A chance meeting with nomads on a mountain pass is a frequent highlight of my photography tours. India is home to various nomadic groups, so this is by no means an unusual occurrence. For example, the Kalbelia of Rajasthan were historically known as snake-handlers and could be called upon to remove deadly venomous cobras from human settlements. While the venom trade may not be what it once was, many Kalbelia still live a nomadic lifestyle today: famed as skilled performers and known for their serpentine dancing. So too in Gujarat, where various itinerant groups still perform folk dances for a living.
Like many other Indian nomadic tribes, the less extrovert Bakarwals of the Himalayan region keep livestock. And it's this latter group, found across my home state of Jammu and Kashmir, that I have been photographing for some time now.
The Bakarwals were traditionally fully nomadic in lifestyle, making no permanent settlement. While some still live in this manner, many are now only semi-nomadic, having established ancestral homesteads at lower altitudes from where they send their flocks up to the high mountain pastures during only the driest summer months - returning home before the cold weather draws in towards late September.
Bakarwal women are noted for their prowess in producing traditional woven and embroidered handicrafts. This makes perfect sense, as their flocks would provide the wool and their looms could be easily dismantled and packed away for travel. But on a recent photography tour in Kashmir I made an exciting discovery: Bakarwal mud homes decorated in vibrant geometric patterns. As the Bakarwal previously did not build houses of this kind, I can only assume that this is a recent cultural innovation rather than an ancient tradition.
Whatever the case may be, these Bakarwal homes with their bold decoration - such as the striking blue and white chevron motif I photographed here - make a fantastic subject for photography. I'm hoping I'll be able to learn more about these designs on my next Kashmir photo expedition, but in the meantime, if anyone has any more detailed information about these Bakarwal decorations, I'd love to hear from you in the comments section below.
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