Shauka - Johar
Encyclopedia
The Shauka living in the Johar Valley
of Goriganga river in Munsiyari
Tehsil
of the Pithoragarh district
are also known as Johari or Johari Shauka. They are part of the larger Uttarakhand Bhotiya
ethno-linguistic group, and one of the few of Uttarakhand
tribes that shows a rich cultural heritage and adhere to the Caste
system. Shaukas are the followers of Hinduism
, and rely on the Hindu Brahmins to conduct religious ceremonies. Their main deity is Goddess Nanda Devi
in Martoli and Milam
.
The legend of Rajuli - Malusahi relates to Rajuli, daughter of Sunpati Shauka (A local lord/king of Johar) and Malusahi, scion of one of the branches of Katyuri Kings
based out of Bairath near Dwarahat
. The famous explorers Pundit Nain Singh Rawat (C.I.E.) and Rai Bahadur Kisan Singh Rawat belongs to the Johar valley.
and Gyanima in Tibet
, across the innumerable ridges and valleys of Kumaon
into the Gangetic plains. The annual migrations of their caravans took place along established trade routes, for the Shaukas were legendary traders and trans-Himalayan trade partnerships with nomadic Tibetan Khampas and Dokpas were formed and nurtured over generations, until China invaded Tibet and the subsequent Sino-Indian War
in 1962 caused trade to be stopped completely.
This caused great upheaval in the lives of the Shaukas. Nomadic trade was in their blood, and they maintained vast flocks of pack animals for the sole purpose of transporting costly goods over the hundreds of difficult miles which separate Tibet from the cities in the plains of India. At Gangtok, in late August, the Shauka caravans would be loaded with valuable Tibetan wool, gold dust, borax and rock salt and begin the descent over the passes into India in early September. After celebrating the mid-September festival of Nandashtami (in honour of the goddess 'Nanda Devi' whose abode is on the 25,645 feet high peak of the same name in the Johar valley) in their villages, the traders travelled down the mountains to the plains as far as Varanasi to purchase silks, spices and jaggery. In mid March the caravans ascended the mountains and crossed once again into Tibet by June. During this time, the women would remain their villages, surrounded by high peaks and alpine pastures rich in medicinal herbs and covered with sweet grass and beautiful flowers. The journey from Johar to Tibet was the most hazardous and bad weather on the frozen heights of the windswept passes caused many men and animals to perish.
At times, Shauka women accompanied the caravans to Tibet, in order to undertake the holiest of Hindu pilgrimages, to the scared Mount Kailash
, abode of Lord Shiva
, and to Manasarovar, the lake of supreme consciousness. It was by observing and befriend ingnomadic Khampa women there, who wove beautiful carpets, shawls, fabric, saddle rugs and blankets, that the Shauka women brought back with them the art of weaving, and caused it to flourish as a vibrant and profitable cottage industry. The entire process of dyeing, carding, spinning and weaving wool was done exclusively by women on homemade spindles and looms, using vegetable dyes. Original Tibetan patterns and motifs were refined and altered to create a typical style of Shauka weaving. It was not surprising, therefore, that these highland communities were prosperous and cultured. Although they have always worshipped the Hindu deities Shiva and Shakti
, who are believed to dwell on the Himalayan peaks Mt. Kailash and Nanda Devi, many cultural and religious aspects of Shauka society were influenced by Tibetan Buddhism
. The Shauka had formed strong social and cultural bonds with the Tibetans
which passed from one generation to another.
When trade, the vital link between the two countries, was cut off all of a sudden, the Shaukas faced a very uncertain future. Their huge flocks, once a primary asset, were rendered useless as there were no more goods to transport. Moreover, the forests of Kumaon, once abundant and rich in grazing, had been steadily depleted not so much by the local population as by large scale commercial exploitation. As wool ceased to be supplied from Tibet, the cottage industry of weaving also came to a virtual standstill, and the Shauka community struggled to survive and to find a place in the new order of life.
Meanwhile, those who remained out of necessity or choice in the mountains faced a difficult future. Many shepherds sold their entire flocks to meat markets and those who did not found it increasingly difficult to sustain their animals with the limited grazing available in depleted forests. For it was during the seventies and eighties that maximum damage was done to the natural resources of Kumaon as more and more timber was required to feed paper mills and other factories in the plains. The women, not only of the Shauka tribe but of all the hill communities, suffered the most as fuelwood and fodder became scarce and water sources dried up.
