There is a world somewhere between reality and fiction. Although ignored by many, it is very real and so are those living in it. This forum is about the natural world. Here, wild animals will be heard and respected. The forum offers a glimpse into an unknown world as well as a room with a view on the present and the future. Anyone able to speak on behalf of those living in the emerald forest and the deep blue sea is invited to join.
If it's just old pictures I did not know that!
@Pckts nothing to do with L vs T I just like the paintings! And they are vintage! I'm against LvT debates!
A picture of three tigers receiving training from the animal trainer in the Zoo of Wassenaar, Netherland in 1941.
*This image is copyright of its original author
Studio recordings, behind the scenes. The filming of a jump of a wild tiger in the jungle. In reality, some assistants working on the jump, the tiger is also tied with ropes. Hollywood, Los Angeles, United States of America 1933. So much for the Tough and Macho Marlboro man.
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Two young tigers on a stool with the animal trainer behind at Hagenbeck Circus in 1913.
02-24-2015, 01:37 AM( This post was last modified: 02-24-2015, 01:47 AM by Apollo )
This is the picture of Maharaja Jayachamaraja Wadiyar (Maharaja of Mysore), he was a famous hunter and later was instrumental in banning shooting in the forests [1960s] as soon as it was realized the wild animals had to be protected.
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Here is the Monster tiger hunted by Maharaja Jayachamaraja Wadiyar in Bandipur. Just look at its size, a huge male.
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Here is a tigress hunted by Maharaja Jayachamaraja Wadiyar in Bandipur.
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Tiger hunted in 1930 by Maharaja Krishnaraja Wadiyar IV (then ruler of Mysore - in whites) with his hunting team.
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Tiger shot in 1921 by Prince of Wales (later Edward VIII) in Nepal.
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The river Kabini flows from the state of Kerala into Karnataka, while doing so it passes through one of the most pristine wildlife reserves in the country. This forest patch has been famous for its wildlife for ages. The area served as prime hunting grounds for the Maharajas of Mysore along with Kings and Emperors from other nations. This photograph dates back to 1891, that of the Grand Duke of Russia.
03-07-2015, 12:15 AM( This post was last modified: 03-07-2015, 12:20 AM by Apollo )
KHEDAA OPERATION
The Khedda was a method of capturing wild elephants that was evolved in the North - Eastern states of India. Unlike other methods like Mela Shikar and the Pit method , whole herds could be captured by khedda.
In Mela shikar induvidual elephants were isolated from the herd and lassoded with the help of trained domestic elephants called Kunkis. A mahout needed an extraordinary degree of skill to lasso a wild elephant and such men were called Phandes. Not all Phandes were men. Parbati Barua the daughter of the legendary Lalji Barua, Raja of Gaauripur , is a Phande. Lalji Barua specialised in the capture of wild elephants and is a revered figure in the elephant lore of the north-east.
The pit method widely practised in the south was a simple and straight foward method. A conceled pit with a trap door was dug and a wild elephant was trapped in it.This was not a very deseirable method as more often than not the trapped animal would sustain a lot of injuries.
With the khedda whole herds were driven into a stockade with the help of human beaters and trained elephants. At first a herd of elephants would be located and its habits studied. A suitable site many miles away would be located and a large stockade built. Human beater would then surround the herd from far away and slowly tighten their noose around the herd without alarming them. The herd would be slowly driven unknowingly towards the stockade. And then with a final push would be driven into the stockade. All this could take weeks or sometimes months but the sheer numbers of elephants captured made it very cost effective.Once in the stockade the elephants would be isolated and domesticated.
Once the elephants were in the stockade mahouts on trined elephants would enter the stockade to isolate induviduals. This was an extremly dangerous part of the entire operation and usually involved extremly brutal methods.
A British Forest Officer in Assam called A.J.T.(Gaon Burra )Milroy was insrumental in stopping the mahouts from using brutal tactics. He laid down certain methods to be used and his works are became a standard for handling and mantainance of domestic elephants.
G.P.Sanderson another englishman introduced the khedda to the Mysore State and carried out several succesfull operations after a few initial setbacks. In fact the khedda came to be identified with the Mysore State.
