Man-Eaters of Kumaon

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Quinan, C., & Thiele, K. (2020). Biopolitics, necropolitics, cosmopolitics—feminist and queer interventions: an introduction. Journal of Gender Studies, 29(1), 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1080/09589236.2020.1693173 Jim Corbett, Sahib and master of hunting, walks the reader through 7 tales of his hunting - and destroying - man-eating tigers. As Corbett patiently explains, humans are not tigers' natural nor preferred prey, and tigers resort to man only if the animal suffers a physical ailment that causes it to seek out an easy target. Sometimes these ailments are from animal injury or human intervention, regardless of the cause the animals soon begins to prowl for human flesh.

Corbett, J. (2014 [1947]). The man-eating leopard of Rudraprayag (37th imp.). Oxford University Press. A man-eating tiger is a tiger that has been compelled, through stress of circumstances beyond its control, to adopt a diet alien to it. Chapter 5 is the odd one out - The Bachelor of Powalgarh, an exceptionally large Bengal tiger who was the most sought after game trophy of the time. Although many had tried no one was able to outsmart this tiger. Corbett tells the story of how he hunts this giant (which was definitely not a man-eater). Biermann, C. (2016). Securing forests from the scourge of chestnut blight: The biopolitics of nature and nation. Geoforum, 75, 210–219. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2016.07.007

Derrida, J. (2008). The animal that therefore I am (ML Mallet, Ed. &. D. Wills, Trans.). Fordham University Press. Chrulew, M. (2017). Animals as biopolitical subjects. In M. Chrulew & D. S. Wadiwel (Eds.), Foucault and animals (pp. 222–238). Brill. Biermann, C., & Mansfield, B. (2014). Biodiversity, purity, and death: conservation biology as biopolitics. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 32, 257–273. https://doi.org/10.1068/d13047p The Mohan Tiger is the second of the three man-eaters. The Kanda Tiger is the third of the District Conference tigers that Corbett killed.

In any case, whether or not one agrees with his values, Corbett is a born story-teller. Despite the fact that he obviously lived to tell the tale, one soon finds oneself so lost in the narrative that one wonders how Corbett can possibly escape the hairy situation he is describing. He has the great gift of being able to convey tension and uncertainty in very few words. I read a little about Corbett on the internet and came to know that though he was a regular hunter, he turned into a conservationalist and a naturalist. While reading the book, I came across quite interesting passages like Corbett describing tigers as a beautiful and a proud animal. He had never looked at a tiger with hate or disgust. He had utmost love for the animal and it pained him when anyone used the phrase "blood thirsty as a tiger". He had no doubt killed a lot of tigers and for me that is kind of unforgivable but I cannot ignore that he was the same guy who took to lecturing groups of schoolchildren about their natural heritage and the need to conserve forests and their wildlife. This book was a little difficult for me to rate. The prime reason being that I am absolutely in love with tigers. I have seen a lot of documentaries on tigers and have enjoyed it thoroughly. Philo, C. & Wilbert, C. (2005). Animal spaces, beastly places: an introduction. In C. Philo & C. Wilbert (Eds.), Animal spaces, beastly places: New geographies of human—animal relations (pp. 1–36). Taylor and Francis e-library. https://www.b-ok.org/book/886972/59104e.The ‘Great White Hunter’ genre has fallen out of favour, especially with the media classes. Yet perhaps we must question whether, in replacing old prejudices with new, we can in fact be less broad-minded than our ancestors, who in many ways had no choice but to develop a practical knowledge of the world in which they lived. Pandian, A.S. (2001). Predatory care: The imperial hunt in Mughal and British India. Journal of Historical Sociology, 14(1), 79–107.