Black to the bone: A story of chicken dispersal across Asia

Located in the heart of India, Madhya Pradesh (MP) is a melting-pot state that shares its borders with Uttar Pradesh (UP) and Rajasthan in the north, with Maharashtra and Chattisgarh in the south. Gujarat, on the west coast of India, also shares a border with MP, although along only two districts (Alirajpur and Jhabua). Our story beings in these districts where more than 90% of the people spoke the Bhili language, according to the 2011 survey. This region represents what remains of the mighty Bhil kingdom that potentially spanned across central India in the distant past. Shiv Kumar Tiwari, in his book "Tribal Roots of Hinduism," suggests the Bhil history can be traced back to the epics of Mahabharat and Ramayan. Tiwari goes on to discuss the complex history shared by Bhils and Rajputs in the subsequent period. However, much of this knowledge is hard to verify and is primarily based on legend (see Pages 268 to 272).

The "Imperial Gazetteer of India, v. 8, p. 145." notes that the Bhopawar Agency (a sub-agency of Central India Agency) either included or was located north of the "mountainous forest-clad region, in which the Ali-Rajpur, Barwani, and Jobat States lie, known as Bhilwara or the 'Bhil country,' a wild and sparsely inhabited tract.". The Bhil are mentioned in British times for their rebellions. In his book "Law Enforcement in Tribal Areas," Srikanta Gosh mentions important Bhil rebellions in 1846, 1857–58, and 1868. Our story is focused on Kadaknath, an extremely unique and fascinating breed of chicken, primarily cultivated by the Bhil. Kadaknath is popular for its "grey-black" meat which has a distinctive texture and taste. The past few years (2019-2023) have seen a revival of interest in this breed of chicken. However, historical records of this breed are hard to find. Given that the history of the Bhil before the arrival of the British in India is patchy, it's not surprising that the earliest historical records of Kadaknath that we can find date to the British era.

A. E. SLATER of the Mission Poultry Farm, Etah, United Provinces, India, wrote a journal article about "THE POULTRY INDUSTRY IN INDIA" in 1945 (World's Poultry Science Journal (Volume 1, 1945 - Issue 2)). This article is the oldest written mention of Kadaknath that we could find after searching the internet repositories. Talking about various "Indigenous Indian Breeds", Kadaknath finds mention in the fourth place. However, Kadaknath is spelt as Karaknath or even Karnatak by Slater. We can be certain he is talking about Kadaknath as he clearly says, "The Karnatak, also called the Karaknath, a breed of fowls noted for its black skin.". Despite calling it an Indigenous Indian breed, Slater does not mention anything about the native range of this breed in India. It is possible that Slater was listing out Kadaknath after having come across this in earlier literature. For instance, the book Cock fighting all over the world. by Finsterbusch, C. A (published in 1929) also finds mention of “Karnatak” or “ Karaknath. A copy of the book is available online from Duke University libraries. Interestingly, Finsterbusch quotes an older book the “Murgh Nama,” from the “Sayd-gah-i-Shawkati,” written by the Nawab (Nabob) Yar Muhammad Khan of the State of Rabpur (potentially Rampur) and written in the year 1883. The text referring to Kadaknath is as follows:

Third, the “Karnatak” or “ Karaknath a breed in which the skin, bones, tongue, eyes and blood are all black ; this breed is useless for fighting. These fowls are probably from the Karnatak, Deccan, just as “sabzwar” is the name of a breed of fowls from Sabzwar in Persia. The test of this breed is the colour of the tongue, which should be black.

Apart from this mention of Kadaknath on page 420, an earlier mention is made while talking about the Silkie chicken. The paragraph mentions the introduction of Sumatra and the Black Javanese game into India by the "Mohammedans". The actual text is as follows:

The Black game fowl of Java, may be related to the Black Sumatra, though not identical. We shall learn further on, how, both, Sumatra and Black Javanese game came into India introduced by the Mohammedans, scattered there and eventually lost, but how part of this blood came to give their share towards producing the world’s most astounding and perfect game fowl, the Rajah Murghi or Asil of Lucknow. That a black fowl existed, there is not the slightest doubt. The Persian knew it as well as the Hindu of the Deccan. It has been described in 1882 by the Nawab Yar Muhammad Khan in his Urdu-book “Sayd-gah-i Shawkati” as a bird in which the skin, bones, tongue, eyes and blood are all black. The Hindustani name for the breed is “Karnatac.” In Persia a similar breed is known as “Sabzwar,” probably the name having been derived from a place of the same name in Persia ; the test of this breed is the colour of the tongue, which must be completely black. 

