Question

Give a brief account of the pastoral communities of India in medieval period.

Answer 1

Answer:

Pastoralism is a form of animal husbandry, historically by nomadic people who moved with their herds. The species involved include various herding livestock, including cattle, camels, goats, yaks, llamas, reindeer, horses and sheep.[1]

Pastoralism is found in many variations throughout the world, generally where environmental characteristics such as aridity, poor soils, cold or hot temperature, and lack of water make crop growing difficult or impossible. Operating in these more extreme environments with more marginal lands, mean that pastoral communities are very vulnerable to global warming.[2]

Pastoralism remains a way of life in many geographies including Africa, the Tibetan plateau, the Eurasian steppes, the Andes, Patagonia, the Pampas, Australia, and other many other places. As of 2019, 200-500 million people practice pastoralism globally, and 75% of countries have pastoral communities.[2]

Pastoral communities have different levels of mobility. Sedentary pastoralism is becoming more common as the hardening of political borders, expansion of crop agriculture, and building of fences reduces ability to move. Mobile pastoralism includes moving herds distances in search of fresh pasture and water, something that can occur daily or even within a few hours, to transhumance, where animals are moved seasonally, to nomadism, where pastoralists and families move with the animals year-round. In sedentary pastoralism, or pastoral farming, pastoralists grow crops and improve pastures for their livestock. Grazing in woodlands and forests may be referred to as silvopastoralism.[3]

Pastoralist herds interact with their environment, and mediate human relations with the environment as a way of turning uncultivated plants like wild grass into food. In many places, grazing herds on savannas and woodlands can help maintain the biodiversity of the savannas and prevent them from evolving into dense shrublands or forests. Grazing and browsing at the appropriate levels often can increase biodiversity in Mediterranean climate regions.[4][5] Pastoralists shape ecosystems in different ways: some communities use fire to make ecosystems more suitable for grazing and browsing animals.

Origins