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.
--- Peter Broekhuijsen ---

  • 12 Vote(s) - 3.83 Average
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
ON THE EDGE OF EXTINCTION - A - THE TIGER (Panthera tigris)

peter Offline
Co-owner of Wildfact
*****
Moderators
( This post was last modified: 09-24-2020, 12:55 AM by peter )

ABOUT A FIGHT BETWEEN TWO BULLS, ONE OF WHICH WAS A TIGER - II

d - The Lame Ghost Bull


This is the real title of the story that features in this post. It is quite a story. Knowles, most unfortunately, didn't add dates in his book, but he was in India for about 30 years. As his book was published in 1932, I assume he was in India somewhere between 1900-1930. My guess is the story happened between 1920-1930. 

d1 - Location

The incident took place in the extreme north of the Bahraich district, some seventy or eightly miles from the first low range of the Himalayas. Bahraich was one of the most northern jungle districts of the old province of Oudh which had Lucknow as its capital. In those days (a century ago), most of the district was covered with extensive forests. Knowles, his brother Col. J.K., an Opium Officer and his guest joined a Christmas party arranged by the Deputy Commissioner of Bahraich. The Charda camp for which they were bound lay just two miles south of the Nepal frontier.

d2 - How did they travel in India a century ago?

For long journeys, the train was used. At the station where you left the train, the equipment needed for the shoot (tent, food and drinks) was loaded on to a bullock cart and taken to the camp that was selected. This usually took one or two days. In the twenties of the last century, the visitors, usually not the deprived, used their car to get to within 10 miles of the camp selected. In northern India and Nepal, elephants were used to get to the camp. In this story, they had five guns and four elephants.

- The cars used in the story:


*This image is copyright of its original author


- A buffalo cart:


*This image is copyright of its original author


- One of the elephants:


*This image is copyright of its original author


- An encampment in the sub-Himalayan forests:


*This image is copyright of its original author


d3 - The deserted village

Before going to Charda Camp, it was decided to visit a small village deep in the forest. The reason was the village, inhabited by a jungle tribe known as the 'Tharoos', had been deserted. As the 'Tharoos' seemed to have disappeared completely, the Deputy Commissioner decided a visit was necessary.  

Before they started, they talked to the forest guards and their chief 'chikarri'. They strongly adviced against a trip to the village. Here's why.

d4 - The lame Ghost Bull

The deserted village was surrounded by primeval forest and wild cattle. Nearly all bulls of the wild herd had been killed by the giant lame Ghost Bull. He wasn't really a bull, but a ghost. In this case it was the soul of a high caste Brahmin who, twenty years before the story happened, desired to possess the power of raising the dead. He studied the necessary magic under a very holy Ascetic and was, in due course, ordered to go out and practise among the untouchables. In this story, the untouchables were the Chandala.

One day, a Chandala died and was trown away, to be devoured by the jackals. The Brahmin came to where the body was lying and commenced his incantations. He succeeded in resuscitating one half of the body (the entire length of one side) when he, in sudden terror, forgot the rest of the holy formulas. Panick-stricken, the Brahmin bolted, but he was followed by the shuffling body of the half alive Chandala calling out after him " ... halfdone, underdone, undone ... " (pp. 314).

The miserable Brahmin fled from city to city, but could not get away from the awful shuffling sound and terrible cry of the wretched apparition. In the end, he fled to the jungle and found his way to the deserted village last year. The poor village people heard his prayers to the great God, Vishnu (the Protector), who granted him death and transmigration; his soul passing into one of the living bulls of the wild herd, for protection from the Chandala.

Soon after this, the apparition arrived at the village crying out " ... half-done, underdone, undone ... ". The village people heard his prayers to the great God Siva (the Destroyer), who changed the Chandala into the dreaded lame Ghost Bull, twice as large as the biggest bull of the wild herd and many times as fierce.

The mighty limping Ghost Bull emitted deafening bellows every day. By the mandate of the great God of Siva, the herd of wild cattle had to respond and, therefore, always had to send a bull to dispute the leadership of the mighty lame Ghost Bull. Nearly every second day, a bull of the herd was slain by the monster bull.

By calling out all the bulls, the Ghost Bull will eventually meet his enemy and the fight would be momentous: a struggle between the great Vishnu the Protector and Siva the Destroyer. Fearing the battle, the villagers, led by a priest send out to find them, had deserted the village.             

d5 - To the deserted village

After listening to the story, the Deputy Commissioner, Knowles, his brother, the Opium Officer and his guest decided to send the buffalo cart and the elephants to Charda camp and visit the deserted village without local help. In the two cars at their disposal, they slowly covered the distance to the village. After two hours of hard work they reached a large open space covered with grass two or three feet high: this probably was the place where the deserted village had been.

The village had been deserted before the start of the monsoon. It was December when Knowles and the others arrived at the place where the village had been. In about 6 months, the grass had grown to a height of 2-3 feet.

They saw and heard nothing. Relieved, they poured themselves a fresh beer and talk about the relation between poor people and superstition. Then they suddenly hear a thunderous bellow. Not more than 50 or 60 yards from their cars, they see the grass violently shaken and dust coming up. But no matter how hard they look, there is no bull!