Subsequent to the pre-Independence article by Slater, the next mentions of Kadaknath we can trace in the literature date to the 1980s. The following two articles from the 1980s probably coincide with the establishment of a government poultry farm in Jhabua and denote a period of renewed interest.

• RAO, G.V. (1980) Sexual dichromatism with respect to shank colour in Karakanath New Hampshire and White-Leghorn cross-breeds. Indian Poultry Gazette, 64: 45–47.
• RAO, G.V. & THOMAS, P.C. (1984) The breed characteristics of Kadaknath breed of indigenous (Desi) chicken. Avian Research, 68: 55–57.

Unfortunately, we could not locate the full text or abstract of these two articles. Several articles related to Kadknath appear in the literature after these two articles. The link between Kadaknath and Jhabua first appears in the following article: Parmar, S. N. S. 2003. “Characterization of Kadaknath Breed of Poultry (Famous Black Bird of Jhabua).” Jawaharlal Nehru Krishi Vidyalaya, Jabalpur (M. P.) Technical Bulletin DRS/2003/01, 1–21. Once again, this article could not be found online. It is possible these initial articles contain some information about how Kadakanth, a black-bone chicken, ended up in Jhabua, Madhya Pradesh. Discussions with people knowledgeable about Kadaknath did not turn up any clear and verifiable claims. It is generally assumed that Kadaknath "originated from the Kathiwar Alirajapur jungles" and Kadaknath "has been raised for centuries by the Bhil and Bhilala tribes". A search of libraries and other resource persons may shed some light on this matter.

The gap in literature from 1945 to 1980 might be due to the literature from this period being largely offline. The exact reason for the increased interest in Kadaknath in the 80's is hard to understand. Nonetheless, in the "Proof of Origin (Historical records)" listed when the GI Tag was issued for Kadaknath, the oldest record cited is a document titled "Reviving the Indigenous Poultry Breed-Kadaknath (Good Practice Code: INGP04)". In this document, it is mentioned that a breeding farm was established in 1982:

In 1982, the Animal Husbandry Department of Madhya Pradesh established a breeding farm and hatchery in Jhabua district, with the objective of conserving and propagating Kadaknath in and around the district.

If not for the article by Slater and the book by Finsterbusch, it would have been hard to fathom the "true history" of Kadaknath. Unless we can find older literary or ancient DNA evidence for the existence of Kadaknath or black-bone chicken, the earliest date we can be certain of is in the 1900's. By this time in history, the silkie breed was known well enough for Bateson and Punnet to publish the findings of their six-year-long project ending in 1911. They also say that silky fowl is well defined in earlier text.

As a description of the Silky Fowl may be found in any of the standard works on poultry it is unnecessary for us to dwell upon the characters of the breed except in so far as they enter into this particular series of experiments.

Another article on the silkie fowl from 1927 is authored by Dunn and Jull of U.S. Department of Agriculture. These articles strongly suggest the spread of silkie fowl in the 1800’s. The silkie chicken breed itself was probably the result of early chicken breeders combining exotic traits found in various breeds together. Hence, it is conceivable that the black-bone phenotype pre-dates the Silkie breed.

The "Tamil Bell" effect

The Tamil Bell refers to a broken bronze bell discovered in ~1836 by a Cornish Christian missionary, William Colenso, near Whangarei in the Northland Region of New Zealand. Colenso, a fellow of the Royal Society, found the bell being used to boil potatoes by Māori women. Interestingly, the rim of the bell has an inscription in the Tamil language that can be roughly translated as "Mohoyiden Buks ship’s bell". How exactly this bell ended up with the Māori has remained an enduring mystery. The "Tamil Bell" effect refers to this paradox of finding an artefact out of its place in space and time. A more common name for such artefacts is OOPArt or out-of-place artefact. 

Wikipedia's definition for an artefact is "a general term for an item made or given shape by humans, such as a tool or a work of art, especially an object of archaeological interest". While Kadaknath is not really a tool or a work of art per se, it has been given shape by humans making it a popular breed of domesticated chicken. So it could be considered an OOPArt. It would be out of place in Jhabua as chicken domestication initially happened in Southeast Asia and then spread across the world. If we accept that Kadaknath is OOPArt, the question then becomes one of interpretation.

OOPArt has generally been found to fall under one of the following sub-headings.

