INTERPLAY OF OCCUPATION AND CULTURE: UNDERSTANDING THE PASTORALISTS OF PULIKULAM AND KANGAYAM BREEDS IN TAMIL NADU Submitted by V G Krithika H2017RDGM032 A Project report submitted in Partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Rural Development and Governance School of Livelihoods and Development Tata Institute of Social Sciences Hyderabad 2019 DECLARATION I, V G Krithika, hereby declare that this dissertation entitled ‘Interplay of Occupation and Culture: Understanding the Pastoralists of Pulikulam and Kangayam Breeds in Tamil Nadu’ is the outcome of my own study undertaken under the guidance of Dr. K.P. Rajesh, Assistant Professor, School of Livelihoods and Development, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Hyderabad. It has not previously formed the basis for the award of any degree, diploma, or certificate of this Institute or of any other institute or university. I have duly acknowledged all the sources used by me in the preparation of this dissertation. 20 March 2019 V.G. KRITHIKA ii CERTIFICATE This is to certify that the dissertation entitled ‘Interplay of Occupation and Culture: Understanding the Pastoralists of Pulikulam and Kangayam Breeds in Tamil Nadu’ is the record of the original work done by V.G. Krithika under my guidance and supervision. The results of the research presented in this dissertation/thesis have not previously formed the basis for the award of any degree, diploma, or certificate of this Institute or any other institute or university. 20 March 2019 Dr. K.P. Rajesh Assistant Professor, School of Livelihoods and Development, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Hyderabad iii Contents Abstract_________________________________________________________________vii Chapter I Introduction.............................................................................................................................1 Chapter II Review of Literature................................................................................................................8 Chapter III Evolution of Kangayam and Pulikulam breed of Cattle: A Historical account……………...21 Chapter IV Occupation and Culture: Caste, Class and Gender...................................................................28 Chapter V Sport of Sallikattu: Looking beyond the Hump and the Bull...................................................42 Chapter VI De-layering the Occupation: Way forward..............................................................................53 References................................................................................................................................60 Annexures Interview Schedules used for the study...................................................................................viii iv Acknowledgments This dissertation is an outcome of varied levels of interactions, insights, inquisitive dialogues and support that I have received from so many people. There were times I did not wish to proceed further, there were times I wanted to give up and there were also times when I felt really elated about what I was working on. Thanks are due to so many people who have backed me throughout this experience. Writing this has been fulfilling with a satisfaction of having contributed a minuscule work to a domain I hold enormous love and interest towards. Transcending all of this, presenting this as a complete work at the end, places me in a stream of mixed emotions. First and foremost, I wish to thank Dr. Rajesh, for being a wonderful guide, enabling me to improvise and move further at every juncture of this study. His meticulous reading of my work and timely suggestions has made a huge difference to this work, streamlining my thoughts. It has been a truly enriching experience to learn the aspects of research writing. If not for him, this work would have never crystallised into what it is. My respects and gratitude to Dr. Johny Stephen for enabling me to visualise my ideas and guiding me with the initial stages of framing my study topic. My heartfelt thanks to Dr. Krithi for the conversations which helped me in choosing my topic and for the support and motivation. Most important credits and love are to the pastoralists for providing me with their narratives and conversing with me through their actual raw emotions. It was truly an honour to listen to their tales of grit and perseverance, throwing up a whole different perspective about the occupation to me. The connect with many of them extended much beyond the field work and I am grateful for their extended support and responses whenever I’ve contacted them. Two most important people need to be acknowledged, whose detailed responses enabled to develop a comprehensive picture of this study – Thiru. Karthikeya Sivasenapathy and Thiru. Raja Marthandan. Senapathy Sir, right from hearing him for the first time during Sallikattu protests to meeting him for my interview on this dissertation, has contributed some insightful information, by patiently answering my questions and introducing me to rich sources of literature on this topic. I am thankful to Senapathy Kangayam Cattle Research Foundation for supporting me, connecting me with the respondents. v Thiru. Raja Marthandan and Dhenu Cattle Conservation Foundation, deserves a special mention for having provided me with an opportunity to work with the pastoralists and for connecting me to a large and diverse set of respondents. From addressing my concerns and providing opinions at different junctures, his role and contribution to the study has been very significant. Thanks for making me a part of Sempulam and for the support whenever I’ve reached out. My love and gratitude to my family for holding me all through this process and being there for me all throughout. Ushi and Ganesan - my parents, have been understanding and backing me up always, motivating me to reach until the very end. Their assurance was very important in finishing this work and I’m glad that they’re there for me. I owe a big shout-out to Paaru, Surya, Chaviti and Deeshu, my people over here, who’ve made me always feel that I’d be able to complete this, my love for all of them. Thanks for grounding me in peace of mind and by supporting me whenever throughout. To my juniors – Anju and Yugesh, for helping me out and caring to make sure that my work goes well. I’m thankful to both to them for it. I’m grateful to my senior Vishnu Karthik for having connected me to this field and associating me to such wonderful people. Many thanks for the discussions and dialogues I’ve had with him on this domain. Finally, my interest and curiosity towards exploring this field, would not have happened, if not for the Sallikattu protests that surprised me with such intense and massive turnout. Thanks for inspiring me towards getting into this field – a long engagement which has been and would continue to be stirring. Samarpanam. To every voice that fought for and brought back Sallikattu! vi Abstract Livestock are viewed as an integral part of rural households in India. A major number of households from different communities in Tamil Nadu are still dependent on cattle rearing as a primary source of their livelihood in which the livelihood rearing systems work on a complex web involving culture, beliefs and traditions. In other words, it exemplifies the development of a complex constellation between economy and culture. The rearing of the indigenous cattle breeds has faced a serious threat with the coming in of cross-breeds under the White revolution and mechanisation of agriculture. With the Sallikattu movement as the context, studying the occupation of indigenous cattle rearing, especially that of Pulikulam and Kangayam pastoralists in Tamil Nadu, to understand the intricacies involved and assessing the situation after the removal of the ban on Sallikattu presents an interesting topic to research and understand about. This study attempts to look at the occupation of indigenous cattle rearing, in specific to the case of Pulikulam and Kangayam cattle in Tamil Nadu through its interactions with the elements of caste, class and gender. The analysis focuses on the different dimensions of the occupation, de-layering the varied levels of influences of various factors that influence the occupation of indigenous cattle rearing. Placing the occupation as an embedded system that operates under the realm of culture and traditional systems, the study attempts to decode the different subtilities that arise as an outcome of this interplay. vii Chapter I Introduction 1.1. Introduction Livestock are viewed as an integral part of rural households in India. Being a part of the household’s asset portfolio, it acts as a security cover and mitigates risk for those households that hold them. Agriculture and possession of livestock such as cattle, goats, sheep and poultry have gone hand-in-hand with both having linkages. Cattle are viewed as a key resource in terms of provision of manure to the agricultural fields and play a much more significant role in terms of making the land ready for cultivation by ploughing and discharging manual work. India in specific has a rich diversity of indigenous cattle breeds. While the breeds in the Northern India are known for their milk capacity and are termed as milch breeds, the breeds that are present to the South of the Vindhyas are famous for their draught capacity. Coming down to the State of Tamil Nadu, a major number of households from different communities are still dependent on cattle rearing as a primary source of their