As part of the development programme for the region, the government did eventually supply Shauka women with wool. Unfortunately, the wool was of a very poor quality, mill spun and dyed in awful chemical colours like shocking pink and canary yellow, and was brought up from Punjab
and Delhi
. This arrangement created an ideal setting for middlemen of all kinds to exploit the weavers. Policy makers ignored the fact that a good marketing system was also required, as a result of which the same middlemen who sold the weavers woolen yarn on cash basis collected the finished products from them on credit basis. The women felt they were being thoroughly exploited, and gradually lost interest in their craft to such an extent that by the nineties only few women still knew and practiced traditional methods of dyeing and weaving.
On the other hand, in order to bring in cash, the Shauka men used their guns, once meant solely to protect their caravans from dacoits and predators, to kill rare musk deer, snow leopard, black bear and other species. The musk, and pelts sold at large profits on the black market. (To make matters worse, bored army personnel who were stationed near the Tibetan frontiers shot Blue Sheep and Thar, a sort of Ibex, at random for meat and sport). Similarly, highland forests of cedar and spruce
were also depleted and the valuable timber sold.
In an unexpected turn of events, an agreement was signed between the Governments of India
and China
in 1992 and the re-opening of the Lipu la pass for trans-Himalayan trade was a part of that accord. For the Shaukas of the older generation, returning to Tibet after a gap of almost 35 years was an emotional event. Although they were shocked to see that the great monastery of Purang and smaller Gompa
s around Mount Kailash
had been razed to the ground by the Chinese army, some Shaukas were fortunate enough to be reunited with their old trade partners at Gangtok and Gyanima. They returned to India with some quantities of Tibetan goat pashmina (the fine undercoat of high altitude animals) renowned for its warmth and softness, Bactrian camel wool, and fine Tibetan sheep wool. Although rock salt, borax, gold dust and turquoise had been replaced by cheap electronic and plastic goods made in China, wool was still available from the Khampa and Dokpa nomads.
Over the years, the Shauka community has expanded, migrated, and readapted to present day life. Rapid modernization, almost feverish in its haste and devoid of sound planning and devoid of sound planning and vision, has brought a curious mixture of development and destruction to the mountains. In this fast changing world, the ancient trade routes across the alpine pastures, swift flowing rivers and glacial rubble of Johar, over the desolate, austere passes and into the great plains of Tibet with its turquoise lakes and cobalt sky, remain eternal, unchanging. Perhaps it is time to pause and reflect upon the wisdom and skills of the traditions of the tribal people and turn this knowledge to the advantage of the Shauka community. For the time is not far when the tranquil highlands of Kumaon will be flooded by mass tourism. This will open avenues for further exploitation of the natural and man made resources of the Shaukas by a new set of middlemen.
Before this happens, it is imperative that these resources are put firmly in the control of the indigenous communities, and such traditional skills as weaving and growing up medicinal plants can help to make the Shaukas economically self-sufficient without damaging the environment on both a long and short term basis. The high Himalayas
are rich in resources and though they seem inhospitable and desolate to the uninitiated, they support an amazing variety of plant and animal life and have sustained communities such as the Shaukas of Kumaon in innumerable valleys from Kashmir
to Bhutan
, across the length of Northern India and Nepal
. The re-opening of trans-Himalayan trade provides many opportunities to the Shaukas to return to a traditional way of life which can be made economically, socially and environmentally relevant and profitable.
Johar Valley
Johar Valley is a valley located in Uttarakhand, India, along the Gori Ganga river. The valley used to be a major trade route with Tibet. The best known villages in the valley are Munsiyari and Milam....
of Goriganga river in Munsiyari
Munsiyari
Munsyari is the name of a town and a tehsil in the Pithoragarh District in the hill-state of Uttarakhand, India.It lies at the base of the great Himalayan mountain range, at an elevation of about , and is a starting point of various treks into the interior of the range.- Overview :Its name refers...
Tehsil
Tehsil
A Tehsil or Tahsil/Tahasil , also known as Taluk and Mandal, is an administrative division of some country/countries of South Asia....
of the Pithoragarh district
Pithoragarh District
Pithoragarh district is the easternmost Himalayan district in the state of Uttarakhand, India. It is naturally landscaped with high Himalayan mountains, snow capped peaks, passes, valleys, alpine meadows, forests, waterfalls, perennial rivers, glaciers and springs. The flora and fauna of this area...
are also known as Johari or Johari Shauka. They are part of the larger Uttarakhand Bhotiya
Uttarakhand Bhotiya
Uttarakhand Bhotiya are an ethno-linguistic group of people resided in the upper Himalayan valleys of the Kumaon and Garhwal of Uttarakhand Himalayas. These include the Shaukas of Kumaon and Tolchhas and Marchhas of Garhwal. Their name, Bhotiya, derives from the word Bod , which is the Classical...