1. Questionable interpretations: Kadaknath has been studied by various research groups in India to examine the black meat phenotype using different approaches. Physical descriptions of the meat, crossing experiments, as well as characterisation of the contents using high-throughput approaches, have consistently found support for Fibromelanosis. Hence, it does not appear that Kadaknath or its black-bone phenotype is being interpreted incorrectly.
2. Alternative interpretations: A simple alternative explanation for Kadaknath ending up in Jhabua is that it travelled from a different location (potentially China) potentially through a marine route.
3. Natural objects mistaken for artefacts: Kadaknath is definitely derived from a natural object. However, the changes that made it into the breed we see today are what make it Kadaknath and not just any other chicken. As long as the distinction between Kadaknath and natural chicken is clear, we can rule out this sub-heading of mistaken identity.
4. Erroneously dated objects: Based on the writing of Slater, we can date the Kadaknath prior to Indian Independence. However, the claims of this breed being raised by the Bhils for centuries is hard to verify. If the Kadaknath breed reached Jhabua during the British period, the provenance would probably have been known to Slater. However, record-keeping and communication between distant places were not as easy as it is today. So it is easily possible that Kadaknath reached Jhabua during the British occupation of India.
5. Modern-day creations, forgeries and hoaxes: The good thing about Slater mentioning Kadaknath is that we can be certain that this breed is not a modern-day creation or forgery perpetrated post-independence. However, we cannot rule out the possibility of such a hoax being conceived during the British period. Even if it were a hoax, why Kadaknath would be associated with the Bhils, whom the British had classified as "criminals", is hard to explain.

If Kadaknath travelled to Jhabua from some other location through a ship, an important question to consider is whether it was possible to transport live animals across long distances in the past. One well-known example of long-distance transport of an animal from India to Lisbon is that of a rhino. The story is that Afonso de Albuquerque (Governor of Portuguese India) wanted to build a fort in Diu (a city in the kingdom of Cambay). However, at the time (in 1514), Cambay was governed by Sultan Muzafar. With the authorisation of King D. Manuel I, an envoy was sent to the Sultan to request his permission to build the fort. While Muzafar did not agree to this request, he was grateful for the gifts and gave Albuquerque a rhinoceros. The description of the journey undertaken by this rhino is reproduced below:

Chained fast on board and living only on dried straw, hay and cooked rice for the duration of the 4 month journey, the rhino and his Indian handler, finally disembarked where Torre de Belem was being built in May 1515.

The animal's arrival in Lisbon caused great commotion and curiosity, not only in Portugal but in the whole of Europe. Its physical form, weighing more than two metric tonnes, and thick, wrinkled skin that formed three large folds giving the strange appearance of armor.

Based on written descriptions sent back to Nuremberg and other parts of Europe by merchants in Lisbon, Albrecht Dürer created his own depiction of the rhino. Although inaccurate, Dürer’s striking depiction piece of art and became the standard throughout Europe of what rhinos looked like, inspiring dozens of other paintings and artists.

Remembering Ancient Roman stories about the deadly rivalry between elephants and rhinoceroses, King D. Manuel I decided to see if this was true.

He organised a bout between the two animals to which he also invited the Queen and her ladies-in-waiting, as well as other important guests. When the two beasts were placed opposite each other the elephant panicked and ran away the moment the rhinoceros began to approach it.

The rhinoceros, sporting a green velvet collar decorated with golden roses and carnations, was one of the gifts. The ship left Lisbon in December 1515 but sailed into a violent storm off the coast of Genoa and sunk, killing the whole crew. Although rhinos can swim, because it was tied up the animal also died.

In Portugal the rhinoceros was immortalised and a representation of it decorates one of the bartizans in the Tower of Belém.

It can also be can be found in Alcobaça Monastery, where there is a naturalistic full-body representation of the animal in the form of a gargoyle in the Cloister of Silence.

The example story of the rhino provides many interesting hints about how exotic animals were prized possessions and served as artefacts exchanged among royalty. Therefore, it is conceivable that black-bone chicken dispersed across Asia due to its exotic meat colour. Sea trade and movement of animals and exotica in prehistoric times may be difficult to imagine, let alone be reconstructed using scientific tools. The article "Across the Indian Ocean: the prehistoric movement of plants and animals" by Fuller. et al., 2010 does a good job of delving into this challenging topic. Written in 2010, the article goes on to say 

Like bananas, chickens are a staple food source of traditional African villages, but nevertheless, have their origins in the red junglefowl (Gallus gallus), which is native from sub-Himalayan northern India through southern China and Southeast Asia. Across this area, chickens were probably brought into domestication more than once, as suggested by genetic data, although good zooarchaeological data remains scarce (see Fuller 2007: 400–401; Kanginakudru et al. 2008; Berthouly-Salazar et al. 2010).

Recent publications based on nuclear genomic data contradict these early mitochondrial marker-based studies in claiming a single domestication event for all domestic chickens.

Going glocal

The word glocal means "reflecting or characterized by both local and global considerations". The Kadaknath story is the epitome of glocality in being very popular in Madhya Pradesh and having a global connection with other black-bone chicken breeds. Comparing the Indian black-bone chicken breed to global breeds may have been inconceivable a few years earlier due to data scarcity. However, the last 3 years have seen a deluge of studies on black-bone chicken from China and Korea. 

