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ON THE EDGE OF EXTINCTION - A - THE TIGER (Panthera tigris)
ON THE EDGE OF EXTINCTION - A - THE TIGER (Panthera tigris)
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ON THE EDGE OF EXTINCTION - A - THE TIGER (Panthera tigris)
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Tiger – A Living Heritage of India
“nirvano vadhyate vyaghro nirvyaghram, chidyate vanam;
tasmadvyaghro vanam raksedvanam vyaghram ca palayet.”
[The Tiger dies without the forest, and similarly the forest is cut down without the Tiger. There can be no forest without Tigers and no Tigers without a forest. The forest shelters the Tigers and Tigers guard the forest.”] - The Mahabharata
From abundance and a position of reverence to a brush with Extinction - this sums up the story of the Tiger in India. Tigers are not only a symbol of all that is splendid, mystical and powerful about Nature. They are also a beacon of Biodiversity, linking together the forests they inhabit and the natural resources and ecosystem services that their habitats produce for the people. Tigers have played integral roles in ancient and modern cultures and folklore, being used to represent various characteristics and symbolisms throughout the centuries. They are also considered one of the charismatic mega fauna and are used as the face of conservation campaigns worldwide.
Palaeontological Evidences:
The oldest fossil remains of the Tiger in India were discovered at Karnool cave deposits in Andhra Pradesh, approximately 11,000 years ago. Some of the earliest images of the Tiger came from rock art. This was mainly because Tigers and early Man must have shared dwelling sites in the cave shelters and along the rocky outgrowths of hills and slopes. These rock drawings are depicted at many sites especially in Madhya Pradesh including Bhimbetka, the Mahadeo hills and Panna. The ancient people regarded Tigers as a kind of ‘totem’, and hoped they could derive strength from them so as to become immune to all kinds of disasters.
Indus Valley Civilization:
The Tiger has been India’s national symbol since about 2500 BCE (Before the Christian Era). The people of the Indus Valley civilization (2900 BC-1900 BC) of Harappa and Mohenjo Daro were the first to use the Tiger as an important symbol in their cultures. It was displayed on the Pashupati seal, where the Tiger, being the largest, represents the Yogi Shiva’s people. Other images showed the naked figure of a woman, upside down with her legs apart and two tigers standing to one side. It implied the close connection of the Tiger with fertility and birth and that Man and Tiger evolved together from the same ‘Mother-Earth’. “The depictions of animal figures on the seals from the Indus valley civilization were a mark of our heritage, culture, lifestyle and religious beliefs and practices.”
Shiv Pashupati – Lord of Animals [Photo: tigertribe.net]
Aryans and Hindu Mythology:
In India, the Tiger had also found a place of prestige in Vedic literatures. When the Aryans (Vedic Indic people - who migrated into the Indian subcontinent around 1500 BCE), spread the Hindu religion, the Tiger was absorbed into Hindu consciousness from the time immemorial, as the Divine vehicle of the supreme Goddess of power, Durga. Bringing light and peace to the Earth, Devi Durga, whose name means ‘beyond reach’, is the feminine force or Shakti, created by the Gods to combat the evil male power that has percolated through the world. The Tiger represented Shakti, was a repository of feminine force being born of the Earth Mother, and together constituted the most powerful repository of power against evil. This imagery can be seen in the Devi-Kothi temple in Himachal Pradesh – an 18th century wooden shrine with muralsfull of Tigers, as well as other Shakti temples throughout the country. One of the most important Hindu God - Shiva can be seen seated on a Tiger skin. Bagheshwar - The Tiger God is present in different manifestations among a variety of people in India, particularly among the Vindhyan and other hill tribes. When Buddhism evolved from Hinduism and spread through Asia, the Tiger came as spiritual and cultural images, which adorn splendid murals in temples in Bhutan, China, Thailand and Tibet.
