By John B Monteiro

“The old order changeth yielding place to new
And God fulfills himself in many ways
Lest one good custom should corrupt the world”. – Lord Tennyson (1809-1892)Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria’s reign.

A similar thing is happening in the case of buffalow racing (Kambala) in Tulunadu specially in Mangalore where sampradayika racing, entrenched over decades, is replaced by adunica racing. One such is scheduled for March 26/27, 2022. A bit of background is relevant.
In the midst of Corona-19 pandemic, Dakshina Kannada (DK) District Kambala Committee had decided to hold eight day-time Kambalas (later increased to 10), according to a decision taken on January 2,2021.It would be an abridged affair starting from January 30. Unlike during earlier kambala seasons, there were no night-and-day races. All these kambalas would be Adunika (modern) style and there was no mention about Sampradayika (traditional) style of racing in the media reports sourced to the organisers. As widely reported, the first Kambala of the delayed season was held on January 30,1922 at Hokkadigoli village in Bantwal Taluk, with 167 pairs of buffaloes participating. The 2022 season is going strong.

One of the most popular Sampradayika kambalas, Kadri Kambala, in the heart of Mangalore city, has been defunct for the last several years as one-third of the racing field, already truncated lengthwise, has been used for construction of a residential building. The rest of the space is overgrown with grass and shrubs and also hosts water supply tanks and tankers.

It is interesting to take a nostalgic look at Kadri Kambala and the doyen of organizing it – the late Balakrishna Shetty - who passed away on January 7, 2006.

Balakrishna was the spirit behind the annual Kadri Kambala buffalo race. He was a steadfast force against the creeping commercialisation of kambalas and soldeired on with his ritualistic, traditional racing against modernism. He was a walking encyclopedia on racing and I have drawn on his knowledge to write several articles on the subject. A soft-spoken man, he shunned limelight. For many years he let the Kadri Kambla Samithi organise the races with his benign presence in the background. Kadri Kambala was orphaned and when the race was held in November-December after his death, the organisers and spectators missed this gentle soul. He was a multi-faceted person and in this article, in appreciation of the doyen of fast-eclipsing Sampradayika Kamblas, I will highlight some of them.

Balakrishna, the late patriarch of Kadri Kambla Guthu, doggedly continued to host buffalo races, a ritual-based sport, in Mangalore. Apart from this exclusivity of being the only race in the city, Balakrishna had resisted the creeping and crass commercialisation of this traditional sport of Tulu Nadu and held the annual event under the Sampradayika system. Incidentally, the race is called Devara (God’s) Kambla.

Born on June 23, 1927, Balakrishna, after studies at Canara High School, did a course in auto-service at the Polytechnic at Pandeshwar - later to become famous under the name of Karnataka Polytechnic (KPT) on Kadri hill. He said that he did not get a proper job to pursue his auto-service knowledge and he ended up working for the family’s four-acre Kadri Guthu farm.

Balakrishna’s father, Ramayya, died in mid-1950s at the age of 80 years. Even when his father was alive, Balakrishna, from the age of 16 years, was involved in organising the Kambalas. It is notable that while Balakrishna remained the official host for the annual races, his sons and a Kambla Committee looked after details of collecting funds, inviting VIPs and organising the races.

Balakrishna had seen a sea change on the Kambala scene over the sixty years he has been involved in the sport. The traditional racing, with religious rituals, slowly gave way to modern (adunika) racing since about the last three decades. Modern races are marked by widespread and heavy betting, paid seats for spectators under shamianas,
Mushrooming of bars and restaurants, day and night racing with about 100 pairs and videography to decide disputes of ranking winners.

In contrast, Kadri Kambala’s race started at 1 PM and ended at 5 PM with about 20 pairs competing. The day for the race, in end-November – early December, is fixed by the priest of Kadri Temple. The day had to be before the Deepotsava at Kadri Temple because of the belief that the sins of whipping buffaloes during racing are washed away by looking at the lighted deepas. Now whipping is more than a sin that the deity can forgive; it is a crime punishable under the laws governing cruelty to animals.

In earlier years of Balakrishna organising races, the prize for winners was a bunch of coconuts or bananas. Later gold medals and trophies were given, financed by funds collected by the Kambla Committee. It is also notable that the forenoon of Kambla day was set aside for tug-of-war, racing and other games in the slushy race field for various age groups and separately for men and women.

Balakrishna’s two-acre paddy field, the venue of the Kambla was the only virgin land remaining in the valley extending from Nanthoor to the east to Kodialbail and downstream to the west. He harvested only one crop per year after the Kambala got over. Residential buildings were mushrooming all around Kadri Kambala and land developers were on the prowl to grab any vacant plot left. The Kadri Kambla land had a tempting price. But, Balakrishna went by sampradayika values and continued racing on his precious patch of land. Resisting such temptations, Balakrishna was firm on holding Kadri Kambala “till I am alive” - as he once told me.

Since the closure of Kadri Kambala, a new Kambla venue (Adunika) has come up near at Goldfinch City Grounds in in Bangra Kulur. There is one kambla field inside Pilikoola nature park, close to the Guthu House – which can be set aside exclusively for Sampradayika racing and mud sports for the sports-minded Mangaloreans and tourists visiting Mangalore.

Mangalore is often marked by controversies about naming roads and circles. Curiously two roads are named after Kadri Kambala – one starting opposite Bharat Beedies on the south and ending at the junction of Bijai Road in the shadow of Circuit House. Another side road starting from Kadri Temple road Circle in the east and crossing Kadri Kambala Juction and joining Jail-Bijai Church Road is also called Kadri Kambala Road. Vijaya Clinic and Maternity Surgical Nursing Home sports this name on its bill-board. Also, Harsha D’Souza, who has his Rock Garden (mini-museum) on this road uses Kadri Kambala Road in his information leaflets.

It would be in the fitness of things for the main road (north-south) from Bejai cross road to Bahrat Beedies is officially confirmed as Kadri Kambala Road and the cross road from Jail/Bejai Road to Kadri Temple Road is named Balakrishna Shetty Road as the Kambla Guthu House is at the junction of these roads. The Kambla Guthu family is well connected, well respected and influential and there is likely to be no opposition to convert a de facto position into de jure reality.

Are the concerned corporators reading this?