Anthropology
Open Access
ISSN: 2332-0915
+44 1223 790975
ISSN: 2332-0915
+44 1223 790975
Research Article - (2020)Volume 8, Issue 2
The key to the interpretation of the Takura is bullfight through “entertainment.” It has been the structuring value for most of the Taruka society, but based on the principle that festivals, creates entertainment in a way and, in another way, it acts as the mechanism for integrating society. Festivals can also be interpreted as the informal mechanism of reducing tensions, conflict and social stress in diverse society where people of different caste, ethnicity, and religions were live.Bullfight is in Taruka function as the means of entertainment on the occasion of Maghe or Makar Sankranti manifestly, and latently, it creates the opportunity of interactions of different people from different background, it also helps to establish the marriage relationship and kinship bond to create family; it also acts as the social platform to exchange commodities, values, sentiments, etc.
Taruka, Maghe Sankranti, bullfight, symbolic interpretation, social order, exchange
Taruka; the historic place, extended to the skirts of Bidur Municipality in the East, Nilkantha Municipality of Dhading district in the West, Meghang Rural Municipality in the North and Belkotgadhi Municipality in the South. It is the most famous place of Nuwakot district- Taruka, where "Bull Fighting" has been a source of entertainment. The "Bull Fighting" manifests kinship and socialization which is organized on Makar Sakranti near the Betrawati of Tirshuli.
The "Bull Fighting" is not only a game for entertainment or a fight of bulls but it is also a famous festival of Taruka. This festival provides an opportunity to socialize where people have access to share and exchange information about economy, society, politics, religion, etc. This is the centre for all from where the whole Taruka world gets regulated and assimilated.
The main objective of this study is to find out the social and economic impact of The Bull Fighting on Taruka World. Taruka is located in Tarkeshwor Gaun (village) Palika (Rural Municipality) which was incorporated in 2017 (2073 BS) as a local government of Nepal. The headquarters of Tarkeshwor Gaupalika is located in Dangsing, Nuwakot district of Nepal. It was formed by merging Taruka, Budhsing, Dangsing, Gorsyang, and Khakabhanjyang (Ward No. 1-3) Village Development Committees. Currently, it is divided into 6 wards. The total area of this Gaupalika is 72.62 square kilometer and the total population is 15,719 as per the census of 2011. This village has a population of various ethnic and religious communities.
Socio-natural setting
Climate, temperature and precipitation of Taruka or ecology of this area influences the soil formation. Directly it is affected by the supply of water and heat to react with parent material whereas indirectly it determines flora and fauna activities which furnish a source of energy in the formation of organic matter.
Agricultural land is scattered in Taruka. People from all the areas are directly dependent on agriculture system to sustain their lives. In the slope area, agriculture is done in the terrace land. Due to lack of agricultural facilities and some natural hazards in Taruka, agricultural system is badly affected every year. Thus, leading people to look for better options other than agriculture, these days people have started their own businesses such as goat, pig, and poultry farming, or cash crop cultivation. Agricultural production has been severely affected in the recent years due to the crisis of local as well as other labors. Irrigation is focal problem both in high and low land of all wards. People are mainly dependent on rain water. Cattles basically as cow, buffalo, and goat are reared in Taruka. Animal husbandry is another economic source to support their families. Subsistence on the one hand and on the other cattle help promote agriculture by plowing, preparing organic manure, transportations and many more.
Taruka is diverse in terms of ethnicity, language, religion as well as culture. The population can be categorized as Brahmin, Chhetri, Thakuri, Tamang, Kami, Damai, Sarki, Sanyasi etc. According to CBS 2011, total population of Taruka is 5233. Male population is 2335 and rest 2898 are female and they live in 2898 households. Mostly, Brahman, Chhetri and Thakuri comprise the dominant caste followed by Tamang and then others.
Kinship
The institutions of the family, marriage, kinship and decent systems acts as the basis of any society and culture [1] and the behavior of the members of respective institutions and socio-cultural and institutional patterns with various activities play a vital role in celebrating cultural festivals. Events and processes associated to the celebration of this festival have been analyzed in this study. This kind of social scenario helps understand the social well-off institutional culture which galvanizes the social capital in high manner to contribute to the sustainability of "'mutual benefits and collective actions in relation to the resource management in their own ecology" [2].
