Edited by: Alexandra Zimmermann, University of Oxford, United Kingdom
Reviewed by: Dhananjaya Katju, Independent Researcher, Houston, TX, United States; Saloni Bhatia, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, India
This article was submitted to Human-Wildlife Dynamics, a section of the journal Frontiers in Conservation Science
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
The Solega community living in the Biligiri Rangan Hills (B. R. Hills) of Karnataka State, southern India, have noticed significant changes to the ecosystem of their forest homeland over the last four or five decades. Originally hunter-gatherers, who carried out swidden agriculture at a subsistence level, they were forced to abandon the semi-nomadic ways of their ancestors, and settle in permanent villages when these forests were first declared a wildlife sanctuary in 1974. In this paper, we present the views of Solega elders on the ecological changes that have taken place in the B. R. Hills, along with the subsequent changes in their interactions with the animals that also inhabit this landscape. The Solega way of life is accustomed to co-existing with wildlife, and they worship several animal deities. Their folklore and traditional ecological knowledge are also replete with ways of avoiding dangerous encounters with wildlife. Many of the detrimental ecological changes observed by Solega people are ascribed by them to the halting of their traditional litter fire regime, and the subsequent rampant growth of the exotic invasive plant
The traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) of indigenous communities is nowadays regarded as a valuable resource in efforts to conserve biodiversity (Maffi,
The Solega are a small Dravidian-language-speaking community of around 30,000 people living in the Biligiri Rangan Hills (B. R. Hills) of Karnataka State in southern India. Recognised as a Scheduled Tribe in India, they traditionally practiced a hunter-gatherer lifestyle, along with small-scale swidden agriculture at a subsistence level (Madegowda,
In 1972, the Wildlife (Protection) Act was enacted by the Parliament of India, after which large swathes of forested land were declared as protected areas. During the implementation of such “fortress” conservation paradigms (Brockington,
The Solega religion is a syncretic mix of animism and mainstream Shaivite Hinduism. While local Hindu festivals such as Gauri Habba and Sankranti Habba are celebrated by all, individual Solega hamlets also regularly organise feasts to honour clan and village gods, mark key stages of the agricultural cycle, and to placate wild animals that they regularly come into conflict with (see the section Wildlife as Agricultural Pests). They continue to worship their central deity, a huge
Since the late 1990s, the B. R. Hills have been heavily invaded by the non-native weed,
Plants identified by Solega consultants as being rare or locally extinct nowadays, along with scientific identifications (if known).
arage ambu | |
ba:ṇa si:ge ambu | |
ba:ṇe hullu | |
ba:ye basale ambu | |
baje hullu | |
belarre geṇasu | |
beṇḍigana ambu | |
beṭrupe | |
beṭṭa sa:save giḍa | |
biḷi ko:muḷḷi giḍa | |
bo:ḷi kurrugu | |
bu:na:si giḍa | |
dodda aṇabe | (mushroom type) |
dodda onṭe | |
dodda tursa | |
dodda uḍupe giḍa | |
eḷavãna giḍa | |
eḷagana geṇasu | |
eṇṇe aṇabe | (mushroom type) |
gaṇike soppu | |
garagase ambu | |
gersi mallige giḍa | |
gonde hullu | |
goṭṭi ambu | |
gumuṭi giḍa | |
gunji ambu | |
ha:le ambu | |
haḷḷa se:bu | |
handi ba:ṇe hullu | |
handi nẽvẽ geṇasu | |
aṇṭu pulle giḍa | |
hattonṭe giḍa | |
hora muni giḍa | |
hoṭṭeno:vina ambu | |
huḷi otta:ga giḍa | |
ĩsilu | (rattan type) |
ja:ji mallige ambu | |
javanada giḍa | |
joṇḍullu | |
ju:jakki | |
ka:da imbi | (wild lemon) |
ka:ḍa toḷasi giḍa | |
ka:ḍavare | (wild bean) |
ka:ḍu arsina giḍa | (wild turmeric) |
ka:du ba:ḷe | (wild banana) |
ka:ḍu jeerage | |
ka:ḍu kotambari | |
ka:ḍu suṇṭi | (wild ginger) |
ka:du kaḍale | |
ka:ḍu uḷḷi | |
kaĩye sunḍe | |
ka:ḷega | |
kaḷḷãna giḍa | |
kapi kumbaḷada ambu | |
karaṇa kuṇḍala giḍa | |
karibevu | |
kasaporke | |
kaṭṭuguḷi, kaṭṭu:ḷi giḍa | |
kaũri | |
kiribidiru | |
ko:ḷi hullu | |
ko:ḷi kuṭuma | |
koḍajalli giḍa | |
koḍamaṭṭana giḍa | |
koṇana ambu | |
ku:ginele giḍa | |
ku:guri ambu | |
ku:re pandi giḍa | |
kuri onṭe | |
lingadonde ambu | |
lole giḍa | |
ma:raḍe soppu | |
ma:ta:ḍakana ambu | |
maṇḍala ma:ri giḍa | |
mande si:ge | |
maraḷi giḍa | |
meṭuḷḷi ambu | |
miḍaje giḍa | |
