RAIKA BIO-CULTURAL PROTOCOL
APPENDIX
Traditional knowledge:
Women also take care of the newborn animals, make
decisions about the sale or transfer of our livestock and sell
Our traditional knowledge relating to breeds and breeding
milk. Our animal products are totally organic, attributes that
has arisen from centuries of experience of tending these
are highly desired in some parts of India. The wool of our
particular breeds in Rajasthan. We have traditional customs
animals is used for making carpets, rope and blankets and
that ensure the genetic diversity of our breeds, such as the
they also provide draught.
rotation of bulls between villages for stud. We have also
developed extensive local treatment systems (ethno-
Spiritual understanding of our breeds:
veterinary knowledge) with which to care for wounded or
ill animals, and much of this traditional knowledge is
Our breeds are more than just a livelihood. They form an
held by both the men and women of our community.
integral part of our social fabric and are interwoven with
We share our ethno-veterinary knowledge freely with
spiritual meaning. A number of important holy days involve
other communities that own livestock and are perhaps the
rituals that involve our animals and underscore the sacred
only veterinary care for livestock in remote areas of
ties between our livestock, the environment and our
rural Rajasthan.
traditional knowledge.
WE CONSERVE AND SUSTAINABLE USE
RAJASTHAN’S BIODIVERSITY
We are integral to Rajasthan’s forests, gauchar and oran.
as well as by our camels that eat the twigs and leaves of
Our animals have contributed to the ecology of the region
the upper branches. Studies on our grazing patterns have
to such an extent that they cannot be separated from the
shown stronger tree growth in areas where our livestock
“natural” state of the forests, gauchar and oran.
have traditionally grazed.
As our animals graze, they provide manure to otherwise
Our livestock has become integral to the animal diversity in
infertile ground. At the same time, the seeds in the manure
forest areas. Predators such as leopards and wolves have
have a higher chance of germination, provide gestation and
traditionally preyed on our livestock and we consider the
increase the natural propagation of local trees. Because our
resulting loss of livestock as a natural part of our integral
animals consume the foliage on the ground, it helps to
relationship with the ecosystem. Studies in the Kumbhalgarh
keep termite numbers low. The feeding on ground fall and
Sanctuary have shown how the leopard population in the
tall grass has also lowered the incidence of forest fires.
region has been sustained by our livestock and the negative
impacts caused by the exclusion of livestock from the
For generations we, the Raika, have acted as custodians of
Sanctuary which include increased encroachment by
the forest. We have always fought forest fires, dealt with
leopards into villages leading to dangerous conflicts.
invasive species poisonous for animals (such as Angrezi Babul
i.e. Prosopis juliflora and the Rukadi i.e. Lantana camara)
We also provide services to the villages near our grazing
and reported illegal logging and poaching. Our customary
lands and migratory routes. We provide manure to farmers,
laws ban practices that degrade the environment, including
either by keeping our animals on their land on a temporary
the lopping of sacred trees, and heavy punishments are
basis, or by selling it to them directly. People from surrounding
meted to community members who break the rules.
villages use the forest for a variety of needs, including
collecting dry wood, fodder, agricultural nutrient inputs,
Our grazing patterns are based on our traditional ecological
medicines, thatch and famine foods. Villagers consider us to
knowledge and establish a strict rotation based on the
be their guardians in the forest, offering guidance and
seasons over a five year period. At the same we stimulate
protection to them in an otherwise dangerous area.
tree growth by our practice of lopping of selected trees,
78