Divine Vehicle of Goddess Durga (Photo1: Valmik Thapar)
Ma Vyagrabahini worshipped at Hatibagan Kundu Bari, North Kolkata (Photo 2: Author’s own click – Pujo 2017) Tigers in Human cultures: Forests have always been central to Indian civilization, representing the feminine force in ‘Prakriti’. Forests are the primary source of life and fertility, a refuge for the wanderer and a home for the seeker. Forests have always been viewed as a model for societal and civilizational evolution. The Tiger is deeply rooted in the history, culture, beliefs and myths of the Indian sub-continent. v BON-BIBI and DAKSHIN RAI – Deities of Sundarban Tribes:
Banbibi (Bandurga or Byaghradevi), the revered guardian spirit of the forests, worshipped by both Hindu and Muslim residents of Sundarbans. The honey-collectors and the woodcutters before entering the forest, seek her blessings for protection against the Tiger attacks. It is believed that the demon king, Dakshin- Rai, an arch enemy of Banbibi actually appears in disguise of Tiger and attacks the human beings. Dakshin Rai, the God of Tigers has been born of the imaginations of the people living in the Sunderban areas, who believe that he is the only God who can protect them from the beasts of the jungle.
Ma Bonbibi – Mother to humans and Tigers (Photo: indiatimes.com)
v Kollong and Ullatar tribes of Kerala considered Tiger as the son of Goddess Parashakthi. They called the Tigers,“Grand-dad”. They rarely killed Tigers. If the Tigers killed many people and cattles, then one of the tribal men would kill the Tiger and asked for pardon in a public place. Then he had to live outside the village for a year and eat the food given by others. This showed the respect they had for the Tigers.
Tiger worshiped by Kollong and Ullatar tribes (Source: 31-11-1963 article in Jayakeralam) [https:// tamilvedas.com]
v The Warli tribal people of India believed that the Tiger was the greatest of all Gods. The Warli tribals lived in the North of Mumbai in Maharashtra on tracts of land along the Gujarat border. They practiced subsistence agriculture using the slash and burn method, and rarely used fertilizers, hence believing that Mother Earth had her own method of fertilizing herself and man-made fertilizers would do harm to it. Phallic-shaped wooden and stone images were daubed in red to indicate their extreme sanctity and were placed everywhere as symbols of fertility, not only for the crop fields but also for marriages and the birth of children. A powerful symbol of fertility, the Tiger commanded fear and respect across different regions and cultures. Warli paintings are indicative of the deep links of the tribals with the Tigers. In this way, the Tiger also signified a vital link between diverse cultures and the magic of the Tiger determines the relationship between Man and Tiger in many parts of tribal India.
Indian Stamp Commemorating Tribal Art (Photo: indiantribalheritage.org)
Medieval India:
The Chola Empire (300 CE to 1279 CE) was one of the longest-ruling dynasties in the history of India. The Tiger was theRoyal Emblem of the Cholas and was depicted on coins, seals and banners. The seals symbolized Chola’s conquest and dominance over the Pandyas, the Cheras and the eastern Chalukyas, respectively.
1. Flag of Chola Kingdom [Photo: Wikimedia Commons]
2. Chola coin silver kasu of Uttama Chola (973-985) Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu, India. [Photo: tigertribe.net] The beginning of one of the richest centuries, in terms of prolific depictions of Tiger art was the Mughal Era. The Mughal Emperors comprehensively documented their observations on India’s faunal wealth, notably the founder of the dynasty,Emperor Babar (Babarnama).
Fresco of Mughal Emperor Babur in a hunting expedition (Photo: indianhistoryspeaks.blogspot.com)
Sher Shah Suri (1486-1545), the founder of the Suri Empire; defeated Babar’s son Humayun and took control of the Mughal Empire in 1538. According to legend, while at Bihar, the Afghan King, Sher Shah Suri, was attacked by a Tiger. Sher Shah, managed to grapple the Tiger, eventually slaying the animal by tearing it into pieces with a single blow of his sword. The name Sher (meaning lion or tiger) was thus conferred upon him for his courage.
Mughal Emperor Jalal-ud-Din Muhammad Akbar’s passion for the big game: began a tradition of royal hunting, orShikar, that was carried on by Mughal rulers until the dynasty fell in 1857. Paintings from the period depict Mongol, Rajput, Turkish and Afghan nobility hunting from elephant or horseback. The Emperor’s favourites being Tiger hunting, leopard hunting and elephant catching. These outings were considered exotic, heroic sport- and Tigers were the ultimate trophies.