minciga giḍa | |
mu:guti giḍa | |
mu:r ele na:ga giḍa | |
muṭṭada muni, ola muni | |
nasuguṇi ambu | |
nela baccaṇike | (ground orchids) |
nela honne giḍa | |
nela ma:gaḷi ambu | |
nela nelli | |
nela te:ku giḍa | |
nellakki giḍa | |
nẽvẽ geṇasu | |
ni:ru betta | |
nose hullu | |
nu:rre geṇasu | |
oḍe hullu | |
ondelegãna giḍa | |
onṭe giḍa | |
pa:paṭe | |
paṭike giḍa | |
pulluḷi | |
puṇḍãna giḍa | |
sabbe hullu | |
sãya | (various ferns) |
saṇṇa kuguri | |
saṇṇa kurugu giḍa | |
saṇṇa tursa | |
seṇabbãna giḍa | |
simuṭada ambu | |
sipure ambu | |
so:lana geṇasu | |
sokku si:ge | |
su:rsette | |
suḷḷi | |
sunḍe giḍa | |
suruki ambu | |
tagate giḍa | |
taṇiki giḍa | |
taṇṇuḷiga ambu | |
tonde ambu | |
tumbe giḍa | |
uccu katti avare | |
uccu tagate giḍa | |
uccu togari giḍa | |
uḍupe giḍa | |
udure ambu | |
uttara:ne giḍa |
The spread of Lantana has also led to many parts of the forest becoming increasingly difficult to navigate, for the community as well as for large herbivores like sambar deer and elephants. This change in the structure of the forest is mentioned by every single Solega we have spoken to over the past decade: “
The rock formations on top of the hill in the background are a sacred site known as
It is perhaps worthwhile to mention that Lantana is now such a ubiquitous plant that the Solega have a name for it (
This paper draws on the combined experiences of authors SA and AS in documenting the language and ethnobiological knowledge of the Solega community. The documentation project began in late 2008, and engagement with key community members has continued to this day. Author CMG has decades of experience carrying out social work in the B. R. Hills, and is highly regarded locally as a prominent social activist and Solega community leader. The findings presented in this paper consist of information from numerous interviews carried out over the years by SA and AS, as well as the personal experiences of CMG, who has lived his entire life in the village of Hosapodu in the B. R. Hills. The current study is ethnographic in nature, and attempts to provide a holistic account of Solega people's experiences with the wild animals in their forest home. We have made a conscious decision to not separate the domains of language, culture, sociology, ethnobiology, or religion in our analyses, as to do so would run counter to how Solega people themselves perceive their environment. The information presented in this paper is but a tiny part of Solega traditional ecological knowledge regarding their forest home and the plants and animals found within it. Other aspects of this knowledge, and its linguistic and cultural correlates, have been documented in Si (
Three main themes are explored in this paper. The first two are directly related to wildlife, and include: dangerous animals and how people protect themselves from them, and Solega encounters with wildlife in the context of their agricultural practices. The third is the effect that Lantana has had on the behaviour and well-being of the animals, and subsequent impacts on their interactions with humans. The first two themes are also viewed through the lens of the changing forest ecosystem, as mentioned above. We discuss not only the challenges presented by ecological change with regard to the two themes, but also the steps taken by Solega people (if any) to mitigate these challenges. Data are presented below in the form of direct quotes (in the Solega or Kannada languages) from interviewees, along with English translations (see Garde et al.,
This paper is not intended as an objective, empirical investigation of Solega people's attitudes toward, and practices regarding, conflict with wild animals. Instead, we present the following information with a two-fold aim. The first is to give a voice to Solega people, as indigenous voices and points of view are often absent from discourses surrounding endangered wildlife, invasive species, and general biodiversity conservation (Barbour and Schlesinger,
As mentioned earlier, much of the data for this paper was collected as part of a documentation of the language and ethnobiological knowledge of the Solega. Data collection was accomplished through a number of techniques, including semi-structured interviews with knowledgeable informants, discussions of prepared stimulus sets (e.g., to elicit the names and folklore associated with culturally relevant organisms), recorded forest walks with field assistants and participant observation.
