Kambala – Muddy Water Buffalo Race

Kambala or the buffalo race is a form of folk art for the entertainment of people after the first crop after the rainy season and before the start of second crop, organised by few families in the District. It’s also believed that these fields used in Kambala are not cultivated by people as they are very large in size, in olden days the Bhootas or spirits use to do the work overnight. The roots of this type of buffalo race can be traced back to more than a thousand years. At that time Kambala was the event when farmers paid tribute to their gods for protecting their crops. According to people associated with the sport, it flourished under the royal patronage of kings and famous households in Mangalore. In the olden days, the buffaloes were brought in procession to the accompaniment of drum dance.

In school days going to Kambala was of great interest for us, as there use to be a festive environment everywhere surrounding the Kambala field or track. People use to come from far off places and stay overnight near the field and the racing starts early next morning. People from far off places who come here a day or two early and help in preparing land for this sport. It’s called in Kannada or Tulu as “Hadana”. The winner of the race will normally be given the cash award. It was considered a pride to the owner of the winning pair.

There will be a pair of bullocks in the family just for this purpose; they are called “Mani Hori” or the family bullocks of the family, who organize the Kambala, and they will come for racing only at the end, interested people will wait till the end to see this, it will be an eye feasting scene. A popular quote on the race explains this scene,

"Hold your breath. Silence rules the air as thousands watch in stunned anticipation! The man is crouching behind the buffaloes on a slide of wood attached to the animals. Not a muscle moves. Only the wind is playing on his lock of hair. For him the race is all that matters. Suddenly the scene explodes, the man springs up, his hand cocked, his whip held high and the huge animals lunge forward, bellowing, their hooves churning the muddy waters and sending their wet spray in the hot air, their eyes wide, wild and white - man and beast engaged in one spurt of activity and one aim - victory."

There are interesting stories associated with these Kambalas and their rituals. Near my place lot of Kambala happen every year and among them famous ones being Vandaru Kambala, Billady Kambala, and Yedthady Kambala, Vandaru being the biggest in Udupi district. In our school days parents use to say that, “if children go there they will put you guys in “Nigalan Bavi” (A sacred well of Vandaru where the crocodile lives, it’s called Nigala). It seems they had the tradition of giving a human to this crocodile every year on the day of Kambala, and the Kambala starts after giving pooja to this god. As far as I know, as I heard from my grandparents and old people around my place that the workers of the family who organise this Kambala use to come in night to the house of their “Okkalu” (In south canara, some families had a few tribal families as their permanent workers in olden days, and they are called as Okkalu), and tie a thread made of banana plant on their legs when they are asleep, and he will be the culprit or “Bali” for that year. He cannot escape for being dumped in to the well next day. They were not that daring at that time to talk against these rich families who arrange Kambala. But once what happened is the guy to whom the thread was tied, was a little intelligent and he removed that and tied to another guy who came to their house as guest. Next day they dumped the guest in to the well. Since guest is considered as equal to god it was a big mistake, and hence forth this ritual was dropped. But still parents warn us not to go there, saying you will be dropped in the well.

There are more than 45 Kambalas held annually in the district between November to February.