92
■Article■
Strategic
"Otherness"
in the
Economic
Activities
of Commercial
Nomads:
A Case
of the Vaghri
in South
India
●
Ayako Iwatani
1. Introduction
The purpose of this article is to understand the subsistence strategy of
an itinerant community in South India. It has been pointed out that
itinerant people have played a significant role of offering services and
goods beyond various territories and castes. However, previous studies
have overlooked their presence by focusing on villages where the
seden-tary populations are inter-related by caste-based network. In order to
consider the role that itinerant people play in Indian society, this article
discusses the commercial activities of the Vaghri,1) a semi-nomadic
com-munity in South India.
The Vaghri can be called commercial nomads, who engage in various kinds of jobs in South India, while moving from one place to another in a group. Commercial nomadism [Acton 1985]2) is a useful concept to
de-scribe the collective aspect of itinerant communities in India. This term
originated from the studies during the 1980s to specify nomadic commu-nities other than hunter and gatherers and pastoral nomads.
To sum up the discussions about commercial nomads and other
simi-lar terms, there are four characteristics of commercial nomads. First they
岩谷彩子 Ayako Iwatani, The Institute for Research in Humanities, Kyoto University.
Subject : Social Anthropology.
Publication : "Conversion of the 'People without Religion': The Spread of Pentecostal Christianity among Gypsies in France", Religion and Society, 2000, vol. 6, pp. 3-26.
generally exploit human resources [Misra 1992: 216]. Unlike exploiting
bio-physiotic resources, the mode of subsistence of commercial nomads
is based on various differences in a society such as economic difference
between town and countryside.3) Secondly, in contrast with vagrancy
and individual peddlers, their mobility takes regular patterns. This is
because the movement of commercial nomads is constrained by the con-venience of sedentary living. They also have "a place to sleep", which can be the base of their movement [Rao 1987: 8]. The third characteris-tic involves cultural aspects. For example, Hayden [1999: 11] points out
that many of them maintain a language for their own use, which is
different from that generally spoken in the region they move. Rao [1987:
18] also mentions that the use of self-imposed ethnic markers such as
language, genealogy and religion separates them from the surrounding
dominant populations. The fourth is their relatively low social status. As
to what makes their status low, Trawick [1991] refers to their homelessness,
whereas Fisher [1981] argues that economic peripherality derived from
irregular and fluid economic transactions with sedentary people makes
the social status of nomadic people low.
Since the first point has been extensively discussed, I take it for granted in this article. As for the fourth point, there is not sufficient space to discuss in this article. Thus this article mainly argues the second and the
third characteristics. As Rao says, seemingly cultural differences should
be regarded as "social strategies of survival [Rao 1987: 18]" in complex
environments.4) Through an anthropological analysis of economic
activi-ties of the Vaghri, this article examines their subsistence strategy.
Extensive studies of nomadic communities in India began only in the
early 1970s. This is mainly because the previous studies have focused on
villages, which contain four-fifths of India's population [Mines 1984].
The population of nomads is estimated to comprise 6-8% of the Indian
population and only 1-2% when it comes to non-pastoral or commercial
nomads [Robertson 1987:1].
It is natural that the population size prompts academic research. The
vague position of artisan-merchant castes in the discussion of jajmani
system5) reflects the position of commercial nomads in India as well. In
Section 8, the characteristics of commercial nomads will also be drawn
in comparison with merchant communities. This article thus hopes to
94 Journal of the Japanese Association for South Asian Studies, 14, 2002
The Vaghri are called Nari Kuravars or Kuruvikkarans in Tamil Nadu
according to the traditional occupation of hunting and gathering (see
Section 2). Yet as Section 3 shows, their traditional occupation is
chang-ing as their livchang-ing environment is changing. The governmental policies,
such as promulgation of the Wild Life Protection Act to prohibit
hunt-ing in 1972, and the Backward Class House Scheme6) beginnhunt-ing from
the 1960s to offer them settlements, especially influence their traditional
way of living. As a result, today the number of Vaghri who engage in hunting and gathering is decreasing and their main subsistence activity is shifting more to itinerant business. Although they now tend to settle, most of them are on leave for vending for more than half of the year.
Detailed discussion of their occupational choices is given in Section 3, but it should be noted that they are not entirely out of "free" choices. They make use of their nomadic life style so as to fulfill new demands of society. Their recent economic activities examined in this article clearly show their survival technique.
For instance, unlike ordinary businessmen, they are used to staying in
any kind of place for business, such as shabby hotels with basic facilities,
tents, or packed second-class trains. That is why they can make benefit
even if the means of transportation improves and anyone can move from
one place to another without much difficulty. They also make use of
their multi-lingual ability for purchasing and selling goods. They are
said to come from North India, thus their familiarity with North Indian languages helps them in business. In Section 4, their purchase of raw materials of their products in North India is examined.
Their business transactions described in Section 5, 6, and 7 show that
they are well in tune with new social demands. The rise of pilgrimage in
Tamil Nadu started in the 1950s, as the Dravidian movement lifted up
the living standard of lower caste people as well as their consciousness
toward South Indian deities [Sekar 1992: 91-94; Nishimura 1987:
117-118] The pilgrimage to Sabarimalai in Section 5 is related to this
inter-caste and inter-regional movement. The Vaghri have found a great
busi-ness chance to sell religious commodities at pilgrimage sites and temples.
The second example, which is described in Section 6, is their dealings. The necklaces made from beads also appeal to foreign tourists. Under
the wave of globalization, the Vaghri represent India in the eyes of
Asian countries, where there are many overseas Tamils live.
In the third example given in Section 7, the Vaghri play a role of linking the town and the village. From the point of the urban people,
"tradition
al" medical and magical knowledge seems to be kept among the Vaghri, who are supposed to hunt animals and practice black magic even today.
Let us see how commercial nomads fill various niches in society through these kinds of economic transactions.
2. The Field Setting: Who are the Vaghri?
In the previous studies of caste in South India, the Vaghri have been
referred to only peripherally7) or described rather independently from
the caste system.8 The reason behind the scarce study of the Vaghri
community lies in the following facts: first their origin and the name are
quite ambiguous; second, their influence in the society at large is small
because their subsistence and mode of living separates them from the
network of ritual exchange in the region. In this section, we hope to present a clearer picture of the group called Vaghri in South India.
