CONSERVATION ACTION SERIES 20040602

BIODIVERSITY, LIVELIHOODS & THE LAW

The case of the Jogi-Nath snake charmers of India

BIODIVERSITY, LIVELIHOODS & THE LAW

The case of the Jogi-Nath snake charmers of India

Bahar Dutt

Bahar Dutt

Ramesh Kumar

Vikram Hoshing

Rachel Kaletta

Rishipal Nath

PROJECT TEAM

Copyright Wildlife Trust of India

Wildlife Trust of India (WTI)C 644, New Friends Colony, 1st FloorNew Delhi 110 065, India

The Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) is a non-profitconservation organization committed to initiateand catalyse actions that prevent destruction ofIndia's wildlife and its habitat. In the long run, itaims to achieve, through proactive reforms inpolicy and management, an atmosphereconducive to conservation.

WTI works through building partnerships andalliances and its strengths lie in its professionalmulti-disciplinary team, quick reactions, and itswillingness to work with so far neglected issueslike acquiring land for wildlife and rescue andrehabilitation.

Supported by:

The Rufford Maurice Laing FoundationFifth FloorBabmaes House2 Babmaes StreetLondon SW1Y 6RF

The Rufford Maurice Laing Foundation is a UKbased charity, offering grants to organizationsworking with nature conservation, environment,and sustainable development predominantly innon-first world countries.

Citation: Dutt, Bahar (2004), Biodiversity,livelihoods & the law: The case of the Jogi-Nathsnake charmers of India, Wildlife Trust of India,Delhi.

Cover photograph : Vikram HoshingBack cover : Vikram HoshingTitle page : Vikram HoshingContents page : Red spotted royal snake by

Vikram Hoshing

All rights reserved. All material appearing in thispublication is copyrighted and may bereproduced only with permission. Anyreproduction in full, or part, must credit WTI asthe copyright owner.

The designations of geographical entities in thispublication and the presentation of the materialdo not imply the expression of any opinion on thepart of the authors or WTI/Rufford MauriceLaing Foundation concerning the legal status ofany country, territory or area, its authorities, orconcerning the delimitation of its frontiers orboundaries.

This book can be used subject to the conditionthat it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, belent, hired out, or otherwise circulated in anyform of binding or cover other than that in whichit is published without WTI's prior writtenconsent and without a similar condition includingthis condition being imposed on the subsequentuser and without limiting the rights undercopyright reserved above. No part of thispublication may be reproduced, stored in orintroduced in a retrieval system or transmitted inany form or by any means without the priorwritten permission of the copyright owner.

Cover template by Amrita NandyEdited & Designed by Sunrita SenPrinted by Lipee Scan Pvt. Ltd.89, DSIDC Okhla Ph-1, New Delhi, India

CONTENTS

FOREWORD

PREFACE

Author's note

Acknowledgements

Executive Summary

Map of India showing Jogi-Nath presence

Map showing areas visited by Jogi-Nath healers

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 2: SOCIAL AND CULTURAL LIFE OF THE JOGI-NATH SAPERAS

CHAPTER 3: RESULTS OF THE MULTI-DISCIPLINARY SURVEY

SECTION A Socio-economic status of the Jogi-NathsSECTION B Herpetology and condition of snakes in captivitySECTION C Ethnobotanical information

CHAPTER 4: ANALYSIS OF RESULTS

CHAPTER 5: COMMUNITY INITIATIVES

CHAPTER 6: RECOMMENDATIONS TO POLICY MAKERS

Appendix I Questionnaire for traditional healersAppendix II Questionnaire for herpetological informationAppendix III Questionnaire for socio-economic surveyAppendix IV Inventory of medicinal plants used by snake charmersAppendix V Ailments treated by snake charmersAppendix V I What do the experts say?

REFERENCES

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

15

19

42

45

49

53545557616264

FOREWORD

4

The Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) was set up in 1998 inorder to catalyze conservation actions that wouldpositively affect wild species and their habitats.Although the clear focus of the organisation is itsconservation of non-human life and the ecosystems in whichthey survive, it is clear that human beings play a vital andcompelling role in this, thereby necessitating addressal oftheir needs as well. Human beings utilise an ecosystem inmany ways that are similar to other life forms i.e. theyextract resources from it for food, shelter, providing meansof occupation and other survival needs. They also, unlikemany other life forms, impact the world they live in for nonsubsistence needs based on greed, development based onhuman aspirations and luxury. They also impact otherspecies and ecosystems in wanton way for sports, pleasureand life style that are in no way connected with subsistence.While the latter two categories are morally indefensible ifthey impact the survival of other species or individualanimals, the subsistence needs of humanity can not beoverlooked. This is especially so when a community drawson wildlife resources because their subsistence and identityhas been based on such a lifestyle for many centuries. It isincumbent on modern day conservationists and policymakers to understand the needs of the local community aswell.

Keeping this rationale in mind, WTI has worked with theshahtoosh weavers of the Jammu & Kashmir (see the report"Beyond the Ban"), the hornbill beak utilising Nyshis ofArunachal Pradesh and the Jogi-Nath Saperas amongothers. The project on Jogi-Nath Saperas focused onproviding this community, which was inextricably linkedwith snake trapping and charming, with alternate livelihoodmodels that preserved their identity but addressed theconservation and welfare concepts of snakes. The author ofthis current report, Ms. Bahar Dutt has worked with thiscommunity for over three years. "Biodiversity, livelihoodsand the law" is a comprehensive report that documents thelivelihoods of the Jogi-Nath Saperas and the alternateoptions that are present for this community. Therecommendations need to be implemented both by thegovernment and the NGO sector to ensure that theconservation and welfare of snakes go hand-in-hand withthe smooth transition of the Jogi-Nath community toalternate livelihoods.

Vivek MenonExecutive DirectorWildlife Trust of India

PREFACE

5

AUTHOR'S NOTE

I first became curious about snake charmers in1999 when I visited Mollarbandh, a smallsettlement of 150 snake charmers on theoutskirts of Delhi. Armed with a degree in wildlifeconservation, I was sure that the only way to tackleproblems of wildlife conservation, animal welfareand biodiversity issues was to work with the peoplewho use wild animals, and, in some cases, exploitthem to earn a living. In the initial days, the going was tough. When Ifirst visited the community of Jogi-Naths all Iencountered was hostility. They were suspiciousand they tried every method possible to drive meaway - from being openly rude to putting snakes inmy bag.The Jogi-Naths are not an easy community to workwith. Alcoholism and drug addiction are commonamong them and they do not accept outsiderseasily. The process of getting to know thecommunity has been slow, but today I have friendsin snake charmer villages across India. Now, when Itravel, I have a place to stay in hundreds of tinyhamlets of snake charmers. Over the past one year I have been travelling - some

times alone, some times with other members of ourproject team - interacting with snake charmerfamilies and living their lives with them. Perhaps,the most poignant picture that comes to mind isthat of 70-year-old Mishrinath, whom we cameacross perched on the sand dunes of Rajasthan.Once a snake charmer, Mishrinath today weavescolourful bags, which he sells to members of thecommunity for carrying snakes. Mishrinath cannotsee very well, but he gave me some surma - aspecial herbal medicine made by the snakecharmers - to improve my eyesight.No community is perfect. The snake charmers, too,have their personal rivalries. Some look after theirsnakes well, some do not. This report is not anattempt to paint a romantic picture of a community.There are serious animal welfare concerns as wellas poverty issues involved, both of which need to beaddressed. I hope we have been able to give somesuggestions for both stakeholders: the snakes andthe snake charmer.

Bahar DuttApril 2004

6

70 year old Mishrinath sapera from Rajasthan weaves bags for other saperas

M r. Thomas Mathew, Chairperson, Board of Trustees of theWildlife Trust of India (WTI), first encouraged me to takeup work with the snake charmer community. I amimmensely grateful for all the support he has given me over theyears. Fieldwork for the project was done under extremely toughconditions, especially since the villages of the snake charmers areusually tucked away deep in the interiors of agricultural fields atleast 50 km from the nearest motorable road. The snake charmerswere initially hostile and suspicious of our presence. But thatgradually changed and I am grateful to the many families who letus into their lives and shared their food and homes with us. I amespecially grateful to Guru Roshannath who kept vigil one wholenight when dacoits entered the village where our team was staying.The project team worked under tough conditions, often with onlyone meal a day and walking miles in the desert sands of Rajasthan.I would like to thank Nilanjana Nag for assisting us withtranslations, Ramesh Kumar for his ability to handle difficultsituations, Rachel Kaletta for her knowledge of plants and longhours of work without complaint, Rishipal Nath from thecommunity who made sure we were fed and looked after andVikram Hoshing who became so close to the snake charmers thatthey treated him like family.I would like to thank Dr. C.R. Babu, Head of the Department ofBotany at Delhi University, and Dr. Sanjay Kshirsagar, of the samedepartment, for their advise and support in putting together theethnobotanical section of this report. I am grateful to Suresh Babufor his inputs and assistance in the identification of plant species.I am grateful to all my colleagues at the WTI, especially Dr. N.V.KAshraf; Arvind Krishnan for technical help; Rupa Gandhi for heradvice on the layout and design of the report and AniruddhaMookerjee for editorial inputs. I am grateful to Dr. Suresh Kumarfor assistance in making the maps. I am extremely grateful toSunrita Sen for her editorial skills and helping us in putting thedocument together and Surendra Varma Scientist, Indian Instituteof Science, BangaloreRomulus Whitaker and Harry Andrews at the Centre forHerpetology, Chennai, were a constant guiding force in thisproject. Rupali Ghose, Kedar Bhide and Gowri Mallapukar gavevaluable recommendations. I would like to thank Ms. Shiela Dikshit, Chief Minister of Delhiand Mr. Targe at the Delhi Scheduled Caste Financial Corporationfor approving the loans under which snake charmers have startedtheir own micro-credit business. I would like to thank the Rufford Maurice Laing Foundation, UK,for facilitating a grant for me to undertake this project.Last but not the least, I am grateful to Mr. Vivek Menon, ExecutiveDirector, WTI, for his guidance and organisational support for theproject.

