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Apama Rao
Anthropos 90.1995
access to the latter’s grazing lands. While access to
water is generally unrestricted in the summer area
with its ubiquitous streams, in winter water rights
with their concomittant salt-lick areas are mainly
leased from the State or from peasants. Beyond a
two-generational extended family there are neither
common grazing areas, nor joint herding units and
hence, unlike among say, West Afghan Pashtuns
(Glatzer 1977: 50, Glatzer and Casimir 1983), here
shepherds are hired only by individual households.
I shall now briefly discuss the acquisition, man
agement, and evolution of pastoral labour in five
different phases of Bakkarwal history.
Phase I: Relations of Mutuality
(ca. 1830 - ca. 1910)
The first documentary reference to the Bakkar
wal (“bakarwàn”) in Jammu and Kashmir is dat
ed from 1899 (McDonell 1899: 15). Neither this
nor any subsequent document found refers to the
existence of hired shepherds, and the terms “gra
zier,” “goatherd,” and “shepherd” indiscriminately
denote both owners and tenders. However, the
existence in this period of specific men who had
few animals themselves, but helped others in tend
ing theirs is attested in numerous conversations
and life histories recorded. These men were, and
still are known as ajri, and their job as ajar,
a term still used in Swat for goat breeders (Van
Banning 1985: 34). When the ancestors of con
temporary Bakkarwal migrated into Jammu and
Kashmir from the valleys of Aliai and Kunhar in
present day Pakistan, they came as individuals or
in small groups of nuclear and extended families
(Rao 19887?). These individuals and families came
to form several sodalities which were economical
ly far from homogenous. Within each such cor
porate group (biradari) the richer supported the
poor, partly due to kinship obligations and partly
out of feelings of Islamic piety. In both ideological
contexts osh played its part, for it enabled “wealthy
men to help and support the poor ... it was the ca
pacity for sympathy [hamdardi] - created through
enough osh - which helped them overcome their
desire for self-enrichment.” Partly in exchange for
this help many of the poorer men helped tend
the flocks of their benefactors. Their wives and
children “helped in the households of the wealthier
to kindle the fire, fetch wood, fodder, and water.
When they grew too old or sick to help their grown
sons, and sometimes even their daughters, took on
these tasks.” These relationships were “a mutual
thing - if I do this for you, you will also help me.”
However, at this stage these patterns of help were
not institutionalized into “lop-sided friendships”
(Pitt-Rivers 1954: 140), as they were to become
some years later.
Phase II: The Growth of Inequality
(ca. 1911 - ca. 1947)
Elsewhere it has been shown (Casimir and Rao in
press) that wealthy Bakkarwal men have long had
large consanguineal kin-groups, and that specific
units of social organization (Rao 1988a) have been
linked to them. The largest of these units is a tola,
i.e., a migrating unit at its maximum; the smallest
unit is a kumba, a term denoting a collection of nu
clear or extended families descended from one liv
ing man. Many of these wealthy men, traditionally
known as mukaddam (< Arab/Pers. muqaddam),
were widely respected and considered exemplary
for their personal qualities, notably their wisdom,
their bravery, and their generosity.
Towards the early years of this century the
Bakkarwal had several wealthy men of influence
within the community, but whose relative influ
ence is said to have been of little consequence.
This was to change as a response to the sys
tem of indirect rule they were soon subjected
to. The colonial administration had experience in
collecting land taxes in North India through the
institution of the lambardar, a man, representing
several smaller landholders. Following this model,
each larger grouping of Bakkarwal was assigned a
lambardar from among the existing mukaddams;
some of these were designated by the administra
tion, others were chosen by themselves. Thus the
number of more or less informal men of influence
was officially reduced to a few formal leaders, and
from among the mukaddams a few selected were
elevated to higher positions of authority. These
lambardars were paid a small salary and were
held responsible for law and order within their
respective groupings. They were also in charge of
procuring animals on the hoof which were destined
to be compulsorily sold for meat to the British
Indian Army. The primary task of these lambar
dars was, however, to collect grazing taxes from
the herd owners of their groups and submit these
to the Government. Hence, the larger a grouping,
and the greater the revenue forthcoming, the more
important it became. The lambardars of the largest
groupings thus also automatically became - or at
least were confirmed officially in their roles as -
the most important men, politically. Since, howev
er, for every unit of tax collected a lambardar got