Interviews were carried out in Kannada or Solega, and transcribed in Roman script. Interviews in Solega were carried out by native-speaker research assistants, who have worked with the authors over a long period of time. While excerpts from interviews with seven speakers (all male, aged 40–70 at the time of recording) are presented in this paper, the authors' understanding of the main concepts of the paper has been shaped by countless conversations with Solega people from a variety of villages over the course of over a decade. A more detailed description of the methodology used in the elicitation of bird names and folklore can be found in Agnihotri and Si (
Informed consent was obtained orally from all consultants prior to each interview. Consultants were free to refuse to talk about any issues that they may have found sensitive or controversial. Ethics approval was granted by the Human Research Ethics Committee of the Australian National University, where author AS was based at the time of fieldwork.
Our interviews with elderly and middle-aged Solega consultants give a clear picture of the Solega's complex relationship with the wild animals that share their forest home. We would like to state here that Solega perspectives on Lantana and wildlife are based on their own lived experiences with the spread of the invasive through their forest home. While “awareness campaigns” by conservation NGOs might have influenced how communities view wildlife or ecological change in other parts of India, it has been the other way round in the case of the B. R. Hills and the Solega. Research since the 1990s by various institutions on the impacts of Lantana has been informed and guided by Solega field assistants.
In the following sections, we describe how Solega people protect themselves from encounters with dangerous animals, and how they protect their crops from raiding herbivores. Very often, Solega informants mentioned direct links between Lantana and its effects on the well-being and behaviour of wild animals. Bird folklore is an important part of Solega culture, and we also show how people attend to bird calls to obtain warnings about the presence of dangerous wildlife.
As mentioned above, the invasion of the woody weed Lantana has had a serious negative impact on the forest ecosystem, and Solega people have also noticed, with a mixture of despair and anger, the effect of the weed on the animals of the forest. In particular, they bemoan the fact that grasses that were once common, and that large herbivores relied on for foraging, are now locally extinct in many parts of the B. R. Hills. As a result, many Solega people have noticed that large herbivores are frequently malnourished, with elephants often resorting to food sources that they had never previously exploited (see extract 1 below). Moreover, the loss of typical understorey plants has had a direct impact on Solega livelihoods and food habits, as the diversity and abundance of different types of honey has also reduced (extract 2). The structural changes in the forest due to wide-spread Lantana invasion have also altered the composition of tree assemblages (Sundaram and Hiremath,
They also say that very few old-growth trees survive, and as very few saplings of other species survive under Lantana thickets, these old trees have not been replaced (Sundaram et al.,
In the following interview extracts, the speaker's initials occur in parentheses, along with the language being used (S = Solega, K = Kannada).
1. (ACG, S)
How can elephants flourish when they only have tree bark to eat? They've eaten all the trees. Many of the big trees have now been stripped bare. You see? There are no more
2. (BG, S)
What's happened now, is that Lantana has come to the forest, and
The loss of grasses from large parts of the forest has also impacted populations of apex predators, such as the tiger. In the following excerpt, author CMG shares his views on grass availability in the B. R. Hills.
3. (CMG interviewed by MRM, S)
CMG:
MRM:
CMG: ã
CMG: The grass grows weakly now. Our people say that there used to be 10, 15 types of grass. There's no grass now, and so what happens as a result? The animals move elsewhere.