Bahar DuttApril 2004

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

7

I n India there are many communities who aredependent on wild resources for their life andlivelihood. The Jogi-Nath snake charmers areone such community. Spread across tiny villagehamlets in five states of northern India, thecommunity today is at a crossroads. In 1972, theIndian Wildlife (Protection) Act was introduced inan effort to protect India's fast depleting wildlife.The Act imposed a strict ban on any use of wildfauna for commercial or subsistence purposes.While this has led to a very positive scenario forwildlife conservation in the country, the livelihoodof thousands of snake charmers was renderedillegal. The Wildlife Trust of India decided to research howmodern conservation laws were affecting thelivelihoods of the snake charmers and, conversely,how their use of snakes was affecting conservationof various species. The project also responded on asmall scale to the livelihood needs of the saperas, asynopsis of which is presented in Chapter 5 of thisreport.For the research component first hand data wascollected by a multi-disciplinary project team. Thedata presented in this report has been generatedover a period of one year, although informal contactwith the snake charmer community has beenongoing for three years. The research findings are organised under threeheads:l Socio-economic status of the Jogi-Nath saperas:Nearly three-quarters of the community memberscontinue to use snakes to earn a livelihood. Theaverage income per day from snake charmingexceeds the minimum wage rates prescribed by thegovernment in the states in which they reside. Thus,the snake charmers are still able to earn a majorproportion of their household income from snakecharming. Traditional knowledge related to theprofession is still quite high: nearly four-fifth of thecommunity members know how to catch a snake asthey believe it is related to their caste identity. l Herpetology and condition of the snakes: On anaverage seven snakes per year were caught by onesnake charmer. In the absence of any baseline dataon number of snakes found in the wild, we wereunable to estimate if this use is at sustainable levelsor not. Eight species of snakes were found to bekept in captivity by the Jogi-Nath saperas of whichthe maximum number were Common cobrasfollowed by Rat snakes. Two species of conservationconcern were also found, namely the Royal snakeand the Indian python, but these were observed

only in a small percentage of the householdssampled. Animal welfare concerns are high, as bodycondition of all species of snakes kept for more thanone month in captivity was weak l Ethnobotanical information: Snake charmersprepare their own herbal medicines and as many as110 species of plants were mentioned. None of theplants mentioned are rare or threatened and mostwere common weed species. The snake charmersthus provide informal health services, in a countrywhere access to primary health care facilities is low.But the efficacy of many methods used by themneeds further research. Snakebite treatments wereamong the most frequently mentioned ailments,with any one healer treating up to fifty patients peryear. However in the case of snakebites byvenomous species the role of the traditional healeris limited to the psychological support that it maygive to a victim especially in areas where anti-venomis not availableKey recommendations: The main results of thisreport have shown that snake charming, despiteintroduction of regulatory conservation laws, isthriving. The Jogi-Naths have over generationsbeen able to create their own niche in village life:one of catching snakes, dispensing herbal medicinesand of entertaining audiences with snakes. In acountry, where unemployment rates are high andthousands of educated persons compete for jobs,snake charmers have carved their own niche in theemployment sector. This niche is of relevance,especially in an agricultural economy wherepressure on land is tremendous. There is thus a disbalance between conservationregulatory laws and the traditional occupation ofthe snake charmers. In the final chapter,recommendations have been made to policy makerson how this conflict can be addressed. Amongst anumber of recommendations it is urged that theskills of the community be used through theemployment of snake charmers as 'bare feetconservation educators' to educate people onvenomous and non-venomous species of snakes.This would not only protect their culture andidentity but also assist in the protection of snakeskilled by ignorant people. It is also suggested thattheir musical culture be promoted through theformation of musical bands, sale of musicinstruments handcrafted by the community, andtheir role as traditional healers. A combination ofthese interventions can help in keeping the identityof the community intact without endangering thelives of snakes in the wild.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

8

1.0 Community use of wildlife in IndiaWild resources play a major, and often critical, role in thelivelihoods of a high proportion of the world's population(Pimental et al., 1997). More than 70 percent of India'spopulation is rural (Census 2001, GoI), but not all of thempractice agriculture for a livelihood. A substantialproportion of the rural households depend on forestresources - both plants and animals - for subsistence andincome generation. Some communities are directlydependent on wildlife for their livelihood, while asignificant number depend on wildlife habitats for naturalresources such as fuel-wood and fodder. According to oneestimate, about 300 million people are dependent onforests and their products, of which 200 million peoplelive below the poverty line (Saxena et al., 2000). Despitethe obvious contribution of wildlife to the life of people,there life of people, there are currently no reliableestimates on total supply, subsistence, trade andconsumption of wildlife across India. Even though accurate information does not exist on theexact scale of use of wildlife, the identity of somecommunities in Indian society is traditionally centeredaround the use of one or many wild faunal species. Forinstance, the Baheliyas in northern Uttar Pradesh arefamed for their skills of trapping birds, the Madaris fortrapping macaques, the Badhiyas for civets, foxes andjackals and the Irulas in Tamil Nadu for trapping snakesand rodents. (See Table 1). According to theAnthropological Survey of India there are as many as 196communities in the country that are engaged in trappingof birds and animals for their livelihood (Singh, 1991).This report looks at how modern conservation laws haveaffected the livelihoods of one such traditionalcommunity: the Jogi-Nath saperas (snake charmers).

1.1 Who are the Jogi-Naths?Every morning 45-year-old Aryanath sets out with a fluteand two cane baskets flung across his shoulder on abamboo pole. In the basket are snakes he has trapped: acobra and an earth boa. As soon as he spots a busycorner of the street he sets up his wares. He plays hisflute to draw the attention of passers-by, and once agroup gathers, the snakes are let out of the basket. For their ability to charm deadly snakes, members of theJogi-Nath community came to be known as the snakecharmers or saperas. Different snake species are used by

According to one estimate,about 300 million people aredependent on forests andtheir products, of which 200million people live below thepoverty line

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

11

A traditional healer with plants collected from the forest

Table 1: Some examples of traditional communities using wild animals

Note: This is not a comprehensive list but only indicative of the number of communities whose caste identity and livelihood islinked closely with wild animals.

Community Wild animals hunted StatesBadhiyas Jackals, civets, mongoose Uttaranchal, Uttar Pradesh,

RajasthanJogi-Naths Snakes, hedgehogs, Rajasthan, Haryana,

spiny-tailed lizards Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh

Bawarias Partridge, quails, Rajasthan, Haryana,small mammals Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Bihar

Irulas Primarily snakes Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu

Sapuakelas Snakes, primarily Bihar, OrissaKing cobras

Kanjars Jackals, lizards and Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, small mammal species Madhya Pradesh, Bihar,

West BengalBaheliyas Various species of birds Uttar Pradesh

them to entertain street audiences and earn a living. Thisskill not only gave them an occupation but also a god-likerespect in society. The skill to handle snakes is not new tothe Jogi-Naths but is embedded in their caste identity. Theknowledge of trapping and handling of different species ofsnakes is passed down over generations.This reference to caste is crucial in our understanding ofthe Jogi-Nath community. Each caste in Indian society isa self-governing social unit with a hereditary prescribedmode of subsistence. Indian society comprises of 45,000endogamous groups. Over 37,000 groups are structuredin a system called the Hindu caste system. (Malhotra,1984). Individually each group is called a jati or caste. Thedivision by caste is the reason why the ancient professionof snake charmers survives till today with the knowledgeand skills of the profession being passed down overgenerations from generation. To this day, snakes areintricately woven into all aspects of their lives - from theherbal medicines they prepare to treat snakebites to theirmarriage ceremonies in which snakes are offered as gifts. The Jogi-Naths are found in small village hamlets acrossthe country. Map A shows the geographical spread of thecommunity while Map B shows how far the Jogi-Nathstravel for their livelihood. More details about thecommunity and their demographic status are given inChapter 2.

1.2 Existing conservation scenario in India andstatus of snakesThe use of wild animals for trade or subsistence purposesby communities was deemed illegal in the mid 20thcentury. A multiplicity of factors led to the introduction ofregulatory conservation laws which aimed at putting anend to the use of wildlife, whether by local communitiesor organized industries. Till 1972, when the Wildlife

Protection Act (WPA) came into being, India was a majorplayer in the international trade in reptile skins, cat skins,ivory, live birds, frog legs and live mammals like rhesusmacaques. It was in response to the rapidly depletingwildlife that strict conservation laws, which sought toreverse this trend, were introduced. The WPA is a comprehensive piece of legislation that laysdown rules and regulations for the protection of India'sbiodiversity. Not surprisingly, the Act, with large-scaleprohibitions on hunting and trade, was restrictive but intune with the requirements of time (Misra, 2001). The Actprohibits any hunting of wild animals and trade introphies, animal articles and derivatives. As a result of tough conservation measures, the depletionof crucial wildlife resources has been slowed, thoughproblems of poaching and habitat destruction still persist.Around 23 percent of the country's area is officiallyclassified as forest land and India is recognized as one ofthe 10 mega-diverse countries of the world. With 45,000plants (i.e 7 percent of the world's known plants) and81,000 animal species (6.4 percent of the world's knownfauna), India boasts of a rich biodiversity heritage.

