यह बहुत दुर्लभ है कि, प्रकर्ति में शिकारी खुद शिकार बन जाता है। एक बार राजस्थान के पुलिस प्रमुख श्री शांतुनु कुमार (DGP – Rajasthan) से मिलने एक बाजदार आया। शांतनु जी वन्यजीवों में अत्यधिक रूचि रखते थे और गहरी समझ भी। यह बाजदार जयपुर के रहने वाले है और इन्हें वन्यजीव अधिनियम आने के बाद भी बाज रखने की इजाजत थी। क्योंकि इनके पालतू बाज यह कहाँ छोड़ते अतः उन्हें बाज आदि शिकारी पक्षियों के रखने की वन विभाग से अनुमति मिल गई। शायद यह भारत का एक मात्र उदाहारण है जब जिन्दा बाज पलने की इजाजत मिली थी।
पेरेग्रीन फाल्कन (Falco peregrinus) (फोटो: डॉ धर्मेंद्र खांडल)
ग्रे फ्रैंकोलिन का समूह (Ortygornis pondicerianus) (फोटो: डॉ धर्मेंद्र खांडल)
कई वर्षो तक वह उन बाजों को हवा में उड़ाता और उनकी थोड़ी बहुत शारीरिक श्रम कराता ताकि वह स्वस्थ रहे। इन उड़ानों के बाद वह प्रशिक्षित बाज अंत में पुनः उस बाजदार के पास आ जाते थे। जब वह बाजदार शांतनु कुमार से मिलने गए तो उन्होंने बताया की आज उसके साथ उसका बाज भी है। शान्तनुजी ने उसे देखने की इच्छा जाहिर करने पर बाजदार अपना एक बाज लेकर आया और कहाँ की में आपको इसकी शानदार उड़ान दिखता हूँ। शांतनु जी जयपुर के बाहरी क्षेत्र में रहते थे जहाँ अनेक पक्षी आदि भी रहते उनके कृषि फार्म में एक तीतर का झुण्ड भी रहता था जो इंसानो से भय नहीं होने के कारण निडर होकर घुमा करते थे।
एक मुर्गा लड़ाई प्रदर्शन। इस खुनी खेल में ग्रे फ़्रैंकोलिन्स (Ortygornis pondicerianus) का भी उपयोग किया जाता था।
स्वर्गीय श्री शांतनु कुमार (दाएं) और साथ में श्री फतेह सिंह राठौर (बाएं), रणथंभौर के पूर्व फील्ड निदेशक और टाइगर वॉच के संस्थापक। (फोटो: श्री हेमंत सिंह)
बाज ने उड़ान भरने के बाद अपनी असली फितरत दिखायो और सीधा एक तीतर पर झपटा मारा। यह इतना तेजी से हुआ की सब देखते रह गये। परन्तु माजरा और भी चौकाने वाला था, बाज अपना दाव लगाता इस से पहले तीतर का स्पर या पांव का कांटा उसके दिल में धंस चूका था। तीतर तेजी से पंजो से छूट कर भाग गया परन्तु बाज अपनी जान गवा चूका था। यह स्पर कई पक्षियों में होते है जिसमें मुर्गे भी शामिल है। स्पर (spur) कुछ पक्षियों के पांव में एक बढ़ी हुई हड्डी होती है जो एक केरीटिन से ढका हुआ होता है। कुछ पक्षियों में यह स्पर उनके पांव के पीछे होने की बजाय पंख के कार्पल पर स्थित होते है एवं आपस और दुसरो के साथ संघर्ष में उपयोगी होते है।
लड़ने वाले पक्षियों के स्पर्स से जोड़े जाने वाला ब्लेड और यह ब्लेड स्पर के विनाशकारी प्रभाव को बढ़ाने के लिए इस्तेमाल किया जाता है।
रिवर लैपविंग की एक जोड़ी: इसके कंधों पर छोटे स्पर्स (रीढ़ जैसी संरचना) मौजूद होते हैं। (फोटो: डॉ धर्मेंद्र खांडल)
मुर्गो के पांव में भी स्पर होते है परन्तु अक्सर मुर्गे लड़ने वाले उन पर एक छोटी छुरी जैसा दिखने वाला चाकू भी बांध देते है और कई बार मुर्गे लड़नेवाले भी खुद इस छुरी के शिकार होजाते है। मुर्गा लड़ाना एक ज़माने में ग्रामीण भारत का एक बहुत प्रसिद्ध खेल था।
खैर शान्तनुजी हँसते हुए बोले पुलिस वालो का तीतर भी बाज पर भारी पड़ता है।
लेखक:
Dr. Dharmendra Khandal (L) has worked as a conservation biologist with Tiger Watch – a non-profit organisation based in Ranthambhore, for the last 16 years. He spearheads all anti-poaching, community-based conservation and exploration interventions for the organisation.
