The Dancing bears date back , according to the Kalandars, to the 16th century.They claim to be the descendants of Multanis or Pakhtoons and claim to originate from the mountainous areas beyond Pakistan. Panipat and Dhimri were two of their oldest sites in India but today no Kalandar stays in those two places. They were richly patronised by the Rajput Kings and the Mughal emperors who enjoyed watching the bears dance and particularly liked wrestling events between men and bears.The villagers, irrespective of caste and religion, have since the beginning of the tradition, respected the Bear as the Protector of little children and a defence against spirits and ghosts. The Kalandars use the religious text of the Ramayana to add to the mythical dimension of the bear.The Bear tribe assisted Lord Rama in his search for Sita when she was kidnapped by King Ravana. This reference gives the bear a special status and it is regarded as an animal of
power and strength, one that can frighten away evil spirits, keep a child free of nightmares, cure certain psychological ailments, exorcise spirits from possessed individuals and grant blessings of good health and peace particularly to little children. Anyone wearing an amulet containing the hair of a bear or a bear claw, was protected from envy or “nazar” i.e. the evil eye.Therefore on birthdays, festivals, naming ceremonies of the child, or when a child has been ailing for a while and has not responded to medicines, the bearman is summoned with his bear.The child is put on the bear’s back and walked around, or a hair of the bear is tied on him for protection, or a talisman with a claw is purchased.

by and large, were attracted to the dancing bear at a fair, or when it passes through their village because of this, and not the entertainment value of watching a bear dance on its hind legs. For the rural audience, even today, this aspect of the bear - its being able to cure illnesses and frighten off spirits - is by far more important than any tricks it can perform.

It is only the urban audience or the foreign tourist who wants to watch a bear “dance” or is entertained by its “tricks”.Throughout the investigation, after observing almost 45 bears dance, we noted the dancing bear hardly ever “dances”. It is trained to rise on its hind legs, sway its head from side to side, lie down on its back, give a paw in handshake, or sit.

There is not much variation on this except when a child or the owner “wrestles” with the bear. The “wrestling” consists of grappling with the bear and invariably the animal is trained to merely clasp the owner or child. Sometimes two bears or more will rise on their hind legs and with forepaws touching, move in a circle. Foreign tourists and children are fond of sitting astride the bear and “riding” it for a few minutes In conclusion, the immediate cruelty or abuse of the animal does not lie in the actual “dancing”, but in all the other aspects of the trade : for example, in the actual capturing,
transporting and training process; in the fact that it spends long hours in heat, dust, and noise, waiting for clients / an audience to gather, and in an urban environment vehicular fumes and the pollution aggravate the dancing bear’s distress and injure the bear’s health considerably.

One typical method of earning is by standing along the well travelled tourist roads and highways. The bearmen stand in groups and flag down the cars passing by and put up a quick display of a few steps, collect a baksheesh for allowing photographs, and the tourist moves on. Typically in an hour they collect between Rs 50 and Rs 75. The rest of the time, while waiting for a client to stop, the bears are given a slack 8’ to 9’ of rope, which allows to them to dig for ants, beetles and termites under logs and bushes along the roads and thus supplement their diet. This happier state of affairs does not last for the Bear when it enters a city for dancing.The Kalandars admitted the bear has to be kept on a very short rope, to prevent any accidents to the audience, the bear’s feeding is very irregular, and the bear is more stressed out due to the crowds pressing around him which the Kalandar admits unnerves the bear.

The various audiences were questioned by the investigators to assess public awareness of the trauma involved in this trade for the animal. 90% of the rural audience responded it was not cruel to the bear and some added it gave “pleasure” to the bear to be fed and petted by the crowds. The city audience were a little more aware and 73% felt it was not cruel to the bear to be danced but 27% felt the capture / training might be stressful for the bear.The foreign tourists, about 40%, felt the bear dance was cruel, that the bears looked tired or miserable, and 5% aggressively wanted the dancing bear banned; while 55% felt it added colour to Indian life; or it was “picturesque”, or it was an art form perhaps to be kept alive. Both the urban audience and the foreign tourists interviewed felt in a country this “poor “ the Bear man cannot be faulted for trying to earn a living whichever way he can.