While studying the primitive society, Schneider found the fact that kinship has an organizing principle or idiom of most groups and most social relations that are always created and constituted by the process of interaction, or by socialization [3]. In anthropology, kinship, family and marriage ultimately flourish the functions of social net working, interaction and the social processes [4]. This paper has also shown the kinship influences over the social process, which is a root cause for the particular social behavior. Likewise, in kinship, kin folks are exhibited by altruism, love and generosity to one another, and strictly equivalent returns from one another are not demanded [5].
Cultural socialization
Socialization of culture refers to the manner by which parents, society, address any cultural and social issues within the family, society and their culture [1], specifically, the ways parents communicate or transmit cultural values, beliefs, customs, and behaviors to the child and the extent to which the child internalizes these messages, adopts the cultural norms [6]. Cultural socialization refers to both explicit and implicit parental practices that teach children about the positive aspects of their race, ethnic heritage, cultural customs, and traditions.
Cultural socialization may convey its effects by enabling children and youths to think more positively about themselves, build pride and a sense of belonging to a particular cultural group, and may help youths develop strategies for coping with cultural context, cultural interaction and cultural processes.
Entertainment
Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and interest of an audience, or gives pleasure and delight. It can be an idea or a task, but is more likely to be one of the activities or events that have been developed over thousands of years specifically for the purpose of keeping audience's attention. Entertainment may include a cultural element, or it may be base. Culture is for the continuance of a group of people that share a commonality, like festivals, ceremonies, race, religion, beliefs or geography.
Entertainment is important as it brings people together and is a good way of bonding in entire family and society. Entertainment brings happiness, which is fundamental and powerful medicine that aids health and wellbeing.
All festivals are cultural in one way or another. There are many types of cultural festivals such as national, religious, and seasonal [7]. They all serve the purpose of bringing happiness to people of particular lives, and strengthen our sense of commonality, harmony, solidarity and sense of humor [8]. These festivals are important because they are related to food supply. Anthropology as an alternative approach in social science theory or perspective was developed after 1960s. There is no single paradigm of this theory or approach/ perspective because symbolic/interpretive anthropology "as a level" was never used by its founding anthropologists, Clifford Geertz and Victor Turner [6]. Advocating a different approach Symbolic or interpretive anthropology or perspective criticizes the generalized view of culture as suggested by Functionalists in answering questions like, how does institutions help to fulfill the needs of the society. How is social life possible? What keeps society in equilibrium/order? Functionalists find the solutions of these questions however they cannot interpret the symbols of the culture.' Symbolic anthropology claimed that we can understand whole functional phenomena using cultural materialism because all cultures have different symbols.
Symbolic or interpretive anthropologists offer different views of culture asking about meanings of symbols and how these symbols shape people's way or patterns of life. So anthropologists, rather than describing the culture, must dig out the meaning of the symbols that constitute the cultural whole. Culture is an abstract concept or adaptive strategy. Symbols used in everyday life (in culture rituals, festivals and important social events etc.) carry out meanings for operation of a particular culture. Thus, investigation and interpretation of meanings used in the context of action (i.e. social action) is the primary concern of symbolic anthropology.
Culture is not something locked inside people's head but rather is embodied in public symbols - symbols through which the members of a society communicate their own view [9]. It is value orientation ethos (characteristic features of any culture and community) to their further generations (by means of socialization). To anthropologists, they are social processes that pass from generation to generation. For example, a man in white dress symbolizes the death of his father or mother whereas a woman in white dress symbolizes the death of her husband in Nepali Hindu culture.
