Pastoralism, Millets and the Ecology of Western Ghats

The Dhangars used to stay in the forests. Their main occupation was their animals. They would stay with their animals in the forests. Now in the forests you have all kinds of wild animals, like tigers, leopards, animals considered dangerous. Dhangars had to deal with it, and these encounters were known and internalised as a part of their lifestyle. Getting scared was not an option. A life day and night in the jungles was the lived experience of the Dhangars. Everything was the forest to them. It was a relationship that was established between the Dhangars and the forests. Within the forests it was their animals i.e. their cattle and goats, whatever domesticated animals the Dhangars had. Since they spent their whole life in the forests, the Dhangars formed a relationship with all living things in the forests. People live in the comforts of a city, in concrete buildings or modern towns, but you would not find Dhangars there. Dhangars would be found deep inside dense jungles including those of Goa and Karnataka, and not just any jungles but those of hilly regions. The reason for hills is because the environmental conditions needed for their livestock were conducive in the dongris i.e., hills. There are specific flies /insects that trouble their cattle because the insect embeds itself in the fur of their cattle. And it irritates them all night long. But in the high altitudes the winds are so strong it keeps the flies off the cattle. Hence the Dhangars preferred these regions to get relief for their cattle. Secondly, up in the big hills, the weather is pleasant and cool. Now it may look from down here that the hills, because they are subject to direct sun, would be very hot, but that’s not the case. At the foothills of these plateaus the surfaces are flat and it gets very hot. Their buffaloes were susceptible to the heat. But in the mountainous parts, that is the dongris, the winds are strong and cool as well, which works for their buffaloes. All resources that were needed to survive were available in the high hills for the community and their livestock. Fodder was plenty and good quality for the cattle and goats could get good shrubs, grass and leaves, available 12 months of the year. There were plenty of streams in the hills. So, the environmental conditions that were desirable for their livestock as well as the community were present in the hills of the Western Ghats. The health of the buffaloes and goats would also be good with such environment conditions and shelter, and with the protection from insects their milk production was good.. So the Dhangar settlements were found earlier in uphill regions such as Kala Matti and other areas.

We use Goat milk, we ourselves drink it, used in our tea and it was overall helpful in maintaining good health and building good immunity for us. The goats eat leaves, fruits, grass, shrubs in the forest and the milk has medicinal benefits, as goats usually eat natural herbs which we consider as ayurvedic. Dahi was made from goat milk, it was used for preparing tea. The food they needed was plenty in the forests. So they gave good milk. Because of their diet, the goat milk was very beneficial to infants so for the first 6 months to a year we would give infants goat milk to build their immunity and strength. We also had buffalo milk, but buffalo milk is different. The buffalo milk would give some people a cold. So we made cream, ghee, curd from buffalo milk as well as sold it commercially. But Goat milk is considered totally ayurvedic because goats eat leaves, shrubs, and small fruits of forest trees, so it was the best milk, and it was tasty as well. There is a kind of smell from goat milk but we Dhangars find it very tasty. We Dhangars prefer it. We like it, we don’t know how others find it, but we like it. It helps in better immunity. We were brought up by drinking goat milk and not by consuming other milk packaged milk or milk powder from the market. So, we grew up on this milk. Along with goats, we had buffaloes as well, but buffalo milk was cold because buffaloes drink a lot of water and they sit for a long time in water. Not everyone, but some of the community members would get a cold because of buffalo milk. So we preferred it for tea, ghee, and also gave it to the growing children.

Before, it was done jointly by everyone in the settlement. Later on, some did, some didn’t. Earlier, various crops like pakad, kudit (horse gram), vari, nachni, and kang all were cultivated, but each had its own time. For example, rala was cultivated very late in the season, while crops like nachni, rice, and vari were planted in July as they needed more rainfall and were grown at the start of the rainy season, especially in areas where water didn’t store. The others were planted as and when rainfall started to recede. The location would depend on the terrain, if the land was like this (slight incline) then we would plant nachni, if flat then rice, with rice there was no problem with high water accumulation. But nachni, we would plant higher up. Sawa, however, was planted earlier, in May, as soon as the first rains arrived, right after the land was ploughed, and the terrain was flat. and by Ganesh Chaturthi, it would be ready for harvest.

Then came fertilisers… chemical fertilisers. Crops like rice and nachni started yielding much more. The increase in production meant that we had enough food for the entire year, with less effort. Over time, crops like rala, kudit, pakad, and vari were cultivated less. Before chemical fertilisers, we didn’t get large yields, so we planted a variety of crops. Each crop lasted for about 15 days to a month or so, creating a cycle that ensured food availability throughout the year.

However, with the introduction of chemical fertilisers, rice yields, nachni yields, both were tremendous, so the rest were left out. But while the yields were great, the taste was lost. In the past, every crop had its unique flavour, with fertilisers it was flavourless. Moreover, the use of chemical fertilisers brought diseases—both in cattle and humans—which wasn’t the case when we used natural fertilisers. Back then, we didn’t have common illnesses like colds or fevers in our settlements, none of these issues. However, after the consumption of chemical-based crops, health issues became common.

The construction of the airport has severely impacted the natural water springs in the area. When the work on the airport first started, the area they had marked, the surrounding space there were plenty of natural water springs. Right after the first showers, they filled up these springs and streamed with so much rubble and mud, that they destroyed it. as they were filled up during the development process. When this started happening, local bodies and GMR were made aware of the situation, yet no actions were taken to protect these springs. Before the construction, water from the plateau would naturally flow underground, recharging wells, natural springs and streams in the surrounding area from where then villagers could access it. However, after the airport was built, with all the destruction, the water began to flow directly into nearby villages, creating a flood-like situation, and causing a lot of damage.

Earlier we would need to walk a km or so to access these streams, take our cattle there for bathing, wash clothes, etc and use the water for our needs.  Earlier even when they had started filling it up with mud, a bit of it was still running, but once the airport was complete most were completely destroyed. As a result, villagers now have to walk approximately 5 km to collect water. Tap water had also come into the settlements so drinking water was accessible, but tap water when compared to natural spring water tasted very different and was not as rich and healthy, so we still preferred natural springs.  But once the availability of water from natural sources drastically decreased, this was not an option. This destruction has also affected agriculture, with fewer food-bearing trees being planted due to the lack of water. Residents have been forced to rely on tap water, as the natural springs have dried up or become filled with mud due to disuse.

According to a Supreme Court order, GMR was supposed to protect the natural water springs, but no steps have been taken in this regard.

We stayed in one location on the hills. We were in one vadi (particular area). We used to take our buffaloes in and around that area for grazing. They used to go by themselves and we would only follow them to the particular regions and when grazing was done they would come back along with the buffaloes. The buffaloes used to also know how to return back to their home base. The only reason why a person would accompany them is because of their calves because there were high chances of predators who would try to hunt those little ones. Otherwise, we would collect our water and return, and they would continue to bathe. We don’t know exactly when our ancestors started living in such areas but over generations, those people knew everything about this process of living in forests. They were born and brought up in jungles, and all earlier generations knew how to co-exist in forests. Today’s generation doesn’t know anything.