Mr. Ishan Dhar (R) is a researcher of political science in a think tank. He has been associated with Tiger Watch’s conservation interventions in his capacity as a member of the board of directors.
During the British Raj, many a Briton regularly visited Mount Abu in Rajasthan, and several took an active scientific interest in the local fauna and flora. This also included the local avifauna, and two such visitors discovered two different bird subspecies, and gave them the name abuensis i.e. after Mt. Abu where they were found. Do you know which birds these are, and who discovered them?
Whenever a scientist discovers a new animal or plant, the scientist gives it binomial nomenclature. A scientific or binomial name is constituted by two names – the name of the genus, and the name of the species. Sometimes minute differences are observed in the species, which occur due to geographical conditions, and scientists give them the status of subspecies, and the subspecies name is then appended as a third name.
Harington’s description of the tawny-bellied babbler (Dumetia albigularis abuensis).
Whistler’s description of the red-whiskered bulbul (Pycnonotus jocosus abuensis)
The following two bird subspecies were named after Mt. Abu –
The Tawny-bellied Babbler has a brownish tinge on the top of the head and a white throat, which makes it appear as if it is wearing a hat. Whereas all their other subspecies only have the brownish tinge on the front of the head. Their behavior can be well understood from a vernacular name used in India, in Telugu pandijitta, which means ‘boar- bird’. This is because, much like a wild boar, this bird picks up leaves and straw on the ground with its beak, and carries on searching for insects etc. under them.
Hugh Whistler (28 September 1889 – 7 July 1943), was an English police officer and ornithologist who worked in India. He described Abu’s red-whiskered bulbul (Pycnonotus jocosus abuensis) from Mount Abu in 1931
This bird was discovered by a British Army officer named Herbert Hastings Harington in Mt. Abu. Harington was born in Lucknow, and at the age of 48 in was killed by a militia in Mesopotamia i.e. Iraq, during the first world war (1916), nevertheless the details of the discovery were published earlier in the Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society (JBNHS) in 1914.
The red-whiskered bulbul is a beautiful bird that has a very pleasant sounding call. It is said in it’s call sounds like the phrase, “pleased to meet you” , please listen for yourself- https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BFPU1hah-M. Perhaps that is why the species was given the Latin name jocodsus by the taxonomist Carl Linnaeus, which means ‘playful’. The sub-species abuensis was introduced to the world by the celebrated ornithologist Hugh Whistler in the year 1931. Interestingly, Whistler was also a police officer in addition to being an ornithologist. He collected 17-18 thousand bird specimens during the course of his life, all of which are housed in the Natural History Museum in London. In fact, the first specimen of this bulbul subspecies was collected on 29 April 1868 and deposited in the Natural History Museum. Whistler wrote that it is “extremely pale coloration, both above and below”, in comparison to other subspecies. He also added that, ” the pectoral gorget [is] narrow, pale in colour, and broken in the centre”.
Herbert Hastings Harington (16 January 1868 – 8 March 1916) was a British Indian Army officer and ornithologist who worked in Burma, and wrote on the birds of the region. He described Abu’s Tawny-bellied babbler (Dumetia albigularis abuensis) from Mount Abu in 1914-15.
Although these two subspecies are considered by some local people to be subspecies endemic to the Mount Abu area, both of them have also been seen in the states of Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh. Nevertheless, since both subspecies were discovered in Mount Abu, they were named after it.
References:
Harington, H.H. (1914). “Notes on the Indian Timeliides and their allies (laughing thrushes, babblers, &c.) Part III. Family — Timeliidae”. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society. 23: 417–453.
Whistler, H. (1931). “Description of new subspecies of the red-whiskered bulbuls from India”. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club. 52: 40–41.
Authors:
Dr. Dharmendra Khandal (L) has worked as a conservation biologist with Tiger Watch – a non-profit organisation based in Ranthambhore, for the last 16 years. He spearheads all anti-poaching, community-based conservation and exploration interventions for the organisation.