For Geertz, reading culture is like doing archaeology; culture is exposed and explained layer by layer until it gives a significant meaning (i.e. interpretation understanding). By interpretative understanding of culture, Geertz also implies the context (situation, time, condition) of the symbols used. The interpretation of Balinese cockfight is a classical example of Symbolic Anthropology or interpretive approach [6]. In case of Taruka, the "Bull Fight" is a symbolic event, which offers a window to Taruka culture through which it is possible to peep into it and find out what keeps Taruka society in order? There are two contradictory relationships within Taruka society. Here, I want to interpret the event as a cultural "text" through which one attempts to understand the inner nature of Taruka society. The "Bull Fight" symbolizes the social relation (kin or village, community), conflict, rivalries between different communities and the social solidarity within a single Taruka community. Betting as the "Bull Fight" expresses the villagers' and kin's "we-feeling" which also relates to the existing labor, economic and cultural cooperation between the members of the family and society. It is not only the fight between two animals (bulls) but also between the owners of different villages or communities in the "game form".
Before stepping towards documentation of the impacts of cultural festivals, first of all I want to define cultural significance of festivals which holds members intact. Durkheim was perhaps the first anthropologist to recognize the significance of such sociocultural events in human societies. In his view "socially accepted, culturally practiced and psychologically perceived such festivals are acollective act and includes many forms of behaviors in which people interact with others". Durkheim initiated anthropological analysis of festivals by defining as a "unified system of beliefs and practices relative to social acceptance and culturally practiced things". Compromising the definition forwarded by Durkheim, I want to raise the question, "how can human societies be held together when they are generally composed of individuals and social groups with diverse interests and aspirations?" The probable answer may be that "cultural festivals act as social offering and social celebrations often transcend these personal and diverse forces". But readers may have fulfilled the answer of their questions "why cultural festivals and celebration provide the societal glue?" cultural festivals and celebration provide societal glue because it offers people meaning and purpose of their socio-cultural lives. It gives them certain ultimate values and end to hold in common. Although subjective and not always fully accepted, these values and ends help a society to function as an integrated social system. That's why people believe in socio-cultural assimilation either because of "hope" or "fear". In fact, socio-cultural assimilation offers various socio-cultural offerings and events with celebrations in which people exchange their ideas, knowledge, economy, technology and so on with their members with full faith.
In any social relationship people are involved in a flow and counter-flow of prostrations, which is one way of describing the movement of goods and services. The ideas of appropriateness and value of their own and their counter-part determine the flow of goods and services [10]. My goal in this ethnographic study is not to collect information superficially but to “open” Taruka culture to readers and to provide inter-ethnic, inter-tribal, inter-ecological, inter-economic and inter-cultural relationships in a broader sense. Fundamentally, during festival transactions of locally produced agro-products, handicrafts, cattle, goods, commodities, services etc. get transactions among them from different communities as they used to be bartered or exchanged earlier but now they purchase as consumers. It was found that Taruka as a centre for any social relationship, people are involved in transactions of goods or commodities. The flow of goods and services is determined by their and their counterparts' need, demand and supply of appropriateness and values. These ideas determine not only what we exchange, but also what values may be combined in set in the given exchange. Only those involving commensurable presentations are relevant counterparts in a social relationship [11]. Such ideas also affect the course of interaction in a relationship. The flow of presentations is not random over time, since each party’s behavior is modified by the presence and behavior of the other in a progressive sequence the fundamental notion of transaction is reciprocity [10].
One measure of analytical importance of such a concept of exchange is that it provides a way to assess the strength of values, it is meaningless, Barth maintains, to say that something has value unless people in real life seek it as a preference over something else of lesser value [10]. In fact, transactional model provides an analytic framework for the study of change.
Here I would like to explore this with the two distinct types of exchanges but they are interrelated with each other. One is the exchange of material commodities or goods (economic exchanges) and the other is the exchange of daughters, sisters, or as said social exchanges- those consisting of interactions among and between adjacent caste and ethnic groups of different cultures, religions, races and languages. But the material exchanges are the bedrock in which the second sets of socio-cultural exchanges take place.
Symbols usually signify many things: to use Turner's phrase (1967) they are multi-vocal. According to Geertz, human behavior is fundamentally symbolic and therefore laden with meaning for social actors. The primary task of ethnographer is to understand the "webs of significance" which people themselves have spun.