In Tamil Nadu in South India, the local residents do not know the
group name, Vaghri. It is said that their homeland is in Rajasthan or
Gujarat judging from their customs and language which has no writing system.9) It is considered that the name Vaghri, by which they call
them-selves, derives from their traditional occupation of hunting and
gather-ing.10) All of their local names such as Nari Kuravar (jackal hunting
Kuravar)11) or Kuruvikkaran (bird catchers) in Tamil Nadu, Nakkala
vandlu (jackal hunting people) in Andhra Pradesh, and Hakkipikki (bird mimicking people) in Karnataka are related to hunting and gathering. They call themselves by the respective local names as they move from one state to another, but the images attached to their names are quite negative or invite peoples' ridicule.
In Tamil Nadu, the population of the Vaghri is estimated to be about
100,000. It is not the precise number, but they are the largest nomadic group in Tamil Nadu whom everybody knows.
There is a clear distinction between the Vaghri and non-Vaghri. Such
a distinction can be recognized in the way in which the Vaghri call
out-96 Journal of the Japanese Association for South Asian Studies, 14, 2002
side in the Vaghri language: V) and madsi (woman from the outside: V),
though when they address them directly, they use kudiydnavar (a
gen-eral term for agricultural people in Tamil: T). For the Vaghri, all the
non-Vaghri except Harijans or untouchables belong to one category,
madho. The Vaghri also have a specific word to refer to Harijans, dediyo. They maintain a distance from madho and dediyo is considered to be even lower in ranking.
Furthermore, they have categories of outsiders within their group with
whom they have minimal exchange of goods and women. They are the people of one of the Vaghri lineages called seryo. The chirikyo, the Vaghri whose living (moving) territory is different, are also considered as
out-siders. It is said that the seryo lineage people are descendents of a Vaghri
who adopted a son from the outside community. This is considered to
be the ultimate reason of their low status among the Vaghri. Apart from the seryo, lineages of the Vaghri are considered more or less equal.12)
The relationship between the Vaghri, non-Vaghri, Harijans and
vari-ous lineages of the Vaghri is important when considering their caste
ideology. In terms of commensality, I heard from the Vaghri that they
have strong aversion first to seryo, second to dediyo, third to chirikyo and last to madho. As for marriage, dediyo is the first category to avoid, then comes madho, seryo and chirikyo.13) There is a tendency that com-mensality is avoided strictly with those who live nearby. In fact, they seldom exchange food not only with seryo, but also with other Vaghri
families, except on ritual occasions. Therefore, it can be assumed that
commensality taboo is related to their avoidance of conflicts over limited
resource.
The Vaghri are divided into two patrilineal exogamous groups in terms of the kind of sacrificial animals offered to their lineage deities,
Beho-wala (buffalo-sacrificing people) and Bokdo-wala (goat-sacrificing people).
This moiety is widely seen among the Vaghri in South India. When unknown Vaghris meet each other, they make sure whether the other person belongs to their moiety (bhai / bhen) or not (halo I hali), and ac-cordingly decide how to behave with each other. When it comes to
mar-riage and family matters, lineage goddess (devi) and ancestors (guru)
become important, for those who belong to the same moiety and lineage
do not inter-marry. This lineage goddess worship is the core of their
Most of the research was conducted in the Devarayanery Nari Kuravar
Colony, about 25 kilometers away from the center of Tiruchirappalli
district 14) (see Map 2). The land without ownership was first given to 100 Vaghri families under the Backward Class House Scheme by the
Con-gress government during 1963 and 1965. Among the colonies given to
the Vaghri, it is the fourth oldest and has the largest population today . In 1974, 70 Vaghri families received 160 acres of land with ownership (patta:
T) by the DMK government. Since then the number of the people and
the land given to them accompanied with houses has been increasing. In
1999, 1,294 Vaghris were registered in the Devarayanery colony and I
confirmed 212 families including 21 Tamil families living there in 2000.
In addition to Devarayanery, the research was conducted in other
colonies in Poolangudi15) and Palani16), which are the inter-marital
ex-change areas of the Devarayanery Vaghri. The research also extends to
the areas in which the Devarayanery Vaghri carry out economic
activi-ties, the Ayyappan Temple at Sabarimalai in Kerala, the Murugan
Tem-ple in Palani, Thiruparankundram in Madurai, several beaches in Goa
and Mathura in U.P. (see Map 1).
3. An Overview of the Recent Economic Activities of the
Vaghri
The traditional occupation (kamai: V) of the Vaghri is hunting and
gathering as their local name implies. However, among 61 Vaghris in
Devarayanery whose age ranges between 11 and 85, only 15 persons
(25%) now engage in hunting or setting trap to catch wild animals.17) If the past experience is included, the number rises up to 25 persons (41%). This percentage is more or less the same in other two colonies, although
the rate is slightly high in Poolangudi. In Devarayanery, only 4 families
out of 192 mainly engage in jobs other than peddling, namely insurance sales, running a hostel for children (two families), and Christian mission-ary.
In fact, they have been engaged in various economic activities concur-rently with hunting and gathering. This is shown in Table 1. It can be said that they engage in almost all kinds of jobs that can be done without
much resource. Among the various jobs, commercial activities are the
98 Journal of the Japanese Association for South Asian Studies, 14, 2002
gathering, secondly, petty trade is now the major occupation among the
Vaghri, and thirdly, we can see historical change within the same eco-nomic activity such as sales.
The reason that hunting and gathering have become less popular is
related to the State Government's policy and relative decrease in the
number of wild animals. Hunting was allowed as a sport in the Arm
License Act in 1959 if they had an official license to carry a gun.
How-ever, in 1972, the Forest Department promulgated the Wild Life
Protec-tion Act, in which hunting was prohibited even as a "sport". This
politi-cal decision made hunting of the Vaghri illegal and affected their
life-style. As they come to hunt animals less, it has become difficult for them to continue activities related to animals, such as selling animal meat, hide, fur, or various amulets. As a consequence, they may resort to sales
of imitation of such products. Today we can rarely see animal shows by
the Vaghri.