1.3 The Jogi-Naths persecuted: Episodes of arrestand a fear pyschosis in the community In the effort to clamp down on rampant trade, the Jogi-Naths, who did not by tradition, trade in snakeskins butused snakes nonetheless, had to pay a price. A completeban on trade of wildlife species and its derivativesimpacted the livelihood of the Jogi-Naths but this fact wasnot addressed adequately by the state which focused on acomplete clampdown on illegal trade. l In 1991 Pappunath was arrested from outsideSurajkund, a tourist hotspot near Delhi. His crime:trapping of snakes from the wild in violation of the

12

The Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, tough as it was, was much needed, given that in the past millions ofsnake species were killed for the snakeskin trade. Statistics for 1968 indicate that no less than 10 millionsnakes valued at Rs. 107 million were slaughtered for trade. It has been estimated that in 1932 about 2.5million skins were exported from India. It was much later that conservation restrictions were introducedand finally a total ban was imposed on wildlife exports in 1976. The species commonly used in thesnakeskin trade were the Rat snakes (Ptyas mucosus), the Common cobra (Naja naja), the Checkeredkeelback (Xenochropis piscator), the Russells viper (Vipera russellii), the Indian sand boa (Eryx conicus)and the Olive keelback (Atretium schistosum) (Inskipp, 1981). According to one estimate, the number ofsnakes that were caught for the snakeskin trade was so large that a tannery in southern India washandling 9000 skins in one day, which was reduced to 3000 by 1970 (Daniel, 1970).

Trade in snakes and the snakeskin industry in India

Wildlife (Protection) Act. Pappu's snake was seized, hedoes not know what happened to it. In the morning,people from his village secured his release in return fora bribe. Pappu is still fearful of the officials, but soonafter he was freed he went out and caught another snakeas he knows no other skills. (Interview with Pappunathsapera from a village in Haryana, in May 2003) l In 2002, Jitanath was returning to his village in UttarPradesh after performing with his snakes in Agra. Hewas caught by the Forest Department who released hissnakes in the wild and let him go after a stern warning.Jitanath now wanders in nearby villages with hissnakes, as he is too scared of being caught by theenforcement authorities. (Interview with Jitanath saperafrom a village in Uttar Pradesh, in May 2003)l In 1998, a camera team arrived in a village nearDelhi on the pretext of shooting a film on snakecharmers. As the snake charmers displayed their snakesfor the film, the camerapersons revealed their identity.They were from the Forest Department and arrested fivesnake charmers from the village for illegal possession ofa python and a cobra. (Interview with residents of asnake charmers village near Delhi, January, 2004)

The job of preventing illegal trade is monumental. Forestand wildlife authorities across India have been active inconducting raids on unlicensed dealers. Tribal and ruralpeople, however, rarely understand the law and, in somecases, continue to flout it despite being aware of therepercussions. The Jogi-Naths, for instance, continue touse snakes more than three decades after the WPA wasenacted despite the fact that sections of the WPArendered this illegal.Under Section 9 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act,1972: 'Noperson shall hunt any wild animal as specified inSchedules I, II, III and IV of the Act.' Almost all thespecies of snakes used by the snake charmers areincluded in the above mentioned schedules of the Act,thus virtually rendering any trapping of snakes from thewild as illegal.Further, under Section 39 of the WPA ' wild animals aregovernment property ' and 'No person shall without the previous permission in

writing of the Chief Wildlife Warden or the authorizedofficer- acquire or keep in his possession, custody orcontrol, or transfer to any person by way of gift, sale orotherwise or destroy or damage such governmentproperty.' Given these provisions of the WPA, the Jogi-Naths can nolonger use snakes to practice their traditional occupation.Today the Sapera Samaj (snake-charmer community), aconglomeration of thousands of Jogi-Nath saperas fromacross the country, is worried. The raids against themcontinue but many of them still depend on charming forsurvival, practicing their craft even after serving jailsentences or paying fines. On the one hand the castedivisions in the country, their nomadic lifestyle and lowlevels of education have made it impossible for thesaperas to shift to new occupations, on the other, strictenforcement of laws has made it difficult for them topractice their traditional occupation using snakes.

1.4 Scope of the project: Addressing theknowledge gapGiven this background, the Wildlife Trust of India decidedto research how modern conservation laws were affectingthe livelihoods of the snake charmers and, conversely,how their use of snakes was affecting conservation ofvarious species. Queries central to the project were: Howmany people were still practicing snake charming, whatwere the snake species used by them and at what scale?Secondary literature, if any, was minimal, whether aboutthe Jogi-Naths or the snakes they keep. First hand datawas collected by the project team. The data presented inthis report has been generated over a period of one year,although informal contact with the snake charmercommunity has been ongoing for three years. Our work with the community had a strong researchcomponent, but it was difficult to collect data withoutresponding to the needs of the saperas. Therefore, alongwith the study, the project aimed in small ways to promotetheir livelihoods and culture. We also wanted to makepolicy makers aware of the plight of the saperas andorganized extensive meetings and dialogues between thecommunity and government officials. Some aspects of ourwork with them is presented in Chapter 5.

13

The aims and objectives of the project are as follows:1. To study existing livelihood strategies of the saperasand the impact of the ban on snake charming on theirway of life.2. To implement, on a small scale, the livelihood needsof select snake charmer families.3. To examine the snake species being used, the scale ofcapture and the husbandry practices used by thesaperas and how this affects the survival of the captiveindividual and long-term survival of the species.4. To document the indigenous knowledge of the Jogi-Naths in relation to trapping and handling of snakes,ethnobotany and culture and traditions related to theuse of wild resources.5. Through workshops, meetings at local regional andnational levels influence policy makers, government andnongovernment organizations about the plight of thesaperas as a result of wildlife laws which have bannedtheir occupation. 6. To create awarenessamongst leaders in thesapera community about theneed for conservation andprotecting wild species andthe reasons wildlife laws hadbeen introduced.

1.5 MethodologyResearch for this project wascarried out in two parts. In thefirst half, contact wasestablished with the snakecharmer communities withinDelhi to identify theircounterparts in other states ofIndia. On the basis of thevillages that were identified, areconnaissance survey wasconducted in the months ofMay-June 2003. This helpedthe project team to physically verify snake charmervillages, estimate the number of people still engaged inthis occupation and compare the problems of the snakecharmers in rural and urban areas. In the second phase of fieldwork, one village each in thestates of Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh wasidentified for a more comprehensive, multi-disciplinarysurvey which was conducted in January-March 2004. Two criteria were used in the selection of the village - thatit should be remote (at least 50 km away from a citycentre) and the saperas should be willing to have theproject team stay with them and share informationopenly. This was crucial as snake charming is illegal and,therefore, the snake charmers are extremely skeptical ofoutsiders. More details on the bio-geographical profile of the areascovered and the population of each village are given inChapter 3. Once in the village, data was collected througha combination of questionnaires, communityconsultations, transect walks and extensive night halts

with families which helped us authenticate the primarydata being collected. Three types of information were collected: socio-economic, herpetological and ethnobotanical. For eachtype of information, a person skilled in that discipline wasin charge of leading the survey and a separatequestionnaire was devised for each subject. A sample ofthe questionnaire from each discipline is given inAppendix I, II and III. For the socio-economic survey,members of 100 households in all three states of Haryana,Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan were interviewed. In thecase of ethnobotanical information, ten key informantswere selected from five of the study villages, to provideinformation concerning the traditional knowledge, socialstructure, and economics of the profession related totraditional medicines. Two generations of healers weresampled by interviewing at least one older (over 35 yearsof age) and one younger healer (under 35 yeras of age) in

each state. Due to the sensitivenature of the informationgathered, informal semi-structured interviewtechniques were used, andinterviews were often carriedout over a period of severaldays (Bernard, H.R. 2001,Martin, G.J. 1997). This studyfocused on the wild harvestedplant species used in herbalmedicine. Two methods wereused (see Martin, G.J. 1997 formethodology). Firstly,informants were requested tofreelist the plant species theyuse for medicinal purposes.Information was then gatheredon the source, preparation andutilisation of the plant.Secondly, the informants wereaccompanied on a walk in the

vicinity of the village. The informants led this walk,choosing the areas where they usually collected plants.Each walk lasted approximately two hours. Botanicalspecimens were collected of all the medicinal plantsencountered which are used by the snake charmers. Atotal of 58 botanical specimens were collected. Thesespecimens were identified by Dr. Sanjay Kshirsagar of theDepartment of Botany, University of Delhi, and have beendeposited in their herbarium.For the herpetological information, 50 households in thethree states were interviewed and 135 snakes of differentspecies were examined for their health conditions. The survey was thus multi-disciplinary in nature in orderto study all aspects of the lives of the saperas related toconservation.