According to Abul Fazl, the court historian of Emperor Akbar, “His Majesty always makes hunting a means of increasing his knowledge and uses hunting parties as occasions to inquire into the condition of the people and army.”
Gwalior Tiger hunt painting – depicts Akbar hunting Tigers while returning from Agra to Malwa in 1561. Akbar had killed a Tigress and five subadult cubs. (Photo: messybeast.com)
Emperor Nur-ud-din Salim Jehangir, the eldest son of Mughal Emperor Akbar, was the greatest naturalist of the Mughal Empire. He was an astute observer, and his Tuzk-e-Jehangiri had detailed and animated descriptions of wildlife. He also kept a detailed record of his kills: for a period of over 36 years, he had personally hunted 17,167 animals, 80 of which were Tigers.
Hunting in the Mughal time was not only confined to the royal men. Jehangir’s Empress NurJahan, was also a markswoman and enjoyed hunting as much as her husband. On one occasion, she had killed four Tigers that came out of the bushes near the elephant carrying the royal couple.
The Tiger constituted an important subject of the Mughal Paintings - symbolizing power, royalty, strength and scenes depicting a member of the Mughal royal family, overpowering or felling a Tiger, underlined both his sovereignty and prowess.
Entry of the British:
Elaborate Big game hunts became a favorite pastime for the British Raj that succeeded the Mughals. The English were keenly aware that as royal beasts and masters of the jungle, Tigers had been closely associated with Indian rulers. Tiger Hunting was the symbol in the construction of British imperial and masculine identities, to provide endlessly exciting opportunities to test one’s marksmanship and sporting acumen – The control and mastery of the ruling community over the natural and human resources of colonial India. Tigers also represented for the British all that was wild and untamed in the Indian natural world. Therefore, by killing Tigers the British were also symbolically staging the defeat of Tipu Sultanand other Indian rulers who dared to get in the way of Britain’s imperial conquest of India.
British General and his mistress posing after a Tiger hunt. (Photo: indianhistoryspeaks.blogspot.com)
v Indian Rulers and the Tiger:
The Great Tipu Sultan (1750-1799) – “The Tiger man of Mysore” was also a great admirer of the Tiger. He was obsessed with the animal to the extent that he adorned almost everything with Tiger symbols. Even his banner carried the legend ‘The Tiger is God’. Around his kingdom stretched some of the finest Tiger habitats. He adopted the Tiger as his personal emblem, and kept a pair of pistols with tiger-headed golden hilts near his throne. Tiger claws were prized in the region for making jewellery and Tipu’s army wore specially made tiger-striped uniforms. The Tiger emblem was all pervasive and enmeshed into the dress, arms, armour, coins, uniforms, flags and the Royal throne. Tipu’s throne stretched eight feet in width and was supported by a life-sized Tiger heavily gilded in pure gold. Tipu even created a life-sized wooden Tiger mauling an Englishman. Housed in the Victoria and Albert Museum, this work of art is called ‘Tipu’s Tiger’ and is widely known. The symbolic meaning of Tipu’s Tiger was the emblematical triumph over the British.
Tipu Sultan’s Royal throne and Tiger Emblem (Photo: www.historyinthemargins.com/Historyondisplay)
Tipu’s Tiger - a life-sized wooden Tiger mauling an Englishman- housed in the Victoria and Albert Museum (Photo: https://speakzeasy.wordpress.com/TipuSultan)
v Annihilation during British Raj:
The promulgation of Forest Act of 1878, fenced the forest by placing over one-fifth of the landmass of South Asia directly under British control, making the Raj’s forestry department not only the largest land manager in the subcontinent but also one of the largest forestry enterprises in the world. The East India Company’s servants had the time of their lives hunting Tigers and leopards, slaughtering them in hundreds. So casual had they become that they often did not even care to keep a count of the Tigers they so wantonly killed.