Mr. Ishan Dhar (R) is a researcher of political science in a think tank. He has been associated with Tiger Watch’s conservation interventions in his capacity as a member of the board of directors.
राजस्थान के माउंट आबू में अंग्रेजो का आना जाना लगा ही रहता था और उनमें से अनेक लोग प्राणी अथवा पेड़ पौधों के बारे में जानने के अत्यंत उत्सुक हुआ करते थे। ऐसे ही यहाँ आये दो अंग्रेजो ने दो पक्षियों की सब-स्पीशीज को खोजा और उन्हें माउंट आबू के नाम पर आबूएन्सिस रखा। जानते हैं कि, वे कौन से पक्षी थे और उनकी खोज कब और किसने की?
जब भी कोई वैज्ञानिक किसी प्राणी या पौधे को पहली बार खोजते हैं तो उन्हें वैज्ञानिक एक नाम देते हैं। यह वैज्ञानिक नाम दो शब्दो से बनता है – जीनस और स्पीशीज। कई बार स्पीशीज में छोटे अंतर देखने को मिलते हैं जो अक्सर भौगोलिक परिस्थिति के कारण आये थोड़े बदल जाते है और वैज्ञानिक उन्हें सब-स्पीशीज का दर्जा देते हैं।
निम्न दोनों पक्षियों की सब स्पीशीज का नाम आबू पर रखा गया है-
Abu’s Tawny-bellied Babbler के सिर के ऊपर का रंग कथई एवं गला सफ़ेद रंग का होता है जिस से यह एक टोपी पहने हुए लगती है। जबकि इनकी अन्य सब स्पीशीज के सिर का अग्र भाग ही मात्र कथई रंग का होता है। इनके व्यवहार को भारत में इस्तेमाल किये जाने वाले एक स्थानीय नाम से बखूबी समझा जा सकता है, तेलगु में इन्हे पंडीजित्ता कहा गया है जिसका मतलब होता है सूअर चिड़िया। क्योंकि यह पक्षी सूअर की भांति अपने चोंच से जमीन पर पत्ते एवं तिनके उठा कर उनके निचे कीड़े आदि खोजती रहती है।
हर्बर्ट हास्टिंग्स हैरिंगटोन द्वारा दिया गया टैनी-बेलिड बैब्लर का विवरण
हुग व्हिस्टलर द्वारा दिया गया रेड व्हिस्करड बुलबुल का विवरण
माउंट आबू से यह पक्षी हर्बर्ट हास्टिंग्स हैरिंगटोन (Herbert Hastings Harington) नामक एक ब्रिटिश आर्मी अफसर ने खोजी। यह लखनऊ में पैदा हुए थे एवं 48 वर्ष की आयु में मेसोपोटामिया यानि इराक में, वहां की एक मिलिशिया द्वारा प्रथम विश्व युद्ध के दौरान एक हमले में वर्ष 1916 में मारे गए इस पक्षी की खोज का विवरण वर्ष 1914 -15 में JBNHS में प्रकाशित हुआ था।
रेड व्हिस्करड बुलबुल
हुग व्हिस्टलर (28 सितंबर 1889 – 7 जुलाई 1943), एक अंग्रेजी पुलिस अधिकारी और पक्षी विज्ञानी थे। उन्होंने भारत में काम किया 1931 में माउंट आबू से अबू के रेड व्हिस्करड बुलबुल का वर्णन किया।
Abu’s Red-whiskered bulbul पक्षी जगत की मधुर आवाज में बोलने वाली एक सूंदर बुलबुल है कहते है इसकी आवाज में लगता है मानो यह बोल रही हो ”प्लीज टू मीट यू (please to meet you) ” आप खुद सुने https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BFPU1hah-M । शायद इसीलिए करोलस लिंनियस द्वारा इसकी प्रजाति को लैटिन नाम जोकोसस (jocodsus) दिया गया जिसका मतलब होता है “चंचल”। इसी बुलबुल की आबूएन्सिस सब-स्पीशीज को हुग व्हिस्टलर द्वारा वर्ष 1931 में दुनिया के सामने लाया गया था। हुग व्हिस्टलर एक अंग्रेज पुलिस ऑफिस थे और साथ ही वह एक उम्दा पक्षीविद भी थे। भारत में उन्होंने पंजाब में पुलिस के रूप में कार्य किया था। उन्होंने अपने जीवन में १७-१८ हजार पक्षियों का संग्रह किया जो ब्रिटिश नेचुरल हिस्ट्री म्यूजियम में रखे गए है। असल में इस बुलबुल का पहला नमूना 29 अप्रैल 1868 में एकत्रित कर ब्रिटिश म्यूजियम में जमा करवा दिया गया था। उन्होंने लिखा था कि, इस सब- स्पीशीज का ऊपरी और पृष्ठ भाग अन्य सब स्पीशीज की तुलना में अत्यंत हलके रंग का होता है। इसके सामने गले के नीचे बने हुए हार नुमा निशान में रंग हल्के होते हैं, यह संकरा होता है एवं मध्य से टुटा हुआ भी होता है।
टैनी-बेलिड बैब्लर
