It’s raining cats and dogs and the slush tracks at Koti-Chennaya kambala field in Moodbidri, Karnataka, are now perfect for a training session. Beginning in November, these muddy tracks will see groups of men, young and old, run alongside pairs of buffaloes as part of the annual kambala or buffalo races. Organised through local committees or kambala samithis, over 90 such events are usually held across coastal Karnataka and in Kasaragod, northern Kerala, until the season ends in March. Last year, only seven kambalas were held due to COVID-19 restrictions.
The training in Moodbidri, about 35 km from Mangaluru, is a personal initiative of senior kambala runner (jockey) Ravi Kumar Aladangady and his son Girish Aladangady. Ravi Kumar, 52, has been a jockey for more than three decades, while his 23-year-old son took up the sport some five years ago. Both have won numerous prizes at kambala races across the State. “I ran 57 rounds on a single day in 2006 and bagged four medals,” says a beaming Ravi Kumar, adding that opportunities should be given to new runners to carry the tradition forward.
As the veteran arrives at the double-track field, a young man approaches and bends to touch Ravi Kumar’s feet. He is Sampath Poojary, a first year ITI student and aspiring kambala jockey. Poojary is among the 40-odd men who have gathered at the fields to receive training from the Aladangadys, who began the training sessions in June.
Apart from students, there are electricians, lorry drivers and even a teacher who have come to be a part of kambala history. A majority of them come from a farming background and are between 16 and 30 years of age. Most live within a 50-km radius of Moodbidri.
Senior jockey Ravi Kumar Aladangady on a practice run.
Booming appeal
“With increased media coverage and thanks to social media comparing kambala jockeys to international sprinters, more youth are turning up to be trained,” says Girish, adding that they began the initiative on a trial basis last year with 30 participants. This year, there are 60, of whom as many as 40 are regular attendees.
This is in stark contrast to the scenario merely a decade ago, when attempts were first made to attract talent to kambala but with minimal results. N. Vijaya Kumar Kanginamane, a former general secretary of the Kambala Committee of Dakshina Kannada, Udupi and Kasaragod (Kerala) districts, says that in 2009-10, when they tried to rope in college athletes, only three sprinters — Mohammed Ali, Jamaluddin and Shravanraj — from Alva’s College in Moodbidri ran in the slush track. Jamaluddin was a national-level athlete at the time. The attempt did not succeed, however, as coaches were apprehensive of letting their trainees participate, fearing injuries that would hamper their medal chances at future State or national games.
“But times have changed now, with youth coming forward themselves to run in the kambala races,” says Kanginamane. The president of the committee, P. R. Shetty, says that as a first step, they have begun training in Moodbidri (Dakshina Kannada district) and Baindoor (Udupi district) this month. Training in Miyar (Udipi) and Paivalike (Kasaragod district) will commence later this month or in the first week of November. “Our aim is to train at least 10 persons in each location,” says Kanginamane, who is also a member of the committee, which organises 18 to 20 races every season.
The word ‘kambala’ means paddy field. Buffaloes running on slushy paddy fields began to mark the end of tilling season before the planting of seedlings. It was also meant to show respect for the animals and the very important role they play in a farmer’s life. Over course of time, this event took the form of a race with two pairs of buffaloes and their handlers running through the field together, says K. Chinnappa Gowda, former Vice-Chancellor of Karnataka Folklore University. The first-ever documented kambala was held on February 2, 1970, in Bajagoli near Karkala in Udupi district.
Trainees gathered at the track.
Traditional ecosystem
As many as 75 traditional ‘non-competition’ kambalas are also conducted by individual farmers or land-owning entities, including temples. “They are a big part of life in Karnataka’s agrarian society and people continue to keep the tradition going,” says K. Gunapala Kadamba, retired principal of Jain Pre-University College, Moodbidri, and president of the pioneering Kambala Academy that has trained nearly 170 jockeys.
Even so, the sport is not without its share of controversies. In 2016-17, the annual event was stopped for the first time, following a High Court ban in response to a petition by animal rights group PETA. Similar to the jallikattu row in neighbouring Tamil Nadu, after a lot of arguments for and against the practice, an Ordinance in 2017 paved the way for kambala’s continuance. Now, the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Karnataka Second Amendment) Act, 2017, permits it to be conducted with restrictions to safeguard against the mistreatment of the animals.
Kadamba, who is penning a book on kambala, recalls the month-long festivities that used to be held in the villages of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi a long time ago. “They were like village fairs, where people would get together and also buy farm equipment and other commodities.” Those were far simpler times.
raviprasad.k@thehindu.co.in