Sales of small commodities such as pins, needles, bangles, combs,
knives, and mirrors, have been one of their traditional occupations to
exchange goods for cash. It is said that when there was no electricity, people feared selling pins and needles after sunset because they may be injured by not seeing the pins they sell. However, the Vaghri did not care about that. Selling necklaces made of stones and beads is also one of
the traditional jobs of the Vaghri [Thurston 1909: 183]. It is said that
only the Vaghri sold necklaces made of coral, stones and beads in those days.
Their trade includes two processes: retailing and producing. These
days the Vaghri put more stress on producing and selling necklaces
made of beads, stones, glasses and nuts than mere retailing of small commodities.
According to the Vaghri from other colonies, the Vaghri in
Devaray-anery are comparatively wealthy. It is partly because about half of the
100 Journal of the Japanese Association for South Asian Studies, 14, 2002
Devarayanery Vaghri have the experience of trading abroad, usually in
Singapore or Malaysia where overseas Tamils live.18) This is a very re-cent trend, beginning around 1996. It owes to one Malaysian business-man, who visited the Murugan temple in Palani in 1993, and took notice
of their hand-made necklaces.
Just like hunting and gathering, some of these jobs are now on the
verge of disappearing or have already disappeared, as demands and chances have become scarce. For instance, carrying gaslight at marriage proces-sions., dancing, and gathering left-over food or alms at marriage
ceremo-nies or on streets are hardly seen in Tamil Nadu today.They may carry
gaslight, or work for circus when a troupe comes, but these works are
always temporary. One of the characteristics of the Vaghri is that they
avoid wage labor. They say they do not want to work under anybody.
According to the local people, the Vaghri would always appear at
marriage ceremonies. They would carry gaslight at processions in Chennai ten years ago, but as electricity became available and the scale of mar-riage ceremony became smaller, the significance of the Vaghri was re-duced. Forty years ago, it was children's job at marriage ceremonies to watch out in case a Vaghri stole something from the houses. The Vaghri gradually began to consider receiving the left-over food as unhygienic as
well as degrading.19) The Vaghri were famous for dancing well. They would dance in trains or at platforms for some money. However, such activities have also disappeared in the last twenty years.
Certain kinds of misbehavior strengthens the bad image of the Vaghri.
For example, the Vaghri are notorious for cheating changes. Although the frequency of their theft is unclear, they are not hesitant to accept
such a notorious reputation. The extent to which they engage in black
magic is even more doubtful, even though they sell magical medicines.
However, the local people's image of the Vaghri as untrustworthy and
dangerous derives from these dubious jobs.
As the latest trend, they have jobs such as breeding goats, tattooing, picking up trash, and various white-collar jobs. All the recent jobs,
ex-cept picking up trash, are yet to spread in the whole community. Only
marginal or exceptional Vaghris engage in such occupations. For
in-stance, it was those who are called seryo or chirikyo who engage in breeding and tattooing at present. Yet, people associate tattoos of various
pictures, especially animals, with the Vaghri. Only those with higher
educational qualification get white-collar jobs. Although they started going to school thirty years ago, most of the Vaghri usually quit schools after
completing the seventh or eighth standard (junior high school
educa-tion); therefore, such jobs are still very rare. Picking up trash is a recent occupation emerging in Chennai.
The change of occupation is related to their changing life-style. Previ-ously they would roam around in cities, living in a small tent (jopli: tent
in V) in order to look for left-over food, or to engage in peddling or
temporary jobs. After they began to settle in colonies in the 1960s, they no longer live in large groups in cities. It can be said that the base of
their movement has changed from cities to villages. Then they began
appearing in villages more often than before.
Their moving pattern has also changed. Werth [1993: 279] states that the Vaghri groups would join and divide on their travels. As they settle in colonies, the flexible selection of family with whom they move be-comes confined more to those who live in the same colony.
Such a change of life style influences the relationship between the
Vaghri and non-Vaghris. By living in the outskirts of town areas instead
of cities, the Vaghri come to have more regular contact with villagers,
vil-102 Journal of the Japanese Association for South Asian Studies, 14, 2002
lages to get a benefit of the Backward Class policy. Now some outsiders come to colonies to sell food or help their work, such as cultivating or repairing houses. Most of them come from nearby villages, but some of them live in the colony by renting the house of the Vaghri.
4. Purchasing Raw Materials
Before the business season starts, what the Vaghri do first is to borrow as much money as possible to purchase beads (mani: T, chidiya: V), nuts and wire (campi: V). They can borrow money from banks or by selling
their precious goods, such as gold accessories or electric goods (fan,
radio, T.V., etc.).20) But in most cases they borrow money with interest through casual contracts with outsiders. Whether they can borrow money each year is not assured, because the same person may not give them a loan every year or the Vaghri may not return the money back smoothly.
Thus, getting enough money for purchasing raw materials is the most
crucial process in their business.
In order to borrow money, many of the Vaghri make strenuous efforts
to show very cordial attitude towards moneylenders and to invite
mon-eylenders to local restaurants or bars. They stress the high return of their business by saying how much profit they gain every year. They mention that the business is related to a big Hindu festival, which attracts
thou-sands of people, or possibly international trade. They say that what they
sell is sacred necklaces, not shabby commodities. In the end, they give
some samples of their product to the moneylenders and say, "See how
good they look on you!" Induced by such attitudes, the moneylenders
feel like trying their luck. However, the relationship between
money-lenders and the Vaghri is always uncertain, lasting only for a short term.
Whereas the Vaghri display attitude when borrowing money, they are
reluctant a positive when it comes to paying the money back. Such
attitudes result in the Vaghri always seeking new moneylenders.
The next procedure is to buy raw materials of the products. If they fail
to borrow sufficient money, they buy the materials in Tamil Nadu. But when they succeed, they go to North India to buy raw materials of the necklaces they sell. It has been about twenty years since the Vaghri
began going to Mathura in North India to purchase various kinds of
beads and nuts to make necklaces. It corresponds with the time when
pil-grimages usually include business matters for them.