हर्बर्ट हास्टिंग्स हैरिंगटोन (16 जनवरी 1868 – 8 मार्च 1916) एक ब्रिटिश भारतीय सेना अधिकारी और पक्षी विज्ञानी थे, जिन्होंने बर्मा में काम किया, और इस क्षेत्र के पक्षियों पर लिखा। उन्होंने 1914-15 में माउंट आबू से अबू के टैनी-बेलिड बैब्लर का वर्णन किया।
यदपि इन दोनों सब स्पीशीज को कुछ स्थानीय लोग माउंट आबू की स्थानिक (एंडेमिक) सब स्पीशीज की तरह देखते हैं परन्तु यह दोनों ही गुजरात एवं मध्य प्रदेश में भी देखी गयी हैं। यदपि यह सर्व प्रथम खोजी माउंट आबू से गयी थी एवं इसीलिए इनके साथ नाम भी तो माउंट आबू से जुड़ा है।
सन्दर्भ:
Harington, H.H. (1914). “Notes on the Indian Timeliides and their allies (laughing thrushes, babblers, &c.) Part III. Family — Timeliidae”. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society. 23: 417–453.
Whistler, H. (1931). “Description of new subspecies of the red-whiskered bulbuls from India”. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club. 52: 40–41.
लेखक:
Dr. Dharmendra Khandal (L) has worked as a conservation biologist with Tiger Watch – a non-profit organisation based in Ranthambhore, for the last 16 years. He spearheads all anti-poaching, community-based conservation and exploration interventions for the organisation.
Mr. Ishan Dhar (R) is a researcher of political science in a think tank. He has been associated with Tiger Watch’s conservation interventions in his capacity as a member of the board of directors.
Just how ruthless British sporthunters could be in their relentless pursuit of India’s wildlife during the Raj can be discerned from the writings of Sir William Rice. William Rice was a lieutenant in the 25th Bombay Regiment, and described in his hunting memoirs, his role in 156 grand hunts over a span of 5 years, during which he killed 68 tigers and injured 30, thus hunted a total of 98 tigers, killed only 4 leopards and injured 3, therefore hunted a total of 7 leopards, and killed 25 bears and injured 26, and thus hunted a total of 51 bears.
Rice felt that readers might suspect exaggeration on his part, and duly named 7 officers as eyewitnesses to his bloody handiwork. Most of the aforementioned animals were hunted in the areas of Gandhi Sagar, Jawahar Sagar, Rana Pratap Sagar, Bijoliyan, Mandalgarh, Bhainsrorgarh in Rajasthan. If you are a wildlife lover, you are unlikely to not want to curse Rice after reading every page of his memoirs. However, if we read history whilst flowing in a river of emotion, then we are liable to miss out on the real picture of that era, and the anecdotes penned by William Rice are very relevant to tiger conservation today.
‘Jaat panther charging’ from Tiger Shooting in India : Being an account of Hunting Experiences on Foot in Rajpootana, During the Hot seasons from 1850 to 1854 by Sir William Rice. By panther, Rice means leopard
Rice once wrote that he was puzzled that he did not find a large animal to hunt in the forest of the village of Ambha, located on the other side of the Chambal river in front of Bhainsrorgarh after spending five days there. He was then informed that some pastoralists had recently poisoned 2-3 tigers with arsenic. It seems that back then, between the years 1850-1854, to poison a tiger for lifting cattle was a very common practice.
