The Humble Honeybee: An Index of Social Change in Kinnaur?

The paper should be cited as: Rafał Beszterda, The Humble Honeybee: An Index of Social Change in Kinnaur? in: Rafał Beszterda, John Bray, Elizabeth Williams-Oerberg (eds.), New Perspectives on Modern Ladakh. Fresh Discoveries and Continuing Conversations in the Indian Himalaya, Toruń University Press, Toruń 2021, pp. 133-154. eISBN: 978-83-231-4723-7; DOI: https://doi.org/10.12775/978-83-231-4724-4. The Humble Honeybee: An Index of Social Change in Kinnaur Rafał Beszterda Department of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology Institute of Culture Studies Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, Poland e-mail: [email protected] Keywords: cultural change, Indian Himalaya, Kinnaur, tribal beliefs, honeybees, apple industry About the Author Rafał Beszterda (Ph.D.) is a lecturer at the Department of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology, Faculty of Humanities, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, Poland, and a Secretary of the Commission of the Oriental Research, Committee of Ethnological Sciences, Polish Academy of Sciences. A fieldworker interested in high-altitude cultures, mainly the people of the Himalayan belt, he has organised a series of Himalayan conferences in Poland. Streszczenie Prezentowany tekst dotyczy współistnienia specyficznego podgatunku pszczoły miodnej (Apis cerana cerana) i mieszkańców okręgu Kinnaur (stan Himaćal Pradeś, Indie). Tłem do rozważań jest sytuacja historyczna w konfrontacji ze współczesnością. Ukazując wzajemne zależności koegzystencji ludzi i pszczół, autor zwraca uwagę na bieżące trendy miejscowej kultury, a także ekonomii, a tym samym zmieniające się miejsce pszczół w lokalnych wymiarach wierzeniowych, ceremonialnych, świadomościowych i gospodarczych. Podstawowy materiał tekstu pochodzi z własnych badań terenowych prowadzonych w Kinnaurze od 1996 roku. Prologue This essay is based on fieldwork in Kinnaur, conducted over two decades. Since I began my research, new-born children have become adults, and youngsters have become quite ripe in years, often inheriting houses, fields and businesses. A somewhat peaceful region that was previously considered remote is now more closely bound to national and regional administrative centres. Especially now, when the need to protect India’s state borders is again making headlines, the region is becoming increasingly militarized. Kinnaur’s economic future as well as its social identity will be influenced by a variety of factors that include service provision, changes in the natural landscape, deforestation and the consequences of including the region in the all-India road network. Against this background, the future of endemic honeybees may not seem so important. I argue – on the contrary - that the evolution of local people’s perceptions of the honeybee is both a symptom of wider social change and a factor that will in itself influence the region’s future ecosystem. Taking as an example the place of honeybees in local culture, I point to changes in local worldviews as well as in social and economic conditions in Kinnaur. My analysis of the changing condition of endemic honeybees will show how the old way of life has disappeared and has not been replaced by appropriate new approaches. Cultural attitudes are always on the move, sometimes even ‘on the run’. The task that I set for myself is to identify patterns or focal points of cultural discontinuity. The ‘hero’ of my story is the honeybee, the endemic Apis cerana cerana, also locally known as the ‘small’ or ‘black’ honeybee (Hind. chhoti / kali madhumakhi; Kinn. mau or yangbukhar).1 Bees were my earliest object of scientific interest, and I wrote my master’s thesis on traditional beekeeping in Himachal Pradesh (HP). This project required field research, mainly in the mountainous districts of HP in 1996-1997. The relationship between local cultures and honeybees was hard not to notice. Observations made at that time made me see this coexistence between people and insects as a key to understanding the complexity of local cultures. Although honeybees did not become my main research topic, I have collected additional information about them during each research visit over the years. According to many people, even kind ones, the topic of bees in culture is not sufficiently ‘ethnological’ to justify long-term research, and finally one’s supervisor is always right.2 And so my considered analysis of this topic has been postponed for years. Settling Kinnaur in brief Reliable ethnographic sources related to Kinnaur and Rampur-Bashahr state started to appear in the mid-19th century and did not present reliable evidence of cultural conditions in earlier periods.3 It can be acknowledged that interest in recording the local way of life arrived with the Europeans, starting with Captain Alexander Gerard (1841). Approximately from these times, we have inherited a view of the basic cultural and physiographic divisions of the district. It comprises three distinct zones, situated on either bank of Kinnaur’s Spin – Sutlej river (Tib. Lanchen Zangpo, glang chen gtsang po): • • Rampur, the capital of Kinnaur, is located in the lowest and westernmost part, extending from Chora (Chaura) village (approx. 1,200m above sea level) at the border with today’s Shimla district to Karcham at an elevation of approx. 