They sell a special kind of necklace called mala (praying beads) that the pilgrims are supposed to wear until the pilgrimage is completed. The malas for those who pray at Hindu temples are made of tulsi (Ocimum
sanctum, known as pleasing the God Vishnu), rudrakha (a nut, known as
Shiva's third eye), sandalwood, crystal, or coral. These materials are not
available in South India, and even if there are, they are very expensive. Here there is room for the Vaghri to make profit. As soon as they pre-pare money, they take a train for a two-day trip to Mathura to purchase the materials.
The following data were collected in Mathura at the end of November in 2000. I joined a one-week trip of the Vaghri people to Mathura.
Mathura has about twenty-five bead shops.21) Even if the individual or
several Vaghri come to these places, they meet up with other Vaghri people. Since they go to Mathura around the same season and the infor-mation of shops is more or less shared among the Vaghri, they appear in the shops in a group of more than ten persons. On such an occasion, they bargain in a group while they speak the Southern language that North-ern Mathura people do not understand.
Even though the Vaghri are regular customers, the shop owners are
high-handed. They do not know very much about who the Vaghri are,
so it is not due to the caste difference. Rather, it seems that the shop owners are cautious of the Vaghri who come to their shops in a group. When the Vaghri come in a group, they rush after what they are shown and begin bargaining sometimes raising their voice. Ordinary shop own-ers flinch from their behavior. However, those shop ownown-ers who have
regular transaction with the Vaghri are tough enough to manage the
hard bargaining. I heard that once two Vaghri women had visited one
such shop and were forced to buy 10,000 Rs.22) of beads respectively by being shut up inside the shop. The women were yet resistant enough to shoplift beads worth 500 Rs.
Secondly, the Vaghri tactfully use their knowledge of various
lan-guages in their business. For example, in South India, they speak their
own language amongst themselves, which is similar to a North Indian
one, while they speak Tamil, a South Indian language, when they are in North India. "Let's go to other shops", "Where did you buy those stuffs?", "If I had been to that shop
104 Journal of the Japanese Association for South Asian Studies, 14, 2002 "If you take the purchased stuffs out of the sack here
, he would say that they hae been (stolen from his shop)". They were speaking these words among themselves while shopping in Mathura.
After they purchase as many beads and nuts as possible, they go straight home. Then it is mainly women's job to make necklaces, though men also know how to do it. They can make one bead necklace in five to ten minutes. Some local people think that these necklaces are machine-made,
as they are made so well.
Traditionally the Vaghri sell various lucky charms made from animal
parts, such as jackal horn (nari combu: T), and amulets (tayattu) made from mongoose fur, tiger nail (puli nehan) and elephant hair (yanai muir).
Some of them are imitations, but are nevertheless made from animal
parts. Since they do not often hunt animals any more, some of them buy raw materials from chirikyo, the Vaghri living near the forest areas, or the Vaghris from other states such as Karnataka. Then they make lucky charms in their colony.
5.
At Pilgrimage
Sites:
Transaction
with Pilgrims
at
Ma-jor Hindu
Temples
Having all the products including ready-made necklaces purchased at
cheap prices, they leave for temple festivals. Some Vaghris leave with all
the family members and a tent for temporary stay and come back several
months later.
For the average Vaghri, the Hindu festival season is the busiest time
of the year. The season continues over seven months of the year: in
January (the Ayyappan Temple at Sabarimalai in Kerala) and February
(the Murugan Temple in Palani in Tamil Nadu), April (the Mariyamman
temple at Tiruchirappalli), May (the Sri Rangam temple in
Tiruchirap-palli), and between October and December (the Ayyappan Temple at
Sabarimalai in Kerala). For those who do business in Goa, the season is
between October and March. During these months, the Vaghri
popula-tion in the colony decreases.
On 8th January during the Sabarimalai season in 2001, I counted the
number of the population in the Devarayanery colony (see Table 2). The
number does not include all the people in the colony, but we can see the
general tendency. 146 men had already left for Sabarimalai, a popular
pilgrimage centre in Kerala. 18 men were in the colony but were getting ready to go there. By contrast, women tend to stay in the colony to look after old people and children. Yet, 48 women had left for Sabarimalai
and 6 were planning to go there soon. It is noteworthy that 41 women
had left for other places.
There are two reasons behind this clear contrast between men and women. First, unlike men, only those women before puberty and after
menopause are allowed to participate in the pilgrimage to Sabarimalai.
Second, the police control over dubious itinerant peddlers like the Vaghri is becoming stricter in each state so as not to disturb the pilgrims. Since the police beat the Vaghri to drive them away, it is considered better for the women to stay at home. The families of the men working in Sabarimalai
may also stay in Thiruparankundram, which is in Tamil Nadu but
rela-tively near Sabarimalai (see Map 2). On 12th January 2001, there were
18 tents and 79 people were staying there.23)
The scale of Hindu festivals has increased since the 1950s as the
stan-dard of living of people improved [Nishimura 1987]. The rise of massive
pilgrimage to the Ayyappan Temple at Sabarimalai in Kerala after the
1950s is a good example [Sekar 1992; Daniel 1984]. The Vaghri do not Table 2 Business at Sabarimalai and the Population in the Devarayanery Colony
106 Journal of the Japanese Association for South Asian Studies, 14, 2002
waste these business opportunities.
In Sabarimalai, they sell necklaces to the pilgrims along the roads by
approaching them or by just sitting on the ground. There is much room
to negotiate. For instance, one forty-year-old Vaghri sold three glass
necklaces for 10 Rs., though he first tried to sell each one for 10 Rs. When the same customer asked him to give a discount for a rudraksa necklace and bring the price down from 40 Rs. to 15 Rs., he turned it down and finally could not sell it. In Mathura, they purchase a rudraksha necklace at least for 20 Rs., if it is genuine. So his deal was not so dishon-est.