14

A monocellate cobra

15

The Jogi-Naths follow a culture of their own, unique to theircommunity. This uniqueness is reflected in all aspects oftheir life, from the occupation they follow, to the localinstitutions that operate within the community. This chapterdiscusses the origin of the community and its close links withdifferent religions and why the Jogis are perceived as god-men inIndian society

2.0 A short history of the Jogi-Nath saperasThe Jogi-Nath saperas are considered to be descendants of GuruGorakhnath (Singh, 1991). There are innumerable legends aboutGuru Gorakhnath, though there are no records of when he wasborn, where he hails from, or any historical facts associated withevents in his life. Gorakhnath is considered to be an avatar(incarnation) of the Hindu god Lord Shiva. Till today, Shiva isthe predominant god that the saperas worship. Guru Gorakhnathhad nav (nine) Naths and 84 Siddhas (accomplished beings asdisciples). They are considered to be human forms created byGorakhnath's yogic powers to spread his message of yoga andmeditation to the world. (Briggs, 1938). Guru Gorakhnath is mentioned in reference to AdiShankaracharya who lived in the eighth century 1. He is alsoassociated with Kabir in the 15th century. References to himhave been found in the Vedas (5000-year-old Hindu scriptures);the prophet Mohammad is reported to have met him; soreportedly has Lord Buddha (6th to 7th century). While he does

not seem to have a samadhi (tomb), the caves where hemeditated - Gorakh Gufa (in Nepal), Gorakh Tilla (inPakistan), and Girnar (in India) still exist - are places ofworship. Different legends account for his birth (Eliade, 1987). InBengal, the legend goes that he emerged from the mattedhair of Mahadeva (Shiva). One account gives his place ofbirth as the Punjab, another Kathiawar, while Nepalesetradition says he lived in a cave at Gorakhnath, the caveand town being named after him. The name Gurkha issometimes said to be derived from Gorakhnath. Anotheraccount claims he was an inhabitant of Gorakhpur inUttar Pradesh. In his life, Gorakhnath is said to have traversed thelength and breadth of South Asia - from Afghanistan,parts of Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and within India thestates of Uttar Pradesh, Assam, West Bengal,Maharashtra. This, perhaps, explains the nomadic nature

Guru Gorakhnathhad nav (nine)Naths and 84Siddhas(accomplishedbeings asdisciples). Theyare considered tobe human formscreated byGorakhnath'syogic powers.

CHAPTER 2

SOCIAL AND CULTURAL LIFEOF THE JOGI-NATH SAPERAS

1Guru Gorakhnath is thought to have authored several books including the Goraksha Samhita, Goraksha Gita,Siddha Siddhanta Paddhati, Yoga Martanada, Yoga Siddhanta Paddhati, Yoga-Bija, Yoga Chintamani.

A Jogi-Nath sapera teaches his child how tohandle snakes

Fascinating, frightening, sleek and virtually death-less, snakes have a role in almost every cultureand religion. In Jainism and Buddhism, the snake isregarded as sacred and having divine qualities. It isbelieved that a cobra saved the life of Buddha andanother protected the Jain saint Parshwanath. Inmedieval India, figures of snakes were carved orpainted on the walls of many Hindu temples. In thecaves at Ajanta in central India, the walls haveimages of the rituals of snake worship. Kautilya, inhis Arthashastra has given detailed description ofthe cobra.

Nag-Panchami is an important Indian festival and iscelebrated on the fifth day of the moonlit-fortnight inthe Indian calendar month of Shravan(July/August). This is also the time of the monsoonrains, when snakes invariably come out of holesinundated with rain-water to seek shelter ingardens and, often, houses.

In ancient India, there lived a clan by the name ofNaga whose culture was highly developed. TheIndus Valley civilisation of3000 BC gives ample proofof the popularity of snake-worship amongst theNagas, whose culture wasfairly widespread in India,even before the Aryanscame. After the Nagaculture got incorporatedinto Hinduism, the Indo-Aryans themselvesaccepted many of thesnake deities of the Nagasin their pantheon and someof them even enjoyed apride of place in PuranicHinduism. The prominentcobra snakes mentioned inthe Puranas are Anant,Vasuki, Shesh, Padma,Kanwal, Karkotak, Kalia,Aswatar, Takshak,Sankhpal, Dhritarashtraand Pingal. Somehistorians hold that these were not snakes butNaga Kings of various regions with immensepower.

In Bengal and parts of Assam and Orissa,protection from snakes is sought by worshippingMansa, the queen of serpents. During Mansa puja(worship), snake-charmers are requisitioned toinvoke the Snake Queen by playing lilting tunes on

their flutes.

In Punjab, Nag-Panchami is known by the name ofGuga-Navami. A huge snake is shaped fromdough, which is kneaded from a contribution offlour and butter from every household. The dough-snake is then placed on a winnowing basket andtaken round the village in a colourful procession inwhich women and children sing and dance andonlookers shower flowers. When the processionreaches the main square of the village, religiousrites are performed to invoke the blessings of thesnake

The most fantastic celebrations of Nag-Panchamiare seen in the village of Battis Shirale, about 400kms from the city of Mumbai in Maharashtra. Herepeople pray to live cobras that they catch on theeve of this pre-harvest festival. About a weekbefore the festival, people dig out live snakes fromholes and keep them in covered earthen pots.These snakes are fed with rats and milk. Theirpoison-containing fangs are not removed because

the people of this villagebelieve that to hurt thesnakes is sacrilegious. Onthe day of the festival,villagers, dancing to thetune of a musical band,carry the pots on theirheads in a long processionto the sacred temple ofgoddess Amba. After theritual worship, the snakesare taken out of the potsand set free in the templecourtyard. Then everycobra is made to raise itshead by swinging in frontof it a white-painted bowlfilled with pebbles. Thepriest sprinkles haldi(turmeric) and flowers ontheir raised heads. Afterthe puja, the snakes areoffered milk and honey.

After the rituals are completed, the snakes are putback in the pots and carried in bullock-carts in aprocession through the 32 hamlets of Shiralavillage where women eagerly wait outside theirhouses for a darshan (glimpse of a holy one) of thesacred cobras. Vast crowds arrive from Kolhapur,Sangli, Pune, and even from foreign countries tosee this wonderful spectacle. The following day thesnakes are released in the jungle.

Relevance of snakes in Indian religion and scriptures

16

A cobra kept in a mud pot

of the community. The religious association of theirfounder also explains why the Jogis wear saffron-coloured clothes usually worn by holy men in theHindu religion. Till this day, Jogi-Nath saperas travelto different parts of the country, or beyond, to Nepaland Myanmar, on pilgrimages displaying their snakesalong the way. The connection between the Jogis andsnake worship is a close one and on the festival ofNag-Panchami people come to the homes of the Jogi-Naths to offer prayer and food to captive snakes.

2.1 Demographic status of the Jogi-Naths incontemporary IndiaThe Jogi-Nath saperas refer to themselves by variousregional names. In Rajasthan they are thekalbeliyas, in Punjab jogis and in Haryana, simplysaperas. If we club these different names togetherthe total population of the Jogi-Nath snake charmersis 48,838 persons according to the 'People of India'project of the Anthropological Survey of India.(Singh, 1991) However, it must be stated here thatthese figures are over 20 years old and thepopulation of the community would have increasedmanifold since then. Further, due to their nomadicway of life it is difficult to estimate their exactnumbers. Perhaps, this may be the reason why, whenwe shared these population estimates with the snakecharmers, they considered them very low. Accordingto the snake charmers, their population is at least 2-300,000 persons spread across the states of Haryana,Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and somepockets of Gujarat and Punjab.

2.2 The modern day Jogi-Nath: Old traditions, new lawsWhat was snake charming all about beforeconservation laws were introduced? Or when modernmeans of entertainment like television or radio didnot exist?A snake charmer's tools were his snake basket, abeen (flute) made from bottle gourd, and he could bedistinguished by his saffron-coloured garments andturban. The snake charmer would set out in themorning with the snake basket flung over hisshoulder and find a bustling street corner to set upshop. The flute was used to gather the attention ofpassers-by. Once a large-enough audience hadgathered, the snakes were let out of the basket. Thecreatures seemed to be hypnotized by the music ofthe flute and would raise their hoods. The snakeswere also useful for gathering the attention ofpotential clients for the herbal medicines that theJogi-Naths prepare and sell. A sapera would carrytiny bottles of liquids, ointments and powders whichhe had prepared himself. (See Chapter 3 forethnobotanical knowledge gathered from snakecharmers). These would be sold at the end of theperformance to the audience that had gathered.Performance over, the snake charmer would headback home. In addition to the money from the

performances, people would offer them foodgrains asalms. While the saperas could not be called rich, theyearned enough from this profession to sustainthemselves and their family.Today, however the situation is quite different. TheJogi-Naths have settled down near villages or on thefringes of agricultural fields. Women and children nolonger travel and usually stay back in the villagewhile the men tour extensively to return only at theend of the month, or sometimes after two to threemonths. Before the introduction of the Wildlife (Protection)Act in 1972, the snake charmers would roam freely inbig cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Mathura and Meerutwith their snakes. With increasing awareness ofwildlife laws, snake charmers found their snakesbeing seized and many were even arrested. Today, afear psychosis has gripped the community. AsDinanath sapera states: "We dare not venture outinto the big cities, we go to nearby villages andstreets far from the watchful eye of the Forest

Department or animal welfare people found in bigcities." (Interview conducted with Dinanath saperaon impact of laws on snake charmers in Haryana .)