1. Comparative genomics and selection analysis of Yeonsan Ogye black chicken with whole-genome sequencing: 120 newly sequenced and shared by the Animal Genetic Resources Station, National Institute of Animal Science, Rural Development Administration (South Korea) and the remaining 68 public whole-genome chicken samples were collected from Sequence Read Archive (120+68=188).
2. Whole genome and transcriptome maps of the entirely black native Korean chicken breed Yeonsan Ogye: Illumina (several insert sizes) + PacBio total: 482.8 Gbp.

Even before genetic studies, the causative changes for the fibromelanosis seen in Kadaknath was attributed to the Fm locus described in Silkie chicken based on crossing experiments by Arora et al., 2011. The 2011 study (Received 26 Aug 2010) follows in the footsteps of papers on black-bone chicken from Sweden (Dorshorst Received August 26, 2009, and July 5, 2011) and Japan (August 25, 2011). The junctions of the Fm locus are reported in these early papers. Hence, a PCR-based assay can easily verify the junctions at the Fm locus in Kadakanth. 

The local importance of Kadaknath in India and, more importantly, in Madhya Pradesh can be attributed to the various medicinal properties attributed to the meat and eggs of this chicken breed. Testimonials suggest people have definitely been eating Kadaknath post-Independence. The recent popularity of Kadaknath can be attributed to/evidenced by some of the following events:

1. The popular cricket captain M S Dhoni ordered 2000 Kadaknath chickens for breeding at his farm in Ranchi
2. The movie Kadakanth written and directed by V S Shivan released in April 2022

The out-of-China hypothesis

The most popular idea in currently available literature is that Black-bone chicken has an origin in Southern China. China's own record of animal genetic resources lists 20 black-bone chicken breeds compared to just one black-bone breed in India. The black-bone chicken breed found in China seems to have its origin in Chinese BBC. Hence, the out-of-china hypothesis could explain the spread of not only the black-bone chicken breeds but all domesticated chickens. Other out-of-China events are documented for other species and verified using exceeding-large genomic datasets.

GI Tag and Indigenousness of the Kadaknath Chicken Breed

The geographical indications tag was issued for "Jhabua Kadaknath Black Chicken Meat" for - GI Application No. 378 and is recorded in the GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATIONS JOURNAL NO. 104 (MARCH 28, 2018). The evidence for the native origin of Kadaknath in Jhabua starts from the 1980s in these records. Indigenous origin is an emotive topic in every corner of the world. The lack of records prior to the 1980s will hopefully be resolved with more concerted efforts on this front.

Shinde et al., 2023 investigate several questions related to Kadaknath and other BBC using whole-genome sequencing data from several chicken breeds. The article is published in Frontiers in Genetics, an open-access publisher. Despite all the concerns and challenges associated with OA publishers, Frontiers has one feature that is interesting and unique. The names of the reviewers who reviewed the article and "endorsed" the manuscript are listed along with the handling editor. Matching the multi-country dataset analysed, the reviewers are from China, Korea and USA (India). The reviewer comments and responses are unfortunately not made public upon acceptance. The data generated as part of this study is the first whole-genomic dataset of Kadaknath chicken from India. Hopefully, more  Kadaknath data will get generated in the following years to understand how prevalent the signatures of selection are across the country.

Some of the main results from this paper are as follows:

1. Kadaknath is a distinct breed of black-bone fowl
2. *Fm_2 is the correct arrangement of duplicated regions at the Fm locus
3. All black-bone chicken breeds share the same rearrangement junctions at the Fm locus
4. Isolation by distance pattern suggests dispersal between India and China
5. Genome-wide signatures of selection in Kadaknath chicken

Based on these results, we can argue that the GI Tag is clearly justified. Even though Shinde et al., show a common origin for all BBC, it is yet to be established whether BBC originated in China or at some other location. If the currently popular out-of-China hypothesis were to be supported by future studies, the selection signatures seen in Kadaknath are still unique to this breed.  All life has a common origin. Yet we define species derived from this common origin as Endemic to a certain region. Similarly, the nativeness or indigenousness of a breed can be defined following changes that occurred at a certain point in time. Hence, the study by Shinde et al. improves our understanding of the history of this breed and also provides molecular markers that establish its unique identity.

One important finding from the Shinde et al., study is the identification of amino-acid-altering changes unique to Kadaknath that are found in a region with clear selective sweep signatures. Future efforts to understand the functional consequences would be essential to know what these changes mean and how they affect the fitness of Kadaknath compared to other breeds.