An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c6.s8.3

v1.c6.s8.3

The three feral races of the pig found in India today are: *Sus salvanius*, in the foot-hill regions of the Himalayas; *Sus scrofa andamanensis*, confined to the Andaman Islands; and *Sus scrofa cristatus*, common throughout peninsular India. The last is a subspecies of *Sus scrofa*, the Palaearctic wild boar of the Lower Pleistocene, and is closely related to its European counterpart *Sus scrofa scrofa*. Opinions differ as to whether it is really possible to distinguish between the European and Indian subspecies on the basis of skull measurements and the size and complexity of the molars (Clutton-Brock, 1965). Little is known of the actual history of pig domestication in Asia, and the theory that it was domesticated in India remains unsubstantiated. *Sus cristatus*, regarded as the ancestor of the Asian domesticated pig, is traced back to the earliest Neolithic in the Near East (at Jarmo, *c.* 6500 B.C.). The earliest evidence for the domestic pig is associated with the beginnings of agriculture and domestication of the cattle. The pig was bred for meat and fat and rarely used as a sacrificial animal. It increased in importance as food once the cow began to be worshipped but later ceased to be an important dietary item, the sheep and goat further reducing its value.