2.3 Jogi-Nath culture and other livelihoodsThe Jogi-Nath community has responded in its ownway to changing times. While some have adapted wellby turning to new livelihoods, many still continue topractice their old occupation that is snake charming.Some of the new livelihoods they have taken up areclose to their culture and traditional skills. In thissection we present some of the features that areunique to the culture of the saperas.

2.3.1 The Been Party: A unique musicalensembleA been party usually consists of a musical band ofseven snake charmers, with each person playing aspecific musical instrument. The been party ispopular not just in rural, but also in urban areas, andpeople come from far to make bookings for thesapera to play at weddings and social functions. Thephenomenon of the been party is quite recent andaccording to the community has become morepopular only in the last 20-30 years. The snake

The Jogi-Naths have settleddown near villages or on thefringes of agricultural fields.Women and children nolonger travel and usually stayback in the village while themen tour extensively toreturn only at the end of themonth, or sometimes aftertwo to three months.

17

18

charmers have increasingly started relying on thebeen party as a source of income especially due tothe ban on snake charming. The differentinstruments used, are handcrafted by the saperas.These are the been (flute), the tumba (small drum-like object with one string), the khanjari(tambourine) and the dhol (big drums). The been,tumba and khanjari are all made by the snakecharmers themselves after drying the fruit of thebottle gourd plant that they grow close to theirhomes. The wedding season lasts for almost seven months ofthe year and the snake charmers are able to earn areasonable amount of money from theirperformances. The been party has thus emerged asthe community's attempt to adapt to changing timesas it utilizes their musical skills and does not requirethe use of the snakes. The better-off members of thecommunity have developed the concept into bigbusiness with loudspeakers, horses and a carriagewhich is hired out during weddings. The musicalbands provide only seasonal employment and arepopular only in specific states. For instance, in

Rajasthan this project found no been party in any ofthe villages. The snake charmers continue to practicesnake charming.

2.3.2 Snake charmers as traditional healersA little-known fact about snake charmers is theirextensive knowledge of herbal medicines which theydispense to customers as they travel from village tovillage. A detailed listing of the plants collected bythe snake charmers and the medicines prepared bythem is given in the section on ethnobotany inChapter 3.The role of snake charmers as traditional healers isstill intact in rural areas and during stay of theproject teamwith members of the community, theyfound many people from other castes coming to themfor treatment of their ailments. A snake charmer inone village in Haryana has even opened a clinicwhere he sits surrounded by rows of bottles andpowders much like a modern-day doctor. Ofparticular relevance are the medicines prepared fortreating snakebites. These are especially useful

during the monsoons when snakebites are commonand in far-flung areas where the nearest hospital ishundreds of kilometres away and primary healthcentres are not equipped with anti-venom injections.The local snake charmer, in such cases, takes on therole of neighbourhood doctor and treats snake bitevictims. The efficacy of the medicines has beenexamined in the next chapter

2.3.3 Community-based institutions: The Sapera Panchayat"The members of the Sapera Panchayat will sit anddeliberate on a matter, sometimes for many days, ormay dispense with a case within a few hours. Theyare very much like your courts. The verdict of thePanchayat is respected by all the saperas. We nevergo the police or the courts to resolve our problems.Institutions like the court and the police came muchlater. Our panchayat is much older. Even theyounger saperas don't dare defy the decision of thePanchayat." (As told by Pritamnath sapera in apersonal interview)As unique as their livelihoods are the community-based institutions of the saperas . The SaperaPanchayat usually consists of the elders of thevillage. While many villages in rural India have apanchayat (local self-government), the role that theSapera Panchayat assumes is far greater than anyformal institutions of government. The Panchayatconsists of five male members of the village, who arefrom the Jogi-Nath community, whose advice andexpertise is used to resolve disputes. The structure ofthe Panchayat is as follows: Each sapera village willhave five leaders or Panch who constitute thePanchayat. From the Panchayat one person will beselected as the leader or the Sarpanch. The role ofthe Sarpanch is not restricted to one village. He isoften called to another sapera village as a neutralobserver if their own Panchayat is not able to resolvelocal disputes. The expense for his travel and stay ispaid by the host village. Quite often we found that aSarpanch would travel quite far from his own village,even to another state, to resolve disputes of the Jogi-Naths. His skills in settling disputes may thus beused by saperas from another village. All kinds of disputes are brought to the Panchayat:they may be disputes between two families overproperty, personal disputes or altercations whichmay have resulted in physical violence between twoindividuals, or even cases where a snake charmer hasrun away with the wife of another snake charmer.Punishments meted out by the Panchayat usuallyconsist of a public apology or a monetary finedepending on the seriousness of a crime. For asapera, in case of a dispute, the first institution toapproach would be the Sapera Panchayat. The roleperformed by the Panchayat shows how strong thecaste affiliations are and how they have not beenweakened by geographical space or by theintroduction of modern institutions.

The Jogi-Naths with their traditional medicines

In this chapter we present the findings of the multi-disciplinary survey conductedin the three states of Rajasthan, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh of the Jogi-Nathcommunity. The research conducted with the snake charmers was of three typesand has been presented in the following three sections:

Section A: Socio-economic status of the Jogi-Nath saperasSection B: Herpetological information and condition of

snakes in captivitySection C: Ethnobotany and role of traditional healers

3.0 Administrative and bio-geographical profile of the area surveyedWe start this section with an introduction to the area where the primary data wascollected, the climatic condition and the bio-geographical profile of each district andstate.

HANUMANGARH RAJASTHAN

Rajasthan is the second largest state in India, covering an area of around 342,274 km.Geographically, the north-western region of the state represents the eastern extent of

CHAPTER 3

RESULTS OF THE MULTI-DISCIPLINARY SURVEY

Shifting sand dunes of Rajasthan

19

20

the Thar desert and is characterized by shifting and fixedsand dunes. The monsoon months are July to September,when over 90 percent of rainfall occurs. Annual rainfall ishighest in the south-east at 500-600mm/year, anddecreases to less than 250mm in the western desert areas. Hanumangarh, the northernmost district of Rajasthan,lies in a region of unstable to stabilised dunes, with asparse vegetation cover of mostly stunted, droughtresistant thorny shrubs and perennial herbs. Averageannual temperatures vary widely, ranging from -5 C inDecember/January, to 47 C in June. Construction ofirrigation facilities has permitted the spread andintensification of agriculture in the area, but thisoccupation is still marginal.

MEERUT UTTAR PRADESH

Slightly smaller than Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh covers anarea of 294,411 km. It is India's most populous state, witharound 166 million inhabitants. The climate of the stateis tropical monsoon, with average temperatures in theplains ranging from 300C in January to 450C inMay/June. The monsoon season runs from June toSeptember and is responsible for widespread flooding inmany areas of the state.The villages surveyed lie in Meerut district in theGangetic plains region of Uttar Pradesh. While Meerut isa bustling industrial town, the villages of the snakecharmers were far from the urban centre, in the interiorsof agricultural fields. Two of the three villages surveyedwere surrounded by the Hastinapur wildlife sanctuary.The Hastinapur sanctuary is home to the chital (Axisaxis), nilgai (Bocephalus tragocamelus), wolf (Canislupus), leopard (Panthera pardus ), ), swamp deer(Cervus duvauceli) and wild boar (Sus scrofa).

PANIPATHARYANA

Haryana is a small state covering an area of 44,212 km.Largely situated in the Gangetic plains, the state isbordered to the north by the Shivalik Hills and to thesouthwest by the Aravalli Hills. The temperatures rangefrom 45C in the summer months to -1C in winter.Rainfall is low and erratic over most of the state, andaround 80 percent of the annual rainfall occurs in themonsoon season from July to September.More than 80 percent of the land in this district is undercultivation. The villages surveyed were in the district ofPanipat, which is an area of intensive agriculture withwild flora largely restricted to field edges and roadsides.Today Panipat is an industrial town and is known for itshandloom products. The villages of the snake charmerswere found away from the industrial town, in the interiorsof of agricultural fields.

Forests of Hastinapur, Uttar Pradesh

Agricultural fields of Haryana

The results of the socio-economic survey are presentedin this section. Primary data was collected using thequestionnaire method (see Appendix I) and 105households of Jogi-Nath saperas, across three states ofRajasthan, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh were surveyed.

3.1 Average size of a family was five personsThe total population surveyed was 537 individuals. Thesex ratio was biased in favour of the males who formed58 percent of the population while females constituted42 percent. The average size of a snake charmer familywas 5.1 persons.

3.2 Education levels are higher in the current generationPersons who were in the age group of 14 and below wereconsidered as being in the 'school-going age' bracket.Persons who were above the age of 18 were consideredadults. A comparison of these two age groups shows that

as many as 57 percent of children in the age group of 14and below were enrolled in schools. This was higher inthe adult population of which only 29 percent had goneto school. The education level among females wassignificantly lower. In the case of adults who had gone toschool, 96 percent were males while only 4 percent werefemales. In the current generation too, only 15% of thoseenrolled in schools were females.