In general, Kerala is a better place for the Vaghri to do business, though the police control is stricter than in Tamil Nadu. First, prices of goods are higher in Kerala than in Tamil Nadu. One Vaghri aged thirty-two said that his monthly sales were between 10,000 and 20,000 Rs. at
Sabarimalai in 1999. Second, the fact that the Vaghri are not familiar
with the people in Kerala also makes their business easier. At least they
are not treated as pejoratively as they are in Tamil Nadu. Yet, some
Vaghris told me that they prefer living in Tamil Nadu because they can
make use of the superstitious nature of the Tamil people in daily
busi-ness transaction. When they need more money, they go to Kerala, but
this requires a certain amount of money and there is also a possible danger of getting caught by the police. Either way, the tactic in their business is to use differences of currency and other people's images of them.
6. On the Resort Beaches: Transaction with Foreign
Tour-ists in Goa
During the tourist season between October and March, many foreign-ers visit India to enjoy the tropical beaches. Goa, once called the "Hip-pies' paradise", is still popular among such foreign tourists. We can see the Vaghri here as well during the tourist season. It is said that they first came to do business in Goa around ten years ago. It takes them from one to two days to reach Goa through Karnataka by train or bus. Those who visit Goa are relatively young Vaghris, who can walk on the hot beach for hours and keep up with the taste of foreign tourists. In this section, their business transactions at beaches and how they live in a camping site
are described.
When I conducted research between 19th and 29th December 2000,
30 Devarayanery Vaghris (20 men and 10 women) were staying in tents
set up in open space (see Figure 1). This camping site was located in
fifteen to twenty minute-distance by bus from Mapusa, central Goa.
They first set the tents near the main road. But one day, the police came and ordered them to move, for the police complained that the washing of the Vaghri ruined the view. Then they moved to a nearby place, where 31 Vaghri people from Shimoga in Karnataka were camping. There was nothing in this area except for a small restaurant.
Each tent consisted of one or two families. For instance, in tent (1), one man aged about fifty-five, his wife of fifty years old, his daughter whose
husband died and his daughter's son were staying together. All of them
were from the same Devarayanery colony except one family, but the tent
formation in Figure 1 tells us that some differences exist among them. The woman in tent (6) was known as padugudi, meaning a woman who
married twice. The Vaghri put great significance on female chastity.
They tend to regard a family with such a marked person as degraded, though they do not express such an attitude openly. In tent (7), a family
from a different colony (a man aged twenty-seven, his wife and son) and
a man from Devarayanery were staying together. The woman of the
family from a different colony was of seryo lineage, which is considered
as the lowest among the Vaghri lineages. Her relations lived in
Devarayanery, and the man from Devarayanery staying in the same tent
was one of the six seryo householders in Devarayanery. I did not see any
differences between these people in business transactions.
108 Journal of the Japanese Association for South Asian Studies, 14, 2002
During the daytime, men go to beaches for business, while leaving women and children behind. Just like in Kerala, the police control in Goa is becoming stricter. When the Vaghri are caught, the police may
beat them severely or even put them in jail. The policemen accuse the
Vaghri of bothering the vacation of tourists on the beach. The Vaghri
offer a bribe of between 300 and 1,000 Rs. per month to the police. In
order to avoid the aggressive police harassment, women have to remain
at the camping site.
Men usually stay at the camping site for two or three days a week. The Vaghri go to Anjuna beach every Wednesday for the famous flea market which is held there. On other days of the week, there is no fixed place for their business; they may go wherever they like, but they each have their own favorite place. They know which day of the week the flights from abroad arrive at Goa and go to beaches expecting new tourists. Some-times they go to such beaches with other Vaghris, but usually they go alone. They said that they choose where to go without consulting other Vaghris, but naturally they are scattered in different beaches; there are
more than ten beaches in Goa. Various information especially about
(police-related) security is shared among the Vaghri.
At this time, six men and one woman formed a small banking associa-tion called kulukkal. In this associaassocia-tion, each member deposits 2,000 Rs. per week and they withdraw money when they need a big amount. They are allowed to withdraw a maximum of 12,000 Rs. after they have
depos-ited 6,000 Rs. For example, a twenty-five-year-old man withdrew 6,000 Rs.
and purchased 4,000 Rs. worth of beads by going to Mumbai from Goa.
The kind of beads popular among foreigners are different from those
popular among Hindus. Such beads are only available in Mumbai. He
then returned 2,000 Rs. to the kulukkal, but still he must return the
remaining 4,000 Rs. He was also going to send 1,000 Rs. to his father in the colony.
In comparison with the business at pilgrimage sites, the business in
Goa is much more profitable. When there is a flea market, they can get sales of at least 1,000 Rs., and if they are lucky, they can get 3,000 Rs. in just one day. In other days, too, they can expect around 1,000 Rs. a day on the beach. Despite the fact that they have to pay a bribe and face the danger of getting caught by the police, the business on the beach is lucrative enough to attract the Vaghri.
There are two reasons for this seemingly efficient business. First it is due to the difference in value between foreign currency and Indian ru-pee. The Vaghri know about this fact very well. Thus they say that they do not speak to Indian tourists on the beach.
For example, one morning a Vaghri man sold five necklaces to four persons including one Indian man and three British women out of 45 persons whom he spoke to during one hour and a half. Whereas the Indian man bought one necklace of tulsi for 5 Rs., one of the British women bought two bead necklaces for 30 Rs. and the other two agreed
to buy two of the same kind for 100 Rs. Another Vaghri man sold two
necklaces to two Swedish men, one for 50 Rs. and the other for 100 Rs., after speaking to 15 persons for an hour. When it comes to the actual
business transaction, we may doubt whether their business is really
efficient, for those who buy their products are a few among many of
whom they speak to. But due to the currency difference, such business
brings them profit. Besides, a small transaction can lead a big business
chance. One Vaghri man told me that once he had sold 100 necklaces, each for 5 Rs. to a British man, who was going to sell them in his coun-try. In this way, the Vaghri are not unaffected by the wave of globaliza-tion.
The second reason could be the sense of exoticism that foreigners have towards Indians. Some foreigners are really annoyed by Indian salesmen
approaching them one after another. But others seem to enjoy
bargain-ing with Indians. After all, their necklaces are cheap accessories for the foreign tourists to wear only in India. I saw one Vaghri man speaking to foreigners like this, "This is going to be my first sale today. Usually it costs 300 Rs., but I will give you special discount. Put the price as you like". This is a familiar way of Indian salesmen talking to foreigners.