‘Order of procession following up a wounded tiger’ from Tiger Shooting in India : Being an account of Hunting Experiences on Foot in Rajpootana, During the Hot seasons from 1850 to 1854 by Sir William Rice.
At present, it is not easy to guess just how common retaliatory killings of tigers by poisoning are. In the last decade, at least 5 tigers have been poisoned to death in Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve. These 5 tigers were confirmed cases of poisoning by government laboratories. We don’t know how many such cases have not come to the fore. According to these data reports by Tiger Watch – https://tigerwatch.net/status-of-tigers-in-ranthambhore-tiger-reserve/, it is known from studying the disappearance data of Ranthambhore tigers during the last 10 -11 years, on average at least 3 tigers go missing every year. However, in the last year 2020-21, this number has alarmingly climbed to 12- https://tigerwatch.net/the-missing-tigers-of-ranthambhore-2020-2021/. It is unclear just how many of these missing tigers are the result of negative human intervention.
‘Panic at Deypoora’ from Tiger Shooting in India : Being an account of Hunting Experiences on Foot in Rajpootana, During the Hot seasons from 1850 to 1854 by Sir William Rice.
William Rice described that when the tiger hunted the cow, the pastoralists swore revenge, and when the tiger was away from the kill, they made some long vertical incisions in the dead cow’s back and filled them with arsenic. Along with this, Rice also wrote that the powder of a red coloured berry also used to serve as poison in the same vein.The ‘ berries’ were in all likelihood, of the tree Strychnos Nux-vomica, locally known as Kuchla, a common, and much-favoured poison in those days. Neither poison has a distinct smell, so tigers would ingest it while eating large chunks of meat, only to die soon after. Nowadays, irate livestock owners poison cattle kills by injecting them with insecticides.
Even Ramsingh Mogiya, a member of the Mogiya traditional hunting tribe, and resident of Laxmipura (outside Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve), lamented that this was the method being used to destroy animals these days, and that it is unfortunately on the rise. It seems that some hunters, whether it was William Rice or members of the Mogiya tribe, are saddened when confronted with wildlife being destroyed in this way.
References:
Rice, W. (1857).Tiger-shooting in India: Being an account of hunting experiences on foot in Rajpootana, during the hot seasons from 1850 to 1854. Smith, Elder and Co., London, 219pp.
Authors:
Dr. Dharmendra Khandal (L) has worked as a conservation biologist with Tiger Watch – a non-profit organisation based in Ranthambhore, for the last 16 years. He spearheads all anti-poaching, community-based conservation and exploration interventions for the organisation.
Mr. Ishan Dhar (R) is a researcher of political science in a think tank. He has been associated with Tiger Watch’s conservation interventions in his capacity as a member of the board of directors.
अंग्रेजो ने अपने राज में किस कदर बेहूदगी से इस देश में शिकार किये है, इसका एक उदाहरण विलियम राइस के अनुभवों से समझा जा सकता है। विलियम राइस २५ वी बॉम्बे रेजिमेंट में लेफ्टिनेंट पद पर थे और उन्होंने अपने शिकार के संस्मरण में लिखा है कि, किस प्रकार से उन्होंने पांच वर्षो के समय में 156 बड़े शिकार किये जिनमें 68 बाघ मारे एवं 30 को घायल करते हुए कुल 98 बाघों का शिकतर किया, मात्र 4 बघेरे मारे एवं 3 घायल करते हुए कुल 7 बघेरे एवं 25 भालू मारे एवं 26 घायल किये और इस तरह कुल 51 भालुओं का शिकार किया।
