Introduction

There are various ways to view tribal communities and their relations with animals, both domesticated and wild animals. The worldview of tribal communities is incomplete without the presence of animals. This chapter discusses the exceptional human–animal relations of a tribe, the Bodo, from northeast India. Among all the tribal societies, the Bodo are known as the largest tribe in the plains of the northeast region. However, this community has a few characteristics that make them different from others. For example, pigs, known as oma in Bodo language, are an important part of the Bodo community, reflecting a strong human–animal bond, which is the focus of the chapter. The relationship between humans and animals in Bodo society has its own value for defining the community as an inimitable tribal group in the world. In this chapter, I look at the Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR) and examine (a) the everyday lives of the Bodo with respect to pigs, (b) the importance of pigs in the sociocultural milieu, (c) pigs as an economy and livelihood and (d) the transformation in Bodo–pig relations.

The BTR is an autonomous area in Assam, India, and a proposed state in northeast India. It consists of five districts situated on the northern bank of the Brahmaputra river, at the foothills of Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh. It is a subdivision of the government established in accordance with the Sixth Schedule of the Indian Constitution. It was formerly known as the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) when it was a separate region.