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on’t miss the Lava-Kusha Jodukare Kambala
at Miyar held in early January every year.
A perfect adrenalin fill as you enter the new year.
Kambala is a
traditional sport held for centuries in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts of
Karnataka and the adjoining Kasaragod district of Kerala. It’s buffalo race on
slushy tracks. The Kambala season heralds in the month of November and draws to
a close in March every year. Many
Kambalas are held at various places in this period, however, a few of them are
just ritualistic.
Traditional
Kambalas were held by temples, landlords and some influential families as a
ritual to propitiate the deities. Besides it was an entertainment in the
agrarian community. However, the Kambalas have undergone a sea change in recent years.
The folk
ritualistic event has transformed today into a professionally organized
sport. The single track non-competitive
event has turned out to be a competition among hundreds of pairs of buffaloes.
Coconuts, bananas, lemons and beetle leaves with arecanut given away as prizes
have given way to gold and silver medals besides cash prizes. Kambalas have no more remained the
prerogative of influential landlords as they are being organized through
committees in many places. Meantime the
robust game had to cross many legal hurdles too.
Interestingly, the
Kambalas held at different places are given names based on closely associated
personalities or entities like Lava-Kusha, Soorya-Chandra,
Kanthabaare-Boodabaare, Koti –Chennaya etc.
Lava Kusha Kambala
The seeds for the
present day Kambala were sown at Lava Kusha Kambala way back in 1969-70, though
it was held at Bajagoli about six kilometers away from the present venue Miyar.
True to its name Lava-Kusha, the Kambala infused fresh air into the traditional
sport. The Kambala buffaloes were
brought to artificially laid slushy tracks from the traditional paddy
fields. Two parallel tracks were laid,
setting the stage for competition between two pairs of buffaloes. Henceforth the events came to be known as
Jodukare Kambalas denoting twin track buffalo race. Kambalas continued well into the late night
under flood lights. Winning buffaloes were awarded medals. However, the entry
was not free.
It was a great
disappointment when the Kambala of this scale discontinued for some reason.
People never expected such a fate to the gala event. A committee was formed with the local MLA as
the ex-officio chairperson. Five acres
of land was identified at Miyar, the village adjoining Bajagoli for the annual
event. Kambala was revived and is being conducted in a grand scale from the
last fifteen years. Mangalore-based Navodaya Grama Vikas Charitable Trust too
is involved in the successful conduct of the game. Thus Lava-Kusha Kambala became people’s Kambala.
The area is
developed using various funds from the State government. No other Kambala field
perhaps has a gallery for an easy glimpse of the event. Yajamanara Chavadi is constructed for
the benefit of the owners of the buffaloes, for whom, rearing buffaloes is a
matter of pride and prestige. The Kambala
buffaloes are expensive and their upkeep too is a costly affair.
The action front
It is pairs of
well-fed decked up buffaloes everywhere at the venue along with the attendants.
Utmost care is taken to see to it that their buffaloes do not suffer even
slightest discomfort. The men accompanying the buffaloes wait with their laid
back buffaloes until their turn. They are fed at frequent intervals.
Witnessing Kambala is
an experience beyond words. The beasts are brought to the track upon their
turn. Getting them ready for the race, they are caressed and cajoled once they
are on the track. They are let loose as
the cues go, along with the jockey to the cheers and whistles of the equally enthusiastic
audience. The loud cheers literally drown the commentary in the
background. The race is over just in
seconds covering 145-metre distance on the slushy track ! The accompanying
jockeys are no less.
The competitions
are held in categories like negilu- where plough is tied to the yoke; hagga
– a rope is tied; adda halage- a
wooden plank is attached to the yoke on which the jockey stands; kane halage-
a wooden block attached to the yoke on which the jockey keeps his one leg. In adda
halage and kane halage, the winner is decided by the level of water
splashed above. More than 150 pairs of
buffaloes are brought to the Kambala. Thousands of Kambala enthusiasts descend
on Miyar, a hamlet a little away from Karkala, on the occasion of Kambala.
Laser beam network
system is used at the finishing point to avoid any error in judgement. Videos
and electronic timer too are in vogue to decide the winner in many other
Kambalas.
The Kambala Protection Committee
The petition by the
People for Ethical Treatment Animals (PETA) and the subsequent court rulings,
once threatened the very conduct of Kambala. But an ordinance from the
President of India has enabled the conduct of
Kambala albeit with a rider that buffaloes should not be hurt in the
process. In this backdrop came up the Kambala Protection, Maintenance and Training
Academy operating out of Miyar. It conducts annual camps for jockeys wherein
they are trained on various aspects such as physical fitness of themselves and
the buffaloes as well, upkeep of buffaloes and making equipments for the
Kambala. Though buffalo jockeys used to be uneducated youth earlier, today it
attracts educated youth also for the thrill it offers and the money as well.
A survey based on the
opinions from select respondents concluded that the Lava-Kusha Kambala is the
second best such event in the region. And that says all.
