At the turn of the 19th century in India, more than a million wild animals were trounced under the barrel of the gun, bringing them almost to the brink of extinction. The book charts the key moments in the fight to conserve the natural wealth of India, which has been the centre of admiration for maharajas, the cynosure of the eyes of all royal princes, eminent military officials and those who set on foot to India during the medieval period, embarking on a journey of incredible stories of wildlife sports such as hunting and shooting.
The chronicle gives a fascinating picture of the success story of eco-tourism in Karnataka. It offers an atmospheric and entertaining account of the lives of Indian princes, early lifestyles of viceroys, kings, czars and sovereign monarchs with joyful hunting expeditions of emperors, maharajas and enjoyable sports of diplomats and bloodhound hunters, the British civil servants. In a most vivid and gripping style, the saga records the life of men a man who lived in the wilderness amidst tribes and aborigines and made them friends, which spread the message of the benevolence of human relationships, love and a deep affection for nature and natural resources. It is a captivating book packed with splendid quotes, entertaining anecdotes, chronicles of pre-independent, innovative, triumphant trials of Khedda operations in the princely states of Mysore and Hyderabad, absorbing tales of the wildlife of India and her natural splendours across the cultural diversity of various tribes, ethnicities and their virtues, beliefs and ethos.
A K Singh a member of Indian Forest Service, had been working extensively in South Indu with the governments in association with local governing councils and bodies of self governance not only in deep rural hinterland of Karnataka, but also on the borders of Tamilnadu, Kerala, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh. An engineer by profession, in sustainable environment development, with 29 years of working in the administration of the government in the sectors of Ministry of Forests, Environment and Climate Change, Ministry of Tourism, Ministry of Social Welfare. Working Plan Divisions, Tribal Welfare and many Environmental and Development Corporations in Government of Karnataka. Consummate in Forestry, Wildlife & Environment Development had been closely associated for development of wildlife tourism, promoting cultural heritage, wildlife adventure, wilderness sports, Wildlife Photography, Sales & Digital Marketing management involving stakeholders in encouraging rural small & medium scale industries and entrepreneurship, in diverse green businesses and in community development. Performed for years together as a government executive in biodiversity conservation and environment clearance projects together with Tiger Ecology, Ecosystem Functioning and landscape configuration in and around National Park projects together with planning and development of Wildlife Sanctuaries, Conservation and Community Reserves in and around protected areas. Awarded for Credit Financing Entrepreneurship, Survey & Settlement of Lands, Soil Survey and Land use Planning, Human Wildlife Conflicts and Mitigation Planning, Remote Sensing and GIS mapping of larger landscapes. A practicing IT and ICT Technocrat of Geospatial Technology. Total Quality Management with expertise in Business Administration and specialization in Project Development & Financial Management, HRD, Marketing and Operations Research. Awarded Oscar International Prize for Social & Cultural Revolution and had been accredited with Environmental Auditing and Wildlife Conservation.
One of the most striking proofs of the cultural invention of wilderness is its thorough going erasure of the history from which it sprang", that's what William Cronon argues. Tourism plays a fundamental role in affairs of inter cultural cross breeding of ideas, thoughts and humanity. Culture and people so intimately acquainted with affairs of each other could naturalize the world of new science and technology, promoting diplomacy, increasing consumer spending therefore reducing military intervention. Tourism is a strong tool capable of transforming society with revolutionary changes in lifestyles by harnessing the nostalgia of the past, culminating the world class consumer experience into a real love, passion, and romance.
South India being one of the oldest civilizations in the world, with a mosaic of multi- cultural experience and rich heritage is among the most popular tourist destinations. Karnataka being the sixth largest state in India with area, equal to the United Kingdom and Ireland together, is a home to more than 500 protected monuments of India, largest numbers after Uttar Pradesh another twenty-five thousand monuments yet to receive attention of preservation. State of Karnataka is replete with innumerable ancient sculptured temples, mediaeval towns, picturesque hill ranges, forests, and beaches. The Golden Chariot train connects all the popular destinations of the state of Karnataka and Goa.
Eco Tourism destinations in the surroundings of forest, wildlife and conservation reserves are the abodes to harbour those who have no country for young, old men and tired. For those who remain locked up in the concrete urban metropolitan cities and towns. These ecotourism areas serve as remote green refuges for "eco-friendly- holidays where tourists frequently embark on a journey of visiting a landscape- in-greenery and wilderness close to nature. These resorts, forest guest houses and homestays are the old destination of hunting shikargahs of princes, kings, overloads, and Maharaja sprawling in a vast wilder jungle hinterland. These are the calls on to take joy in natural wonders under open sky, taking the tourists on extravagant binge of engrossing the beauty of high hills, lakeside view, riverside activities and along lofty mountains.
As the society evolved from time to time, with new civil code and ethics had been emerging fast to the tune of modern disciplined world. Now the hunting and shooting in our times is considered to be one of the most heinous, atrocious and dreadful crimes. No civil society shall allow atrocity, brutality and barbarism of killing wild animals, like Tigers, Lions, Deers, Birds, Butterflies and bees. Cruelty against all sorts of animals wild or domestic is prohibited in India by law. Animal abuse, or neglect or causing harm upon any animal for killing for entertainment or consumption of any product thereof is forbidden in India.