MRM: To the lowland forest.
CMG: Yes, they are forced to move to the lowland forest to find grass. Where the grass grows, that's where they have to go. And where does the grass grow these days? You wouldn't find it growing in our mountain forests, or in the evergreen forest. It grows sparsely near our villages, but how can the animals eat that? They all go elsewhere.
And contrary to the officially reported increases in tiger numbers (Jhala et al.,
4. (ACG, S)
There used to be tigers all around here… if you want tiger numbers to increase, you need to first make sure that there is enough grassland. Then you bring back the herbivores, and finally the tigers. Tigers will only come back if you do this—where there is no grass, there are no herbivores, and where there are no herbivores, there are no tigers.
It is interesting to note that Solega people do not feel any animosity toward a potentially dangerous predator, and are in fact open to the idea of an increase in its numbers. This is partly because of their acceptance of tigers as a natural part of the forest, and partly due to the very important role that this and other large forest mammals play in their religion. The latter topic is discussed in more detail in the following section.
5. (BG, S)
As for the tiger, we say that it's Madeswara's animal. If we harm that animal, Madeswara himself will punish us. If we kill that animal, Madeswara will punish us. You mustn't! Leave the animal in peace. Pandeswara is the elephant god, the elephant itself is our god. And the gaur, outsiders call it “forest buffalo.” That animal belongs to Karappa, the god Karaiyya who resides in the forest, it's his. The sambar is the animal of the god we call Kadodeya Muttaraya. If we harm the animal, trouble will befall us. That is how we show our devotion.
The Solega worship several animal deities representing the elephant, the tiger, the sloth bear, the gaur and the wild pig, to name a few (Extract 5). They believe that if they lead a life of truth that is sin-free, then their gods will always protect them from dangerous animals. And they perform rituals of appeasement during all their major festivals for these animal deities (Extracts 6 and 7).
The vehicle or
6. (KSG, S)
“
“My children are coming.you shouldn't be visible to them [said Madesura]. tiger: become a termite-hill, sloth bear: become a boulder, elephant: become a hill, snake: become a weed”. this was the boon that our god gave us.so that we could lead our lives. But if you make a mistake (commit a sin), then they will definitely come near you [these animals]. See I must have done something wrong and so the elephants came near my home. “Alright, I have sinned, I will perform a puje (ritual appeasement) in your name, now go” [I said]. This is what we believe. If we sin, we must appease the gods.
7. (HMA, S)
The animals that come to our lands, they come after the sun sets. For 3 days elephants have been coming to these banana plants, but they didn't destroy the plants. They just pulled off the sheath. All this is due to the gods and goddesses' goodwill. If there is danger in the forest, we will be warned by the growls…our gods do this to alert us to the presence of the animal. Once a year we make offerings of ragi (finger millet) rottis, break coconuts, and conduct puje for our gods.that is how we seal our pact with the god.
Solega also avoid certain areas of the forest where dangerous animals abound, and are not scared of humans (Extract 8). These are typically local corridors of animal movement, often influenced by topographical features, such as
8. (ACG, S)
Leopards and tigers cause problems for humans, but only in particular locations in the forest, it doesn't happen everywhere. There are forests called
9. (GMG, S)
We would ask ourselves, “Will it be good or bad to live there?” We would first pray to the Earth Goddess, then go to a stream, make a pile of sand, and place seven wards on top of the pile. If there was any problem with that location, the seven wards would collapse in a heap (by the next morning). An evil spirit! We wouldn't live in that place. If we found the wards the way we'd left them, we would know that was a good location. We would know that we can lie there, and move to that place.
It is important to mention in this context that while birds play important roles in Solega myth and folklore, certain birds are a part of everyday life in the forest (Agnihotri and Si,
10. (BG, S)
That bird, it tells us of both good and bad [things in the forest] … trrrrr… [it goes]. When we want to go on a certain path, if the bird calls, that means there is an animal there for sure. We avoid that place and take a different path.
On hearing the calls that signal danger, Solega will often respond with their own vocal signal (a click-whistle), which serves as an acknowledgement to the bird and is meant to pacify it as well.
