Mithun, The Semi-Wild Cow of the Himalayas: Cattle, Lifestyle, and Politics

Mithun, also known as Gayal, is a magnificent semi-domesticated cattle species found in the Himalayan regions of North East India, Myanmar, and parts of China.

Mithuns of the Himalayas: the Sacrificial Animals

Mithuns are majestic, with smooth, shiny coats and broad, thick faces from which horns arch in perfect symmetry. Their eyes, filled with an icy wilderness and calm, convey a message of distance and coexistence without human drama or patronizing.

They blend seamlessly into the semi-wild, rural landscapes of Indian states like Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram. Travelling by road in these regions, you see them grazing so close to human habitation, and yet you may be surprised to hear that each herd has human owners. Not that they go home every evening just like cows and other cattle do. They are not tied with a rope. They are like a promise to be fulfilled someday—a blood promise, as they are primarily sacrificial animals for villagers on auspicious occasions such as festivals, marriages, and worship ceremonies.

Only on such occasions does the owner go in search of his Mithuns to the forest or wherever they are, luring them home with a handful of salt and leading them to their final journey home to be sacrificed so that the Gods remain happy and bless the family of the villager.

Nomenclature and Biological Features of Mithun

Visually, Mithun appears to be a cross between a cow and a gaur, the Indian bison. This cattle variety is seen in North East India, the Chittagong Hills in Bangladesh, Bhutan, and in the Himalayan foothills of Burma and China.

a. Other common names for Mithun include:

• Gayal

• ‘Cattle of the Mountain’

• Drung Ox

b. Scientific name: Bos frontalis.

The habitat of this bovine species is broad-leaf subtropical forests, 1000-3000 metres above sea level.

The Indian Mithun have four strains identified among them based on variations in their physical features and genetic makeup. They are the Arunachal strain, the Manipur, Mizoram, and the Nagaland variety. Just like Bisons, all Mithuns have white stockings. The males have better body muscles and larger horns than the females. Coat colours can be shades of black, brown, and yellow.

The Mishmi Community of Arunachal Pradesh and the Mithuns

The ethnic groups of North East India have had a long association with Mithun, dating back approximately 8000 years. Mishmi is a tribe in Arunachal Pradesh and they rear Mithun for sacrificial slaughtering. How many Mithun one possesses is a sign of wealth among these tribal people. Interestingly, the Mishmi people do not use milk or milk products. They only eat the meat of Mithun, that too after the sacrificial rituals on occasions of marriage, festivals, or other worship ceremonies. Mithun sacrifice also forms part of death ceremonies. In marriages, the bridegroom has to give, as a gift to the bride’s family, at least two Mithuns, and wealthy families give up to 100 or 200 animals.

There will be the heads of sacrificed Mithuns displayed on the sacred wall of every Mishmi house, which again is a matter of pride—killing a Mithun unless for a ritualistic sacrifice is considered a crime in the Mishmi conventional wisdom. Also, the animal has long been considered the local currency and the medium of a barter system by the tribal people. Not only to the Mishmis, but Mithun is also a sacred animal for other tribes as well: the Nyishi, Adi, Apatani, Galo etc.

Mithun Rearing in Himalayan Communities

Mithun is left to graze in the forest and dwell there till the owner needs them for a ceremony. However, a marking is made on the ear of the Mithun, distinct to each owner. The owner constantly keeps contact with the animals by feeding them salt. Mithun likes salt and the owner ensures familiarity and loyalty from his animal by feeding it salt.

Each of these animals costs around Indian rupees 70,000-80,000 which is equivalent to about $1000. Recently, the animal is more and more reared for meat rather than for the sake of rituals, a change that looms over this species’ survival but also promises the tribal communities a future income source.

Mithun Milk and Meat

Mithun meat is known for its marbled texture and unique, delicious flavor. It is also a lean meat, making it a healthier option. The meat is already available in northeast India for a price of Rs 300-400 per kg. A Mithun of average milk production produces only 1-1.5 litres of milk per day. However, this milk is thick and believed to be more nutritious than the milk of cows or goats. The milk has a high protein content and a high level of fat. The percentage of protein is 5-7%. There is a National Research Centre on Mithun located in the state of Nagaland where they have standardised the production protocols for Mithun-milk-based paneer, lassi, curd, and traditional sweets.

Mithun Farms: A New Avenue of Commercial Cattle Rearing

What Tibet has been doing since ancient times, northeast India also seems to be adopting and innovating. From Mithun milk to milk products to meat, there are huge untapped livelihood opportunities as well as markets opening up.

Commercialisation of Mithun Meat

Giving a much-needed impetus to the growing demand for Mithun meat in northeast India and providing a good income source to the tribal people there, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has recently approved Mithun as a food animal. The decision came in September 2023 and the implications could be wide and far reaching. The way of Mithun rearing might change from semi-domesticated to commercial farms to meet the rising demand for meat.