ethno-linguistic group, and one of the few of Uttarakhand
Uttarakhand
Uttarakhand , formerly Uttaranchal, is a state in the northern part of India. It is often referred to as the Land of Gods due to the many holy Hindu temples and cities found throughout the state, some of which are among Hinduism's most spiritual and auspicious places of pilgrimage and worship...
tribes that shows a rich cultural heritage and adhere to the Caste
Caste
Caste is an elaborate and complex social system that combines elements of endogamy, occupation, culture, social class, tribal affiliation and political power. It should not be confused with race or social class, e.g. members of different castes in one society may belong to the same race, as in India...
system. Shaukas are the followers of Hinduism
Hinduism
Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...
, and rely on the Hindu Brahmins to conduct religious ceremonies. Their main deity is Goddess Nanda Devi
Nanda Devi
Nanda Devi is the second highest mountain in India and the highest entirely within the country ; owing to this geography it was the highest known mountain in the world until computations on Dhaulagiri by western surveyors in 1808...
in Martoli and Milam
Milam
Milam, can refer to:* Dream Yoga, .People:* J.B. Milam, a chief of the Cherokee Nation* William Milam, an American diplomat* Benjamin Milam, a Texas Revolution figure* Carl H...
.
The legend of Rajuli - Malusahi relates to Rajuli, daughter of Sunpati Shauka (A local lord/king of Johar) and Malusahi, scion of one of the branches of Katyuri Kings
Katyuri Kings
The Katyuri Kings were a medieval ruling clan of Uttarakhand believed to have descended from Shalivahan ruler from Ayodhya. This links them with Suryavansha...
based out of Bairath near Dwarahat
Dwarahat
Dwarahat is a town and a nagar panchayat in Almora district in the state of Uttarakhand, India.-Geography:Dwarahat is located at . It has an average elevation of 1,510 metres .-Demographics:...
. The famous explorers Pundit Nain Singh Rawat (C.I.E.) and Rai Bahadur Kisan Singh Rawat belongs to the Johar valley.
Lifestyle
Traditionally, the Shaukas lived a nomadic life, travelling with their large flocks of pack goats, sheep and ponies from the trade posts of GangtokGangtok
Gangtok is the capital and largest town of the Indian state of Sikkim. Gangtok is located in the Shivalik Hills of the eastern Himalayan range, at an altitude of . The town, with a population of thirty thousand belonging to different ethnicities such as Nepalis, Lepchas and Bhutia, is administered...
and Gyanima in Tibet
Tibet
Tibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...
, across the innumerable ridges and valleys of Kumaon
Kumaon Division
For Kumaoni/Kumauni People see Kumauni PeopleKumaon or Kumaun is one of the two regions and administrative divisions of Uttarakhand, a mountainous state of northern India, the other being Garhwal. It includes the districts of Almora, Bageshwar, Champawat, Nainital, Pithoragarh, and Udham Singh Nagar...
into the Gangetic plains. The annual migrations of their caravans took place along established trade routes, for the Shaukas were legendary traders and trans-Himalayan trade partnerships with nomadic Tibetan Khampas and Dokpas were formed and nurtured over generations, until China invaded Tibet and the subsequent Sino-Indian War
Sino-Indian War
The Sino-Indian War , also known as the Sino-Indian Border Conflict , was a war between China and India that occurred in 1962. A disputed Himalayan border was the main pretext for war, but other issues played a role. There had been a series of violent border incidents after the 1959 Tibetan...
in 1962 caused trade to be stopped completely.
This caused great upheaval in the lives of the Shaukas. Nomadic trade was in their blood, and they maintained vast flocks of pack animals for the sole purpose of transporting costly goods over the hundreds of difficult miles which separate Tibet from the cities in the plains of India. At Gangtok, in late August, the Shauka caravans would be loaded with valuable Tibetan wool, gold dust, borax and rock salt and begin the descent over the passes into India in early September. After celebrating the mid-September festival of Nandashtami (in honour of the goddess 'Nanda Devi' whose abode is on the 25,645 feet high peak of the same name in the Johar valley) in their villages, the traders travelled down the mountains to the plains as far as Varanasi to purchase silks, spices and jaggery. In mid March the caravans ascended the mountains and crossed once again into Tibet by June. During this time, the women would remain their villages, surrounded by high peaks and alpine pastures rich in medicinal herbs and covered with sweet grass and beautiful flowers. The journey from Johar to Tibet was the most hazardous and bad weather on the frozen heights of the windswept passes caused many men and animals to perish.