उन्हें लगता था कि, लोग उनके इस साहसिक कार्य को सही नहीं मानेगे इसलिए उन्होंने सात चश्मदीद अफसरों के नाम इस तथ्य के साथ में उल्लेखित करें हैं। यह अधिकांश प्राणी उन्होंने कोटा के वर्तमान में गाँधी सागर, जवाहर सागर, राणा प्रताप सागर, बिजोलिया, मांडलगढ़, भेरोडगढ़ आदि क्षेत्र से मारे थे। यदि आप वन्यजीव प्रेमी हो उनके लिखे हुए हर एक पृष्ठ को पढ़ने के बाद उन्हें कोसना नहीं भूलेंगे। भावनाओ की नदी में बहते हुए यदि इतिहास पढ़ते है तो उस ज़माने की असली तस्वीर धूमिल हो जाति है अतः विलियम राइस द्वारा लिखे उदाहरण हमें आज के परिपेक्ष्य में बाघ संरक्षण की आज तस्वीर के हिस्से लगते है।
टाइगर शूटिंग इन इंडिया से ‘जाट पैंथर हमला करते हुए’: सर विलियम राइस द्वारा 1850 से 1854 तक गर्मियों के दौरान राजपूताना में पैदल किये गए शिकार के अनुभवों का लेखा-जोखा जिसमें पैंथर का अर्थ है तेंदुआ
एक उन्होंने लिखा कि जब उन्हें पांच दिन भैंसरोडगढ़ के सामने चम्बल के उस पार स्थित अम्भा गांव के जंगल में कोई बड़ा प्राणी शिकार के लिए नहीं मिला तो उन्होंने जानकारी हासिल की क्या कारण है तो उन्हें लोगों ने बताया की कुछ समय पूर्व पशुपालको ने २-3 बाघों को आर्सेनिक ज़हर देकर मार दिया है। लगभग वर्ष 1850 -54 के मध्य भी ज़हर देकर मारना कितना आम रहा होगा।
टाइगर शूटिंग इन इंडिया से ‘एक घायल बाघ का पीछा करती हुई लोगों की भीड़’: सर विलियम राइस द्वारा 1850 से 1854 तक गर्मियों के दौरान राजपूताना में पैदल शिकार के अनुभवों का लेखा-जोखा।
वर्तमान में बाघों से बदला लेने के लिए उन्हें ज़हर देकर मारने की घटनाये किस कदर आम है इसका अंदाज लगाना आसान नहीं है। रणथंभौर में पिछले दस वर्षो में कम से कम 5 बाघ मृत मिले है जिनको मारने के लिए ज़हर दिया गया था। यह पांच बाघ वह थे, जिन्हें ज़हर देना फॉरेंसिक विभाग ने प्रमाणित किया था। ना जाने कितने ही ऐसे मामले सामने नहीं आये हैं। टाइगर वाच की इन तथ्यात्मक रिपोर्टों – https://tigerwatch.net/status-of-tigers-in-ranthambhore-tiger-reserve/ के अनुसार पिछले १० -११ वर्षों के रणथमभोर के बाघों के गायब होने के आंकड़ों का अध्ययन करने से ज्ञात होता है कि, प्रति वर्ष 3 बाघ गायब होते रहे हैं। पिछले वर्ष 2019 -20 में तो यह संख्या 12 पहुँच गयी है- https://tigerwatch.net/the-missing-tigers-of-ranthambhore-2020-2021/। इन गायब बाघों के बारे में तय तौर पर नहीं कहा जा सकता कि कितने बाघ इंसानी दखलंदाजी की वजह से ही गायब हुए है।
टाइगर शूटिंग इन इंडिया से ‘दयपुरा में भगदड़’: सर विलियम राइस द्वारा 1850 से 1854 तक गर्मियों के दौरान राजपूताना में पैदल शिकार के अनुभवों का लेखा-जोखा।
विलियम राइस ने लिखा है कि, बाघ जब भी गाय का शिकार करता था तो पशुपलक उससे बदला लेने के लिए उसका ध्यान रखते और बाघ के इधर उधर होने पर वह उसक गाय के पिछले पुट्ठे को चाकू से लम्बवत काटते एवं आर्सेनिक से भर देते थे। साथ ही राइस लिखते है कि, एक लाल रंग की बेरी का चूर्ण भी इसी तरह से विष का कार्य करता था। सायद यह बेरी कुचला हो सकती है क्योंकि यह आम विष था जो भारत के आम लोगों द्वारा इस्तेमाल किये जाते थे आज की तरह उस समय रासायनिक विष मौजूद ही नहीं थे। इन दोनों विष में किसी भी प्रकार की गंध नहीं होती है एवं बाघ बड़े बड़े मांस के लोथड़े निगलते हुए खाता है और मारा जाता है। आज कल पशुपालक इंजेक्शन में कीटनाशक भरकर पशुओं को जहरीला बनाते है।
लक्ष्मीपूरा के रामसिंह मोगिया ने स्वयं कहा की आज कल किस प्रकार जानवरो का विनाश किया जा रहा है और यह बढ़ रहा है। इस तरह जानवरो को मरते देख अक्सर शिकारी चाहे वो विलियम राइस हो या मोगिया समाज के लोग वो सभी भी दुखी हो जाते है।
सन्दर्भ:
Tiger Shooting in India : Being an account of Hunting Experiences on Foot in Rajpootana, During the Hot seasons from 1850 to 1854
लेखक:
Dr. Dharmendra Khandal (L) has worked as a conservation biologist with Tiger Watch – a non-profit organisation based in Ranthambhore, for the last 16 years. He spearheads all anti-poaching, community-based conservation and exploration interventions for the organisation.
