The Man-Eating Leopard of Rudraprayag: A Book Review
Edward James ‘Jim’ Corbett (25 July 1875- 19 April 1955), was an Anglo-Indian hunter and tracker-turned-conservationist, author and naturalist. He was a British officer who knew and understood nature like the back of his hand thus was often approached to track and hunt a large number of man-eating tigers and leopards throughout his lifetime , especially in the Kumaon-Garhwal parts of India.
The Man-Eating Leopard of Rudraprayag gives us a deep insight into the shikari life of Jim Corbett in the era of the British Raj.
‘Prayag’ means confluence. Rudraprayag is one of the Panch Prayag of Alaknanda River, the point of confluence of rivers Alaknanda and Mandakini. The book introduces the readers to the ardent Hindu pilgrim culture in India. He beautifully captures the life of pahadis in the dazzling highlands of Uttarakhand.
Leopards are very common in those parts of the country. They are not inherently man-eaters for the same reason that tigers do. The author in-fact finds leopards to be the most graceful creatures in the jungle. However, they have no sense of smell which made them easy prey for hunters.
Facts have it, when an epidemic killed hundreds in Garhwal, due to the lack of adequate cremation space, the devoted Hindus offered the dead to river Ganga. The local cat, well past his primes, due to food shortage in the jungle, stumbles upon human flesh thus giving birth to the Man-Eating Leopard of Rudraprayag.
When an animal, leopard or tiger, becomes a man-eater, it is given a name for the purpose of identification, does not necessarily mean its reign is restricted to that area.
The fierce creature made his first kill in 1918 and continued to haunt villages within 500 miles radius till 1926. It killed more than 125 people and multiple animals.
The leopard, fierce male and well past his primes, was one of the hardest kills in Jim Corbett’s career. After eight years of association with humans, the leopard had become smart, enough to outsmart the brightest hunters, aggressive (from taking people roaming outside post sunset to digging holes in mud walls, after failing to break open the door, and carrying the victim away for miles, without leaving marks) and a splendid silent killer.
Jim Corbett spent ten weeks trying to secure this kill. His tracking adventures, from lying in wait for the leopard, almost every night, on tree top macchans to being followed by the man-eater multiple times, while he was hunting on foot and his near death escapes, the hunter writes it all.
The riveting tales of the author having an extraordinary sense the pahadi lands and hunting on foot, observing nature, relying on animals and birds to tell the presence of the man-eater, are simply marvelous.
Jim Corbett was a man in love with nature. He understood the language of animals and communicated fluently. And as tale suggests, the author was capable of making a call of the female tiger/leopard to attract his prey.
Any preconceived notions of the book being a shikari-journal must be dropped. The author while talking about his nature treks and spine-chilling adventures, captures the heart and soul of the prominence and the pahadi culture.
This book is a worthwhile read for all ages.
Jim Corbett played a key role in creating a national reserve for the endangered Royal Bengal Tiger, what is now in Uttarakhand. In 1957, the park was renamed as Jim Corbett National Park in his honor.