3.3 Traditional knowledge about catching snakes was high but that of playing the been(flute) was lowAlong with education, the snake charmers were alsoquestioned about their traditional knowledge. Twoindicators were used to gauge how much they knewabout their traditional occupation. The first indicator waswhether they knew how to play the been (flute) which isthe traditional instrument of the Jogi-Naths. The secondindicator used was whether they knew how to catch

58%

42%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

Number of persons

Males Females

Sex

Total population surveyed

29%

57%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%

Number of persons

Adults Children in school going age

Age category

Education levels

Figure 3.1: Percentage of malesand females (N=537)

Figure: 3.2: Education levels insurveyed households

SECTION A

SOCIO-ECONOMIC STATUS OF THE JOGI-NATH SAPERAS

21

Figure 3.3:Traditionalknowledge

levels

54% 46%

82%

18%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80%

100%

Number of persons

Snake charmers who know the flute

Snake charmers who can catch

snakes

Knowledge type

Traditional knowledge levels

Yes No

Yes No

22

snakes. These questions were asked specifically of thosein the age group of 18-35 in order to find out how muchof the traditional knowledge was being passed on to thenext generation. While only 54 percent knew how to playthe been, as many as 82 percent of the saperas who arestill practising snake charming could catch snakes. Therest said they could catch snakes with the assistance ofthe elders in the community.

3.4 Snake charming is the main occupation for amajority of the population surveyedAn occupation was considered to be the main occupationof a person if he/she was practising it for more than sixmonths in a year. It should be mentioned here that sincethe questionnaire was administered to persons in the age-group of 18-35, they were representing the currentgeneration. In the current generation, it was found thatas many as 64 percent were practising snake charming astheir main occupation. Further, as many as 10 percent ofthe population surveyed were supplementing snake

charming with the business of preparing herbalmedicines and selling these in urban and rural markets. If we add these two categories, nearly 73 percent of thepopulation surveyed was dependent on snakes to earn aliving. The rest was engaged in other occupations such asshop-keeping or selling semi-precious stones (7 percent),selling herbal medicines (10 percent) while 6 percentrecorded 'begging' as their main occupation. Nearly 2percent of persons interviewed said they wereunemployed and another 2 percent were engaged inagricultureThe occupational profile of the previous generation wasquite different with less diversification in livelihoodstrategies. None from the previous generation reportedto be unemployed or involved only in the sale oftraditional medicines. Nearly 95 percent of the personsfrom the past generation were practising snake charmingand supplemented snake charming with sellingtraditional medicines. The rest were engaged in otheroccupations such as agriculture (1 percent), government

Figure 3.4.1 :Occupationalprofile ofcurrentgeneration

Occupational profile of current generation

2%6%

2%

10%

7%

73%

Snake charming

Agriculture

Others (shop keeping, governmentservice)

Unemployed

Traditional medicine

Begging

Figure 3.4.2:Occupational

profile ofprevious

generation

Occupational profile of previous generation

2%1%

2%

95%

Snake charming

Agriculture

Others (shop keeping, governmentservice)

Begging

Occupational profile of previous generation

Occupational profile of current generation

service (2 percent), while 2 percent recorded begging astheir main occupation. Many snake charmers supplemented their mainoccupation with other livelihoods. These includedoccupations like: been party, daily wage work onagricultural fields or construction sites and selling semi-precious stones.

3.5 Average income from snake charming was more than the minimum wage rates in many statesThe income of the snake charmers on a daily basis wasrecorded. It may be noted that while income may differfrom day to day, the results below show an average.Income of the snake charmers may increase on days offestivals such as Nag-Panchami (festival of snakes). Thegraph shows the daily income from different sources. Themaximum income per day was from those engaged inshop-keeping (about Rs. 86 per day). It may be noted thatonly a small percentage of the population was engaged inshop-keeping. The average income per day from snake

charming was Rs. 75, from selling herbal medicines wasRs. 70 and from going out in their saffron clothes andbegging for alms was Rs. 52. These figures can becompared with the minimum wage rate of many statesthat is the wage rate applicable to workers in theunorganised sector. The minimum wage in Haryana forinstance ranged between Rs. 51-55 per day in 1995.(Subrahmanya, 1995). Thus, the snake charmers are ableto earn a much higher amount from snake charming,than they would if they turned to daily wage labour, forinstance.

3.6 Majority of snake charmers feel snakecharming as a profession has lost relevanceIn this section we asked the Jogi-Naths a series ofquestions related to their perception of their traditionaloccupation that is snake charming. Nearly 94 percent ofthe population surveyed felt that the scope of snakecharming as an occupation had declined. This questionwas used to gauge the relevance of the traditionaloccupation for the younger generation. Of those who

75.3 70

52

86

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

Average per day in Rs

Snake charming

Medicinal trade Begging Others (selling stones, shop,

driving)

Source of income

Income from different sources

Figure 3.5:Average

income fromdifferentsources

Has snake charming as an occupation lost relevance?

94%

6%

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Yes No

Categories

Nu

mb

er o

f p

erso

ns

23

Figure 3.6:Relevance of snakecharming as anoccupation

Income from different sources

24

said yes to the previous question, we asked further thereasons why they thought the profession was no longerrelevant or a viable one. As many as 82 percent felt thatthe ban on the profession was the reason, while 15percent felt that the development of other means ofentertainment had resulted in a decline in the relevanceof their occupation, while 3 percent gave other reasonssuch as embarrassment in following an archaicoccupation.

3.6.1 Snake charming continues as snakecharmers know no other skillWe asked those who were still practising snake charmingwhy they were in this profession. As many as 58 percentsaid they were still following their traditional occupationdespite a ban on it, as they did not know anything else,30 percent said they did it because it was part of theircaste identity, while 12 percent said they engaged insnake charming because they liked their job.Those who were not practising snake charming gaveseveral reasons for not doing so. While 68 percent cited

not knowing the traditions related to their occupationsuch as catching snakes as a reason for not practisingsnake charming, others cited embarrassment (21percent) and fear of getting caught by the police (18percent). 3.7 Only a small percentage of snake charmersfelt unaffected by the ban on their occupationIn this section we asked the Jogi-Naths how the ban onsnake charming had impacted their profession. We firstasked them the reason why this ban had beenintroduced. While 47 percent felt that an eminentpolitician who is an animal activist had directed thepolice to arrest them, 30 percent had no idea why the banhad been introduced. As many as 19 percent stated thatsnake species were dwindling as the reason behind theban, 4 percent stated there was no ban and this was justan excuse for the police to harass them and extractmoney from them.

3.7.1 Loss of income as a result of the banFinally we asked the Jogi-Naths how the ban had affected

Reasons why snake charming as a profession has declined

82%

15% 3% Strict laws

Other forms ofentertainment

Any other reasonsFigure 3.6.1:Reasons why

snake charmingas a profession

had declined

Reasons why you are still practising snake charming

58% 30%

12% I dont know anything else It is part of our caste identity I like my job

Figure 3.6.2Reasons whysnake charmersare practisingtheir profession

Reasons why snake charmers are still practisingsnake charming

25

their occupation. While 75 percent of the populationsurveyed reported a fall in their income levels as a resultof the ban, 20 percent stated that they had stopped goingto big cities like Delhi where the chances of being caughtwere more. A mere 5 percent of the population surveyedfelt that the ban on snake charming had not affectedtheir occupation at all.

3.7.2 Corruption amongst enforcement agencieswas rampantOf those who had been caught by the enforcementagencies, 52 percent were let off after paying a bribe, 28percent were roughed up or questioned by the police and20 percent had their snakes seized from them. None ofthe snake charmers knew what happened to their snakesafter they had been seized by the police.

To sum up this section: 1. The average size of a sapera family was 5 persons,with the sex ratio biased in favour of males2. Nearly 73 percent of the snake charmers in the agegroup of 18-35 are still dependent on snakes to earn aliving. In the case of the previous generation, as many as95 percent were practising snake charming.

3. Average income from snake charming is Rs. 75 a day,which is more than the minimum wage rate in moststates. Snake charming, then, despite all restrictions isstill quite economically viable.4. Education levels were high when compared with theprevious generation with as many as 57 percent ofchildren in the age-group of 14 and below enrolled inschool. It should be added that enrolment did notnecessarily indicate regular attendance in school.Interviews with school teachers in fact indicate a highdrop-out rate for children from this community. 5. Only 54 percent of those who were still practisingsnake charming knew how to play the been while 82percent of those who were practising snake charming,were able to catch snakes with confidence. 6. As many as 75 percent of the people interviewedadmitted that the ban on snake charming had led to a fallin their income levels, 20 percent no longer went to bigcities for fear of being caught and 5 percent said the banhad not impacted them at all.7. Less than one-third of the respondents knew thereasons why the ban has been imposed8. Levels of corruption as reported by respondents byenforcement agencies was high.

Reasons for not practising snake charming

63%

17%

20%

I dont know the flute or how to catch snakes I feel embarassed Feel scared of getting caught

Species are dwindling

There is no ban the policejust harasses us

Animal activists have told thepolice to arrest us

I dont know

Why do you think snake charming has been banned?