Here is a list of Records which show some shocking data concerning the massacre of wildlife in colonial India:
“The Late Maharaja of Surguja claimed that his total bag of Tigers was 1,157. Captain Forsyth had shot 21 Tigers in one month. Gordon Cumming had shot 73 Tigers in the year 1863 and 10 Tigers within a span of five days in the following year.Nrupendra Narayan of Bihar had killed 370 Tigers, 208 Rhinos, and 430 buffaloes between 1871 and 1907. After ascending the throne in 1911, King George V and his team had slayed 39 Tigers and 18 rhinos within 10 days on his tour to Nepal.Colonel Geoffrey Nightingale had shot more than 300 tigers in India. William Rice had shot 158 Tigers, including 31 cubs between 1850 and 1854 in Rajasthan. One civil Judge bagged over 400 tigers in the short period of his service in Bengal.Simpson had killed no less than 600 Tigers during his 21 year stay in India. Percy Wyndham had bagged no less than 500 Tigers during his service in India.
The Indian heads of various states and provinces- known as ‘rajas’ and ‘maharajas’ were no less guilty in this regard as they also indulged freely in unscrupulous slaughter of the then abundant yet precious wildlife. The Maharaja of Nepal had shot 433 Tigers and 53 Rhinos between 1933 and 1940. . Newly crowned Rewa Kings in Central India thought it auspicious to slay 109 tigers after their coronation. Shooting a Tiger was a coming-of-age ritual for young Indian princes. Maharaja’s ofUdaipur, Vijayanagar, and Bikaner shot dozens, sometimes hundreds of Tigers each and decorated their palaces with Tiger pelts and Tiger heads and posed in front of piles of dead Tigers.”
- As recorded in the book, ‘Under the Shadow of Man-Eaters’ by Jerry A. Jaleel
Tiger Hunt by King George V in India. (commons.wikimedia.org)
The real destruction of India’s forests, the major habitat of its wildlife began under the rule of the East India Company about 250 years ago. In 1841, the British imposed a ban on the Warli tribals and their use of forest wood. Extraction of timber for ship building and railroad sleepers in the United Kingdom as well as in India by British companies was the principal cause of deforestation. To meet the needs of the two World-Wars, they justified the excessive fellings as ‘war fellings’. The planned felling of forests was undertaken without any understanding of the functioning of the forest ecosystems.
2. Maharaja of Bikaner with his 200th Tiger, 1939
(Photo: indianhistoryspeaks.blogspot.com)
Edward James Jim Corbett, British India’s iconic hunter of man-eating Tigers and leopards, was actively engaged in big game hunting during the first half of the twentieth century. Corbett’s active period of man-eater hunting was spread over more than thirty years from 1907 to 1938, during which he killed twelve man-eating tigers and leopards responsible for killing more than 1,500 people in the hill districts of Garhwal, Almora and Nainital. Man –Eater Tiger of Powalgarh was shot in winter of 1930 by Jim Corbett (Photo: Wikipedia) Post- Independence: Deforestation rose in order to make way for infrastructure and industrial development in the country. The trade in trophiesand the Tiger-hunting safaris that followed Independence were even worse than the British era. There is no reliable record of the resultant loss of wildlife. Ranthambore was the hunting reserve of the Maharajas of Jaipur. In the year 1955, it was declared as Sawai Madhopur Wildlife Sanctuary. Sawai Madhopur hosted Queen Elizabeth II along with her husband, Prince Philip - Duke of Edinburg to shoot Tigers in 1961. Maharaja Sawai Man Singh and Maharani Gayatri Devi had played hosts to the British Royalty. The Queen infamously even asked for a calf as bait to hunt Tigers, only to be gently turned down by the then Prime Minister, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. Nevertheless, a 10-foot long Tiger was shot down by the Duke. Prince Philip and the Queen are pictured after a Tiger hunt on 26th January 1961 during the Royal tour of India. The Tiger was shot by Prince Philip. (Photo: http://www.thetimes.co.uk)
One of the earliest voices of protest against this unethical and wanton carnage of wildlife and ecological destruction was that of the Hunter, the Conservationist, and the Legend Jim Corbett. Highlighting, the significance of Corbett’s conservationist leanings, Author Reeta Dutta Gupta in her book, Jim Corbett: Hunter-Conservationist writes; “To the people of Kumaon and Garhwal, Corbett was their savior, who delivered the village folk from the jaws of marauding man-eaters. To the world he presented the Indian tiger in a new light – a world heritage that had no substitute. He was the first man of his time to call for the tiger’s protection.” “Carpet Sahib” taught villagers about man-eaters (Photo: Wikipedia)