Before they settled in permanent villages, Solega people used to carry out swidden agriculture in small groups. They would select an open patch of forest, clear the land by means of a slow moving and low intensity leaf litter fire, and grow a number of staple crops, including millets, maize, banana, pumpkin and a handful of bean varieties. The land would be cultivated ideally for 3 years, following which it would be abandoned, due to decreasing fertility and the proliferation of weeds. In our interviews, both older and younger consultants were very stoic and pragmatic about the impact of wild animals on their farms and on crop yields. The animals most commonly implicated in the destruction of crops were elephants, gaurs, sambar, wild pigs, birds such as the Blossom-headed Parakeet, the Blue-winged Parakeet, and the Rose-ringed Parakeet, squirrels and a number of small rodents.
11. (MK, K)
After the pigs and other animals have eaten, one acre yields about one or two sacks of grain to put into our storage pit. Half goes to the animals, and we get the other half.
12. (BG, S)
Our forefathers used to grow crops (in the forest). We would all clear a bit of land here and there, and harvest the crops over 2 or 3 years. But if elephants or other animals came to the fields, they would eat it all, they would eat all the crops in the field, and it would be very bad. Then (we would say), “Let's move over there to Sarkaye Mountain.” We'd go to Sarkaye Mountain, and clear some land. We'd grow crops, and the elephants would eat it all again. They would eat all the millet, sorghum, and then we'd have no food to eat. We would forge an iron rod… hammer it to a point, pick it up and say, “Let's go! Let's go to the boulder field! Let's go and see if there are any
Solega farmers appear to be quite accepting of the fact that they stand to lose part or all of their harvest to wild animals, perhaps even periodically. It is interesting to note that the sharpened iron rod mentioned in the last excerpt is not meant as an offensive weapon, but rather as a digging implement used in the search for an alternative food source, i.e., yams. However, this is not to say that farmers will stand idly by, and watch their fields be ravaged; concrete action is taken to protect their crops, but these are invariably non-lethal, and arguably also non-violent. This is in keeping with the Solega people's reverence of the large mammals of the forest, as described above. In the following two extracts, the speakers talk about how they merely try to frighten away the elephants that raid their fields.
13. (ACG, S)
When we used to live in the forest and grow crops, it would be in groups of four or five families. When elephants came to the fields, we would use a slingshot. We would light a fire and shoot our slings, and the elephants wouldn't come close. The slings would spin with a whooshing sound, and even when the stones landed near the elephants it would be with a whoosh. Then the elephants would think, “Oh, this isn't going to be easy!” and run away.
14. (BG, S)
If an elephant came one evening, we would have to be (out in the fields) going “Ho, ho, ho, ho!” till morning. And then they would come again the following night, and we would have to go, “Ho, ho! The elephants are here! Ho, ho, ho, ho!” The children would be out there too, till morning, but half of our crop would disappear. And if that happened over 3 or 4 days, everything would be gone.
There appear to be differing opinions on the question of whether raids on fields by wild animals have become worse in recent years. While all agree that the changes to the forest ecosystem discussed above have had a negative impact on local fauna, especially large herbivores, consultants disagreed on the exact impact this had had on their raiding behaviour. In the following extracts, the first person (GMG) talks about animals being driven to Solega farmers' fields out of hunger. According to him, the situation is much worse currently than in the past. The second person (BG), on the other hand, talks about a general reduction in the abundance of raiding wildlife (including birds), and a reduction in damage to crops.
15. (GMG, S)
We used to live very happily in the forest in the past. We planted bananas, different types of beans, sorghum, millet, pumpkin, gourd, all kinds of food crops, and we prospered in the forest. Nowadays life is very hard, and it's because of all the raids from elephants, and also from sambar and pigs with greater frequency.
Nowadays, the forest is full of
16. (BG interviewed by AS, S)
BG:
AS:
BG:
BG: There used to be many more elephant (raids) back then. Nowadays they can't get through the forest (to the fields).
AS: They don't come to your village?
BG: No, they don't. They used to, when the forest was more open. There would be large stretches of open forest, and they would come to the fields and eat the crops—millet, sorghum, banana, they would eat it all!