19%

4%

47%

30%

5%

75%

20%

Perceived impact of the ban on snake charming

The laws have not affected us at all Income has become less I dont go to big cities like Delhi

Snake charmers who have been caught

52%

20%

28%

I was asked to pay abribeMy snakes were seized

The police just harassedme

Figure 3.6.3: Reasons why you do not practisesnake charming

Figure 3.7 Reasons why snake charming hasbeen banned

Figure 3.7.1: Impact of the ban on snake charmingon your profession

Figure 3.7.2: Consequences of being caught byenforcement authorities

Reasons for ban on snake charming

26

3.8 IntroductionIn this section we analyse the species of snakes kept bythe snake charmers, their health in captivity and the areafrom where the trapping is done. It should be mentionedthat information about the snakes and physicalverification was extremely difficult to obtain given the banon snake charming. Nonetheless, a total of 135 snakeswere observed in 50 households.

3.9 An average of seven snakes per snakecharmer were caught annually with as many aseight species snakes observed in captivityThe total number of snakes observed in captivity was 135in 50 households spread across different villages in thethree states of Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.Thus on an average, the number of snakes per householdwas 2.7. In addition to the snakes observed by the projectteam during data collection, the snake charmers admittedthat many snakes were caught by them and released inthe wild periodically. Therefore, using the recall method,we additionally recorded how many snakes they caught inone year. By this method, on an average, the results showa snake charmer caught 7 snakes per year althoughspecies-wise information was not available for this.Of the snakes physically observed, there were eightspecies that were observed in captivity and, for each, thesnake charmers had a local name. These are shown inTable 2.The three most commonly observed species was theCommon cobra, Naja naja (57%), the Earth boa, Eryxjohnii (16%) and the Rat snake, Ptyas mucosa (13%).These are species that are efficient rodent killers andfound quite close to human habitations (Whitaker, 1978).Other species observed were the Sand boa, Eryx conicus(1%) and Royal snakes, Spalerosophis diadema (5%). Lesscommon species such as pythons, Python molurusbivittatus and Red spotted royal snakes, Spalerosophis

arenerius were observed only in 2% of the households.The King cobra, Ophiophagus hannah was also observedin 3% of the households surveyed

3.10 Trapping occurs in all seasons There was no fixed time period chosen by the charmers totrap snakes. No specific traps were laid or bait set. Snakeswere trapped as and when the charmers encounteredthem especially during their travels to different regions ofthe country. They did admit that the monsoon seasonfrom July -September was more favourable for trappingdue to easy sightings of snakes at this time of the year.The commonly trapped snakes were the Common cobra(Naja naja), Rat snake (Ptyas mucosa) and Earth boa(Eryx johnii). The snake charmers in Haryana described the followingmethod for trapping snakes: "When the women go outearly in the morning to the fields for their ablutions theyspot the snakes. The entrances to the burrows areblocked by using bricks and stones. The period betweenspotting the snake and actual trapping can vary (could

SECTION B

HERPETOLOGICAL INFORMATION

COMMON NAME LOCAL NAME SCIENTIFIC NAME % IN CAPTIVITY(N=135)

Table 2: Percentage of snakes of different species in captivity

Common Cobra Kala saanp Naja naja 57%

Monocellate cobra Pondarai Naja kaouthia 1%

Rat snakes Ghoda pachad Ptyas mucosa 13%

Earth boa Dumai Eryx johnii 16%

Sand boa Dhusan Eryx conicus 1%

Royal snake Ghurav Spalerosophis diadema 5%

Red spotted royal snake Ghurav Spalerosophis arenerius 2%

King cobra Elahad Ophiophagus hannah 3%

Python Ajgar Python molurus bivittatus 2%

A Red-spotted royal snake in captivity

be a few hours to days). The snake is dug out from themarked spot. It is immobilized by placing a stick on thehead and restrained by grasping its head in one handand then the rest of the snake is dug out from theburrow. Implements like shovels and baisakhi (stick withan iron spade at one end) are used for digging. If it isvenomous, the snake is defanged at the site of capturewith the blade of the baisakhi. We then place it in acotton bag and carry it home." (Interview with Rajunathsapera Haryana, January 2004).In Rajasthan the snake charmers trap snakes by followingthe trail of the reptile on the sand dunes. The trails wereused to locate the burrow and the snake was then dug outusing a spade or a baisakhi.We further observed in all three states that hunting dogswere kept by the snake charmers who accompanied themduring their hunting trips. The hunting dogs in additionto sniffing out trails were used to catch smaller mammalssuch as rodents or hares or hedgehogs for the eveningmeal.3.11 Trapping location varied according tospecies and micro-habitatThe areas for trapping varied according to the micro-habitat: from agricultural fields in Uttar Pradesh andHaryana to sand dunes in Rajasthan. Rat snakes were

generally caught from wastelands on the outskirts ofagricultural fields in Uttar Pradesh and Haryana. Themaximum number of snakes (58%) were caught fromagricultural fields which included species such as theCommon cobra and the Rat snake. As many as 16% of thesnakes were trapped from wastelands or village commonswhich were ideal for species such as the Earth boa. Thesand dunes and river beds were ideal for species such asthe Royal snakes from where 7% of this species werecaught. From forest land the species that were caughtwere Indian pythons and Common cobra. About 10% ofthe snakes were not trapped by the snake charmers butpurchased. These included species like the Commoncobra and the King cobras. The King cobras werepurchased from a community in Cuttack in Orissa knownas the Jhulias.

3.12 Snakes kept for more than one month wereunhealthyFor a rapid assessment of the health of the snakes incaptivity, three criteria were used as shown in Table 3. Onthe basis of these criteria the snakes were classified as'healthy' or 'unhealthy'. If even one of the indicatorsmentioned were present then the snake was classified asbeing 'unhealthy'. The health of the snake was furtherrelated to time spent in captivity. If it was more than onemonth, the snake was classified as 'old' and if it had beencaught less than a month ago it was classified as 'recentlycaught'. One month was chosen as the cut-off period asthis was the time after which the body condition of asnake caught from the wild is likely to deteriorate,although there may be inter-species or intra-speciesdifferences.Based on this classification, we found that across allspecies, the general trend was that the snakes wereunhealthy if they had spent more than one month incaptivity. Especially in the case of venomous snakes, likethe Common cobra, we found that 80 percent of thesnakes that had been caught more than a month ago wereweak and only 20 percent were healthy. Since the venomapparatus has been removed, the ability of such snakes tosurvive in the wild is significantly reduced. In the case of

Figure 3.11: Areafor trapping ofdifferent snake

species

An example of a weak cobra

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Per

cent

age

of s

nake

s tr

appe

d

Cobra M cobra Kingcobra

Ratsnake

Earthboa

Royalsnake

Redspottedroyalsnake

Python Sandboa

Species

Area for trapping different species

River beds

Sand dunes

Purchased

Waste land

Forest land

Crop Fields

27

28

the Rat snake, 89 percent of the snakes kept in captivityfor more than a month were weak while only 11 percentwere healthy. For the Earth boa it was observed that 63percent of those who had spent more than a month incaptivity were weak and only 37 percent were healthy. Forthe ones that had been recently caught, the trend wasreversed. None of the cobras or the earth boas that hadbeen recently caught were unhealthy. In the case of theRat snake, too, only 11 percent of those recently caughtwere unhealthy.Information on how many snakes die in captivity was notattained as the snake charmers follow a customary law bywhich a fine is imposed by the Panchayat on any saperacaught with a dead snake in his house. The tendencytherefore was to release the snake back in the wild assoon as a sapera observed it was too weak to perform.

3.13 Procedures for removal of venom apparatusIn two venomous species of snakes (Common cobra andKing cobra), the venom apparatus was removed by thesnake charmers. At the time of trapping, the snake is

defanged with a baisakhi. The removal of the venomapparatus is done once the snake has been brought backto the house with the help of a sharp needle. As many as39 percent of the cobras had an infection in the mouthdue to the removal of the venom apparatus. The infectionsmay have occurred because of harsh practises of removalwith a needle (which may or may not be sterilised) leadingto inflammations and open wounds in the mouth. WithKing cobras, the procedure was to break the venom fangsand sever the venom duct, as the fangs can grow back.One possible reason why the venom duct was notcompletely removed in the case of King cobras was thatthe venom glands are big, so when it is removed its mouthlooks smaller, thus reducing the attraction of the snake. In Common cobras, the practise is to break the fangs andremove the duct completely. In other non-venomoussnakes, such as the Rat snake, the teeth are not broken,but they maybe deprived of food and water for the firstfew days after trapping so that the snake becomes dulland loses its aggression.Nearly 72 percent of the snake charmers have knowledge

If the snake had a tent like appearance,showing prominent ribs or

The snake had not shed its skin properly or

The snake was passing smelly stools with yellow-green bile or

The snake was showing mucous in nose and mouth

Poor body condition

Poor housing conditions

Indicator of probable digestive disorder

Indicator of mouth rot or removal of venomapparatus

Indicator Type of condition

Table 3: Indicators of health of the captive snakes

Figure 3.12:Health condition

of snakes incaptivity

Species and time-wise health condition of snakes

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

120%

Cobra Rat snake Earth boa

Recently caughtUnhealthy

Recently caughtHealthy

Old Unhealthy

Old Healthy

of how to remove the venom apparatus. Others rely on theelders in the community for this. The knowledge aboutremoval of the venom apparatus was thus quite commonlyknown by the snake charmers.

