Anchit Jain

This chapter turns Jain and other literary sources, inscriptions and art historical material to build the trajectory of the history of the 'ugly' and 'foolish' camel in multiple ways whose presence was most suitable in the context of early medieval Thar. Alongside herds of sheep and goat that were critical resources for local state structures to acquire and protect, it was the economic relevance of both the camel and pastoral herds that led to the 'efflorescence of Thar, a land that was otherwise devoid of a large agrarian base. In the final analysis, the chapter points to an entangled interspecies co-operation that was central to the network of markets and trade that was a necessity without which even the humans could not inhabit the challenging environment of the Thar.

The travelogue of the 8th century Korean Buddhist traveller, Hyecho, provides important insights to the world of domesticated animals in the various regions of the Indian subcontinent. Such descriptive details, which this acute observer of the local animal wealth provides, is rarely encountered in the memoirs of more exemplary Chinese pilgrims, who on account of their better linguistic skills remained more concerned in providing details of the cities, its people, kings, religion and culture. A more contextualized study of the regions described in the text and their respective animal wealth could provide important linkage for the integrated study of the local ecology and economy. The early medieval western Deccan, as the text suggests, shows a greater dependence upon cattle pastoralism in the local economy. To some degrees, the apparent vagueness in the description of the texts can be resolved through a greater contextualization of the animal data provided. The latter also help in finding the routes followed by the traveller himself and understanding the world he encountered. The contextual analysis of the local animal data, through the study of this text, is forwarded as a workable methodological tool for the history writing.