Authros: Valmik
Thapar, Romila Thapar and Yusuf Ansari
Publisher:
Aleph Book Company
Year : 2013
Price:
Rs.595
Pages: 304
The large
carnivores of India do not seem to be out of controversy. Not a single day
passes without news about the tigers in the media. Two other issues related to large
carnivores that hit headlines recently are the translocation of lions from
Gujarat to Madhya Pradesh and reintroduction of cheetahs into India.
Now in this
new book, noted wildlife conservationist Valmik Thapar and historians of repute
Romila Thapar and Yusuf Ansari have in their own way, cast doubts upon nativity
of the Asiatic lion and the Indian cheetah raising eyebrows of wildlife
historians and conservationists. Thapar, who has penned most parts of this
volume, has several books and wildlife documentaries to his credit. Romila
Thapar, an eminent historian, has authored the first chapter setting the stage
for the debate on lions, whereas Ansari who specializes in Moghul history has
written two chapters.
Through this
book, that contains nice photographs and produced to high quality, the authors
try to fathom the missing links in our understanding of the two predators. The
Asiatic lion is currently found only in the state of Gujarat, and the cheetah was
extinct from the country during the late 1940s.
The authors
believe that the lions came to India just before Alexander’s invasion from
Balkh in Turkmenistan and the cheetah was imported as a royal pet. Both these
animals are believed to have escaped into the wild and a feral population was
created.
Lions,
according to the authors, were imported through cargo and diplomatic channels
that were linked to North India and further bred for sport before being released
into designated hunting grounds.
The authors
use evidences such as the conspicuous absence of lions in the relics and
ancient artifacts from the Harappan civilization whereas the tiger and the
rhinoceros are conspicuously present. They have also referred the vast
narrative archives of the pre-Islamic times, through Islamic dynasties, Mughal
Empire and the early days of the British Raj which speaks little of the lions
unlike the tiger. Lions were rarely encountered in the wild and their numbers
were miniscule as part of the hunting bags which is another argument used as a
testimony that lions were not indigenous to the country. Even these hunts were
organized in carefully managed private hunting parks that were stocked with
species such as the lion and the cheetah for the royal families to hunt.
The docile
nature of lions in India is due to their habituated upbringing in menageries
about which the authors quote experiences of several hunters.
On
ecological grounds, Valmik Thapar, the lead author, highlights the lack of
suitable records of encounters of lions and nilgai, the largest Indian antelope,
which would have been suitable prey of lions in the Indian grasslands. Thapar
also argues that it would have been impossible for the lions to survive in much
of the Indian jungles due to the presence of a more powerful and agile predator,
the tiger.
Similarly
the cheetahs came into the country as gifts or tributes from Africa and Persia.
The authors bolster their claim with evidences about the absence of cheetah art
until the medieval period, and the mention and visual depiction of cheetahs
from twelfth century onwards. They continue that the grasslands of India that is
largely uneven and unsuitable for the cheetahs also hosted wolves, hyenas,
tigers and leopards making the life of the fragile cheetah impossible.
The third
front on which the authors argue is the lack of documentation of these two
carnivores by chroniclers and travelers.
Nevertheless,
the authors agree to the fact that there is no conclusive genetic evidence to
prove or disprove their theory. However geneticists have said that African and
Asiatic lions and cheetahs had been separated thousands of years ago.
History has
to grapple with science chiefly with biogeography if it has to make its point
based on species distribution and historical biogeography. Bio-geographers
could pose serious questions about the theories of the authors. India is part
of the Ethiopian biogeography where similar species including gazelles,
antelopes, small and large carnivores are found across continents. Hence
convincing bio-geographers from this perspective would have further enriched
this book.
Similarly,
ecologists would also argue that any species at the edge of its range would
always be at low densities. Thus the lion which is at the western edge of its
range is perhaps at low numbers due to this reason which would contradict the
views of the authors.
Overall, this
book provides a platform for discussion between wildlife conservationists and historians
as other historians have given their own evidences, both historical and
ecological about the lion and the cheetah in India.
An edited version of this book review was published in Deccan Herald on
02-06-2013