Totally flabberghasted, the incident they just saw with their own eyes is discussed. An invisible bull? But they were not the only ones who heard him. Suddenly, from the opposite direction, a monster bull comes out of the jungle:

" ... On comes the brute shaking his enormous curved horns, and stopping every ten paces to lower his great head and bellow! At each such demonstration, a cloud of dust rises up to screen him for a few seconds. We bend low under the cover of some bushes and curving grass in the front of the cars, utterly bewildered, and watch the huge bull walk right up to the spot from which the original challenge first came thundering out. But there is no fierce opponent to meet him! A dead silence prevails, and the huge bull stands with his head erect and nostrils expanded, apparently as much surprised and puzzled as we are ... "  (pp. 318-319).

Just when the Opium Officer understood the situation and informed the others to be ready to shoot, they saw  

" ... an enormous elongated form ... " emerge from the low grass and two mighty paws " ... hugging the thick-set neck of the monster bull, whose great horned head is suddenly thrown up, and he falls forward with a deep groan. The next instant, a great striped animal with a gigantic cat's head gives a clear view of formidable bulging shoulders, and a volley rushes out immediately ... " (pp. 319). 

The Opium Officer, an experienced hunter, said he had seen tigers imitate sambar and cheetal calls, but he had never heard of a tiger imitating and challenging a bull before:


*This image is copyright of its original author
 

d6 - Conclusion

Five experienced hunters witnessed a large male tiger call and challenge a 'monster bull' with a 'thick-set neck' close to the Nepal border. The bull answered the challenge and was killed in an instant. Broken neck. It happened in broad daylight.

You probably remember the post I did on B. Berg. Berg wrote about a very large buffalo-killing tiger ('The Killer of Men') close to the Bhutan border. The 'Killer of Men' only killed the largest bulls. Berg saw many bulls with broken necks and was convinced it wasn't 'collateral damage'. This is the second time I read about a large male tiger who used this technique. I would get to confirmation. The source is as reliable as it comes: Knowles and the others saw what happened with their own eyes. 

Unfortunately, Knowles didn't add photographs to the story. For this reason, I decided to finish the post with two photographs (taken by B. Berg) posted before:


*This image is copyright of its original author



*This image is copyright of its original author
3 users Like peter's post
Reply




Messages In This Thread
RE: ON THE EDGE OF EXTINCTION - A - TIGERS (Panthera tigris) - peter - 05-29-2015, 02:07 AM
Demythologizing T16 - tigerluver - 04-12-2020, 11:44 AM
Tiger Data Bank - Apollo - 07-28-2014, 09:54 PM
RE: Tiger Data Bank - Apollo - 07-28-2014, 10:02 PM
RE: Tiger Data Bank - Apollo - 07-29-2014, 12:56 AM
RE: Tiger Data Bank - peter - 07-29-2014, 07:05 AM
Tiger recycling bin - Roflcopters - 09-04-2014, 01:36 AM
RE: Tiger recycling bin - Pckts - 09-04-2014, 02:22 AM
RE: Tiger recycling bin - Roflcopters - 09-05-2014, 01:01 AM
RE: Tiger Data Bank - Apollo - 11-15-2014, 10:07 PM
RE: Tiger Data Bank - Apollo - 11-15-2014, 10:57 PM
RE: Tiger Data Bank - Apollo - 11-15-2014, 11:33 PM
RE: Tiger Data Bank - Apollo - 02-19-2015, 11:25 PM
RE: Tiger Data Bank - GuateGojira - 02-23-2015, 11:36 AM
Status of tigers in India - Shardul - 12-20-2015, 03:23 PM
RE: Tiger Directory - Diamir2 - 10-03-2016, 04:27 AM
RE: Tiger Directory - peter - 10-03-2016, 06:22 AM
Genetics of all tiger subspecies - parvez - 07-15-2017, 01:08 PM
RE: Tiger Predation - peter - 11-11-2017, 08:08 AM
RE: Man-eaters - Wolverine - 12-03-2017, 11:30 AM
RE: Man-eaters - peter - 12-04-2017, 09:44 AM
RE: Tigers of Central India - Wolverine - 04-13-2018, 01:17 AM
RE: Tigers of Central India - qstxyz - 04-13-2018, 08:34 PM
RE: Size comparisons - peter - 07-16-2019, 05:28 AM
RE: Amur Tigers - peter - 05-20-2021, 07:13 AM
RE: Amur Tigers - Nyers - 05-21-2021, 08:02 PM
RE: Amur Tigers - peter - 05-22-2021, 08:09 AM
RE: Amur Tigers - GuateGojira - 04-06-2022, 12:59 AM
RE: Amur Tigers - tigerluver - 04-06-2022, 01:08 AM
RE: Amur Tigers - tigerluver - 04-06-2022, 09:08 AM
RE: Amur Tigers - tigerluver - 04-06-2022, 11:30 PM
RE: Amur Tigers - peter - 04-08-2022, 07:27 AM



Users browsing this thread:
8 Guest(s)

About Us
Go Social     Subscribe  

Welcome to WILDFACT forum, a website that focuses on sharing the joy that wildlife has on offer. We welcome all wildlife lovers to join us in sharing that joy. As a member you can share your research, knowledge and experience on animals with the community.
wildfact.com is intended to serve as an online resource for wildlife lovers of all skill levels from beginners to professionals and from all fields that belong to wildlife anyhow. Our focus area is wild animals from all over world. Content generated here will help showcase the work of wildlife experts and lovers to the world. We believe by the help of your informative article and content we will succeed to educate the world, how these beautiful animals are important to survival of all man kind.
Many thanks for visiting wildfact.com. We hope you will keep visiting wildfact regularly and will refer other members who have passion for wildlife.

Forum software by © MyBB