Bear Stories of Kashmir

The bear is the largest beast of prey in the Northern Hemisphere. Its length is between 5 and 7 feet. Its clumsy shoulders stand more than 3 feet from the ground.

The bear is a veritable terror of the Kashmir forests and uplands. The shy panther, the fierce leopard, the wild boar, the savage wolf and other beasts of prey of Kashmir are not so much feared as this uncouth-looking brute, who not only kills men and cattle but causes havoc to maize fields and fruit trees and honey stores.

The writer has collected a number of bear stories from life, some of which shall be briefly narrated here.

A Heroic Woman

Strange as it may appear, a woman saved not only herself, but her husband and her child from the clutches of a bear. Dr. G.L. Kaula, Medical Officer, Pahalgam, who treated this woman and her husband in the hospital in the summer, of 1945, told me the thrilling story of this rustic heroine, named Fati.

Fati was going to attend a feast in a nearby village in the company of her husband. She was carrying her only child, a daughter in her arms and a bag, containing some maize as presents for the hosts on her back.

The 'maize-lover', the bear, tracked them down in the forest. It was just nightfall. They saw the bear approaching them. They did not even carry an axe for that did not look proper when one went to dine

The bear attacked the man, Fati's man, and bit his arm with which he tried to shield himself. Fati shrieked. The bear left him to attack her. In the twinkling of an eye she threw off her child, to one side, away from the bear, and took up a big log of wood that lay nearby. With this she dealt the bear a thumping blow on his snout. But that was after the brute hit her on her left collar bone. The crashing blow, however, scared off the bear who, carrying the bag of maize that lay near him, fled away.

There was a regular 'pilgrimage' of visitors at Pahalgam to the hospital to see this brave woman. Many a kind lady gave her presents.

Bear grubs Picnic

A party of hikers were having a picnic in an upland meadow at Gulmarg. They had just spread out their eatables when they saw a huge bear on top of a small sloping mound under whose base they were squatting in a circle.

"Bear! Bear!" was the sudden ay. The frightened hikers broke in all directions taking cover under rocks or behind pine trees, or, simply running away without looking back. Those of them that took cover somewhere near and peeped at the uninvited guest, saw a strange sight, grim, awe-striking yet funny. The bear rolled himself down and stopped almost exactly at the place where the untouched picnic was laid. Sitting on his haunches-a harrowing figure to behold-he helped himself with the sweets, the bread, the fruits, with his forelegs, spilling a thermos and jumping to one side when the hot tea gurgled out. Having eaten most of the booty the bear ran back on all fours. The awe-struck hikers hardly believed their eyes, when the brute, though depriving them of refreshments that they wanted so badly, was lost in the jungle.

Bear, the Maize-Looter

Bears are carnivorous but not strictly so. They are indeed omnivorous. The black bear, that is found more in Kashmir than the brown bear, eats not only honey, berries and other fruits of the forest, but roots also and chews them to a pulp. He is very fond of maize and sometimes ravages whole fields. To protect their maize-fields from the fierce denizen of the nearby forests, the peasants raise high lofts on willow poles and keep watch there for whole nights.

Habiba, our farmer, goes to forest every summer in the company of other villagers after they have already sent their sheep and goats in charge of mountain shepherds. They go there to look up their chattels and carry salt for them, with which they feed them. They do so themselves in consequence of traditional distrust of the shepherds. In these annual visits to the forests, his party would halt for the night at a village where he came to be acquainted with the Nambardar, a tall hefty, broad-shouldered typical Gujar wearing a big pugree.

Last time, when he met the Gujar Nambardar after a year, he saw that his pugree was leaning towards left side on his head, covering his ear and eye on the side. After exchanging salaams, he asked him, pointing to his pugree, "Why is your pugree like that, Ramzan Khan?"

In reply, Ramzan Khan took off his pugree, revealing distorted temples, a cut ear, a ghastly-looking, disfigured, blind eye with no traces of eyelashes and surrounded by deep scars. He said simply "work of a bear."

After sometime, he added, "Thank Allah, I killed the bear after a hard contest in the night. He ravaged my maize-fields. I searched him everywhere in the day, but would not catch him. What blows I gave him with my axe"-he proudly produced his axe from under his rustic belt-" "and he, the rascal, tried to snatch it from me. In so doing his blows did to my fare what you have seen. But my blows felled him, thank Allah! Will you see his hide? It hangs in my room. I did not give it to the Shikari even for a good price. It is my trophy!"