Symbolic or interpretive ethnography focuses on the meaning of behavior and rely primarily on verbal data in support of their interpretations. So, it is not inaccurate to say symbolic ethnographies have been similar to neo-structural in style.
Geertz in "thick description" argues the aim of anthropology is to interpret the meaning of behavior to explain actions and attitudes that appear puzzling. According to him, culture consists of "structures of significance", "frame of interpretation" or "socially established structures of meaning" [6]. For Geertz, culture is "context" and it is the object of ethnography to describe it to the extent it is practicable, in case of Taruka Bull Fight, the aim of this paper is to explore the Taruka as context and interpret meanings that are embodied in the cultural festival the Bull Fight.
So, the primary objective of the study is to identify the significance of the Bull Fight festival in Taruka as a symbol of our society and factors associated with this festival. The specific objectives of this paper are to identify the functions of the Bull Fight festival to satisfy the socio-cultural needs of the society, to identify both manifest and latent functions of this festival through entertainment in members and then to know how it helps maintain the socio-cultural integration, harmony, and cohesiveness through interactions and exchange along with what are the factors and mechanism that help to maintain Taruka world together.
Ethnographic study is employed in this research where participants' observation method is used to identify the significance of bullfight in Taruka world. Hindu Brahmins and other castes along with other ethnic groups celebrate Bullfight in Taruka in Makar Sankranti, as their holy festival. Even though non-Hindus do not perform other religious activities and functions of worship but they also follow and celebrate this festival. Methodologically, festivals are the part of socio- cultural phenomena and within these cultural practices in the base of religion; there are many functions of festivals both manifestly or latently.
This research was conducted in Truka on 15 th January, 2019. During the course of the study, both quantitative and qualitative data were collected; open ended interview, structured interview and semi-structured interviews were carried out among altogether 10 respondents and 10 observers. Respondents or participants were who own bull as participants to fight and observer were those who observe the Bullfight festival celebrated on Makar Sankrati. Respondents were only those whose bulls were taking part in the fight of 2019. After agreeing on the confidentiality of the shared information, this information was provided by the respondents both orally as well as through the information shared in the documentation sheets. I have concealed the identity of each respondent and his/her settlement by using pseudonyms. I have changed the identification details of the participants such as their field of work and studies to conceal their identity.
Interviews were conducted to both the participants and the observers about the festival, its history, community from where they are participating, society where they live in, economy they are living on, family, kinships, etc. Interviews were conducted in Nepali. Rest of the information about the festival like; management of the festivals, involvements, and more significance of festivals were gathered from chairperson of the committee, ward chairperson and senior citizens of the villages.
Total 26 pairs of bulls were the participants in the event, among them, 8 participants were selected as respondents including the winner. The name used here of all respondents are pseudo names because of ethical concern, Ram Shrestha, Karma Tamang, Bishal B.K, Ramesh Mahat, Tek Bahadur Gurung, Ramji Adhikari, Krishna Sharma, and Shyam Thapa who were selected as respondents randomly, the criteria of competing bulls were selected on the basis of their physical fitness including length, height and age. One of the respondents, who had bought Supare of Rs 25,000 to compete in this annual event, won the fight and went home with the prize money and the defeated bull (Kale). The key informants' interviews were taken from the chair person of the management committee named Rajesh Dhungel [pseudoname].
Participants' observation
Purposively Taruka was selected for field work. Bull Fights is one of the major Hindu festivals organized on Maghe Sankranti. On Wednesday, 15th January 2019 there, where 26 couples of bull were ready to fight. I participated in the event as an observer and observed the fights of bulls. Researcher is also a member of the society of adjoining district. As an observer researcher has tried to maintain the ethics so that it is easy to visualize the festival, its symbolic meaning and its significance in the society without any bias. It has also helped to explore the reason behind the question: what is the significance of Bullfight in Taruka? Despite various problems why this festival is continuously celebrated? Is bullfighting limited to entertainment only?
Bull is recognized for the purpose of reproduction. Ox represents household and is utilized in many household chores of economy (in ploughing, transportation, organic manure producers etc.), except reproduction. Usually bull belongs to a particular society whereas ox belongs to an individual household.
Among various cultural festivals, Bullfighting is one of the Nepalese festivals that is observed according to the lunar cycle of the Hindu calendar. It is also known as Maghe Sankranti, a festival observed on the first date of Magh in the Vikram Sambat (B.S) calendar (about 15 January almost). Maghe Sankranti is a harvest festival, the beginning of a new agricultural season, and the time when days start getting longer and warmer. The date is also related to the movement of the zodiac signs, as practiced in Nepali tradition.
On the day of Makar Sankranti, many Hindus worship the Sun god, take ritual baths in holy rivers, sharing special foods like yams, laddus (sweet dough balls), ghee, sweet potatoes and get together with relative members and family. People belonging to Terai region, as Tharus celebrate Maghi festival as a “New Year” and they organize various programs and festivals showcasing their culture and dance in Kathmandu, Tudikhel as well as in various parts of the country. In this context Taruka awaits a cultural festival and its participants from different places of the country to organize a cultural festival named Bullfight for entertainment on the one hand and resolution of various socio-cultural problems associated with their daily lives on the other.
It is found that, qualitative as well as quantitative primary data are used to present the facts and justify the issues that are associated to Bullfight festival of Taruka. Presentations of data qualitatively are given priority and very few data are presented qualitatively which are generated from both participants and observant of Bullfight festival and respondents of the research.
History Associated to Bullfights in Taruka
The tradition of Bull Fight dates back to 1887 B.S. which was introduced by the then Prince of Bajhang Jay Prithivi Bahadur Singh for the purpose of entertainment while visiting his maternal uncle's house. Since then, locals of the Taruka Village, esteemed the Bullfighting, and have carried on with the tradition over the years. However, no evidence of it has been found yet. Although there are no historical facts on the provenance of such festival, the tradition is regarded as old as 150 years. Elderly people say the Bull fight was organized by the maternal uncle of King Jay Prithvi Bahadur Singh of Bajhang to entertain the latter. Taruka was the home of King Jay Prithvi Bahadur’s maternal uncle.
Another historic event is also associated with the victory of Nepalese in 1887 B.S. over Tibet which initiated the annual celebration of the Bullfighting in Betrawati, where 10 pairs of bulls fought to mark the day. Taruka, on the other side, witnessed the fight between 20 pairs of bulls on the same day.
Taruka ethnography
It is observed that in Taruka the Bullfight offers various dimensions of problems and status that are very commonly found in Taruka world. The basic problems of Taruka and surroundings are; imbalance or dis-equilibrium between the population and resources. Another threat is the social stability and social solidarity of communal life in heterogeneous society within Taruka world. The principles of cultural assimilation, transfers of community to society i.e. from homogeneity to heterogeneity, lacks of entertainment, difficult geography, diverse socio-cultural context etc. discourage tendencies towards isolation andatomization that promote “threatening the web of fabric of Taruka social life".
The problem of social cohesiveness among Taruka residents is magnified by the lack of devices of conflict resolution. Taruka does not have "formal mechanism of social control". It weakens the basis for homogenous community stability in heterogeneous Taruka world. So, with these fragile relationships within the community, harsh economic life, lack of opportunities within the Taruka world, conflict between family members for nuclear families, land and resources' fragmentation, and the absence of formal institutions that deal with social control [12], are the major problems in Taruka world. In Taruka life, "What keeps things in order? Or "How Taruka world possible and how Taruka life possible in order?"
Here, we need to identify answers of these questions in two parts. Firstly, the Taruka depends on internalized constraints to prevent anti-social behaviors or disorders to maintain social order. However, it is observed that, "Inner constraints do not always are constraints" therefore, what factors are the basis of Taruka and as a whole Taruka's social order needs to be identified. Secondly in their society: their social offerings, celebrations, events etc. resolve conflict by offering solutions to the problems. These solutions function psychologically. In this sense, Bullfight offers the same function that cockfights do in Bali. The Bullfight is a model of and models of social reality. The Bullfight of Taruka can be interpreted from the same lenses of meaning that Greetz propounded in the study of cockfight in Bali. So, it employs Geertz's paradigm "social events manipulate and shape consciousness and they create meanings... "
Preparation of Bullfight
Ramesh Mahat, one of the owners of ox and a participant of this festival said that he has been a regular participant of the festival. It is the traditional heritage which farmers like him have continued from ancestors to till date. They have been herding the bulls, and the government has been giving allowance to buy tractors which is not fair. Though they have bee preserving the tradition for such a long duration they are not getting any sort of help or aid. If they purchase tractors they do not need to herd ox which will result in the halt of festival and ultimately the tradition of the Bullfight will collapse. The bull has a great significance in their agro-economy; bulls are used as tractor, means of transport, to produce organic manure, and here in Taruka bulls are also a means of entertainment. Tek Bahadur Gurung, 57 years, says, as there is little work for the bulls in winters, he selects bulls for the fight at the start of the season and prepares them for the festival. “I have reared the bull by cooking and feeding it a special diet like millet, rice, eggs and other food grains,” he says. "He feeds bulls the same food that provides power and energy to a human body", Gurung says. Another owner of bulls, participant Ramji Adhikari of 53, says he’s been participating in the festival for the past 12 years. His bull won the match this year. “We have also given continuity to the tradition that our forefathers started as a medium of entertainment,” he says.
Usually, political leaders are chosen to be the chief guests of the inauguration sessions of the festivals. One of the speakers described the importance of this bullfight saying, "it generates economy, it has become the hub of exchanging agro-products, cultures and our social feelings culturally". He underscored the need to preserve such unique cultural events to attract more tourists. Many political leaders from the district, vicinity and even the capital city visit Taruka to obverse the Bullfights. "Giving continuity to such tradition is the only objective, the event is organized every year", said Rajesh Dhungel, chairman of the fare management committee. He expressed happiness over the growing numbers of audience every year. To add more fun, several troupes of singers also perform on the sidelines during the event.
It is the day when, Taruka is ready for the Bullfight; a historic festival in which both bull and ox both can participate in competitions as two bulls lock horns and push each other to the ground. Their paws churn the dry earth and the crowd roars with approval. A temporary fence made of flimsy wood stands in an area to separate spectators from the fighting bulls. Less-daring members of the audience stand on the ridges of the hillside overlooking the field. Cameras and mobile phones capture the event, and there is a festive air as people buy food from hawkers and chat about which bull will win the fight. At the end of the 20 minutes allocated to each match, the judges declare one bull as the winner. A cash prize is distributed to the owners of the winner bulls and the runner-up. The Bullfight has been organized in Taruka since 1914, says Rajesh Dhungel, chairman of the Taruka festival management committee. According to Dhungel local folklores say the first Bullfight was organized when King Jai Prithvi Bahadur Singh of Bajhang, one of the ancient kingdoms of Nepal, visited his maternal uncle in Taruka. Villagers staged a festival of bullfights, accompanied with music and dance, to greet and entertain the king. The festival is organized each year ever since. It is always organized on the day of Maghe Sakranti, a winter festival celebrated on the first day of Magh, the tenth month of the Nepali calendar. This year, the festival fell on Jan. 15th. "About 20,000 people attended the festival", Dhungel mentioned. Fourteen bulls were paired on the bases of age and weight. The winner of each fight received 3,000 Nepalese rupees and the runner-up received 1,500 rupees. For many villagers, the festival represents a season of relative rest.
Only four cases were presented in details and rest of the cases follow the same and then they represented all the respondents because of homogeneity in nature of respondents both participants and observers. The main purpose was to find out the reason behind the Bullfights and its functions in the society.
