A Gir Diary

Aditya
Nov 11, 2020
2 min read

Updated: Apr 6, 2022

"The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated."

-Mahatma Gandhi

THE ASIATIC LION:

The Asiatic lions once lived from Iran, Mesopotamia, Balochistan, and all the way up to the Bengal region in India, also dominating Central and parts of Southern India, including China. Unfortunately, with time, these magnificent beasts started to be hunted down and became extinct. Now, the Gir lions are the last wild Asiatic lions in the world. The Asiatic lions also hold an important place in Hindu mythology (like the mount of the Hindu goddess Parvati and her various avatars, the angriest avatar of Lord Vishnu – Narasimha, etc.). They resemble courage and ferocity. In the Indian Subcontinent, lions are also part of architecture, culture, folktales, and flags of empires and kingdoms.

The flag is similar to the flags in Persia — The Mughal Imperial flag, the "alam"; the flag is similar to flags of various monarchies in Persia (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

(Left to right) The mythical lion named Dawon is the mount of Hindu goddess Parvati and her other aspects; Narasimha(with the head of a lion) is an avatar of Lord Vishnu(Source: Pinterest)

(Left to right) An ancient lion sculpture in Southern India; a Ming-era Guardian Lion in the Forbidden City, China; a lion sculpture at the entrance of a pagoda, Myanmar (Source:Pinterest)

A page from Kelileh o Demneh, which is the Persian translation of the Panchatantra, 1429 (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Mughal emperor Akbar hunting lions, 16th century (Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art)

GIR:

Gir is one of the most important national parks of India, and the entirety of Asia. This place is the last natural habitat of the Asiatic lions in the world. It was once the hunting grounds of the Nawabs of Junagadh during the 19th century. They often invited British colonial officers for lion hunts. By the end of the 19th century, there were only a dozen lions in Gir due to severe hunting. As a result, the Nawab established the sanctuary and began to protect the lions. Although the Nawab fled from India to Pakistan after the Indian government took over his state in 1947, his legacy stays on. Now, it has become a world UNESCO site and a thriving tourist spot.

From the beginning, the Nawabs of Junagadh had a love for animals. The first attempt to protect lions was made by Nawab Mahabat Khan (1851-1888), the sixth Nawab of Junagadh after he was shocked to see the dwindling population of the lions in 1879. He banned hunting of any beast in his hunting grounds if permission was not given by the state. He was also encouraged by the Governor of Bombay, Lord Sandhurst. This continued with Mahabat Khan's successors until 1947.

Late 19th-century photograph of Nawab Rasul Khan (1891-1911) (Source: Pinterest)

A special effort was made by Mahabat Khan's grandson, Nawab Rasul Khan (1892-1911). In 1901, the Nawab even wrote to the Viceroy of India, Lord Curzon regarding the protection of lions.

Nawab Rasul Khan followed the legacy of protecting the lions of his grandfather. He improved the protection of the majestic beasts and also imposed a restriction to hunt even peacocks. For hunting a lion, the permit of the state was needed or on the condition of an emergency. Though the forests under Junagadh were protected, the British officers along with the other princes hunted lions in their respective hunting grounds.

Today the efforts of the Nawabs of Junagadh have proved to be very effective.

That's all for this Wednesday, we hope that you'll be waiting for our next post in the coming week...

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