The foreigner answered, "Then give it to me for 50 Rs.". The Vaghri
said, "No", for the sake of possibly raising the price, but soon agreed with the price that the foreigner gave first. They know that foreigners do
not know the real price of the products they sell. After succeeding in
selling one necklace, they do not forget to try selling another by saying, "Since you are a nice person
, try this one of a different color!"
For those who come to Goa expecting something exotic or Indian, the
handmade commodities that the Vaghri sell and the appearance of the
110 Journal of the Japanese Association for South Asian Studies, 14, 2002
tiger nail (puli nehan) to a Japanese man who does someimport business
between Japan and India. Whether such a product is genuine or not is
hardly important. They buy the Indian ambiance and the Vaghri
con-tribute to the making of it.24)
However, when it comes to the relationship between the local Indians
and the Vaghri, it is generally very bad. Many local people are harsh toward the Vaghri. They consider the Vaghri to be thieves and the sec-ond word to come out is, "I will call the police". The Vaghri do not trust the local people except for those who run the restaurant near their
camp-ing site, for they let the Vaghri use the telephone. Some local people
come to sell food to the Vaghri.
The relationship with other people including commercial nomads is
both cooperative and competitive. For instance, the Lambadi from
Karnataka inform the Vaghri when the police come. Their language is
similar, and they speak to each other in Hindi. But the Vaghri consider
the Lambadi as untrustworthy. The Tamil Vaghri often exchange
infor-mation with the Vaghri from other states in markets and camping sites. They speak the Vaghri language amongst each other.
7. In. City Areas: The Sales of Magical Goods
Traditionally the Vaghri are known for selling all sorts of herbal and
animal medicines. Raw materials of animal parts, such as hooves and fur, are first collected by them or purchased from other Vaghris. Then they make and sell all the lucky charms made from animal parts. They make most of the herbal medicines and some of them have licenses as herbal doctors.
Actually all of these products are for madho, non-Vaghri, and the
Vaghri do not buy or use them very much. As was referred earlier, this
kind of trade is dependent on the image of the Vaghri that the outside
communities have; they are primarily hunter and gatherers, and have
special power to cast a spell or ward off evil. The Vaghri sell various
kinds of folk medicines, but they do not use them for themselves and
tend to trust medicines from hospitals. On one hand, they consciously
make use of superstition of outsiders to sell their products, on the other,
they are bound by strong fear of disease and black magic due to the lack of relevant knowledge.
They fear black magic (jeidu. V) more than anything. Black magic is commonly seen in Indian villages, but among the Vaghri, it is inhibited to cast black magic onto other Vaghris whom they know. However, they know that business in black magic is lucrative.
In 1998, S (a Vaghri man aged thirty-two) was given a ride to a town
near the Devarayanery colony by a Tamil man who passed the colony by
motorcycle. He asked S whether he had a mai, paste of charcoal used for
black magic. S answered that he would introduce someone who knew
about it, and on another day he and one Vaghri man in the same colony, R, aged 58, met the Tamil man. This Tamil man was running a bus company, and bought a case of mai. He wanted that his business partner, who was about to sell a new bus to him, would give a favorable price for him. One case of mai costs 10,000 Rs. and can be used three to four times.
Later on, a friend of the Tamil man, who was working for bank in Chennai, heard the power of this mai and gave R a different order. This person invited S and R to Chennai, paying all the necessary expenses
including traveling fares, food and accommodation. He wished to steal
the heart of a female co-worker in his bank. Again R sold mai for 10,000 Rs., and shared the profit with S. This person in Chennai asked for mai over and over again, and even helped R to do sacrificial pfijii (ritual) to Karupuseimi25) (which cost 3,000 Rs.) as well as R's business abroad (which cost 20,000 Rs.). R showed several letters from him to me. It contained
words of appreciation regarding the effect of mai.
Ten years ago, when he was doing business in Kerala, he met one "guru" and was taught how to make mai . He went to the Kali temple in
the forest called Manangadu, ten kilometers from Sittur in Kerala, to
train himself under the guru for six years. It cost him 75,000 Rs. R told me how to make mai a little; he goes to a graveyard at midnight without being noticed by anybody. Then he takes a skull and brain of a
third-born male child,26) and mixes them with various other ingredients of
animal parts. It takes him one week to make a mai. In order to fit the
individual need, he differentiates the ingredients accordingly. When I
asked him whether I could see the process of making it, he refused
saying that it would deprive him of sacred power. However, he offered showing the procedure for 30,000 Rs.
112 Journal of the Japanese Association for South Asian Studies, 14, 2002
that the Vaghri practice black magic, "Don't stand in front of the Nari Kuravar if you don't want to be hypnotized." With the help of such an image, the Vaghri have made profit. However, the Vaghri probably fear black magic more than anyone. Actually, they rarely produce mai by themselves and R is an exceptional case. Vaghris buy mai from an excep-tional man like R or from outsiders called mantra-wala, or black magi-cians, and sell it in India or abroad.
To continue the above-mentioned story, on knowing that S made money resorting to black magic, his father hit him, and S had some trouble with his in-laws over involvement in the black magic business. So S severed his relationship with R. The Vaghri believe that casting black magic on others lead to trouble in return. S told me that R could not gain weight because of his involvement in black magic. People are afraid of R and according to S, even R's wife did not like R's black magic business. When I finished an interview with R and went out of his house, several people asked me what I heard from R. S told me that it was better not to say anything about black magic because people would doubt me. This double attitude towards mai was also seen in another colony: on one hand they were attracted by the lucrative black magic business, on the other hand, they feared the consequence. In spite of the fear of black magic, outsiders believe that every Vaghri has some knowl-edge of black magic and this belief is utilized for their commercial activi-ties.
8. Discussions
Now I turn to examine two of the four characteristics mentioned in Section 1: mobility pattern and image manipulation.
First, the mobility of commercial nomads and their economic activi-ties are based on a rather weak group network. As was pointed out in previous studies, the mobility of the Vaghri also takes regular patterns: keeping the base of movement either in the settlement or camping sites, they move to North India to purchase the raw materials, Hindu temples at festival seasons or tourists' spots to sell their products.
