Indian women take 500-year-old hunt to city streets

RANCHI, India - Dressed as men and armed with swords and spears, hundreds of tribal women in an eastern Indian state have taken an ancient hunting ritual to the streets, snatching domestic animals from frightened residents.

Police in Jharkhand have had to step in after the women began hunting down pigs, goats, poultry and even rabbits to mark an historic military victory more than 500 years ago, officials said yesterday.

Members of the Oraon tribe in ethnic dress and faced with a ban on hunting wild animals, headed for the state capital, Ranchi, on the weekend, and have been marching through the streets, grabbing animals from backyards.

They have also been combing remote forest areas for domestic and wild prey, police said.

"It's a ritual that happens every 12 years, but this year the tribal women have been threatening to attack people who are refusing to give in to their demands, so we have been asked to give protection to residents," P.N. Ram, a top police official told Reuters.

Known as 'jani shikar', or hunting by females, the ritual dates back five centuries to a time when much of India was ruled by Islamic Mughal emperors.

Faced with drunk husbands and sons, tribal women donned men's clothes, took up arms and successfully defended their land from the Muslim invaders near Rohtasgarh, now in the neighbouring state of Bihar, tribal activist Ratan Tirkey said.

"We have asked people to be careful and keep all livestock inside as part of preventive measures," Ram added. No arrests have been made so far.

Sociologists say the hunting ritual had been restricted to village boundaries, but the women had now started venturing into towns, sometimes stopping vehicles and demanding money, a top police official said.

The event was last held in 1994, but was observed peacefully.

"There has been a lot of deviation from history," tribal historian Praveen Singh Munda said.

"In the old days, the tribals used to inform villagers about their visit in advance, and the villagers in turn would be ready with domestic animals as gifts, but not anymore," Munda added.

India's tribal people make up more than seven per cent of its billion-plus population and largely live impoverished lives on the margins of mainstream society.

- REUTERS