At the close of the 19th century, when Rudyard Kipling penned the Jungle Book, between 50,000 and 100,000 tigers were thought to roam the Indian subcontinent; in 1971 the numbers had fallen to less than 2,000. It was at this time, “India’s greatest wildlife savior” - Prime Minister Smt. Indira Gandhi took over the reins. She spearheaded a fight against the growing tiger crisis, outlawing the export of skins in 1969 and appointing a Tiger Task Force, two years later. The Indian Tiger was listed in the RED DATA BOOK as a PROTECTED SPECIES and its hunting was finally banned in 1970. The first International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) conference hosted by India in New Delhi in 1969 was the first milestone where the issues of Tiger conservation were brought into limelight. Then on 1st April 1973, Indira Gandhi launched “Project Tiger”, which still stands as the World’s most comprehensive Tiger conservation initiative. She established nine tiger reserves, hired guards to patrol them and forcibly moved whole villages outside their perimeters. Prime Minister Smt. Indira Gandhi with a Tiger (Photo: ‘Indira Gandhi’ – A Life in Nature by Jairam Ramesh)
What really established the future foundation for the Tiger’s survival was Mrs Gandhi’s very public message for Project Tiger. She said: “Forestry practices, designed to squeeze the last rupee from our jungles, must be radically reoriented at least within our national parks and sanctuaries, and pre-eminently in our Tiger reserves. The narrow outlook of the accountant must give way to a wider vision of recreational, educational and ecological value. Is it beyond our political will and administrative ingenuity to set aside about one or two per cent of our forests in our pristine glory for this purpose?” The Tiger – as it stands today: The Wildlife Institute of India’s grim 2008 report shocked India and the world with its finding: A far more accurate camera trap survey counted just 1,411 adult tigers – after a $400 million investment over 34 years to save them under Project Tiger. Today there are 50 Tiger reserves covering over 2% of the area and approximately 10% of the recorded forest area. Poaching continues to skyrocket and over the years, Tiger deaths have been very high. The trade in all parts of Tigers, especially their bones for Chinese medicine is the new threat that is decimating the species. According to TRAFFIC 1994 report, China exported 40,900 kg and 3,514 cartons of medicines containing tiger derivatives in 1991. Though all the derivatives claimed may not be genuine, even a small fraction is enough to endanger our Tigers. A Hope for the Future: It is clearly evident from the above discussion that, one species of wild animal that has captivated human beings from time immemorial is the Tiger. Until the 19th century, it was ‘the dangerous beast’; during the first half of the 20th century it became the royal quarry; the two decades post Indian independence it played the role of a mascot luring trophy hunters to India; and today it is an unrivalled conservation emblem. As the famous historian Romila Thapar writes, “At the start of Indian civilization the Tiger was revered and woven into Mythology, yet a few thousand years later it was hunted almost to extinction. The Tiger was not an alien or exotic animal; it had long been appropriated into the semantics of power and myth in Indian society. What were it then that was so mysterious about the animal?” Dedication and determination backed by hard labour, bold and timely action, a strong political will (as provided by Mrs. Indira Gandhi) and above all, conservation consciousness among our people as part of our culture are needed to save the last remnants of India’s pristine natural wonders and its inhabitants. Let’s pray for a better and safe haven for Tigers on this International Tigers day – 29th July 2018. Let us hope that the Tiger will always continue to inspire the artist as it had done in the past and Human beings will always be enveloped in the Tiger’s magical spell. References: 1. The Tiger: Soul of India – By Valmik Thapar. 2. Tiger History in Indian Subcontinent – tigertribe.net 3. A Concise History of Tiger Hunting – National Geographic 4. Indira Gandhi – A life in Nature by Jairam Ramesh. 5. The Tiger: Timeless Treasures from Indian Museum – A booklet by Indian Museum, Kolkata. 6. Our Wild Heritage – A Hope for the Future – By Kailash Sankhala. 7. Hinduism and Nature – a Book by Nanditha Krishnan. About the Author: Diptarka Ghosh, a post-graduate in Zoology, from the University of Calcutta; is cuurently pursuing research in the Zoological Survey of India. An avid nature and wildlife lover, he wishes to work for the conservation of nature and wildlife in the near future. |
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