Mithun meat is known to be a low-fat alternative, lean meat, as compared to other meat varieties. How the relationship between the tribal people of northeast India and the Mithun, a bond that borders on the sacred, might change from now on calls for close observation and study in the context of the FSSAI decision. Being a food animal also means greater use of the milk of Mithun, which has been proven to be of good quality and nutritious.

The Tibetan people are rearing Mithun for its milk, and a study of the 13 villages in Naja Geog in Bhutan showed that the villagers keep them for manure and as draught animals as well. Mithun rearing is more in a domesticated manner in these Tibetan villages. Most animals are hybrids between Mithun and cows. The farmers cultivate fodder crops for their cattle and also graze them in the mountains and forests. They are also fed on paddy straw, maize flour, and oil cake. The villagers practise transhumance as they lead the cattle elsewhere for winter and summer grazing through fixed migratory routes. Of late, the villagers keep both Jersey cows and Mithun and also cross-breed them. The government has Mithun breeding farms as well. Many farms produce and sell milk, butter and cheese.

Mithun Conservation

This species' adaptability to fly-infested and leech-populated broad-leaf forests is a genetic trait that warrants further study. This is also a feature of this wild cow that if further explored might show a way to improve the immunity of domestic cows.

The tribes of Arunachal Pradesh are animists who worship forest spirits, the sun, the moon, and such deities without any specified form. On the one hand, the Hindus from the mainland try to convert them to Hinduism and discourage tribal rituals such as Mithun sacrifice. On the other, some Christian missionaries and institutions try to convert the tribals into the fold of Christianity. Both these groups do not agree with Mithun's sacrifice. The Mishmis are trying to preserve their culture intact from these influences but they are also faced with the fact that Mithun is a vulnerable species.

The free-ranging forests of Mithun are shrinking due to pressures from developmental activities in North East India. Now being tagged as a food animal, Mithun conservation efforts in northeast India have to be re-oriented, facilitating species protection as well as sustainable farming.

Mithun and Indian Politics

While Hinduism, which is in power in its new political avatar in India, is dead against killing cows for meat, the tribal culture of northeast India is rooted in cattle sacrifice and meat consumption. There have been constant attempts ongoing for many decades to ‘reform’ the tribals into Puritan Hindus who do not eat cow meat. However, the ritual importance of Mithun sacrifice complicates the situation for the right-wing political forces of Hinduism.

The Hindu right wing seems to have adopted a new strategy in north East India as they initially tried and failed to incorporate the Hindu Gods such as Krishna, Vishnu or Shiva into the fold of tribal Gods and thus promote a hybrid worship culture which hopefully for them can be gradually transformed into proper Hindu ethos and forms of worship. However, the deep-rooted tribal culture allowed this to happen only in very minute degrees.

For example, one can see a few Hindu-styled temples where both Hindu Gods and tribal Gods are sitting shoulder to shoulder and one can also see the animistic and traditional tribal tree shades where their Gods such as the Sun and the Moon sit along with the newly introduced Hindu Gods. Yet, the Hindu Gods are still on the margins and not in the mainstream.

The tribal people follow a ritual and spiritual path that aligns with their ethos, combining animism with ancient sacrificial rituals and sustainable Mithun rearing. The traditions are too complex to be steered in a direction that the political Hindutva wishes hence the recent change in approach.

Now the Hindu right-wing proponents of north East India proclaim that the ‘questionable’ (when viewed from the Hindu angle) practices of the tribal people are also part of the Hindu tradition because they are age-old and indigenous and there is no need to change them for the tribes to be welcomed into the Hindu fold.

Politics aside, it is a fact that when environmental degradation and climate change threaten the Himalayan forests, this mountain cow is facing extinction and is listed as a vulnerable species of mammal by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The practical solution lies not in religious debates but in a balanced approach that includes both conservation and commercial cultivation.

Mithuns and Arunachal’s Marriage Culture

A frequently cited, humorous story in Indian media recounts how the first Prime Minister of India, Jawahar Lal Nehru, was offered 500 Mithuns by a tribal chief in exchange for the hand of Nehru’s daughter, Indira Gandhi, in marriage to the chief’s son. Folk tales tell us that Mithuns are the descendants of the sun. Polygamy is prevalent in many northeastern tribal cultures and the ability of a man to have many wives depends on how many Mithuns he can give away as bride price to the bride’s family.

References

Dorji et al., 2021, Mithun (Bos frontalis): The neglected Cattle Species and Their Significance to Ethnic Communities in the Eastern Himalaya- A Review, Animal Bioscience, Nov., 34 (11), 1727-1738.

Have you Heard about This Meat with a Unique Name Approved by the FSSAI? September 6, 2023, Times of India.

Tsering Gyaltsen and B N Bhattarai, 2003, Bhutan Case Study 1: Transhumant Cattle Raising in Western Bhutan, Transhumant Grazing Systems in Temperate Asia, FAO, The United Nations.