Man-Eaters of Kumaon
by Jim Corbett
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Book Summary Information
Author: Jim CorbettEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1985-01-01
ISBN: 0899665748
Publisher: Buccaneer Books
Book Reviews of Man-Eaters of Kumaon
Book Review: Reveals how one could act with courage and ahimsa
Summary: 5 Stars
I had read and heard of ahimsa (loosely translated as non-violence) as preached and practised by Gandhi. I am also familiar with the much wider concept of ahimsa one finds in Hindu philosophy : a state of mind where you cease to differentiate your self from any other being. I had also read about yogis and mystics who had actually reached such a state of mind. Vedanta textbooks say that knowledge (of the ultimate reality) drives away fear. But in all these readings I was only vaguely aware of the inherent link between ahimsa and fearlessness until I chanced upon "Man-Eaters of Kumaon". How does Corbett overcome fear? Is it just a matter of cold reason? Is it just his intimate knowledge of the terrain, the knowledge of the ways of man eaters, his ability to understand and imitate the language of most of the animals that were to be found in Kumaon ? As a ten year old boy he had his first trophy when he first wounded and then stalked and finished off a full grown leopard. As a middle aged man, during an epidemic outbreak of cholera in Mokamah, where he worked as a railway contractor, he nursed back to life a cholera victim left abandoned by fellow travellers. His deep sympathy and love for those simple folk among whom he lived and worked is inseparable from the courage he showed when called upon to stand by them; one feeds on the other. These Kumaon stories are replete with instances where the victim's own folk had panicked on seeing (or even sensing) a man-eater , leaving the poor victim alone. In one instance a villager simply shut his door when he received no reply from his wife who had, a little while earlier, stepped out of her hut to relieve herself. Ironically enough most of the victims of the Kumaon "man-eaters" happened to be women. This should not come as a surprise because most of the work in fields or firewood collecting is done by the women. It is significant that the only instance of courage in the face of danger is due to a young woman who ran, shouting and brandishing her sickle, after! the tiger which was carrying off her sister. When the predator turned its attention on its pursuer she managed to run back to safety, but the shock left her completely speechless for about a year. About a year later Corbett managed to kill the tiger and on returning with the kill laid it first at her door step; when she ran out to inform the rest of the villagers she was seen shouting at the top of her voice! Whole villages were abandoned when a man eater was reported in the area; people feared to step beyond their courtyard even to relieve themselves so that these villages soon turned filthy and unhygenic. Against this backdrop of terror, which paralysed the life of villages for miles around, Corbett realized the need to instill courage in the hearts of men and help them get back to normal life; often he would stand guard as the villagers harvested their fields or collected water from nearby streams. The next step is to track down the man-eater and this requires immense hard work - not just skill and courage - and could take months. What sustains a shikari in such circumstances ? Surely not the prize money; one of the preconditions that he sets before the Government is that the prize money be withdrawn. Reading these stories one cannot help feeling that it is something much more than the mere thrill and adventure in the act involved, that motivates Corbett. And finally the act of killing and the words that describe it never betray a sense of ill will or hatred towards the prey; what else could be ahimsa even in the act of killing itself. Such a state of mind is the mind of a yogi - at once fearless and non violent.
Summary of Man-Eaters of Kumaon
Jim Corbett was every inch a hero, something like a "sahib" Davy Crockett: expert in the ways of the jungle, fearless in the pursuit of man-eating big cats, and above all a crack shot. Brought up on a hill-station in north-west India, he killed his first leopard before he was nine and went on to achieve a legendary reputation as a hunter.Corbett was also an author of great renown. His books on the man-eating tigers he once tracked are not only established classics, but have by themselves created almost a separate literary genre. Man Eaters of Kumaon is the best known of Corbett's books, one which offers ten fascinating and spine-tingling tales of pursuing and shooting tigers in the Indian Himalayas during the early years of this century. The stories also offer first-hand information about the exotic flora, fauna, and village life in this obscure and treacherous region of India, making it as interesting a travelogue as it is a compelling look at a bygone era of big-game hunting.
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