Mr. Ishan Dhar (R) is a researcher of political science in a think tank. He has been associated with Tiger Watch’s conservation interventions in his capacity as a member of the board of directors.
Colonel Kesri Singh, in one of his books (One Man and a Thousand Tigers published in 1959), mentions Nathu Bawariya, a traditional tribal hunter from Ranthambhore, who aided him in tracking a “troublesome tiger”, and apprised him in detail , of the purported medicinal benefits of different kinds of bushmeat. This is the first instance of a traditional hunting tribal being written about in the same context as Ranthambhore and it’s tigers. Whilst mentioning him, Col. Kesri Singh also described the long history of Nathu’s tribe in Ranthambhore, and their unparalleled knowledge of wildlife and junglecraft.
It was perhaps with Col. Singh’s assistance (he did manage the Shikarkhana of the erstwhile princely state of Jaipur after all), that Nathu’s son Mukan was employed in Ranthambhore as a forest guard. Mukan was quite possibly the first Bawariya to directly join the mainstream by working for a government agency. However, steady employment and accountability still being relatively alien concepts, Mukan eventually ‘sold’ this job for a pittance. For just a few rupees, Mukan had the paperwork of his government job changed, and handed them over to an opportunistic local. The latter was in fact, a wily upper caste man from the same village named Kajod Singh. However, whilst employed as a forest guard, Mukan curiously started using the surname ‘Mogiya’, instead of ‘Bawariya’, the name of his father’s tribe. There is a long and complex history behind this change.
Mukan Mogiya jubilantly dancing at a community wedding celebration (Photo: Dr. Dharmendra Khandal)
Although ‘Mogiya’ and ‘Bawariya’ refer to the same community, there are many painful secrets and fascinating stories behind the use of these two names, which are buried only in the hearts of the people of this tribe. The use of these names has historically been dependent on government policy.
The British Raj, under the Criminal Tribes Act – 1871, placed 12 communities in Rajasthan on the list of criminal tribes – Mina, Bhil, Bajaria, Kanjar, Sansi, Banjara, Bagaria, Nat, Nalak, Multani, Bhat and Mogiya. It is said that the Kingdom of Mewar (Udaipur) first gave the name ‘Mogiya’ to select Bawariya tribesmen. This is because some Bawariya tribesmen assisted the ruling house in quelling an insurrection led by Bhils or Minas (there are differing accounts). The Mogiyas were thus considered close to the ruling house of Mewar. According to George Whitty Gayer’s 1909 book, Lectures on some criminal tribes of India and religious mendicants, the Maharaja of Mewar declared in a durbar that the loyal Bawariya tribesmen, “were to him as precious as the Moongas i.e. coral beads of his necklace”, and the same select tribesmen were then referred to first as ‘Moongias’, and then later ‘Mogiyas’.
Mukan and his family (Photo: Dr. Dharmendra Khandal)
Following their listing as one of the ‘criminal tribes’ under the Criminal Tribes Act – 1871, the young men of this tribe began using the surname ‘Mogiya’, in order to avoid facing the brunt of this discriminatory law. Around 1947, there were 127 tribes that the British kept under the ambit of this draconian law. Back then, the population of these tribes would have been approximately 1 crore 30 lakh (13 million). Stories of the indignities this law subjected these communities to are eye-opening, for example, the men were compelled to report to the nearest police station every week to register their presence, and if they were found outside of their designated areas, the full force of the law was brought down upon them.
India is a unique country with several castes, communities and creeds. Almost every individual is confined to the boundaries created by these divisions in different ways. At present, such identities are assumed at birth. These identities may have once been related to occupation, which were first hereditary, and then evolved into distinct identity groups altogether.
In 1952, on the recommendation of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), India finally emancipated these 127 tribes from an outdated colonial schedule, and they were henceforth known as ‘Denotified Tribes’. However, it was quite like scraping the top layer off a glued sticker, for there is still some sticky residue at the bottom that is very difficult to get rid off.