However, in most cases, they do not expect the existence of their network to make the business smoother. When they meet other Vaghris either on purchasing raw materials or selling their goods, they may help
each other. They also exchange information about shops, markets, and
consumers among themselves rather openly. Yet, their encounter and
cooperation with other Vaghris are always casual and temporary. The
network of the Vaghri is significantly different from that of so-called
merchant castes like Kaikkolars, weaver-merchants [Mines 1984] or
Nakarattars, merchant-bankers [Rudner 1994]. Both of them are famous
for the tight networks in business.
Their reluctance to build up the group network or regular ties with
outsiders is to assure their economic independence. When they prepare
necessary money for business, they do not resort to a caste-based organi-zation to borrow the money. They may form a small-scale and tempo-rary banking association as was mentioned in Section 6. In the colony in Palani, too, such an attempt is in progress by a Vaghri missionary with the help of a Christian NGO, World Vision. But he told me that there are great difficulties in making it work smoothly.
One reason is that the Vaghri do not repay a loan when the money comes from such an organization. When it comes to the resource of their
group, they are reluctant to borrow money or receive food from their
people. They claim that their pride does not allow them to do it. In fact it is mainly because they avoid possible conflicts over limited resources
particularly with their own people. They are afraid that once they are
excommunicated from their society, there is nowhere to live in peace
because of their low social status. It may also relate to the lack of the
concept of keeping resource for the future as what Woodburn called
"immediate return system" among hunter and gatherers [Woodburn 1982] .
The relationships between the Vaghri and outsiders such as
money-lenders, shop-owners and consumers, are basically short-term. All the
outsiders are part of the social niches they exploit. Especially, the
rela-tionship with moneylenders does not last for a long time. This is mostly
due to their poor repayment of the debt (then they may part with electric devices or accessories of their own). The relationship with shop-owners is also on monetary basis, which does not give the prospect of regular
exchange. Rather than keeping the relationship with outsiders for future
investments they try to make the relationship with outsiders flexible and
short term. Such an attitude prevents them from being subordinate to
outsiders.
114 Journal of the Japanese Association for South Asian Studies, 14, 2002
sedentary. There is a significant change especially in the relationship
with other castes. Some Vaghris have begun retailing their goods to
shops instead of selling along the roads, which presupposes a
relation-ship with the shop-owners over a long term. Still, many of them told me
that they preferred "thrilling life styles" to having ties with "untrustwor-thy" outsiders.
As for the characteristics of their image manipulation, the Vaghri
of-ten present themselves as having a distinct culture in order to exploit
various social niches. Such a culture thus does not presuppose a
collec-tive identity. In order to make the best out of social niches that arise and disappear in a short time span, the Vaghri do not adhere to a singular
image for themselves. Therefore, they do not depend on a single name,
occupation and image. In this point, their strategy is different from
strategic essentialism. Instead of competing with other castes for
politi-cal status by uniting under a single name, the Vaghri attempt to seek
multiple cultural "otherness" in different social contexts. In the example
of this article, they are neither pious Hindus nor beggars. Yet they are not as high in status as authorized merchants or pilgrims.
Now we can modify Hayden's argument about special features of the
Indian social environment to facilitate the proliferation of commercial
nomads [Hayden 1999: 13]. He mentioned three factors behind
prolif-eration of commercial nomads: firstly the existence of endogamous castes, each of which is identified with a specific occupation; secondly, the
exis-tence of well-organized systems of formal, hereditary, exclusive
eco-nomic relationships; and thirdly, the general Hindu attitude that it is
meritorious to provide for beggars.
Regarding the first factor, it is true that their endogamy assures the
benefit of the Vaghri to a certain extent. However, their weak group
network does not offer a stable resource for the whole community. In the
case of the Vaghri, the second factor does not apply, for they have been
always out of such a harmonious exchange system. As for the third
factor, the Vaghri are never content with being in the position of beg-gars.
9. Conclusion
Vaghri by examining actual business transactions of these people. The Vaghri provide goods and services beyond territories and castes by filling various social niches. In the eyes of the local people, the Vaghri have
always been "outsiders" and considered as if they would hardly change
their life style. On the contrary, this article showed their amazing
adapt-ability to new environments. What is more, they dare to remain cultural
"others" in order to find out and create social niches that the
y can make use of for business.
We cannot refer to their strategy as strategic essentialism for collective identity to make political or economic gains. Rather, under some
con-straint, they multiply aspects of their "otherness," so that they can take
good economic chances. This flexibility certainly contributes to their
quick adaptation to the new economic environments.
We should also keep in mind that the social niches, which give the
Vaghri business opportunities, are historical products. The rise of
pil-grimages or global movement of people have created new demands, while
other demands are disappearing as a result of modernization. The Vaghri
make use of what they already have, such as the images associated with them, business skill, tool and style, in order to respond to the new de-mands.
Staying in a settlement also makes frequent economic relationship
possible between the Vaghri and lower caste people. By acquiring some amount of money and land that they gained from business and
govern-mental policy, they begin to let non-Vaghris rent their houses or have
them help their work. Change is also brought about among them. For instance, strong police control over their business enforces the division
of labor between men and women in the Vaghri community. Their
eco-nomic flexibility thus enables them to approach various kinds of people
in the caste system, and accordingly their internal structure is likely to
change.
The studies of commerce in the caste system have just begun.
Mer-chants' transactions, which require both individual and collective
deal-ings in India, are helpful in considering the caste system from a new
perspective. In order in understanding the Vaghri community better,
further comparisons between them and merchant-artisan communities,
116 Journal of the Japanese Association for South Asian Studies, 14, 2002 Acknowledgements
This research could not be completed without friendship of the Vaghri and the people in the fields who welcomed a stranger like me. I greatly acknowledge Prof. Thomas Acton (University of Greenwich, U.K.) and
Dr.P. Thamizoli (M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation, India) for
their conceptual and material assistance. Dr. Masakazu Tanaka
(Univer-sity of Kyoto) gave me numerous precious comments on revising the
manuscript. I also appreciate the comments given to my presentation at
the annual meeting of the JASAS in 2001 and the writing-up seminar at
the University of Kyoto in 2001.