At times, Shauka women accompanied the caravans to Tibet, in order to undertake the holiest of Hindu pilgrimages, to the scared Mount Kailash
Mount Kailash
Mount Kailash is a peak in the Gangdisê Mountains, which are part of the Himalayas in Tibet...
, abode of Lord Shiva
Shiva
Shiva is a major Hindu deity, and is the destroyer god or transformer among the Trimurti, the Hindu Trinity of the primary aspects of the divine. God Shiva is a yogi who has notice of everything that happens in the world and is the main aspect of life. Yet one with great power lives a life of a...
, and to Manasarovar, the lake of supreme consciousness. It was by observing and befriend ingnomadic Khampa women there, who wove beautiful carpets, shawls, fabric, saddle rugs and blankets, that the Shauka women brought back with them the art of weaving, and caused it to flourish as a vibrant and profitable cottage industry. The entire process of dyeing, carding, spinning and weaving wool was done exclusively by women on homemade spindles and looms, using vegetable dyes. Original Tibetan patterns and motifs were refined and altered to create a typical style of Shauka weaving. It was not surprising, therefore, that these highland communities were prosperous and cultured. Although they have always worshipped the Hindu deities Shiva and Shakti
Shakti
Shakti from Sanskrit shak - "to be able," meaning sacred force or empowerment, is the primordial cosmic energy and represents the dynamic forces that are thought to move through the entire universe in Hinduism. Shakti is the concept, or personification, of divine feminine creative power, sometimes...
, who are believed to dwell on the Himalayan peaks Mt. Kailash and Nanda Devi, many cultural and religious aspects of Shauka society were influenced by Tibetan Buddhism
Tibetan Buddhism
Tibetan Buddhism is the body of Buddhist religious doctrine and institutions characteristic of Tibet and certain regions of the Himalayas, including northern Nepal, Bhutan, and India . It is the state religion of Bhutan...
. The Shauka had formed strong social and cultural bonds with the Tibetans
Tibetan people
The Tibetan people are an ethnic group that is native to Tibet, which is mostly in the People's Republic of China. They number 5.4 million and are the 10th largest ethnic group in the country. Significant Tibetan minorities also live in India, Nepal, and Bhutan...
which passed from one generation to another.
When trade, the vital link between the two countries, was cut off all of a sudden, the Shaukas faced a very uncertain future. Their huge flocks, once a primary asset, were rendered useless as there were no more goods to transport. Moreover, the forests of Kumaon, once abundant and rich in grazing, had been steadily depleted not so much by the local population as by large scale commercial exploitation. As wool ceased to be supplied from Tibet, the cottage industry of weaving also came to a virtual standstill, and the Shauka community struggled to survive and to find a place in the new order of life.
History
In 1967, the Government of India notified the 'Shaukas' (Bhotiyas) under the Scheduled Tribes Act which enabled those of the younger generation to avail of formal education and subsequent job reservations. The trade depot of Munsyari, situated at the foot of the Panchachuli range about 50 miles South of the Tibetan frontier, evolved into a town with government schools, colleges and administrative centres. Nearly all the Shaukas abandoned their highland villages, once strategically close to Tibet but now remote and cutoff from the mainstream, and settled close to Munsyari. Young Shauka men availed of job reservations given to them by the government and migrated permanently to cities in the plains, taking their families with them.Meanwhile, those who remained out of necessity or choice in the mountains faced a difficult future. Many shepherds sold their entire flocks to meat markets and those who did not found it increasingly difficult to sustain their animals with the limited grazing available in depleted forests. For it was during the seventies and eighties that maximum damage was done to the natural resources of Kumaon as more and more timber was required to feed paper mills and other factories in the plains. The women, not only of the Shauka tribe but of all the hill communities, suffered the most as fuelwood and fodder became scarce and water sources dried up.
As part of the development programme for the region, the government did eventually supply Shauka women with wool. Unfortunately, the wool was of a very poor quality, mill spun and dyed in awful chemical colours like shocking pink and canary yellow, and was brought up from Punjab
Punjab (India)
Punjab ) is a state in the northwest of the Republic of India, forming part of the larger Punjab region. The state is bordered by the Indian states of Himachal Pradesh to the east, Haryana to the south and southeast and Rajasthan to the southwest as well as the Pakistani province of Punjab to the...
and Delhi
Delhi
Delhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...