The Mysore Khedda was a spectacle witnessed by various digniteries of the Raj with special grandstands being ereted for them to sit. The last Mysore Khedda was conducted in the 1970s at the Kakankote State Forest, now part of the Nagarhole National Park.
Special poojas would be offered at the Mastigudi temple before the start. The temple and the site are now submerged by the Kabini dam and are only exposed when the waters recede during the summer.
History and art have shown evidences of this practice from Chandragupta Maurya’s period in the records of the Greek Ambassador, Megasthenes. He writes about how female elephants were used as decoys to lure male elephants into enclosures or deep trenches.
The Mysore Khedda, however, enjoyed royal patronage, and had the attraction of a river drive as well. About 36 kheddas were done in the Kakanakote forest and the river drive was started by a Briton, GP Sanderson, in honour of the visit of the Duke of Russia in the 19th century. The Kheddas, which lasted for an entire century, ended in 1971, and were a visual fest like the earlier operations.
“I had tears in my eyes,” says Kamakshi Ananthakrishna, wife of the former Additional Chief Secretary of the Karnataka Government who saw the last Khedda. The drummers drove all the wild elephants into the water as the domestic elephants surrounded them. They were subsequently driven into an enclosure, and were caught using ropes. It was distressing to hear the cries of the elephants that fell into the pits. Today, the Khedda site, interestingly, is submerged under water after the construction of the Kabini dam. The elephants now enjoy a clear path to travel from the Nagarhole forest to the Bandipur stretch.
Kabini has also been known for its Khedda operations, where trained mahouts drove wild Elephants into stockade traps known as Kheddas for domestication. Seen here is the Khedda operation of 1913.
*This image is copyright of its original author
Wild elephants captured in Keddah
*This image is copyright of its original author
Men Taming a Wild Elephant
*This image is copyright of its original author
A Khedda Operation in Progress
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Elephants in a Khedda Captivity
*This image is copyright of its original author
Khedda operation
*This image is copyright of its original author
*This image is copyright of its original author
The photographs below were taken during the last khedda in kakankote. Thankfully the practise of khedda has now stopped and the old site is now part of the famous kabini backwaters where wild elephants now find a santuary from man.
*This image is copyright of its original author
*This image is copyright of its original author
Roping wild elephants
*This image is copyright of its original author
*This image is copyright of its original author
*This image is copyright of its original author
Kabini River before the construction of the dam.
*This image is copyright of its original author
The remains of the Mastigudi Temple, Lord Vinayaga or Ganesha (Elephant God)
*This image is copyright of its original author
The Mysore Khedda also threw up the first indian star in Hollywood. A hollywood film unit was invited to film a special khedda.A young orphan who had been bought up by the mahouts at Karapura village stared in the film. He travelled with the unit to the US and went on to act in various hollywood films before returning. He was known as Saboo the elephant boy.
The Gunsore man-eater terrorised the central Indian district of Seoni. Believed to have killed and eaten over 20 humans before it was eventually shot by a British officer in 1901 - image from Google Images.
The Khedda was a method of capturing wild elephants that was evolved in the North - Eastern states of India. Unlike other methods like Mela Shikar and the Pit method , whole herds could be captured by khedda.
In Mela shikar induvidual elephants were isolated from the herd and lassoded with the help of trained domestic elephants called Kunkis. A mahout needed an extraordinary degree of skill to lasso a wild elephant and such men were called Phandes. Not all Phandes were men. Parbati Barua the daughter of the legendary Lalji Barua, Raja of Gaauripur , is a Phande. Lalji Barua specialised in the capture of wild elephants and is a revered figure in the elephant lore of the north-east.
The pit method widely practised in the south was a simple and straight foward method. A conceled pit with a trap door was dug and a wild elephant was trapped in it.This was not a very deseirable method as more often than not the trapped animal would sustain a lot of injuries.
With the khedda whole herds were driven into a stockade with the help of human beaters and trained elephants. At first a herd of elephants would be located and its habits studied. A suitable site many miles away would be located and a large stockade built. Human beater would then surround the herd from far away and slowly tighten their noose around the herd without alarming them. The herd would be slowly driven unknowingly towards the stockade. And then with a final push would be driven into the stockade. All this could take weeks or sometimes months but the sheer numbers of elephants captured made it very cost effective.Once in the stockade the elephants would be isolated and domesticated.
