Charmers, towards a new mission

Bahar Dutt and Dipankar Ghose

It was a lone Black-winged Stilt and some Pied Wagtails that welcomed us to the Gulabgarnathji temple at Charkhi Dadri, Haryana. The temple is named after Gulabgarnath, the Guru of all north-Indian snake charmers. Snake charmers from across India gather at this small village annually to offer prayers to their Guru. This year, however, the occasion had a special significance. The snake charmers, in association with the Wildlife Trust of India, had organized a mahapanchayat (big congress) to strategize for their rights since snake charming had been declared an illegal occupation.

 

Bahar Dutt receiving blessings from the main priest

A simple looking village temple dome with high boundary walls set amidst a rural surrounding was all that we could see from a distance. The ambience changed as soon as we entered the temple complex. What looked like a great congregation of pilgrims from far was actually a gathering of snake charmers or saperas from all across the country. About 600 odd snake charmers and their families had gathered there on that auspicious day, while more were streaming into the temple with each passing hour. The main priest or Guruji, dressed in a bright saffron robe, was blessing the devotees. The samadhi or tomb of Baba Gorakhnath was the hub and people thronged it to offer their prayers. The air was thick from the smoke of incense sticks and rumbles from a huge drum.

Soon, we got down to work with the Panchayat of snake charmers. After some initial commotion that is part of any large gathering, it all settled down. After discussions between with the Guruji and a few of his representatives from the community, the Panchayat got most of the senior snake charmers to take an oath that their community will neither catch nor run shows with Pythons and will also refrain from trade with live and/ or parts of Pythons and Cobras or other snake species. By midday, the heat of the sharp sun had started to wear us down but the exhilaration of being amidst thousands of 'charmers' kept us going..talking, debating and discussing with the saperas about their issues, concerns and problems.

A sapera displaying medicinal herbs

It was evident that the Wildlife (Protection) Act of India, 1972, has clearly taken away their bread and butter. Every Indian snake had been included in the Schedules of the Wildlife (Protection) Act which prohibits hunting, capturing or keeping of these reptiles by any person. Since snake charming is an inherited profession, people from this community have never tried their hands at any other vocation. Jobless and direction-less, the snake charmers are increasingly getting alienated from their mainstream and finding it more difficult to sustain their families. Education has still not touched the lives of this poverty-stricken lot. A serious thought must be given to arrive at some long-term solution. The need of the hour is to tap their experience about snakes and help them make a viable, non-consumptive vocation with their age-old knowledge. We left the temple with the Pied Wagtails still foraging at the nearby field and leaving behind hundreds of snake-charmers with dreams and thoughts of an alternative livelihood in their minds.

(Bahar, Consultant, Wild Policy, WTI, Dipankar, Programme Officer, Policy & Enforcement, WTI, visited the Mahapanchayat of snake charmers held on the 5 th of October, 2003 ,in Charkhi Dadri, Haryana.)