1,800m. This part could be characterised as ‘Hindu’ although some historical Buddhist temples and monasteries are present there. So-called ‘Middle Kinnaur’ occupies the territory between Karcham village and the influx of the Baspa river into the Satluj, including the Ribba and Moorang areas (approx. Yang in yangbukhar is most likely „a fly” in Middle Kinnauri of Sangla area. Consultations with Anju Saxena (August 2020). 2 Not that I dare to compare myself, but cf. J.S Bystroń. Tematy, które mi odradzano [Topics that were advised against me]. PIW, Warszawa 1980, ch. I Drobiazgi. Pszczoły w pojęciach i zwyczajach ludu [Trifles. Bees in the concepts and customs of popular belief], pp. 88-108. 3 More recent studies such as Francke (1914, 1926) and Petech (1947) refer to older historical documents that shed light on the region’s political history, but are short on ethnographic detail before the 19 th century. 1 2 • 2,200-2,600m). Within Moorang lies the Jangi road police checkpost: foreign visitors need an Inner-Line Permit to proceed beyond there to the border zone. Middle Kinnaur is a transitional area, with both Hindu and Buddhist features. Beyond Moorang to the east and north-east lies Upper Kinnaur, including Nako (approx. 3,600m), the highest permanently inhabited village in the region. This is almost entirely Buddhist territory, at least historically. Some authors used to propose a rather simplified division of Kinnaur, derived from the first post-independence administrative divisions, and therefore continue identify just two parts: lower and upper (see Sanan and Swadi 1998: 20-21; Singh Negi 1995: 26-27). However, even those sources place the western border of Upper Kinnaur in a similar place near Moorang village. (Illustr. 1 Map of Kinnaur). Currently the highest cultural zone, which remains a primarily Buddhist area, is getting narrower and narrower in the face of growing Hindu influence. However, with regard to the cohabitation of humans and honeybees, I point to beliefs that are much older than the direct impact of either Buddhist or Hindu systems in their current ritualized forms.4 The old beliefs (the so-called ‘local religion’) have not survived in any written form, but the local rituals that are still practised points to earlier belief systems. These rituals derive precisely from the necessity to tame various non-human beings at the early stages of settlement in the Himalayan valleys. What is commonly agreed in all the folk stories about this Himalayan abode, including but extending beyond present-day Kinnaur, is that the entire area was haunted by innumerable nonhuman beings, including the malevolent Bali, Banasur and other powerful demons and dakinis. Indeed, the Himalayas were since the earliest times seen as the arena where the most terrifying combats between good and evil took place, and this is ‘authenticated’ in the Vedas, Puranas, Mahabharata and numerous other sacred scriptures. Kinnaur also is a very significant place in the earliest Indian mythology and scriptures, although the region which is mentioned there as populated by the Kinners, offspring of the Pulastyas, together with the Vanaras and Rakshasas (Bajpai 1981: 46-47), should not be directly associated with Kinnaur in its present administrative boundaries. These ancient texts point to a wide circle including the wider Indian Western Himalaya and Western Tibet regions, rather than to any precise part of these territories. Why are the presented boundaries of zones within Kinnaur so important? Mostly because they connote the historical ranges of local powers in the territory, and at the same time, religious divisions, influence of the elites on the shape of local cultures, inaccessibility of individual fragments of the territory, distribution of goods, and finally the network of trade routes. In total, almost every element of Kinnauri culture depends on the zone.5 Nevertheless, a significant factor connecting all these physiographic and cultural zones is the natural occurrence of an endemic species of honeybees. Their presence connects the three zones of Kinnaur, and human techniques for caring for them are very similar in the entire belt. The 4 It is likely that today's local beliefs (and the primacy of local deities known as devtas) were ultimately influenced by both the early Buddhist schools (for whom Kinnaur was a place of refuge from conflicts in Central Tibet) and Hindu traditions (especially non-institutionalized mystical ways of thinking). 5 The main border, deeply rooted in the local consciousness, is the one dividing Lower Kinnaur from the upper areas. Highlanders contemptuously used to call lowlanders just “lower side” (Kinn. mon). The main border is near Moorang village and Ribba valley. Inhabitants from even lower areas near Rampur are called Kochaś. These divisions are quite important because they form local identity. Highlanders do not recognize the right of lowlanders to call themselves Kinnauris at all. Similarly, Tibetans reserve the term Kunūpa (Tib.) only for inhabitants of the highest parts of Kinnaur. The rest, living lower than Moorang are just mon. The word mon identifies them as ’strangers’, and has nothing to do with Mon ethnic group in Thailand and Myanmar. 3 phenomenon is based mainly on the fact that the whole area was covered with dense forest in the quite recent past,6 differing in biological composition, but equally sheltering bees. My final introductory remark relates to more recent times. It is a testimony of the growth of Hindu influence from the late Middle Ages to the present day. These currents were mainly spread through the rulers of Rampur-Bashahr and the respected elites. The lineage and power of rajas and maharajas of Rampur-Bashahr principality were supported by two main divine centres there: Sarahan (Sonitpur / Shonitpur, located in Lower Kinnaur), with its Bhimakali temple, and Kamru fort and temple of Badrinath (Middle Kinnaur).7 Devi Durga-Kali is regarded as the main protective deity of Kinnaur, through the ancestral lineage of the RampurBashahr rulers. Honeybees in the history of Kinnaur As I said at the beginning, honeybees appear to be related to most of the local cultural spheres, if not directly, then indirectly. To be exact, I am referring to one particular honeybee subspecies, Apis cerana cerana. For centuries, they have been responsible for pollinating not only apple trees and other fruit plants and shrubs, for which Kinnaur became famous even in the past, but also modern vegetable crops, including tomatoes and various types of peas.8 This insect subspecies is characteristic of the entire Western Himalayan belt, including high altitude areas of HP (Chamba, Lahul & Spiti, and part of Shimla as well as Kinnaur) and adjoining parts of Garhwal and Kumaon in Uttarakhand, and is present up to 3,300m.9 This mountainous honeybee was traditionally hunted for honey and wax, and then hived in this wide area, despite slight cultural differences in managing them across the belt. In Kinnaur there are no written sources to tell us of the coexistence of humans and Apis cerana honeybees before the mid-19th century.10 About much earlier periods we can make inferences based on the importance of bee products in the Ayurvedic and Tibetan or Chinese materia medica systems practiced by local amchis as well as the preparing of offerings in Bön, Buddhist 6 The industrial use of Kinnauri wood began in the second half of the 19 th century as the British took an interest in the resource. 7 Both temple complexes have evident Buddhist elements alongside predominant Hindu features. Exquisitely interesting is the folk tradition connecting Bhimakali of Sarahan with Tibet proper and Mount Kailash in particular, with Lord Shiva and Krishna, the demon Banasur (whose head is believed to be buried near the entry to Bhimakali main temple), and the great yogi Bhimgiri, who is said to have been commanded by Durga herself to erect a temple in this place and dedicate it to her (Thakur 1997: 63). 8 The word for bee pasture (forage) in Kinnauri is borrowed from Hindi and Pahari (maun charan). 9 This is the approximate range of occurrence in the discussed area, personally checked many times during surveys. This is not a place for debates with biologists, some of whom give as much as 4,000 m as a limit for Apis cerana cerana. 10 Alexander Gerard noted that in Kinnaur “The natives rear bees, which are lodged in apertures of the walls of houses. In the lower hills, where flowers are plentiful throughout the year, the honey is collected in spring and autumn; but, in the higher places, only in autumn: the latter season produces the finest quality, which is very white and pure, but, before it reaches the plains, it is always adulterated with coarse sugar. The honey is procured without killing the bees, by smoking them out with burnt straw; only half of it is taken away, so the bees return. The people scarcely know the use of wax; most of it is thrown away, but a small quantity goes to Rampoor, where it is purchased by merchants from the plains” (Lloyd ed. 1841: 75-76). All in all, it is not possible to draw far-reaching conclusions from this note. 4 and Hindu rites. In all these medical and belief systems, primarily honey (Kinn. makhir, Hind. madhu)11, but also beeswax (Kinn. yangbukhar,12 Hind. moan) was irreplaceable.13 It is possible to drew inferences about earlier periods from a study of local architecture. In Kinnaur, as well as in the whole Western Himalayan belt mentioned above, bee hives14 (usually horizontal log ones15) were installed directly in the walls of residential buildings and those of stables, barns, cowsheds and alike. The oldest such hives to be found at present are about 200 years old.16 Further inferences based on such practices suggests that local knowledge of honeybees, their products and how to manage them, was much older, lasting most probably for a dozen or so centuries. In fact, hived honeybees were found in almost every traditional, wooden building. What is surprising is that this custom was practiced in times when local inhabitants could not have been aware of any biological relationship of bees with pollination, and thus of successful harvests. It is possible only to presume that those bees were prized historically because honey was the sole sweet product available.17 Any other supposition is just a speculation at this stage of research. It is hard to believe in any friendly relationship between men and stinging insects, even if the stings and temperament of these particular bees are widely regarded widely as mild.18 Finally, I refer to an aspect that seems crucial to me regarding local residents’ ways of keeping and breeding bees, and, as a result, the former size of their population (which was definitely larger than would have occurred without human support). As is well known, the wide Himalayan area is treated as an important place in relation to many beliefs and mythical sagas present in India. It was in the Himalaya, not necessarily in a very precise place (apart from the frequently mentioned Mount Kailash and Lake Manasarovar), that the most important meetings, clashes and boastful demonstrations of the strength of people, gods and demons took place. In Kinnauri another word for ‘bee’ (wašyang / waśyaang) can be derived both from ‘big’ (waš) + ‘fly’ (yang) or ‘honey’ (waš) + ‘fly’ (yang). An extra opportunity gives a word ‘nest’ (wa). See Sharma (1988). 12 Yangbukhar is in fact a word from Lower Kinnauri. In the higher areas most people use the Hindi word moan. Only some refer to dhungshun or shyakote, as the proper expression for wax in Upper Kinnaur. According to Anju Saxena, beeswax should be pronounced sithang and honeycomb shakut. The last word is also used both for honeycomb with or without honey or bee cells (for Middle Kinnauri from Sangla area, consultations August 2020). 13 The importance of honey recently came to my attention in a conversation with one of the monastery lamas in Upper Kinnaur (2018). When I referred to the use of honey in rituals, he said that he uses honey bought from the store for everyday use, and honey received as a gift from local beekeepers for important ceremonies. It turned out that the naturalness of honey was of key importance to him in terms of the effectiveness of the rituals. I have yet to explore this thread further. 14 Most often called in Kinnauri waś chatta (bees’ house). 15 If one is tempted to invoke an ordering system in a kind of evolutionary nomenclature, the earliest hives moved by humans to the vicinity of their settlings were hollow-trunk ones, then installed in the walls, as vertical and horizontal log hives. Box hives appeared in the area in question relatively recently, only in the 20th century (even in the second half). 16 Numerous ruins of wooden constructions with hives in them are still present in the Baspa and Rupa valleys, and other places with wooden architecture. Their age was estimated during talks with local inhabitants-owners of neighbouring houses with documented history for 150-200 years. However, there is a problem with proper documentation, because ruins are usually pulled down and the site used for modern buildings. 17 Ghur, misri and other unrefined products made from sugarcane syrup have to be imported from the lowlands. 18 Apis cerana is generally regarded as much milder than the Apis mellifera subspecies (the so-called European bee). This is definitely true in beekeeping practice. An Apis cerana family can be inspected without any need for protective clothing. They rarely sting, as I have checked personally many times in different seasons of the year and times of the day. Even when awakened at night or from hibernation in winter, they are not very aggressive. They scare the intruder with a loud hiss but are unlikely to sting. Even the venom of this species is more readily tolerated by humans. 11 5 One of these events directly connects the Himalayas with bees (black honeybees to be precise; Kinn. bhonr). The scene is meticulously depicted in Devi Bhagvata Purana (Devi Bhagvatam) when Devi Bhramari 19 (the incarnation of Devi Parvati) is fighting with Asura, the cruellest of the Daityas. The long years of practicing asceticism and meditation techniques brought Asura almost unlimited power, with which the gods rewarded his steadfastness. But finally his pride overcame his loyalty, and he stood up against his previous protectors. The gods proved powerless against Asura’s power until Bhramari’s withdrawal. Innumerable lines of black bees then were generated and they joined themselves with those that got out of the Devī’s hands and thus they covered the whole earth. Thus countless bees began to emit from all sides like locusts. The sky was overcast with the bees; and the earth was covered with darkness. The sky, mountain peaks, trees, forests, all became filled with bees and the spectacle presented a grand dismal sight. Then the black bees began to tear asunder the breasts of the Daityas as the bees bite those who destroy their beehives. Thus the Daityas could not use their weapons nor could they fight nor exchange any words. Nothing they could do; they had no help but to die. The Daityas remained in the same state where they were and in that state they wondered and died. No one could talk with another. Thus the principal Daityas died within an instant. Thus completing their destruction, the bees came back to Devī” (Book 10, chapt. 13, verses 110-117, underlines are mine).20 This passage highlights several important issues. First of all, the insects commanded by Bhramari, which apparently emerged as the physical manifestation of her power during the fight against Asura (and Daityas), are only black bees, not bumblebees, wasps, hornets, or similar, together with spiders, as suggested by popular renderings of the same story. Secondly, the bees were black. Only Apis cerana cerana have such a dark colour that gives the impression of blackness. Thirdly, after the attack on Asura, the bees returned to their ruler, suggesting her absolute control over them and the connection of the bees to divine power. Together, all these aspects bring a direct association with the defence and protection of the world of good against evil. Next, in rather figurative terms, they separate the world of people from the ‘foreign’, untamed, potentially dangerous space outside human settlements. This traditional perception of the need for protection is still very strong in Kinnaur. Even nowadays, many rules regulating human activity outside the residence zone are observed. They can be treated as a set of superstitions, but they clearly indicate the duration of beliefs related to human coexistence with many non-human beings, characteristic of various environments: land, woods, water (still ponds and lakes, and running – streams and rivers), pastures, mountains, glaciers, inhabiting forest areas, significant trees, living under stones, so earthen beings. (Figure 1). Of all nonhuman beings, Nagas (in fact Nagas and Naginis) are the most widespread, and the entire Himalayas area is famous for them. Less powerful deities, once dangerous, have been tamed / domesticated and are now guardians of families, settlements, and even village complexes.21 In such a world, full of non-human creatures, defence against ghosts and demons was a necessity. It seems that the bees could help. Directly attacking intruders, they were also seen as 19 Usually the name of the goddess is written Brahmari or Bhramari, but the later version is more accurate (भ्रमरी in Sanskrit). Also भ्रमर (bhramara in Sanskrit) means black bee, big black bee, bumblebee, beetle, any bee (means at present any insect belonging to family Apidae), swarm or even honey or buzzing. 20 The Shrimad Devi Bhagavtam, transl. Swam Vijnananda, Sacred Books of the Hindus, vol. XXVI, part 3, edited by B.D. Basu, third edition, Sudhindranatha Vasu at the Panini Office, Bhuvaneswari Asrama, Bahadurganj Allahabad, 1922 /www.archive.org/. 21 Ref. O.C. Handa, Naga Cults and Traditions in the Western Himalayas, Indus Publ. Co., New Delhi 2004; Idem, Temple Architecture of The Western Himalaya. Wooden Temples, Indus Publ. Co., New Delhi 2001. 6 messengers, subordinates of the goddess Bhramari, famous for her great victory over Asura (= evil power). So far, it may seem that fantasy has carried me away a bit. But only in Kinnaur can you still find old residential and farm buildings that have rows (also double) of beehives placed on either side of buildings. They look like ‘bee fortresses’ (Figure 2). And in this case there is no question of consciously linking beekeeping with agriculture. Bees were kept to ensure safety, which is a slight reflection of the residents’ conviction that having bees is a sign of family happiness, less often the visual protection of deities (mainly Vishnu, although also associated with Shiva).22 Such walls with rows of beehives were to be seen until recently, especially near local temples dedicated to devtas, protectors of entire villages (Figure 3). Unfortunately, even the caretakers of these places no longer associate the presence of bees with the sacred sphere. This element has been mostly lost since the late 1990s. Reflecting the increasing wealth of the residents, courtyards are lined with stone (marble) slabs, in accordance with the changing canons of aesthetics (Figure 4 and 5). Thus bees, dark Himalayan bees, combined seemingly separate narrative themes. They connect the sphere of human efforts associated with living in difficult environmental conditions with a number of biological determinants that he had to tame over the centuries. Bees bring together different threads at the intersection of spheres commonly called profane and sacred. Traditional caring for bees and honey harvest from log-hives From the stories of people who have hives in their homestead, it appears that the interest in bee products was and is moderate or low. Although most of my interviewees were unable to specify why they kept bees, the context implied that their mere presence was important to them. The best interlocutors turned out to be children who played near the hives. Some revealed that, against their parents' orders, they sometimes enter the barn / stable to dip their finger in the comb with honey from the back side of a hive. There is nothing strange about such stories, as traditional hives rarely have back covers. Of course, the key to understanding such practices is the fact that Apis cerana is not very aggressive to humans. She rarely stings; it is easy to brush her off the comb; and she is extremely resistant to bad weather conditions, as well as to poor forage. From a technical and biological point of view, this species nests in the dark. They usually buildfive to seven parallel combs. Taking the place of entrance (Hindi प्रवेश द्वार) as the referring point, all Apis cerana subspecies build the combs in a ‘warm’ setting, that is, parallel to the entrance. This setting (Hindi मौन का छत्ता) protects the nesting insects from hypothermia.23 The heart of the nest, with the eggs (Hindi अंडे, Kinn. sharon) and larvae (Hindi कीट डडंब, Pahari डशश)ु is located in the middle combs, so the stores of honey (Hindi मध,ु Pahari शहादत, Kinn.waš) and pollen (Hindi पराग) are in the outer combs. The ones in front of the entrance are hardly accessible without destroying the hive, so usually honey harvest (Hindi शाहद डनकलना) is done from the back. 22 The Shakti tradition, so strongly associated with Himalayas, does not seem to be popular among the locals. It is worth realizing that sublime religious and philosophical currents rarely penetrate the level of folk wisdom and popular beliefs. I haven't found any connections between local devtas and bees. None of my interviewers connected bees with ancient cults. 