A Plucky Gujar

Habiba also related to me the story of another still more heroic Gujar who had a hand-to-hand duel with a bear.

The Gujar had gone to pay a visit to a friend in a nearby village. Returning late, he had to cross a fringe of the forest. It was full moon. At a turning towards the thicker part of the forest, he espied a stout looking 'man' coming towards him in the distance. The 'man's gait was extremely awkward. He appeared to be madly flinging his arms towards right and left.

Soon, when the huge figure neared him, he realised with a shock that it was a bear walking on its hind legs. He prepared for the duel, wrapping his woollen blanket round his right arm and hand, and clutching its ends hard within his hand. The bear leaped towards him aiming blows at him. The Gujar, protecting himself behind a tree, avoided them dexterously, keeping his right hand ready. Then the bear, exasperated, as his blows hardly touched the Gujar, opened his mouth wide and came to bite him.

In the nick of time, the plucky Gujar thrust his blanket-covered arm right into the wide-open mouth of the bear. The bear fiercely struggled to free himself but the sturdy Gujar choked him dead-he spot. The brave Gujar did not incur a single physical injury as a result of this combat. But, Habiba related to me, in pathetic tones, how this poor hero had a terrible mental shock. He was not quite normal mentally after this encounter and he died only in a month's time.

The Lover of Woman

Strange but true tales of women being carried away by bears are current in every rural home. The bear has a fancy for women wearing red pherans or cloaks.

Here is a story related to me by Rajaba, our servant, who comes from a village in the vicinity of the Wular Lake -the biggest fresh water lake of India. Dramatising the story with simple, natural gestures, accompanying the story with simple, natural gestures, evened by relevant rise and fall in his tone, he said, 'The wife of Satara, our neighbour, had gone to the wood to cut wood and to collect dung. She saw big bear. She screamed and tried to run away. Somehow she felt as if she was rooted to the ground.

"The bear came alongside her. She was expecting a shower of Stunning blows but none came. Instead, the bear, standing on his hind legs ,fondled her red-coloured pheran with his paws. To her horror, the bear took her and carried her up the mountain. His claws pierced her body and she shrieked with pain and terror, but it was of no avail.

"At a steep ascent, the bear caught hold of the lappets of her pheran and made her follow him to his den, whose mouth he shut with a big stone. She felt stifled in the dungeon as it smelt very stinky. She failed to remove the stone.

"Soon, the bear retumed with a heap of apricots and placed them near her. Next day he led her out of the den and made her sit in front of it. The apricots were still there.

"She ate them to her full. The bear, in an unchivalrous way, lifted her kasaba (a rustic circular head-dress held tight with pins and carrying a bonnet that hangs on the back and cover the pendant tresses). He began to play with it in a clumsy, boyish way. While he was so engaged, the kasaba rolled down a nearby gorge. Thither the bear followed his toy. Taking her golden opportunity, the captive woman fled in another direction and soon reached her home where she was already being mourned!"

Apricot-Bear

Rajaba could not resist the temptation of narrating to me a personal adventure with a bear: "You know, sir, I was a cattle-herd before I joined your service. I used to carry cattle far up in the woods from my village. It was the 'apricot-ripening' season. One day, on my way back, when my flock was going before me, I heard the sound of crashing of branches on an apricot tree. I could not see who was enjoying the ripe apricots.

'I shouted up, 'Hallo! you fellow, why do you cut branches like that? Will you throw a few apricots down here?' I had hardly finished saying this when the cattle clustered round me. They pricked up their ears. Their eyes signified terror. I understood the cause as I located a bear within the branches, eating apricots, most of which he was throwing down. My heart sank within me"-here Rajaba indeed looked pale at the reminiscence of his horror-"I sank down and squatted on my haunches, concealing myself within the herd. The cattle pushed closer to me all around. I thought I was safe enough as at the very worst, the bear would kill some of the cattle round. I peeped through them and saw the bear limb down on the earth. He collected the apricots, ate them and, to my great relief, giving us a short, scornful look, he made off in the opposite direction."