It's because the villages used to be surrounded by many grass types—
17. (BG interviewed by NG, S)
BG:
NG:
BG:
BG: In the time when there were lots of other trees, there would be birds fluttering everywhere. You know, when those parrots and parakeets came to a field, oh! They would eat up sackfuls of grain! All the seed heads in a millet field would vanish—that's how many birds there were. Nowadays birds are scarce, and you only see them every now and then.
NG: So you mean there used to be more in earlier times?
BG: There used to be more earlier. The parrots wouldn't pass up on a millet field. And then the jungle fowl – Wherever you looked, you'd find them going “Cluck, cluck!” Nowadays you don't hear a sound from them anywhere in the forest. There are no jungle fowl anymore. You also used to see quails in groups of 10 or 20…
One reason for the above difference in opinion could be the fact that the two speakers, BG and GMG, live in very different parts of the forest. BG lives in Keredimba village, which lies in the heart of the high-altitude evergreen rainforest, whereas GMG comes from Kuntugudi village, in the lowland dry scrub forest zone. An important difference between communities in the two zones is that people living in the highlands, with very few exceptions, have mostly turned to coffee cultivation, and given up the cultivation of traditional staples, such as millet and corn. People in the lowlands still grow food crops as climatic conditions there are not suitable for growing coffee, and are therefore disproportionately affected by raiding wild animals (Mundoli et al.,
The traditional view of conservation that wilderness areas should be human-free, and that human activity invariably causes damage to ecosystems, has the potential to severely impact the well-being and livelihood of rural or indigenous peoples (Kothari,
Drawing upon their fieldwork studying crocodile attacks in west India, Pooley et al. (
Nelson et al. (
Solega attitudes toward dangerous mammals are reminiscent of the beliefs held by the farming communities of the Kerinci area of Sumatra, Indonesia (Bakels,
On the one hand, the tiger is a friend and ancestor bringing prosperity. On the other hand, the tiger attacks and kills people who break the law… and violate the social and cosmological order. (Verpoorte,
Although spiritual beliefs regarding dangerous animals may not always guarantee pro-conservation attitudes and behaviours (Streubig et al.,
While we have not touched on people's attitudes toward external actors in this paper, it may be the case that the Solega “conflict over wildlife” is not really a conflict between Solega people and wild animals, but really one between Solega people and outside forces that, in their desire to protect wild animals, are seen to be threatening the community's self-determination. This conflict is reflected in the fact that Solega claims about reduction in tiger numbers contradict the findings of the national tiger census. While the national census and its methods have been the subject of scrutiny, and actual tiger numbers may not be as high as those projected by the government agencies
The ability of the Solega, like other indigenous communities in India, to adapt their own activities to mitigate conflict with wild animals, along with their extensive traditional knowledge on various aspects of forest ecology and animal behaviour, make them ideal partners for conservationists in the fight to preserve local biodiversity, and protect endangered species (Nijhawan and Mihu,
The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors, without undue reservation.
The studies involving human participants were reviewed and approved by the Human Research Ethics Committee of the Australian National University, Canberra. The participants provided oral informed consent to participate in this study.
SA, CM, and AS carried out data collection and analysis. SA and AS wrote the manuscript. All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version.
The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
The authors would like to thank Punarchith, the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment's (ATREE) BRT Community Conservation Centre, the Institute for Public Health (IPH - Bangalore) Field Station at B. R. Hills, the Zilla Budakattu Girijana Abhivruddhi Sangha, and the Solega community for supporting this research. We thank the Karnataka State Forest Department for permissions, and our reviewers for their helpful comments and suggestions.
1The two spellings reflect the different pronunciations of the community/language name among outsiders (i.e., the exonym) and community members when talking to each other (the endonym). The name Soliga is used by Kannada speakers, including in the print media, and community members are also comfortable using this variant of the name. Careful elicitation and phonetic analysis of recordings from senior community members has shown, however, that the endonym is invariably pronounced as Solega [so:lega]. In the remainder of this article, the endonym is used.
2The Wire (2012). Available online at:
3Frontline (2010).
4The Hindu (2019). Available online at:
5The Indian Express (2019). Available online at: