Methologies of the Beda Tribe

The Beda tribe are a community of the Indian Union Territory of Ladakh. They are mostly found in different parts Ladakh, where they practise their traditional occupation of musicianship. They are predominantly followers of the Muslim faith, although some are Buddhists. According to some scholars, they are an untouchable group, although others think that the situation is more nuanced. The Beda live mostly in villages of the Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir state.^[a] They share these villages with communities that are considered to be socially superior, such as the Ladakhi, Gara and Mon peoples. The Beda have virtually no input in the socio-political decisions relating to their villages. Kim Gutschow, who is a professor of religion, says that they are considered to be untouchables by other communities in the region,^[4] but the anthropologist Rann Singh Mann notes that the practices of social exclusion, submission to superiors and suchlike are not as rigid as can be found in other caste societies; for example, they are permitted to share the same sources of drinking water as the other communities.^[5] Writing in 2002, Mann also said that "untouchability and some other caste prejudices are still missing" among the Buddhists in Ladakh society generally, although that might change as they become increasingly exposed to the caste mores found in other areas of India. The traditional occupation of the Beda is that of musicianship, with their preferred instrument being either the flute or the drum. In their role as musicians they are paid both with money and with food; the latter is often of a particular type for a given occasion, such as Sattu, grain or salt. Music at festivals and events celebrating such things as crop sowing, births and marriage are an important part of Ladakh culture but when not engaged in those, the Beda, who are mostly landless, work as agricultural labourers. A few, who are generally Buddhists and live in tents, make their living as itinerant beggars and are also known as Chankans.

The origins of the Beda tribe of Ladakh are unclear, but they are considered as the first settlers of Ladakh. Also, many from within the tribe approve of their origins in Himachal Pradesh mainly from the Kaza area of the Lahaul Spiti District. Ethnically they reflect strong Mongoloid features with a broad flat face, wide nostrils, broad nose, and prominent cheeks. According to the latest Census Report of 2011 their number is said to be 420. They live primarily in Nubra and Indus valleys of Leh and speak languages of the Western Himalayish language family which includes languages spoken in neighboring Kargil District as well as Lahaul-Spiti, Kinnaur, Western Tibet and even Baltistan. Majority of these people were Buddhists but many in the recent decades have embraced Islam. The primary reason behind this shift was societal segregation as a many people from within the tribe believed that shifting into a newer identity would change their fortunes. As according to many members of the tribe the Ladakhi mainstream community have been quite ruthless and indifferent towards them. The Beda people are placed at the lowest rung among the Ladakhis, especially in Leh as the other people of the district do not participate in their funeral ceremonies and this forms the height of discrimination. However, the services of the Lamas (to the Buddhists) are always available on such occasions, but this poor social placing of the tribe seems to be one major reason behind the deliberate attempt to assimilate with the Muslim community. But even Muslim Beda’s are called by the name ‘Beda’ and face discrimination which does not completely make them discrimination free. The people from this tribe used to earn through musical performances by playing upon lutes (Surna) and drums (Daman, Dhap) and by doing such kind of performances they would beg for grains, sattu or coins. Now a days, many of them have been earning their livelihood through other ways. The followers of the traditional Beda culture from within the tribe are significantly declining over the years, while the factors behind the decrease in numbers primarily seems to be social discrimination, poverty, unemployment, impact of globalization, non-ownership of land, technological advancement, increased literacy, and unacceptability among especially the Beda youth. But according to the field investigations the primary reason which has led to the dilution in the number of their population adopting their traditional culture, seems to be the trans-migration of the members from the Orthodox-Buddhist community in the Beda majority areas. These orthodox influencers according to the Beda’s question their cultural beliefs, and that invariably gives them an inferiority complex, many say that those people are too rigid and even after the consistent appeals by the Dalai Lama himself to those people things remain the same. In addition to that the general indifference towards the community is very high and their non-acceptance on egalitarian basis at different social, economic, political, and cultural levels has led to the Beda estrangement from the larger order and disenchantment from the whole system.

The Beda people are a community of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. They live mostly in the Ladakh region, where they practise their traditional occupation of musicianship. They are predominantly followers of the Muslim faith, although some are Buddhists. According to some scholars, they are an untouchable group, although others think that the situation is more nuanced. The Beda live mostly in villages of the Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir state. They share these villages with communities that are considered to be socially superior, such as the Ladakhi, Gara and Mon peoples. The Beda have virtually no input in the socio-political decisions relating to their villages. Kim Gutschow, who is a professor of religion, says that they are considered to be untouchables by other communities in the region, but the anthropologist Rann Singh Mann notes that the practices of social exclusion, submission to superiors and suchlike are not as rigid as can be found in other caste societies; for example, they are permitted to share the same sources of drinking water as the other communities. Writing in 2002, Mann also said that "untouchability and some other caste prejudices are still missing" among the Buddhists in Ladakh society generally, although that might change as they become increasingly exposed to the caste mores found in other areas of India. The traditional occupation of the Beda is that of musicianship, with their preferred instrument being either the flute or the drum. In their role as musicians they are paid both with money and with food; the latter is often of a particular type for a given occasion, such as Sattu, grain or salt. Music at festivals and events celebrating such things as crop sowing, births and marriage are an important part of Ladakh culture but when not engaged in those, the Beda, who are mostly landless, work as agricultural labourers. A few, who are generally Buddhists and live in tents, make their living as itinerant beggars and are also known as Chankans. As with the other social groups with whom they share village life, the Beda are expected to be an endogamous community. Marriages outside of their own group are not usually recognised and connubial relationships of this sort are generally co-habitation arrangements, with the woman usually being from the higher-ranked group. If a Ladakhi man forms a marriage-like relationship with a Beda woman then he is ostracised by his own community until such time as the relationship is regularised through the performance of the Chhomo Gango ceremony. The ceremony requires the man to spend 15–20 days bathing in the holy waters of the Ganges river.

Bedas are largely found in some villages of Leh (more specifically, in villages like Chuchot Yokam, Fiang, Nubra Valley, and a few others) and parts of Himachal Pradesh. They are considered to be partly sedentary and partly nomadic. They are professional musicians of the Bodh group in Lahaul and Spiti district. Their main musical instruments are flutes and drums. Traditionally they used to perform at different cultural occasions like crop sowing, childbirth and marriage but in recent times because of little remuneration and need for money, they have also begun working as taxi drivers, tourist guides, and other related professionals, when not performing. Across the literature, Bedas are considered a distinct tribe by anthropologists. In fact, they were also given the status of Scheduled Tribe in 1989. However, despite this, the number of Bedas has decreased over the last few decades. According to Census 1931, the number of Bedas was 414. It has slowly come to 128 according to Census 2001. Like other communities of the locality, Bedas are also expected to be endogamous. Marriage outside the community is generally not recognized but it is generally accepted under certain conditions. Generally, bride-price is paid by the male members (which is returnable in case of divorce) since women are considered an economic asset. Furthermore, marriages could be of two kinds – magpa, where boys come to live with the bride's family (generally followed if the bride does not have a brother) and bagma, where girls come to live with the groom's family. Bedas is not a monolingual community with just one mother tongue. Since they are spread over a large area ranging from Lahaul-Spiti to Ladakh, their reported language varies according to the area in which they reside. Bedas in Ladakh speak a language belonging to the Bhotia group. Also, they use Bodhi as well as Perso-Arabic script for writing. In the areas around Leh, most of the Bedas have shifted to Bodhi and only a few members retain their language. The preliminary investigation of the language indicates that it belongs to the Tibeto-Burman language family. For the lack of any prior linguistic description of the language, it could be ascertained only after a detailed analysis. We are presently working towards the development of a Beda-Hindi-English tri-lingual dictionary as well as producing the first-ever linguistic description of the language.