Transition of Bagri Community from Hunting and Gathering to Sedentarization

Abstract

Three hunters and gatherers communities are prevailing in Pakistan such as Bagrri, Ravra, Ghurgala. The proposed study, however, focused the Bagri a wandering and Scheduled Hindu community living in the central part of Sindh province of Pakistan, with reference to it transition from hunting and gathering to sedentarization. The Hala is under developed area of Pakistan where the Scheduled caste people have been settled and practicing hunting from many years. Hala is very old historical and cultural city of Sindh. It’s very popular with the work of standard pottery, (glazed as well as unglazed), textile (Susi, Khadhi and Ajrak), and woodwork (Jandi). We can say that this city is the city of crafts. Bagri claim to be the descendant of Rajputs clan, migrated from India; they were aboriginal hunters and gatherer.(Soomro, 1977). The Bgari communities pass through different socio-cultural stages such as, hunting, nomadic, semi-nomadic and settled life-pattern. Bagri transition from hunting to sedentary highly effect on their living way of life. The Bagri’s of Sindh are recognized hunters and gathers, as their identity is based on their ancestral occupation. Ecological conditions have exerted a great impact in shaping their culture and lifestyle, but culturally and emotionally, they are attached with their traditional occupation of hunting. The Bagri people give great importance to hunting knowledge. They learn i t through enculturation from their ancestors. This knowledge is visible in different forms such as foot tracing, recognizing the animal sounds, knowing of the forest routes, making effective hunting groups, local idioms of hunting, the perils of animal, defend from animal, capturing of animal, net making reaping of hunting tools. In the past, the hunting was the preferred mode of subsistence, nowadays, however, 25% of Bagricommunity is engaged in that occupation as well as interested in eating the animal flesh. Therefore, the present research finds out the indigenous tradition of hunting and gathering, and the reasons responsible behind the continuity or discontinuity of it in Bagri community. The Bagri lived in the forest still they are engaged in hunting and those Bagri they are permanent settled in different region of Sindh, they got an invitation from the forest Bagri’s for hunting. Bagri went for hunting to remember their ancestral occupation. Besides, Every Bagri tribe eats the meat of pigs, it’s religiously compulsory toeat flesh of pigs. After that they become the Bagri, otherwise they are not considering as Bagri. The meat of pigs is religiously sacred for Bagri religion. Therefore, still Bagri attached with hunting, they never miss the opportunity of hutting the pigs. The concept of headmen is also used by Bagri tribe. But in their own language they called as Shikari Punch. Bagricommunity also uses the technological tool such as Bow (Dapho), Loop (phasee) which made of the coil, Iron stick (Rambo), Axe (Kuhari), wooden sticks (Dando), Robes (Raso). After hunting Bagri involved in begging, it provides an extra income. Usually women, children and old people go into the nearby cities and villages to collect money, sweets and old clothes from door to door or from shop to shop. Young people, however, labor in the town market places where they load and unload grain or other articles. After begging cultivation is another source of food production, hunting and begging does not yield sufficient mean of enable them to meet the needs of the day, therefore, they borrow land from the local muslin landlords, and cultivate vegetable and fruits. In Bagri community economy is change through different diversifications. Their economy, which is also going under the process of change from pre-dominantly hunting to cultivation, is the great source of change in their living standards. The Bagri tribe socially emotionally is being influenced by the sedentary group through a functional interaction with the Muslim landlords and Bania. With the economic development and increased social interaction with the sedentary population they have adopted some changes in their living standard. They lived in three types of settlements such as Pakka Kacha and Jhopra (huts settlement). In few years ago all population of Bagri lived in huts. Due to acculturation some changes occur in their settlement patterns. The division of the labor among the Bagri is mostly based on the sex and age differences. Men are the hunters and cultivators; women are beggars, house workers as well as helps to their husband in cultivation. Their whole system of distribution and consumption based on the Thoro (gift and ceremonial exchange), which is distributed during the marriage ceremonies particularly but generally on visits. They share the crop yield along with sharing out the meat hunted. They exchange gifts and counter gifts on marriage in the form of Niendro and Mani. Niendro is present in the form of the cash or kind of marriage given to the celebration household heads and Mani is the Feast has given to the invited Mitrmitre (household representatives who participated Thoro) as a counter gift. The Bagri social organization is based on the clan organization the whole tribe is divided into nine bands called the Paro. These Paros are socially stratified in Bagri society. Chuhan and Dhabi are the upper bands, while Kori, Roda and Pamanwara are the lowest and Saroki, Punmarr, Dhamdaro and Wadyaro are middle in the hierarchy. Each Paro is a Patri-clan like the Dhabi, Paro Chuhan Paro. They are totally exogamous but within tribe they are endogamous. For executing this ethnographic research, researchers have used the qualitative methods of data col lection along-with few quantitative methods. During research stratified sampling as wells purposive/judgmental sampling was used. The units of data collection divided on the basis of their age, and particular knowledge about the topic. So the complete views maybe obtained.