Beyond the Glittering Eye

Notwithstanding the cultural fascination evoked by the tiger, wildlife histories have done little to salvage it from the shadows of the past, particularly in the context of ancient India. This chapter endeavours to fill in this gap by marshalling evidence testifying to human interactions with this mega carnivore in early India. It underlines the dearth of fossil evidence, notes the patchy evidence offered by the archaeozoological record, and details the images which can be garnered from visual depictions of the animal on seals, copper tablets, and terracottas. It also explores at length the ways in which it is perceived in a wide range of Sanskrit, Pali, Prakrit, and classical Western accounts. Typically an animal of the forest and jungle, charting the journey of the tiger provides valuable glimpses into India’s ancient ecological past.

Introduction

This chapter sets the stage for the narrative which ensues by delineating the ecological importance of megafauna, and underlining the importance of the period chosen for study. It is also a historiographical sketch of the ways in which studies on animals have been approached. This is followed by an elucidation of the sources used by the study to reconstruct the histories of these mega mammals. These include multiple prisms ranging from faunal remains retrieved from archaeological sites, visual depictions in the form of rock paintings, seals, and terracottas to the formidable corpus of Sanskrit, Pali, Prakrit, and classical Western accounts.

Trunk Calls in Antiquity

Scattered across the texts of early India are glimpses embodying diverse facets of human interactions with elephants. Chapter 5, thus, carves out a narrative of the fortunes of the animal within religious and secular traditions separated in time and space. The animal is known for the dexterity of its trunk as well as the phenomenon of musth. Also interspersed are images of the pachyderm in its benevolent as well as malevolent forms. Its might and grandeur is recognized, and so is its destructive potential, suggesting that the elephant is perhaps the best exemplar of a relationship fraught with harmony as well as discord.

Conclusion

This chapter endeavours to bring the three mega mammals within the same frame in the light of the evidence examined in the preceding chapters. Drawing upon imageries of conflict and coexistence with the faunal world, it sums up their individual stories, which are largely dominated by aspects of their interactions with human cultures whose perceptions have been crucial in determining their fortunes. It also examines the implications the histories of these big mammals have for the cultural and ecological moorings of ancient India in the millennia surveyed.

Trailing the One-Horned Wonder

The rhinoceros has received scant attention in wildlife histories as against the iconic status enjoyed by elephants, cheetahs, and lions. This is particularly true in the context of ancient India. Against this backdrop, this chapter chronicles the much-neglected saga of the rhinoceros in ancient India based on its first appearance in the fossil record, its presence in archaeological contexts in the form of bones and visual representations till its appearance in the literary texts of the period. The narrative helps us map the geographical retreat of the animal to its present-day havens. The details of this retreat are integral to understanding aspects of the environmental history of ancient India.

Trunk Calls in Antiquity

This chapter is the first episode of the elephant story the book attempts to reconstruct. The sheer quantum of evidence necessitated a splitting of the data into two chapters, where Chapter 4 looks for traces of the animal in archaeology, art, and iconography. It synthesizes the archaeofaunal data testifying the long and intimate association humans have had with the pachyderm, and also takes a look at representations of the animal in rock paintings, seals, and terracottas. Images of caparisoned elephants can perhaps be perceived as early beginnings of a close cultural association with the pachyderm. In most cases, the qualitative details and graphic fidelity of the depictions suggest a spectacular sense of familiarity with these animals.