. This arrangement created an ideal setting for middlemen of all kinds to exploit the weavers. Policy makers ignored the fact that a good marketing system was also required, as a result of which the same middlemen who sold the weavers woolen yarn on cash basis collected the finished products from them on credit basis. The women felt they were being thoroughly exploited, and gradually lost interest in their craft to such an extent that by the nineties only few women still knew and practiced traditional methods of dyeing and weaving.
On the other hand, in order to bring in cash, the Shauka men used their guns, once meant solely to protect their caravans from dacoits and predators, to kill rare musk deer, snow leopard, black bear and other species. The musk, and pelts sold at large profits on the black market. (To make matters worse, bored army personnel who were stationed near the Tibetan frontiers shot Blue Sheep and Thar, a sort of Ibex, at random for meat and sport). Similarly, highland forests of cedar and spruce
Spruce
A spruce is a tree of the genus Picea , a genus of about 35 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the Family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal regions of the earth. Spruces are large trees, from tall when mature, and can be distinguished by their whorled branches and conical...
were also depleted and the valuable timber sold.
In an unexpected turn of events, an agreement was signed between the Governments of India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
and China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
in 1992 and the re-opening of the Lipu la pass for trans-Himalayan trade was a part of that accord. For the Shaukas of the older generation, returning to Tibet after a gap of almost 35 years was an emotional event. Although they were shocked to see that the great monastery of Purang and smaller Gompa
Gompa
Gompa and ling are Buddhist ecclesiastical fortifications of learning, lineage and sadhana , located in Tibet, India, Nepal, and Bhutan...
s around Mount Kailash
Mount Kailash
Mount Kailash is a peak in the Gangdisê Mountains, which are part of the Himalayas in Tibet...
had been razed to the ground by the Chinese army, some Shaukas were fortunate enough to be reunited with their old trade partners at Gangtok and Gyanima. They returned to India with some quantities of Tibetan goat pashmina (the fine undercoat of high altitude animals) renowned for its warmth and softness, Bactrian camel wool, and fine Tibetan sheep wool. Although rock salt, borax, gold dust and turquoise had been replaced by cheap electronic and plastic goods made in China, wool was still available from the Khampa and Dokpa nomads.
Over the years, the Shauka community has expanded, migrated, and readapted to present day life. Rapid modernization, almost feverish in its haste and devoid of sound planning and devoid of sound planning and vision, has brought a curious mixture of development and destruction to the mountains. In this fast changing world, the ancient trade routes across the alpine pastures, swift flowing rivers and glacial rubble of Johar, over the desolate, austere passes and into the great plains of Tibet with its turquoise lakes and cobalt sky, remain eternal, unchanging. Perhaps it is time to pause and reflect upon the wisdom and skills of the traditions of the tribal people and turn this knowledge to the advantage of the Shauka community. For the time is not far when the tranquil highlands of Kumaon will be flooded by mass tourism. This will open avenues for further exploitation of the natural and man made resources of the Shaukas by a new set of middlemen.
Before this happens, it is imperative that these resources are put firmly in the control of the indigenous communities, and such traditional skills as weaving and growing up medicinal plants can help to make the Shaukas economically self-sufficient without damaging the environment on both a long and short term basis. The high Himalayas
Himalayas
The Himalaya Range or Himalaya Mountains Sanskrit: Devanagari: हिमालय, literally "abode of snow"), usually called the Himalayas or Himalaya for short, is a mountain range in Asia, separating the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau...
are rich in resources and though they seem inhospitable and desolate to the uninitiated, they support an amazing variety of plant and animal life and have sustained communities such as the Shaukas of Kumaon in innumerable valleys from Kashmir
Kashmir
Kashmir is the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term Kashmir geographically denoted only the valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal mountain range...
to Bhutan
Bhutan
Bhutan , officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked state in South Asia, located at the eastern end of the Himalayas and bordered to the south, east and west by the Republic of India and to the north by the People's Republic of China...
, across the length of Northern India and Nepal
Nepal
Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...
. The re-opening of trans-Himalayan trade provides many opportunities to the Shaukas to return to a traditional way of life which can be made economically, socially and environmentally relevant and profitable.
Further reading
- "Zu einer Zeit, als Bäume und Gräser noch sprechen konnten...". Sozioökonomie, Kosmologie und Mythologie der Rang-Shauka im zentralindischen Himalaya (Taschenbuch) von Sabine Leder
- History of the Origin of Shauka Tribe of Middle Himalayas, by Negi Girdhar Singh, Dept. of History, Kumaon University, Nainital. 2006. Lucknow Journal of Social Sciences. 2006, Volume 3, Issue 2. ISSN : 0974-8148.