When I ponder over about what I hoped to accomplish in writing this book. You cannot write a book that covers so many varied matters related to history, issues pertaining to ecology and subject with a genuine concern for environment that too without a lot of good research based on innumerable historical records and references together with a vast array of past records of tours, journals and memoirs of those luminaries who lived bygone era of antiquity with all resources at their command. This sparkling narrative at times, raises the eyebrows, sometimes delves the reader to disbelief, with wonders and astonishment yet the entire text is required to be a rendering of the blend of all the distinguishing features of whole lot of colossal assortment of records so as to make it a dramatically interesting read fusing it with non fictionalized fantasy enriching the content by wealth of many first hand and second hand sources published, unpublished, bringing together the composite of memoirs in papers, reminiscences of various dignitaries, celebrities, nobilities, Maharajas, princes, kings, or scholars who authored their works and achievements in their books, accounts, letters and recollections of their nostalgia in their online, or archive diaries.
It would not have been possible without the support of remarkable array of books, paper works enlisted here in checklist of books catalogued in bibliography. I want to thank the blogs of Jim Edwards, collection of books of John Wakefield late resident director of Kabini Jungle and Resorts and available historical journals in Bombay Natural History Society and the online archives of USA, UK and India for giving me the light of knowledge enabling me to synthesize detailed account of fictionalized and non-fictionalized stories of not only ancient, mediaeval and modern history of India but also to draw the inferences from various blogs, online pictures, images of Mughal and British time Indian hunting and shooting records of Maharajas, Princes, Queen and Viceroys. All my thoughts, ideas and views are based upon the index of the directory of books provided here in citations, references and bibliography given in the last pages of this book, from which I could build informed opinions, could shape my outlook, could organize my belief and judgements and could write this book with so much zeal and enthusiasm, hence could reproduce pastime habits of elites in medieval India. My primary teacher being Aldo Leopold of County Almanac, Ruskin Bond the writer on the hills, Rachel Carson of Silent Spring, Annie Dillard of Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, Rebecca Solnit's A Field Guide to Getting Lost, Gretel Erich's the Solace of Open Spaces, Robert MacFarlane's Landmarks, Kenneth Anderson's Omnibus of Jungle Stories, Jim Corbett's Maneaters of Kumaon and Henry Williamson's Traka the Otter. From time to time historical non fictionalized stories of William Dalrymple of White Mughals, The Last Mughals, John Zubrzycki of Last Nizam have influenced my thought and storytelling. Similarly historical writings of Stanley Wolpert, Louis Fischer, Vikram Sampath, Manu S Pillai, Ales Von Tunzelmann, James Todd, Romila Thapar, Srikantha Shastri, Jadunath Sarkar and Bipin Chandra had left an indelible mark on the style of my writing. In the entire length of the book, all the quotes, extracts and references have been re produced duly referring to their identity by name and works so quoted in between the text and also indexed chapter wise in the notes of citations and references in back pages of this book.
My understanding on stories of wildlife was greatly enhanced by the sporadic routine notes of R H Morris published in Bombay Natural History Society during the last century. From Sterndale, Aitken, Millard to S H Prater all left a greater impression, From Dr. Salim Ali, Santapu and Daniel, all editors of BNHS turned me on reading. writing and travelling in search of wild animals, in quest of endangered species, in pursuit of closely examining the way of living of dozen aboriginal tribals, local native communities, customs, rituals, and practices of their hunting of wild animals, their mode of working with forest department, their association through village forest committees and other developmental works in the deep hinterlands of Karnataka on the borders of Andhra Pradesh, Tamilnadu and Kerala. Thanks to all of them, though most of them are no more alive. I think only way you can write is through honing your voice, creating your own imagination, building your own ideas through the eye of your own probe and exploration. An interesting read cannot be built without orienting the observation on other's experiences, without digging into their powerful vision, examining their ability to see something exclusive, even without amalgamating their concept and revelations translating their pursuit of truth into your own engine of creativity and imagination.
When you write a book on nature, wildlife, wild animals and environment, people need to know how you live your own life. I quite often tell them, I live life reading. writing and travelling extensively exploring rocks and minerals, surveying everything that which is old, ancient, medieval in nature and propensity, which is hooked on to the ground. Walking around archives and monuments, reading their facades, interpreting the figures, bust, sculpture, tapestries, frescoes and murals, investigating the past life of kings and queens, delving into the personal stories of Maharaja, looking into their photographs, pictures and snapshots, wandering on the ramparts of the forts, rambling over the bastions and curtain walls of citadels and visiting palaces of native palegars, having interaction with local chieftains and dining with village nobles collecting stories from their successors talking to them, staying with them. Content of this book meanders from journals, personal papers and publication of their tour diaries, their records of experiences, their knowledge and understanding from their chronicles of magazines, bulletins, periodicals, and academic journals, quite often online from archives, other from their account of blogs, their memoirs and log of records. Any similarity of thoughts, ideas, views, and feelings have been abbreviated in short paragraphs along with names of the authors who influenced the creativity. inspired building revelation, inventiveness, and resourcefulness.
Book's Contents and Sample Pages
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Hindu (876)
Agriculture (85)
Ancient (994)
Archaeology (567)
Architecture (525)
Art & Culture (848)
Biography (587)
Buddhist (540)
Cookery (160)
Emperor & Queen (489)
Islam (234)
Jainism (271)
Literary (867)
Mahatma Gandhi (377)
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