadic Feudalism ( Ernst Gellner)
~Nomadism in Balochistan (Brian Spooner)
~The Gujjars Vol 06 (Javaid Rahi)
~Constructing the Peasant society of Rigveda (Vijay Kumar Thakur)
~Pastoralists of Himalayas (Veena Bhasin)
~Mobility and Cooperation.. The case of Raikas (Arun Agarwal)
~Pastoral nomadism in the Archaeology of India and Pakistan (Lawrence S. Leshnik)
~Nomadic Hunting Community of Eastern Rajasthan (Bahar Dutt)
~Pastoral people and Shepherding Practices in Western Himalaya (Chetan Singh)
~Mountain Pastoralism (Montero, Mathieu and Chetan Singh)