Ravages of a She-bear

A bear in the midst of a maize-field is a sight to see. He uproots as much maize as a sheaf at a time, then sits on his haunches and starts greedily devouring the maize. Many unwary peasants, harvesting the maize singly, killed by are bears hiding among the maize.

The bear usually attacks by giving terrible strokes with his front paws to the head and cheeks of his human victim. The blows from the paws, furnished with strong, curved claws, succeed one another in quick succession, stunning the victim. Or, the bear may seize his antagonist in arms and squeeze life out of him. Therefore, peasants, working in maize-fields haunted by bears work in groups, because a bear does not usually dare attack a group of men, unless it is a she-bear with her team of whelps, or, if she has just waked from long winter fast.

I was told how last summer a she-bear worked havoc to a village, Ashum, near Ganderbal. She would molest and kill human beings even during the day. She and her whelps devastated many maize fields and killed many cattle during nights; and, during the day, would lie hidden somewhere among them. Peasant parties could not locate her during the day, but during the night they -even in a group-did not and would not dare to attack her with axe or lathi, when she and her progeny were spoiling their maize-fields. They had no gun in the
village. Eventually, a hunter's services had to be requisitioned through the government to do away with the pest. Till then this nightmare of a she-bear was a haunting terror to the villagers.

Many cattle were killed and eaten by the she-bear. Three peasants, including one woman, were killed. The woman, running for her life, slipped into a well and died therein. The she-bear running after her, did not fall into the well, but she was chased by the villagers and the hunter, who killed her after a desperate fight. Even with several balls inside her, the she-bear rushed at the hunter whose life was narrowly saved, as a peasant's axe felled the beast's head. The whelps were then easily disposed of.

Indeed, from times immemorial, the she-bear has been held to be a thing of terror. In the Scriptures the she-bear deprived of its young stands as a simile: "Let a bear robbed of her whelps meet a man rather than a fool in his folly." The instinctive maternal devotion of a she-bear is prodigious, especially after the period of hibernation when she gives birth to her young. She attacks anybody even when she entertains the least apprehension of harm to her young.

The bear-fighting Faqir

A so-called Faqir and his Chella--disciple-made a good livelihood by playing upon the superstitions of the peasantry in a village Tral. Maize fields having been ravaged by. she-bear, the peasants in a body betook themselves to the Faqir's hovel, saying, with profound obeisances, "Salaam, O great one, free us from this infernal pest that has laid bare so many of our rich fields."

The revered Faqir, stroking his hoary beard, raised his index finger, and said, "Do not fear, trust in Allah. Our chella will see to this. Armed with only one of our spells, he will drag the bear by the ears before you. He will do so tonight; happily the moon is full." Their joy knew no bounds. They wished him long life and said among themselves: "Sheikh Sahib is really a man of God.. he once killed a leopard with a mere blow of his stick.. he has great supernatural powers.. Don't you know he never sleeps!" And others, not to be outdone: "His chella is also great.. He will indeed terrify the bear.." And so on.

The gossip flattered the vanity of the Faqir and, more so, that of his chella. He instructed the peasants to leave the chella alone when he would go on his dangerous mission, for the recitation of the deadly spells needed absolute silence.

Accordingly, the chella set out in the dead of night to kill the doomed brute. He was armed only with a lathi. The she-bear was already there. Her whelps were away from her, frolicking and frisking like lambs. She was busy collecting maize from harvested plants. The chella, reciting the sawed spells, went towards the she-bear and gage her a blow on her head.

The ferocious brute retaliated wildly. Getting up on her hind-legs, she savagely clawed his face with her fore-paws. He gave her one more blow on her snarling lips. She struck him several times on his face. The villagers, watching this encounter from an ambush, snatched the precious time to attack the whelps, who were two in number, one of which was killed by them on the spot. Hearing the cries of her whelps, the bear left her assailant to defend her young.

The clever attackers had already fled to cover against a big Chinar. The she-bear whined over her dead whelp for some time and then carried the corpse on her back and went towards the wood with her other whelp.

The villagers gave a hell to the chella and even to the Faqir. Their superstitious belief in their powers changed to fierce ridicule bordering on hatred that, so that, feeling themselves not very safe, the Faqir and badly disfigured chella had to pack up and leave the village. The night-reception given to the quixotic chella, on his return from his stillborn expedition, was and is still and standing joke of the village.