23 The warm months’ season and the need to cool the nest are not a real problem. Hives integrated within the walls of buildings provides very good thermal insulation. 7 In the traditional setting of keeping bees, cutting out honey combs (Hindi काटकर हाटाना, Pahari शहादत कातना) is done in summer and usually involves two outer / back honeycombs. In an exceptionally favourable year, honey can be harvested twice. Each honey harvest brings from 0.5 to 1 kg of honey per hive. This is not much, but one should consider that in traditional log-hive beekeeping this is pure profit. Bees are not fed (Hindi डिलाना) with sugar syrup; hives are not inspected (Hindi जााँच पड़ताल); and their owners generally do not pay any attention to them. They live next to people rather than with them. It is a peculiar coexistence, but bees are also spoken of seriously and respectfully, not like other insects. During my years of observations and talks with local beekeepers, I did not find any special equipment for beekeeping. There is no uncapping knife (Hindi ढककन डनकालने की चाक़ू, fork (Hindi ढककन डनकालने का औजार) or smoker (Hindi धवु ााँ देने वाला यन्त्र), such as are usually to be found in every Indian or international apiary caring for Apis mellifera. The lack of specialized tools for managing bees has its consequences. Honey is usually extracted from the combs by squeezing it in one’s hand. When consuming it, one simply chews the remaining nuggets of wax mixed with the honey. The outer combs have no eggs or larvae in their cells, so the amount of impurities is small. The real problem is the lack of proper honey storage. The honey does not contain much water at the outset, and is rather dense.24 However, it is kept in vessels that are not airtight and this, combined with the high hygroscopicity of honey, makes it ferment quickly. According to local taste, fermented honey is still a valuable product, and some say that it is the best. The limited supply of local honey makes it a difficult and expensive product to buy. That is why even the inhabitants of regions abundant in Apis cerana bees stock up in shops, which usually offer liquid honey that is heated and of questionable origin. Unfortunately, this tendency to consume liquid honey (Hindi तरल शहद) affects many consumers around the world. Present-day bee-culture At the largest fruit and vegetable wholesale market at Azadpur Mandi in Delhi, it is easy to find companies specializing in selling apples. These are seasonal fruits, mainly from Kashmir, Kulu, Garhwal, Solan and Kinnaur. Only the fruit from Kinnaur has separate packaging with its own labelling. Apples from other districts are usually described according to the state of origin as Himachali or Kashmiri ones. It is clear that apples from Kinnaur have gained a high reputation. Few people in India would be surprised at their high price. But the fruits of Kinnaur, especially apples, have won this position only very recently. The place of origin of those apples is not as obvious as in the case of native mangoes, oranges, bananas, pineapples, custard apples, coconuts, pomegranates, guavas, or figs, including non-endemic fruits from southern states such as litchi, mangosteen, kiwi, kaki and alike. How did Kinnaur became the exporter of the most appetising apples in India?25 24 I have not conducted any physicochemical studies on Himalayan honey, but can recognize honey with a low water content. According to comparative studies, although not directly applicable to the area in question, Apis cerana honey may contain only about 9% of water in a dry climate (cf. Manzoor et all, 2013, pp. 140-141). 25 One should not dispute someone else’s taste but I am entitled to my own opinion. Being Polish, I have some experience with fruit from temperate climates, including apples. There are roughly fifty varieties available in the market, plus old varieties what makes about a hundred altogether. Some grow in my own garden. I cannot find 8 The situation changed diametrically in the fourth quarter of the 20th century, especially since horticulture was boosted in Kinnaur. The immediate and increasing need of insect pollinators became obvious but, as we have seen, the tradition of keeping bees is in decline. Finally, we find a paradox. Advanced horticulture brings a high income, and those funds are spent on the construction of modern, concrete buildings where there is no place for honeybees anymore.26 The growing acreage of orchards (mainly apples but also apricots, peaches, pears, plums, almonds) has occurred simultaneously with decreasing population of local honeybees’ families. Until now, the only solution has been to invite migratory beekeepers with their hives from other states such as Punjab, Haryana or Uttar Pradesh in the blossom season.27 (Figure 6) This service is chargeable and costs about Rs 500 even up to Rs 1,000 rupees per hive for a for three-week stay near the orchard. This situation has several dimensions that are worth considering. First of all, the fee for hiring bees is quite high and only practiced in mountainous areas in the blossom season. Beekeepers know that local growers have no choice but to pay. Of course, the size of the proposed fee is related to the widespread knowledge