The bulls used for tilling lands are set free in the winter to give them time to fight and to entertain people. Winter is the postharvest time, with open spaces in the fields that allow domestic animals to frolic and brawl. The annual traditional Bull fight event of this year saw a total of 26 pairs of oxen in the fields of Taruka, Betrawati and Ghale Bhanjyang of Nuwakot district. In 2018, there were 14 pairs at of bulls for the fight in Taruka. The annual Bull fighting events have been gradually making Taruka and Betrawati popular among tourists in the district. The Bull fight drew a large number of spectators this year. Although several places in the district used to organize Bull fights in their own way, it has been made more systematic by gathering more numbers of oxen in one place, especially in Taruka, in the past 11 years. Tamed with yokes for tilling during the rainy season, especially to cultivate paddy in the hilly region, then tediously tethered for nearly four months, the open space in winter obviously excites the oxen not only for calisthenics but to go wild and rowdy. Unlike bull fights in any other parts of world, the Bull fight here is merely a fight between two bulls of different owners. Gradually, the winner bull is made to wrestle with the winner bull from another group. To prepare the bulls for this winter fight, the owners singled out some oxen, fed them high-protein diet to make them robust and rowdy. But during the fight, there is no direct role of the owners and people, except provocation from out of the battlefield.
In Table 1, it is showed that the population distribution in Taruka is quite heterogeneous. Brahmans stand as first then followed by Newar, Dalits; Sarki, Kami, Damai then followed by Chhetri. This composition of population shows that the society is heterogeneous and the heterogeneity of the society shows that all people are in harmonious relationship because, without harmony and solidarity diverse caste and ethnic people cannot maintain their social cohesiveness.
| S.N. | Caste and Ethnicity |
Total | Male | Female |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chhetree | 415 | 199 | 216 |
| 2 | Brahman | 1683 | 741 | 942 |
| 3 | Magar | 407 | 183 | 224 |
| 4 | Tamang | 390 | 167 | 223 |
| 5 | Newar | 1061 | 477 | 584 |
| 6 | Kami | 289 | 114 | 175 |
| 7 | Gurung | 38 | 14 | 24 |
| 8 | Damai/Dholi | 166 | 75 | 91 |
| 9 | Sarki | 618 | 292 | 326 |
| 10 | Gharti/Bhujel | 59 | 24 | 35 |
| 11 | Majhi | 53 | 24 | 29 |
| 12 | Others | 54 | 25 | 29 |
| All Caste | 5233 | 2335 | 2898 |
(Source: CBS, 2011)
Table 1: Distribution of population of Taruka by caste, ethnicity and genders
From Table 2, it was found that in Taruka, most of the people speek Nepali as their mother tongue and few people speak their mother tongue Maithali, Tamang, Gurung, etc. It was found that there were no conflicts on the name of caste, ethnicity, and linguistic disparity. They co-operate with each other, one respects the other and one recognizes others as their own culture, language and identity respectfully.
| S.N. | Language | Total | Male | Female |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nepali | 4780 | 2143 | 2637 |
| 2 | Maithili | 12 | 5 | 7 |
| 3 | Tamang | 383 | 165 | 218 |
| 4 | Gurung | 35 | 12 | 23 |
| 5 | Others | 8 | 2 | 6 |
| 6 | Not Reported | 15 | 8 | 7 |
| All Mother Tongue | 5233 | 2335 | 2898 |
(Source: CBS, 2011)
Table 2: Distribution of population by mother tongue
It is also found that they respect each other's cultures, traditions, identities, food habits, Rite-de-passage, dress patterns, though they are different. If they were not different, they would not have been able to maintain harmony with each other. Dashain, Tihar, Loshar, Maghi Sakranti, Krishna Ashtami, Gai Jatra, etc. are some of the Hindu festivals they celebrate.
Family, Marriage and Kinship
It is calculated from the study that family in Taruka is mostly nuclear and joint, average household size is 4.64 and Taruka is a matriuncle's home for those observers who come for Bullfights whose, mother go away from Taruka after marriage. At that time kinship play a role to maintain family and marriages. It was also found that such kinship relationships were renewed and they further talk to establish the marriage bonds to the adjoining villages to search appropriate partners for their children. So, the Bullfights also act as the social phenomena to maintain their kinships, marriages and family bonds to enlarge the web of family and kinship through marriages.