3.14 Snake charmers retrieved snakes fromhuman habitation or agricultural fieldsWe observed that snake charmers were often called bylocal farmers to remove snakes from agricultural fields ortheir homes. The most commonly rescued snakes arecobras and Rat snakes. While these two species were keptby the snake charmers for performances, species such asthe Krait (Bungarus sp) and the Russels viper (Viperarusselii) were generally killed. The reason may be a lackof expertise in catching these snakes.Especially in the case of the Russelsviper, the danger is that the fangs arelong and can penetrate the skin of thesnake handler through the lower jaw,during trapping. Nevertheless,retrieving snakes from humanhabitation was a frequent serviceperformed by the snake charmers andas many as 71 percent of the snakecharmers said they responded to suchcalls from nearby villagers

3.15 Feeding and husbandryconditions All the snakes were kept in roundbaskets called topris. These were made out of dry bambooor stems of Typha sp. The snakes of different species werekept together, except for King cobras, which were kept inseparate baskets. Basking in natural sunlight was carriedout for a maximum of an hour as and when possible. Wefound that 39 percent of the snake charmers did not letthe snakes out of the basket at all for basking while 49percent let the snakes out of the basket for one hour and12 percent let them out of the basket for half-an-hour. Thesnakes were kept in baskets all the time, except when theywere being fed or had been put out in the sun for basking.Basking is an essential activity for reptiles especially inwinter for thermoregulation.

In winter each basket was lined with blankets to protectthe snake from cold weather and also to prevent injuries.In Rajasthan, where night temperature tends to dip, weobserved that the baskets were wrapped in two to fourblankets throughout the winter nights. The baskets werekept in sunlight for four to five hours during the wintermonths. In summers, the charmers keep the snakes in the basketswithout a lining and this leads to injuries to the snout andskin. The water sprayed to reduce the temperature mayalso lead to increase in humidity. The charmers force-fedthe snakes with uncooked chicken and mutton. In almost80 percent or more of the houses, the snake charmerhimself fed the snakes. Feeding was repeated after the

snake had defecated at least two tothree times. As per availability, thesnakes, except King cobras, were fedwith chicks, rats and squirrels. Thechicks, rats and squirrels were killedfirst and their feet were disarticulatedbefore being fed to the snakes. TheMonocellate cobras (Naja kaouthia)were an exception as they were force-fedsolely with sole fish, a variety of fishavailable locally. In winter they were notfed due to the unavailability of this fish.The King cobras were force-fed withsnakes like Checkered keelbacks(Xenochropis piscator) and Rat snakes,which were first killed.

In winter, the snakes were fed less frequently and withraw eggs. Force-feeding was done with the help of arubber tube or a hollow bone. A charmer in Uttar Pradeshforce-fed his snakes with whiskey to raise its bodytemperature. Water was given to the snakes to drink onlyduring summer months and just prior to moulting. Inwinter no water was offered to the snakes as the snakecharmers believe that the drop in temperature in winterprevents dehydration of snakes in captivity.

3.16 Captive snakes are usually fed once a weekOut of the total households surveyed, 65 percent peoplesaid they fed the snakes once a week, 24 percent said after

Figure 3.15: Timeperiod for baskingof captive snakes

Time period for basking of captive snakes

39%

12%

49% 0 hrs

Half hour in winter

One hour in winter

29

Only a few snakes were welllooked after

30

two weeks and 10 percent said that they followed noregular pattern for feeding i.e. the time interval of feedingwas changed according to the season: in summer the timeinterval was less and in winter more.

3.17 The Common cobra is the most favouredspeciesThe snake charmers were asked to rank the snake speciesthat they favoured for their occupation on a scale of 1 to5 with 1 representing favourable and 5 representing leastfavourable. Nearly 71 percent of the persons ranked theCommon cobra at number one, and 29 percent the Kingcobra. The King cobra, though larger and moreimpressive in appearance, was more difficult andexpensive to procure. Earth boas as a species are hardyand can be easily trapped due to their sluggish behaviour,

but they lacked the magnificence and size of either thecobra or the Rat snake. Perhaps, that is the reason why 43percent of the persons gave this species a ranking of two.The Rat snakes were large in size but the magnificence ofthe hood was absent. This explains why it was given arank of two by 16 percent of the persons, rank three by 29percent and rank four by 31 percent. The graph thusshows that the Common cobra was the snake mostfavoured by the snake charmers.

To sum up this section:1. In one year, on an average, one snake charmer caughtseven snakes. Eight species of snakes were kept incaptivity, of which the maximum numbers was theCommon cobra followed by Rat snakes. Two rare specieswere also found, namely the Royal snake and the Python,

Table 5: Percentage of snakes rescued in 2002-2003 fromagricultural fields (N=355)

Species

Cobras

Rat snakes

Earth boas

Royal snakes

Kraits

Russels viper

Percentage of snakes

48%,

31%,

2%,

3%,

15%,

1%.

Figure 3.16:Frequency of

feeding

Frequency of feeding snakes in captivity

66%

24%

10% Once a week

Once in two weeks

Varies in summer andwinter

Recently caught Old

Table 4: Health status of snakes according to time spent in captivity

Unhealthy Healthy Unhealthy Healthy

0% 100% 80% 20%

11% 89% 89% 11%

0% 100% 63% 37%

SPECIES

Cobra

Rat snake

Earth boa

but these were observed only in 2 percent of thehouseholds sampled.2. Across all species, the general trend was that thesnakes were unhealthy if they had spent more thanone month in captivity and, therefore, had lesschance of survival when released back in the wild.3. The death rate of the snakes in captivity could notbe measured as the tendency for the snake charmerwas to release the snake back in the wild if it was tooweak to perform. Obviously there was not muchchance for survival of the weak snake in the wild4. A small percentage of snakes were observed to behealthy and good husbandry practises were beingfollowed. 5. In the case of venomous species, the venomapparatus was removed or damaged. As many as 39percent of the snakes had an infection in the mouthdue to removal of the venom apparatus. This greatlyreduced the ability of the snake to survive in thewild. 6. The species that were favoured for performanceswere generally the cobra, which was considered tobe a charismatic species because of its hood. 7. The snakes are fed usually once a week when incaptive condition8. 71 percent of the snake charmers responded tocalls by local farmers to remove snakes fromagricultural fields or human habitation with thecobra and the rat snake being the most commonspecies encountered.

Figure 3.17:Ranking of

snake speciespreferred by

snake charmers

0

20

40

60

80

100

Per

cen

tag

e o

f p

erso

ns

Rank 1 Rank 2 Rank 3 Rank 4 Rank 5

Ranking

Ranking of species of snakes

Royal snake

Earth boa

Rat snake

King cobra

Cobra

31

Team member Vikram Hoshing assessing the conditionof a cobra

32

3.18 Snake Charmers as Traditional HealersThe image of the snake charmer and his snakes is afamiliar one. Less familiar is the role of the snake charmeras a medicinal healer. When a snake charmer sets out fora performance, he also takes with him a briefcasecontaining dried herbs, roots and animal parts, preparedmedicines, and lucky stones. At the end of a snakeperformance, once an audience has gathered, the charmerwill sell herbal remedies for common ailments. Manysnake charmers also have an established client base,consisting of individual patients who contact the snakecharmer if they require treatment for an illness. Theseclients may live in the snake charmers' home village, or indistant states, and one snake charmer in Haryana hadeven set up a clinic where patients could visit him.To date, no attention has been paid to this practice oftraditional medicine and its importance to the snakecharmers' livelihood. Moreover, it is not known how therecent changes in the law have affected this profession, ifat all. Studies of other nomadic tribes have revealed theimpact of changing lifestyles on traditional occupations.One example is the Vaidus, a nomadic tribe inMaharashtra who practice traditional medicine. Over 50percent of this tribe have given up their traditionalprofession as the result of the increase in primary healthcare centres in rural areas, which has caused acorresponding decline in demand for their medicine(Malhotra, K.C. and Gadgil, M. 1988).

The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates thatfour billion people - 80 percent of the world population -rely to some extent on herbal medicine in primaryhealthcare. The use of traditional medicine in developingcountries is increasing. Hence the question: what is thecontribution of snake charmers, if any, to primaryhealthcare? India is one of the 12 mega-biodiversity countries in theworld, with an estimated 40,000 plant species(Chowdhary, H.J and Murti, S.K. 2000). Not surprisinglythen, it is the largest user of medicinal plants2 in theworld, using an estimated 7000 species. The medicinalsystems of India are many and ancient. The first writtenrecords of medicinal plant use are found in the Rig Veda(3500 to 1800 BC) (Jain, S.K. 2001). However, around 95percent of medicinal plants are wild collected, and there islittle or no regulation of harvesting methods and levels.This has led to the over-harvesting of some species andthe Botanical Survey of India has estimated that around1500 plant species in India are rare or threatened. Themain factors contributing to the decline in wildpopulations are thought to be anthropogenic, such as

habitat destruction and over exploitation (Chowdhary,H.J. and Murti, S.K. 2000). It is known that snakecharmers use wild harvested plants in their medicines.However, it is unknown as to which plants are used and inwhat quantities, and the impact of harvesting on wildpopulations.

3.19. Inventory of Medicinal Plants: Most plantsused are from the wildThe greater proportion of plants used in treatments wereharvested from the wild as opposed to purchases from thepansari (traders), and for many informants thisproportion was close to 100 percent. Wild harvestedplants were preferred as, despite the greater labour costsinvolved in collecting and processing the