Once the elephants were in the stockade mahouts on trined elephants would enter the stockade to isolate induviduals. This was an extremly dangerous part of the entire operation and usually involved extremly brutal methods.
A British Forest Officer in Assam called A.J.T.(Gaon Burra )Milroy was insrumental in stopping the mahouts from using brutal tactics. He laid down certain methods to be used and his works are became a standard for handling and mantainance of domestic elephants.
G.P.Sanderson another englishman introduced the khedda to the Mysore State and carried out several succesfull operations after a few initial setbacks. In fact the khedda came to be identified with the Mysore State.
The Mysore Khedda was a spectacle witnessed by various digniteries of the Raj with special grandstands being ereted for them to sit. The last Mysore Khedda was conducted in the 1970s at the Kakankote State Forest, now part of the Nagarhole National Park.
Special poojas would be offered at the Mastigudi temple before the start. The temple and the site are now submerged by the Kabini dam and are only exposed when the waters recede during the summer.
History and art have shown evidences of this practice from Chandragupta Maurya’s period in the records of the Greek Ambassador, Megasthenes. He writes about how female elephants were used as decoys to lure male elephants into enclosures or deep trenches.
The Mysore Khedda, however, enjoyed royal patronage, and had the attraction of a river drive as well. About 36 kheddas were done in the Kakanakote forest and the river drive was started by a Briton, GP Sanderson, in honour of the visit of the Duke of Russia in the 19th century. The Kheddas, which lasted for an entire century, ended in 1971, and were a visual fest like the earlier operations.
“I had tears in my eyes,” says Kamakshi Ananthakrishna, wife of the former Additional Chief Secretary of the Karnataka Government who saw the last Khedda. The drummers drove all the wild elephants into the water as the domestic elephants surrounded them. They were subsequently driven into an enclosure, and were caught using ropes. It was distressing to hear the cries of the elephants that fell into the pits. Today, the Khedda site, interestingly, is submerged under water after the construction of the Kabini dam. The elephants now enjoy a clear path to travel from the Nagarhole forest to the Bandipur stretch.
Kabini has also been known for its Khedda operations, where trained mahouts drove wild Elephants into stockade traps known as Kheddas for domestication. Seen here is the Khedda operation of 1913.
*This image is copyright of its original author
Wild elephants captured in Keddah
*This image is copyright of its original author
Men Taming a Wild Elephant
*This image is copyright of its original author
A Khedda Operation in Progress
*This image is copyright of its original author
Elephants in a Khedda Captivity
*This image is copyright of its original author
Khedda operation
*This image is copyright of its original author
*This image is copyright of its original author
The photographs below were taken during the last khedda in kakankote. Thankfully the practise of khedda has now stopped and the old site is now part of the famous kabini backwaters where wild elephants now find a santuary from man.
*This image is copyright of its original author
*This image is copyright of its original author
Roping wild elephants
*This image is copyright of its original author
*This image is copyright of its original author
*This image is copyright of its original author
Kabini River before the construction of the dam.
*This image is copyright of its original author
The remains of the Mastigudi Temple, Lord Vinayaga or Ganesha (Elephant God)
*This image is copyright of its original author
The Mysore Khedda also threw up the first indian star in Hollywood. A hollywood film unit was invited to film a special khedda.A young orphan who had been bought up by the mahouts at Karapura village stared in the film. He travelled with the unit to the US and went on to act in various hollywood films before returning. He was known as Saboo the elephant boy.
The only thing I have to say about this: injustice doesnt get legitimated just because it has tradition.
It´s obvious. Humans were and still are self-satisfied, arrogant and think they´re the centre of the world. Just the sheer thought, that you can own someone to make them more useful or suchlike is sooooo narrow minded. Oh, there´s someone very big and powerful with his whole family. Let´s chase them, push them into a corner and force them violently to submit to us. Disgusting!!!