Economic exchange
The Bullfight has several transactional activities; therefore, it is difficult to fit oneself into a single one. Minority corresponds to the primary sector; to which bulls, cattle ranches and field work belongs, while the important part focuses on the tertiary sector (entrepreneurs, bullfighters, traders, markets and others).
The Bullfight according to historical practices in Taruka is understood as an artistic, entertaining cultural product, which regulates the festival of Bulls as cultural heritage. In this festival the Bullfight appears to be socio-cultural product because of the transactional activities based on their petty productions as a producer of a commodity and consumer of more and what they produced ultimately used to be shared in the festival historically but now it is changing.
The Bullfight as transactional activity that is to measure the commodities exchanged in their locally available markets and monetary consequences at the local levels of a Bullfight or a Bullfighting spectacle, in order to do that they must distinguish three types of economic effects: direct, indirect and induced. The sum of these three values represents the impact of bulls on their local economy through exchange of commodities they produced and they attract more tourists day by day.
Direct effectsevaluate expenses made by cultural festival activities containing festival celebrations, food stalls, market stalls, and prizes. The popular celebrations which are very important in this community have no actual information about the impacts of this popular cultural festival. Indirect effects in Bullfighting is difficult to account, because it is very difficult to calculate the generating surplus, exchange of commodities, services that people are receiving one way or the other, calculate financial expenditures, managerial tensions, costs, remuneration of deployed human resources, technical supports, etc. that organizer and the public makes, when they attend a Bullfight celebration. The expenditure begins with the viewers' expenses on transportation, accommodation and catering among others.
Transactional impacts of the Bullfight celebrations cannot be limited only to the economic perspectives; how much it is economy is spent and how much economy is generated. Therefore, the induced effects measure the impacts of the celebration in the Taruka world, acting as a multiplier effect.
The conclusion that this research has reached up to is that the Bullfight cultural festival of Taruka is a kind of recreational type of cultural festival that attracts tourists usually domestic that does not only generate income, it also helps socialization in Taruka world. The Bullfight in Taruka is a significant cultural festival which attracts domestic tourists and is pride of Nuwakot district. As domestic tourists are interested in knowing the culture of the Bullfights which is organized in Taruka offers social harmony, solidarity, and integration through the entertainment. It also works as mechanism of conflict resolution in socio-cultural, religious, ecological, linguistically, caste, and ethnically diverse country like Nepal. Popular Bullfight celebration in Taruka works as an important economic engine for the municipalities that organize them, especially in Bagmati province, which is the pioneer of these kinds of festivities.
There are various opportunities for locals; promotional opportunities for businesses, opportunities for growing services, high chances to harmonize the society, opportunities to provide social interactions among people, and cultural socialization through Bullfights. They are also using the opportunities to exchange the commodities they have produced with commodities they need and also the opportunities to talk about the issues of selection of bride or groom.
Finally, the Bullfight in Taruka is not a simple entity, it is a complex whole through which participants (signifier) and observers (signified) the socio-cultural, political, religious, familial, emotional, recreational etc. messages (messages of solidarity, transactions, cohesion, harmony and integrity) they pass and observer perceive such messages through entertainment of Bullfight within and in between diverse generations, castes, ethnicities, economies, ecologies, families, kin's' or societies and cultures in a larger scale.
In short, the Bullfight in Taruka is important from many aspects; economically, socially, and culturally. It stands as a main focus for the locals where domestic tourists from Taruka and near villages only take part. If paid attention to the facilities like transportation, catering, hotels, a wider participation can be welcomed. Local, provincial and central government should pay attention to promote, organize and manage it in order to confirm its continuation in further future. To prevent the Bullfight from disappearing it needs to reinvent itself and adapt new technologies so that it can address the needs of the audiences of the new generation.
Citation: Bishnu Prasad Dahal (2020) Bullfight Festival, Socialization and Entertainment in Taruka of Nepal. Anthropology 8:211. doi-10.35248/2332-0915.20.8.211
Received: 18-Apr-2020 Accepted: 04-May-2020 Published: 11-May-2020 , DOI: 10.35248/2332-0915.20.8.211
Copyright: �?�©2020 Bishnu Prasad Dahal. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.