Old Man's Advice

Old mountaineers, experienced in bear-fighting will, round a fire, give tips to their inexperienced youngsters "Never go alone to a thick forest or to a maize-field. Always carry your axe."

Stroking his long, white beard, leaving the hookah aside, the grand old man of the village produces his own axe to authenticate his exhortations and continues in the simple, rustic manner of easy talk. "Look at my axe; it has killed five bears. Allah was ever on my side. I always prayed to God whenever I encountered a bear.

"You, dear boys, should know how to dodge a bear when you meet one in the forest. He will come to give you blows with his outstretched arms. Praying to God for His protection and, repeating His Holy name, hide behind a nearby tree. Be quick fox the bear's blows will be short and strong. When he attempts a blow, dodge it. Dodge his blows so many times that his front paws ache. He will show it. Then take your chance with your axe or your steel-glove."

Here the proud old man demonstrates his steel-glove adding with slight humility, that it has accounted for one bear. While the potential bear-fighters look at the glove, admiringly, the old man continues: "Be wary with the steel-glove. Its use demands great proficiency, nerve and strength. I used it but once. In any case, trust and pray to God and never lose heart. The bear is indeed afraid of you and your faithful axe. Use your axe at the right time to fell the brute's skull."

Is he Dead?

Many a hill-man confronted with a bear play the time-old trick of feigning to be dead. The story that I heard has a touch of the macabre about it.

A man was walking in the night over a mountain graveyard. In the starlight, aided by the light of the quarter-moon, he saw a huge form coming towards him. "The devil has come to kill me!" thought the harrowed, superstitious mountaineer. Soon he made out that it was a
bear walking on his hind legs and carrying a human corpse on his ample shoulders. Fear gave way to alert commonsense.

The plucky mountaineer quietly lay flat, pretending to be just another corpse. The bear, throwing down his load, came towards him and 'examined' him. He pushed him sideways. Then he, as it were, felt his chest and pulse. Feeling sure that it was just another burdensome
corpse, the bear lifted up the terror-stricken fellow and threw him down in the hole from where he had extracted the corpse that he was carrying. He then thinly covered him with earth.

Tolerating the foul some stink for some reasonable time, the supposed 'corpse' moved out of the grave to confound the villagers with his harrowing experience.

Modern Androcles

A wood-sawyer's experiences with a bear reminded me of the legendary Androcles and the Lion. It was in Vachi that I heard the story from a 'know-all' Patwari, who assured me that he had known the wood-sawyer.

The wood-sawyer sawed wood for the Zaildar's house near a maize-field. He was the only wood-sawyer of the village. He would go to his work early in the morning and would stop only at nightfall.

One day when ha went to his work, he was startled to see a bear on top of the slanting log which he had sawn only half its length. He was so much struck with fear that he could not even flee for his life. Rooted to the ground, he was amazed to find that the bear did not climb down but kept on sitting in the same straddling posture. The bear beckoned to him-however clumsily.

The wood-sawyer's horror lessened. His fear was changed to amusement when he noted that the bear had fussily removed the wedge, and that, in so doing, one of his forelegs had got stuck up fast between the two half-sawn partitions. The bear-he now understood-made imploring gestures tom to be freed.

The wood-sawyer was on the horns of a dilemma. Should he release the brute and invite death at his hands? Should he leave him like that and earn the disapprobation of his stern employee? A God fearing man that he was, he resolved to free the bear. He put in the wedge and the bear's foreleg was freed. The bear almost caressed him and then ran off among the maize-fields.

At about evening that day, when the wood-sawyer was about to stop work, the bear made his appearance, frightening the tired wood-sawyer. But he did not harm him. He followed him home. The Patwari assured me that the bear would sleep outside his but every summer night, and that he would, off and on, share his spoils- a honey comb, apricots, maize, etc. - with him, thus amply repaying a debt of honour.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, let us give some credit to the bear of Kashmir. His skin is put to so many well-known uses. His fat is used by the Kashmiris as an essential ingredient of many drugs. Like wine, its fat is meticulously preserved through generations. The older the fat, the more efficacious it is supposed to be.

Many treasured amulets worn by the rural children contain his hair. Villagers give short though terrifying rides to their children on black Tamasha-bears as an effective antidote against the evil eye! So the bear, in spite of his depredations, has his extenuating points.