You don´t want to be my property, I don´t want to be your property and any other animal doesn´t want to be the property of anyone as well. Simple as that.
We were and are self-satisfied, arrogant and think anthropocentricly. Though this doesn´t mean it always has to be like that, that it´s set in stone. People just have to change their minds and hearts. Starting by thinking about how you would feel being the Elephant family isn´t a bad start at all ;-)
Kenneth Anderson (1910–1974) was an Indian writer and hunter who wrote many books about his adventures in the jungles of South India.
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EARLY LIFE
Kenneth Anderson hailed from a Scottish family settled in India for six generations. His father (Douglas Stewart Anderson) was superintendent of the F.C.M.A. in Poona and dealt with the salaries paid to military personnel, having an honorary rank of captain. His father also had a rifle and often hunted for waterfowl. Even though his father was not a hunter of man eating carnivores, he was the person who had the most influence on Anderson's decision to become a hunter.
Anderson did his schooling from Bishop Cotton Boys' School and studied in St. Joseph's College, Bangalore. He was employed by the British Aircraft Factory in Bangalore (HAL Later) in the rank of Factory Manager for Planning. He owned nearly 200 Acres of Land across Karnataka, Hyderabad and Tamil Nadu as stated in his books. He had a son Donald Anderson (1937 - Present) who was also an avid hunter.
CAREER AS A HUNTER
His love for the inhabitants of the Indian jungle led him to big game hunting and eventually to writing real-life adventure stories. He would often go into the jungle alone and unarmed to meditate and enjoy the beauty of untouched nature. As a hunter, he tracked down man-eating tigers and leopards to eliminate the threat they posed to villages. Some of his most notable kills include the Sloth bear of Mysore, the Leopard of Gummalapur, the Leopard of the Yellagiri Hills, the Tigress of Jowlagiri, the Tiger of Segur and the Tiger of Mundachipallam.
He is officially recorded as having shot 8 man-eating leopards (7 males and 1 female) and 7 tigers (5 males and 2 females) on the Government records from 1939 to 1966 though he is rumored to have unofficially shot over 18-20 man eating panthers and over 15-20 man eating tigers. He also shot a few rogue elephants.
Unlike Jim Corbett, who hunted in North India - from the foothills of the Himalayas, the Sivaliks, Garhwal, Kumaon to Northern MP - Anderson hunted in South India - Andhrapradesh, Tamilnadu, Karnataka, Northern Malabar and (Kerala) (then Madras Presidency, Mysore State and Hyderabad Principality).
Kenneth Anderson with the man-eater of Jowlagiri
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Man-eater of Segur
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Man-eater of Yellagiris
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Man-eater leopard
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Kenneth Anderson's son with the Leopard
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Leopard Trophies
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He had a dog Nipper, a mongrel acquired on one of his hunting trips. In his books he writes he was fond of smoking a pipe on many occasions.
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LATER CAREER
His books are hailed as classics of jungle lore. His style of writing is unassuming, descriptive and engaging as he talks about his adventures with many wild animals. While most stories are about hunting tigers and panthers (or leopards) - particularly those that were man-eaters - he also includes chapters on his first-hand encounters with dangerous elephants, bison, and bears. There are also stories about the less 'popular' creatures like Indian wild dogs, hyenas, and snakes. He takes pains to explain the habits and personalities of these animals.
Anderson also gives valuable insights into the people of the Indian jungles of his time, with their lush green woods teeming with wildlife and local inhabitants having to contend with poor quality roads, communication and health facilities. His books delve into the habits of the jungle tribes, their survival tactics, and their day-to-day lives.
Besides focusing on Indian wildlife, he also explores the subject of the occult and writes about his live experiences with unusual phenomena (for which he has no explanation). He helped save the jungle dwelling tribes from the horrors of man-eaters in many villages in the south Indian states. He also was well versed in speaking Kannada, the language of his home town Bangalore, and also spoke Tamil, the language spoken in the neighboring states to some extent. He had a Studebaker car and usually used a .405 Winchester Model 1895 rifle for hunting. In addition to his reputation as a hunter, he was a pioneer of wildlife conservation in southern India, and spent his later years "shooting" with a camera.