of the Kinnauris’ current prosperity. In lowland areas where migratory beekeeping is also practiced, the beekeeper pays the farmer for the opportunity to obtain a good honey harvest.28 The next aspect is the limited suitability of those ‘foreign’ honeybees to the high altitudes of Kinnaur, as well as to other parts of the Western Himalaya. Migratory beekeepers keep socalled European bees, a subspecies of Apis mellifera, that are not so efficient as pollinators at high altitude compared with the domestic Apis cerana. Additionally, Apis mellifera does not work daily as long as Apis cerana (the difference is nearly two hours), and also the radius of their activity in high mountain areas is again in favour of Apis cerana.29 Moreover, Apis cerana is less exposed to various parasites, unfavourable weather conditions or long winters. They do not require artificial feeding, are milder in managing, do not have strong swarming habits, and have dozens of other advantages.30 Without going into the details, the promotion of Apis mellifera by the Khadi and Village Industries Commission is unlikely to be ecologically justified, and the level of beekeeping anything special in Kinnauri apples. They are too hard, not so aromatic, just sweet stones, perfect for long-distant transportation. The demand for Kinnauri apples always astonishes me. 26 Although some owners of modern concrete homes are making an attempt, to install log hives (in Boningsering village, Baspa Valley, on Figure 7). 27 The difficulty of estimating the number of bee colonies needed for India, including mountain areas, has been clear for several decades. The most famous study of L.R. Verma (1990: 24-25) is in favour of three hives per hectare of fruit crops. This is a minimalist approach because many authors suggest five to six families per hectare. Thus, in Kinnaur, a minimum of 33,627 bee families are needed , or 65,000 according to a less stringent approach. This estimate is based on the latest ‘fruit’ crop area (unpublished data 2016, courtesy of Horticulture Dept. at Reckong Peo). 12,610 ha of orchards in Kinnaur consist of apple standard, apple spur, plum, peach, apricot, pear, cherry, persimmon, kiwi, almond, walnut, hazelnut and pecan nut. Those self-pollinated are of marginal areas. These considerations are not essential to my argument, so I will skip the details. 28 This practice is also present in Lahul, where migratory apiaries are seen in abundance in late August and September. Beekeepers come from the lowlands seeking for forage sources, and pay farmers by mutual agreement. After all, the practice of paid pollination is becoming more common across the world due to the scarcity of pollinators. I have not conducted any research on this subject. However, during informal meetings with beekeepers in Haryana and Rajasthan (2018), I learnt that they were surprised at the fees for pollination. 29 Usually in lowland areas Apis mellifera covers a radius of close to 4 kms, although the high effective one do not exceed 1.5 kms. At the same time, the common activity radius of Apis cerana is near 2 kms. Such figures, which are easily found in specialized literature, mean nothing in the Himalayas. In middle and high Kinnaur the activity radius of Apis mellifera is highly reduced and inferior to that of Apis cerana. 30 Verma 1990; H.R. Hepburn, S.E. Radloff (eds)., Honeybees of Asia, Springer Verlag, Berlin-Heidelberg 2011. 9 education is compromised.31 So, why is this weather- and disease-resistant Apis cerana bee vanishing from mountain areas? The answer is both simple and bitter. It is because people at first domesticated them, and then diminished their natural environment area due to growing human settlements and activity zones. At present there is no other option if one wants to increase significantly the number of Apis cerana families, than to offer them suitable hives, and what is equally important, to educate local people about their behaviour and beneficent characteristics.32 At present, local people do not associate the presence of endemic honeybees with the grace of the multiple deities worshiped in Kinnaur (within the different religious systems present there). So this aspect cannot again become a catalyst for the revival of the insect population. In my opinion, the human inhabitants who keep bees are divided into two, unequal parts.33 The smaller group still has at least some of the old wooden buildings, where bees have been nesting for a long time. This group generally does not deal much with them, leaving matters in the hands of nature. Only a few are interested to get some honey at the end of summer (usually 0.5 to 1 kg from each strong family, usually in September). The rest leave the bees alone. The second, the majority of the inhabitants, being well aware of their role as pollinators, try to keep them in fairly modern boxes.34 Representatives of both groups benefit from the presence of bees in orchards and crops located near their homes. The plots that are further away are left to naturally occurring pollinators. People usually do not transfer hives directly to orchards. The situation described therefore only applies to families who have their fields and orchards close to their own buildings. New areas transformed into orchards, lying on slopes, away from a village, must count on migratory lowland beekeepers during the blossom season. Conclusions Nobody likes to