Mukan’s son, Bhajan Mogiya, a reformed tiger poacher (Photo: Dr. Dharmendra Khandal)
Mukan Mogiya’s family has a rather unique association with Tiger Watch Ranthambore. While one of his sons Govind served on our anti-poaching unit, our organization also caught two of his other sons, Kalu and Bhajan for poaching tigers and leopards, in collaborative anti-poaching operations with the Rajasthan Police. At the same time, 15 children from this family have been educated in our Mogiya Education Program (MEP), a relationship which continues to this day.
It was one of these children, an older boy, who suddenly declared one day that if he got some money, he intended to change his surname from ‘Mogiya’ to ‘Bawariya’. I thought that this might be an effort at self-respect or individualism, but on the contrary, he responded that Mogiyas belong to the ‘Backward Classes’ (OBC) whereas Bawariyas are included in the ‘Scheduled Castes’ (SC) and are thus given greater priority when it came to free rations, education and employment. Therefore, reverting to ‘Bawariya’ two generations later was a beneficial move. He thus reverted to his great-grandfather’s surname and identity, by bribing a local government official with a mere Rs. 2500. Today, most of the children enrolled in the MEP have started using the surname ‘Bawariya’ again instead of ‘Mogiya’.
It is ironic that whilst people in villages do not distinguish between ‘Bawariya’ and ‘Mogiya’, the government considers them two distinct identities. In the recent past, researchers from the Anthropological Survey of India came to Tiger Watch to study the Mogiyas, believing them to be a distinct tribe they had ignored till now.
Bhajan’s son, Dilkush Bawariya. The 4th generation since Nathu Bawariya, and the first to receive a formal education. The Mogiya Education Programme (MEP) has been consistently supported by Sud-Chemie Pvt. Ltd. (Mr. Iskander Laljee) (Photo: Dr. Dharmendra Khandal)
In our 15 year experience of operating the Mogiya Education Programme, which included a dormitory before the onset of COVID 19, it became evident on many an occasion, that not only are the Mogiyas looked down upon by upper castes, but they are also looked down upon by communitites considered a part of Dalit society ( such as the Bairwas etc.) Equally revealing was how some Mogiya students refused to eat, drink, and live with students from similar communities such as the Kalbelias and Bhopas, whom they considered untouchable. Today there are 352 nomadic and denotified tribes in the country, whose population is approximately 10-11 crores, they struggle to stay connected with their traditions, and are disenfranchised. The government is making an effort, however, all that is required for such tremendous change is not easily available in this resource-deficient country. Yet, where else can one get their community identity changed for a paltry sum of 2500 rupees?
Fortunately for the Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve’s wildlife, the younger generations of Nathu Bawariya’s family have now forgotten their traditional hunting skills, and acquired a formal education, along with identity certificates as a result of a cleverness far more reminiscent of their grandfather’s nemesis Kajod Singh. Today, they will not be duped by opportunistic locals, but in all likelihood, will make the government dizzy.
This article is based on factual information, and personal observations of 4 generations of a Bawariya/Mogiya family in the vicinity of the Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve.
References:
Raj and Born Criminals Crime, gender, and sexuality in criminal prosecutions, by Louis A. Knafla. Published by Greenwood Publishing Group, 2002. ISBN 0-313-31013-0. Page 124
Draft List of Denotified Tribes, Nomadic tribes and Semi-nomadic tribes in India. Government of Rajasthan. National Commission for Denotified, Nomadic and Semi-nomadic tribes – Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment
Lectures on some criminal tribes of India and religious mendicants By George Whitty Gayer. Published in Nagpur – 1909
Authors:
Dr. Dharmendra Khandal (L) has worked as a conservation biologist with Tiger Watch – a non-profit organisation based in Ranthambhore, for the last 16 years. He spearheads all anti-poaching, community-based conservation and exploration interventions for the organisation.
Mr. Ishan Dhar (R) is a researcher of political science in a think tank. He has been associated with Tiger Watch’s conservation interventions in his capacity as a member of the board of directors.
Dr. Dharmendra Khandal (L) has worked as a conservation biologist with Tiger Watch – a non-profit organisation based in Ranthambhore, for the last 16 years. He spearheads all anti-poaching, community-based conservation and exploration interventions for the organisation.
