Every dog has its day

I had met canines christened Homer and Brutus, but never one named after a Tamil literary character. Until I came across Pon Elangovan’s dogs. Raised on a diet of meat and chaste Tamil, they answer to melodic names from early classics like Silappathigaram and Manimekalai: Aathirai, a virtuous woman who filled a never-ending bowl of food with her generosity; Bakruli, a river that is said to have drained southern Tamil Nadu; Ayyai, Kannagi’s companion in grief; Aazhi, a limitless ocean. As the dogs stretch and rise languidly on their limbs at his farm on the foothills of the Western Ghats, Elangovan, 54, traces their lineage back a couple of generations. They are Rajapalayam dogs, native hounds from Tamil Nadu with a characteristic white coat and sculpted frame. “I know who sired each one of them, and who their siblings are. To ensure they don’t mate within their extended family, I take them to Chennai, Nagercoil and far-flung places to breed with other Rajapalayam hounds,” he says. A silk-cotton trader, organic farmer and avid reader, Elangovan strives to efface the corrupting influence of English on his mother tongue and that of chemicals on his food. For the past 20 years, he has also been concerned with conserving another kind of purity—that of the Rajapalayam breed.

Decades of cross-breeding with pariah dogs—and more recently, inbreeding—have diluted the bloodlines of the Rajapalayam hounds, the storied hunting companions to the Nayaka chieftains of south India. In the late 18th century, when the Nayakas— or Poligars as they were called—rose up in revolt against colonial forces, these white knights are said to have enfeebled the British cavalry, staving off their eventual defeat. In later years, the native breeds of Tamil Nadu, including Rajapalayam, Sippiparai, Kanni and Kombai, had to cede ground to pedigreed canines from Europe with shinier manes and eyes like limpid pools. “As the British began to establish cricket grounds, golf courses and a tradition of shikar, they also brought their dogs with them. Gradually, Indian kings and nobles, who had lost power and amused themselves with cars and hunting, stop-ped patronising native dogs and began to acquire European companions,” says Theodore Baskaran, a Tamil film historian and wildlife conservationist. The Wildlife Protection Act of 1972, Baskaran says, was the final nail in the coffin for the eponymous hounds of the Poligars. “With the forest now out of bounds, dogs that were used to hunt down wild boar, rabbits and smaller antelopes lost their utility.”

Thanks to a few discriminating breeders like Elangovan, the Rajapalayam hound is now resurfacing, competing for affection with the pedigreed Dobermans and Alsatians of the world. The dog is well-adapted to life in the tropics, which means it does not have excessive nutritional requirements, is disease- resistant, and won’t shed hair all over your couch or pant heavily in the Indian summer. “It is the best guard dog you have never had,” says S Kathirvel, associate professor and head, Veterinary University Training and Research Centre, Rajapalayam. “The breed was rapidly declining until a wave of awareness started to spread about six or seven years ago,” he says. The National Bureau of Animal Genetic Resources (NBAGR) is working on the first ever genetic characterisation study of the Rajapalayam and Sippiparai breeds. A team of NBAGR scientists has wrapped up a survey of purebreds at Rajapalayam, noting down physical attributes like height, weight, colour and girth, and is working on a report. Meanwhile, another team, led by T Satyamurthy of the Madras Veterinary College, has over the last six months built up a collection of Rajapalayam germplasm to facilitate artificial insemination.

A purebred Rajapalayam is still a rarity, commanding a price of Rs 8,000-10,000. Fakes abound in the sleepy town in Virudhunagar district that lends its name to the hound. A tour of the kennels here is like playing spot-the-difference, a game unwitting tourists who stop by en route to the Kutralam waterfalls almost always fail at. Pink-rimmed eyes and snout, check. Cinched waist, check. Silvery white eyes? Most of the 50 or so breeders who claim to carry the genetic mantle of the Rajapalayam dog will have you believe light eyes are a distinctive characteristic. Chances are, the eyes see nothing. “Inbred dogs are often born blind as well as deaf,” says Kathirvel. “Rajapalayam dogs normally have brown eyes, with only the rare silver-eyed specimen turning out healthy.”

The notion of pedigree itself is highly contentious, with reports of culling pups with spots and other ‘undesired’ physical attributes surfacing occasionally. Some of these rejects end up roaming the streets of Rajapalayam or are adopted by local dog lovers. “The dogs here don’t have it easy,” says R Ilavarasan, a 38-year-old agriculturist from Rajapalayam who owns a purebred named Rani and two dogs of mixed ancestry. It is Rani he trusts with watching over his banana plantation. “There is a caste system among dogs. The thoroughbreds are not allowed anywhere near the street dogs,” he says. “But this is the only way our children and their children will get to see a genuine Rajapalayam dog and what it is capable of. It has a keen nose and it can leap over tall walls effortlessly.”

Last year, Elangovan, who sold 32 pure-bred Rajapalayam dogs, even flying one to a patron in the Andamans, was bestowed the Breed Saviour Award by the National Biodiversity Authority. Things have heated up since, he says. “Many researchers have come here to see how I am treating my dogs, and if they are really Rajapalayam hounds. I can understand their scepticism,” says Elangovan, leading the way down a slushy path cutting through palm groves. His farm in Seithur, a village 10 km from Rajapal-ayam, is a 20-acre sprawl of mango, jackfruit and coconut overrun by free-range chicken. In the kennel, the dogs, over a dozen of them, bark for his attention. A pregnant female gazes through heavy-lidded eyes. Although a hound, the Rajapalayam dog, he says, is a loving and loyal companion that warms up quickly. “Contrary to popular belief, it does not need to hunt to stay agile,” he says.

There is no estimate available of the population of Rajapalayam dogs. Once the report from the characterisation study is ready, an attempt can be made to take stock of their numbers, say experts. The other three breeds face an even bleaker scenario. The Kombai, a ferocious hound, is on the brink of extinction, says Baskaran, who was part of a kennel club focused on breeding native dogs. “The gazettes of Madurai mention the Kombai in passing, and note that it was valued highly and often exchanged for a horse,” he says. Tamil literature largely omits to mention the state’s native dogs, Baskaran adds. So where did the Rajapalayam dog come from? Baskaran’s theory is that it was brought from the Deccan after the Battle of Talikota between the Vijayanagara kings and the Deccan sultanates in 1565. “After the battle, the Naidus came to settle in various parts of Tamil Nadu and you began to see Poligar dogs in their villages,” he says. Little is known of the Rajapalayam dog’s exploits in the past, and we are unsure of its numbers today. All we can do, says Baskaran, is document the information we have for the future.

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