live in an open-air museum, besides ethnographers. So-called modernization is an ordinary and natural feature of cultural change. In the case of Kinnaur, rapid transformation has no clear direction. I would say it is a complex of imitative behaviours, which are taken to persuade visitors (I’m not so convinced about their own consciousness and its role in self-persuasion) that Kinnauris should not be regarded as tribals anymore, or viewed as backward, antiquated, stupid, and that they are equal to others. The highest class regards themselves as at least real Rajputs in Hindu social stratification. The main means of demonstrating status is the amount of cash in one’s hands. So the need to get more and more is clearly visible. Just making a fortune is the goal for many present-day Kinnauris. I address the KVIC’s recent promotion of Apis mellifera breeding in Kinnaur in a separate paper, so I shall not expand on this analysis here. 32 The activities and role of the Khadi and Village Industries Commission are on the margins of current considerations. This powerful organization offers various courses for beekeepers, but forces the Apis mellifera apiaries, also in mountainous areas, which does not bring the expected results. My own survey in late August 2019 shows that all 100 KVIC sponsored Apis mellifera families died within the first season (Moorang, Kinnaur). 33 Generally a beekeeper is called waś paalak in Kinn,, and maun palaak in Hindi (full version in Hindi can be also maun paalak ya poshak). 34 Hive boxes for Apis cerana are constructed locally. They are cuboids of varying wall thickness (usually too thin, about 2 cm). Also, the type of wood used for this construction leaves much to be desired. They resemble Apis cerana hives with movable frames (a type suitable for lowlands), but only from the outside view, because in fact they are frameless. Superchambers are not used. 31 10 And what they are doing with their savings? They give the best possible education to their children, who do not want to come back to Kinnaur after more than a decade’s schooling in lowland India, and instead settle in big urban centres. The older generation’s constant investment in their children and grandchildren does not give the latter a lesson of hard work. Finally, they do not intend even to manage the orchards which gave them cash sources and much higher status. The young generation would prefer to have the money and nothing common with the area, forgetting local values, beliefs and customs. As one said: “I don’t want to live in Kinnaur. I plan to find a good job outside. But I will come home to find a good wife. Our girls have a good temper and are very beautiful”.35 We are currently facing not so much the simple brahminisation process as the far-reaching transformation of so-called tribal cultures into patterns encouraged by the metro-cultures of Chandigarh or New Delhi, promoted generally in all-India broadcast, politics, movies and so on, as a part of building national society. This is more like the ladinisation processes found in Guatemala, or generally in Latin America.36 The despised enter a bland, mass city culture, and get rid of their past heritage to earn general acceptance. 35 BG 14, 2016. Transcribed interviews were coded. Ladinisation derived from „ladinos” and applied to rapid cultural change seen as adaptation to main urban complex of shared values (language, beliefs, style of life, food etc.) among rural migrants of tribal roots. 36 11 Bibliography Bajpai, Shiva Chandra. 1981. Kinnaur in the Himalayas, Mythology to Modernity. New Delhi: Concept Publishing Company. 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Selvisabhanayakayam, Mir, G.M,. 2013. “Chemical Analysis of Honey of Apis cerana F. and Apis mellifera from plains of Jammu and Kashmir and Tamil Nadu”. International Journal of Agricultural Science and Research 3 (4): 139-146. Petech, Luciano. 1947. “The Tibetan-Ladakhi-Moghul War of 1681-1683”. Indian Historical Quarterly 23, 169-199. Sanan, Deepak. Swadi, Dhanu. 1998. Exploring Kinnaur in the Trans-Himalaya. New Delhi: Indus Publishing Company. Sharma, Devidatta D. 1988. A Descriptive Grammar of Kinnauri, Studies in TibetoHimalayan Languages, vol. I. Delhi: Mittal Publications. Singh, Negi. Sharad. 1995. Cold Deserts of India. New Delhi: Indus Publishing Company. The Srimad Devi Bhagavtam. 1922. Trans. Swami Vijnanada. The Sacred Books of the Hindus. B.D. Basu (ed.). Vol. XXVI, part 3. Allahabad: Sudhindranatha Vasu at the Panini Office, Bhuvaneshwari Asrama, Bahadurganj. Thakur, Molu Ram. 1997. Myths, Rituals and Beliefs in Himachal Pradesh. New Delhi: Indus Publishing Company. 12 Illustration 1. Map of Kinnaur District (in its present administrative shape). Source: HP Ministry of Tourism with Author’s own modifications. 13 Figure 1. Stream gutter in the shape of the head of a nag (near Rakcham, 1999). © R. Beszterda Figure 2. Old granary with double rows of log-hives in Sangla, 2016. © R. Beszterda Figure 3. Mathi Devi in Chitkul (Feb. 1997). © R. Beszterda 14 Figure 4. A wall with numerous hives facing the courtyard of Badrinath temple in Kamru, 1996. © R. Beszterda Figure 5. The courtyard of Badrinath temple in Kamru, 2008. © R. Beszterda 15 Figure 6. Migratory apiary (Apis mellifera mellifera) in Sangla, 2016. © R. Beszterda Figure 7. New-traditional log-hives installations in Boningsering, 2016. © R. Beszterda 16