The research was supported by the Research Grant of the Japan Soci-ety for the Promotion of Science for Young Scientists.
Notes
1) Since their language does not have letters, this transliteration is based on the sound and literatures in North India.
2) Among similar terms used to refer to such communities, there are peripatetics [Berland
1979; Rao 1987], service nomads [Hayden 1979, 1999], symbiotic nomads [Misra 1969;
Bharati 1998].
3) This characteristic can be compared with the case of hunter and gatherers. How-ever, as Bird-David makes clear, hunter and gatherers also engage in multiple eco-nomic activities including trade and wage labor [Bird-David 1992]. Similarly, as Misra points out, commercial nomads do not exclusively exploit human resource base. They may grow food or keep herds for varying periods of time [Misra 1992: 217].
4) Acton [1985] and Hayden [1999] also share the same perspective as Rao. 5) The concept of jajmani system, which Wiser introduced in 1936, was influential in
that it suggested people are tied to the caste system through economical exchange. There has been fierce controversy over whether such a concept is useful in under-standing inter-caste relationships, which have regional variants, undergo historical change and have diverse categories of remuneration. See Kano [1977] and Fuller [1989].
6) The Vaghri or Narikoravar are designated as M.B.C. the Most Backward Class. The Tamil Nabu Backward Class Committee mentions the following reasons for not categorizing them either as S.T. (the Scheduled Tribe) or S.C. (the Scheduled Caste): 1) they do not live separately in mountainous areas like most of the tribals do; 2) their living space is not fixed. Here we can see that the Indian policies are based on sedentary standard.
7) See Beck [1973], Moffatt [1979], Trawick [1991], Sekine [1995] and Racine [1997]. 8) See Mann [1980] and Werth [1993].
9) Actually the group called Vaghri still lives in those states [Tarlo 1997]. There is no record but their myth tells us about their roots. According to their myth, when they
began wandering, there was a terrible drought as well as invasion of Muslim rulers. In order to escape such crisis, they migrated to forests down South.
10) Enthoven supposes that the name Vaghri living in Gujarat derives from the vagads, sand-hills of the Rajputana desert, or vagurs or vaghars meaning net. In the latter case, it would mean a tribe of netters [Enthoven 1975: 399].
11) The Kuravar, who are indigenous hunter and gatherers in Tamil Nadu, are not the Vaghri, though both are often considered as belonging to the same group among the local people [Trawick 1991: 260; Sekine 1995: 81].
12) Family with an old genealogy and the eldest son's line are regarded as "assal ghel (good house)" .
13) There are swearwords such as madsi / dediyo-chodo (a man who slept with a non-Vaghri / Harijan woman) or madho / dediyo-chodni (a woman who slept with a non-Vaghri / Harijan man), but not seryo-chodo. To flout seryo, there is a word gulam, meaning "servant" or "handicapped".
14) Tiruchirappalli (Tiruchy) is located in the central part of Tamil Nadu. The popula-tion is about 2,390,000. The field data were collected basically in the colonies of the Vaghri in Tamil Nadu and where they conduct commercial activities. The research was done during my 17-month stay in their settlement between April 2000 and September 2001.
15) The Poolangudi Nari Kuravar Colony has a populationof about 300 and is located 32 kilometers from the center of Tiruchy. Most of the Vaghri who live in this colony are the seryo lineage members.
16) The colony is located near the center of Palani. In Palani, there is a famous Murugan temple, where many Vaghris come for business during the festival season. The land of this colony is private without the owner and 93 Vaghri families, including 49 chirikyo, and 35 Harijan families live together.
17) They hunt or set a trap for hares, jackals and various birds. Basically they consume these meats among themselves but they also sell them to the sedentary people. When they hunt some illegal animals, the game gains additional value. Previously they would hunt even bears, monkeys, deer and cheetah.
18) The Vaghri first prepare the money for airplane tickets and the hotel to stay usually by debt. Then they sell necklaces or amulets abroad until the period of visa expires. After they return, they pay the loan back from the profit they gained. Once their business succeeds, they can expect great profit in business abroad. However, their business is always influenced by unpredictable situations abroad such as communal riots, refusal of entering the country because of their products, or accidents due to different customs. When they are caught in such troubles, their business abroad only ends up with increasing the debt.
19) A sixty-one-year-old Tamil man in Chennai pointed out that the public advertise-ments once put before a film started to call for hygienic practice have probably been effective among the Vaghri, who are great fans of cinema. Christian missionaries who have evangelized the Vaghri since the 1970s regard it as a result of their educa-tion.
20) When they do business abroad, they buy these electronic devices. However, since they are not used to saving the profit, such goods can easily become earnests when
118 Journal of the Japanese Association for South Asian Studies, 14, 2002 they borrow money.
21) They also went to a small town called Sikandra near Mathura. It is a small town of population about 10,000. The bead industry began to flourish in the 1950s. Now it is said that there are as many as 400 bead shops.
22) The current exchange rate of one Indian rupee is 2.55 yen (in 14th June 2002). 23) According to the local people, they have seen the Vaghri people around the Sabarimalai
season for the last fifteen years. They stay in tents near the public toilet where they can get water. During the daytime, they make bead necklaces and in the early morning between five to eight, they sell those necklaces to those who come to the Subramaniya temple. Most of the Vaghri come for the business purpose only and have never been inside the temple.
24) Using the same cultural niche, the Vaghri do business abroad. They say that one piece of tiger nail, actually produced from cow's hoof, can be sold for 100-300 Rs. in Malaysia, though if the authorities found it, they would not be allowed to enter Malaysia.
25) The local guardian god, who demands animal sacrifice and have power to control black magic. There is a temple for Karupusami in Devarayanery. R was selected as pajari (a person who conducts rituals) of the temple because he was the only one who became possessed when they were giving sacrifice of chicken to the god. Nowa-days, belief in Karupusami among the people in Devarayanery is increasing. 26) On a different occasion in 1996, another Vaghri told me that mai is made from the
skull of the first-born child. (In the local context, it is usually the first-born child. The process of making varies by person to person while skull is commonly used.)
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