Devarayanadurgas big game in legends and shikar tales

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In the aftermath of any victory on the battlefield the prime task of an occupying force is to
settle all pressing issues of the administration of the occupied territory to smoothly achieve
their aims of occupation. On 15 Dec 1799, seven months after vanquishing the Mysore army
on the battle field, the Governor of Seringapatam and Mysore Arthur Wellesley, who was a
Lieutenant-colonel in the coalition of the winning native and European armies, thought it
very important to address the issue of tigers patrolling the vicinity of modern day
Chitradurga city. In a letter from Srirangapatna to Lt. Col. Close published in the book
Dispatches of Field Marshall Duke of Wellington, during his various campaigns in India,
Denmark, Portugal, Spain, the Low countries and France from 1799 1818 compiled by Lt.
Col. Gurwood he writes, In consequence of a letter from Colonel Oliver, an extract of which
I enclose, I wrote to Government for an allowance for the destruction of tigers in the
neighbourhood of Chittledroog, similar to that given in the Baramahal.

Chitradurga, or Chittledroog as the British called it, today is a bustling city on the Mumbai
Bangalore stretch of National Highway 4 inhabited by over a hundred thousand people. And
Baramahal District refers to areas under the present day Dharmapuri and Krishnagiri
districts.

Though the thought of eliminating even a single wild tiger today is chilling, the above note
by Arthur Wellesely leaves a very important sign of the natural history at that time. It is true
that the British occupied India for their own gains. But the literature from their rule,
particularly 19th century, is dotted with priceless information on the state of affairs of the
people, their traditions and the natural resources, including the wildlife, as witnessed during
that period of history.

The big game in and around Devarayanadurga in 1800s

The shikar era was an age where shikaris or hunters - both legal and illegal, thrived on the
big game of the nations forests. The Wild Birds and Animals Protection Act enacted by the
British in 1912 and amended in 1935 was not strong enough to deter Indias wildlife like the
cheetah from being hunted into extinction. This continued till 1972 when the Wildlife
Protection Act was enacted which made hunting of all wild animals punishable more
stringently. The British literature as well as that immediately after 1947 makes it clear that
during the days of shikar the woods of Devarayanadurga were no different from other
wildlife havens across the nation. The wildlife in them attracted shikaris from far and wide.
And being close to Bangalore meant this woodland was always within the eye sight of many
shikaris.

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There are numerous references to the big game of Devarayanadurga in the records of the
British officers. Major General Dobbs wrote about the tigers in these districts in his book
Reminiscences of Life in Mysore, South Africa, and Burmah published in 1882. Dobbs was
the longest serving British officer of Chitradurga Division, of which Chitradurga and Tumkur
districts were a part, when the British administered the old Mysore state from 1831 to 1881.
He has interesting narrations of tigers in the division including in and around todays Tumkur
city. He claims that tigers and leopards were among the principal wildlife of the division and
the wrought great destruction of life of humans and cattle. He describes a method of
trapping he put in place in the Chitradurga division due to which48 tigers were trapped in a
short period, including four whose skins were brought to him on one morning. And there
was a tiger which he writes was unusually large that was shot on the outskirts of Tumkur
city. He took its skin to England in 1856 and gifted to a relative who resided in Scotland. The
trophy ultimately came back to him from the relative.

Dobbs seemed to have a particular liking for the wilderness of Devarayanadurga as it also
made a positive spiritual impact on his religious practises. He narrates many accounts of his
interactions with this forests wildlife. He tried preserving the game for fellow Europeans
whom he would host for shikar. He speaks of the presence of sambur (which the British of
that time referred to as elk) near the Devarayanadurga hill top, apart from tiger in the
forests around the hill. The common antelope (blackbuck) was so abundant in the country
surrounding Devarayanadurga that one British officer shot 200 of these magnificent
creatures within a few days. He narrates how an entire dead blackbuck would be available
at the Tumkur market for 4 annas or about a quarter of a rupee. The spotted deer was
never numerous. British officers also indulged in jig-sticking or spear hunting of wild boar
as well as shooting sloth bears in the division. He observes how the reduction of tigers and
leopards in the division due to hunting led to an increase in wild boar which damaged crops.
He regretted the opening up of Devarayanadurga forest for shikar during his tenure as it led
to the destruction of almost all wildlife there except the tiger.

Another British officer, Lt. Col. Arthur J. O. Pollock, in his book Sporting days in Southern
India published in 1894, gives interesting shikar accounts from Devarayanadurgas jungles,
in particular of the tiger. In October 1881 he beat these jungles for several days looking for
a tiger which was reported to be killing a lot of cattle in the vicinity. Although a number of
spotted deer, wild boar as well as sambur were driven out daily he could not get a shot at
the big cat. During a hunting expedition, the shikaris would employ beaters who would
create a ruckus by beating instruments to flush animals from their forest hideouts. And they
would be accompanied by camp followers to help meet the needs of the hunting expedition.
During this hunt, he recollects an incident where the camp followers pestered him for wild
meat. Heeding to their request he organised a party of 100 villagers and four shikaris
equipped with matchlock firearms. The beating began at a place that he refers to as the
bungalow near Kumbarahalli which is probably the old forest bungalow of todays

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Namadachelume. The shikar ended in a near tragedy as one of the shikaris ended up
shooting a fellow sportsman who had crept much ahead of the crowd wanting to bag an
animal by his own! The injured man was shifted to the hospital at nearby Tumkur and
fortunately survived. It is not mentioned in the book if he volunteered to be a shikari again!

Tigers again...

Over a century later, Dr. Uday Veer Singh, the then Deputy Conservator of Forests (DCF) of
Tumkur District recorded the sighting an adult tiger on the main road near Namada
Chelume while patrolling Devarayanadurga forest in his official vehicle on a cold December
night in 1996. This sighting by an IFS officer was a pleasant surprise to Tumkurs nature
lovers who were used to seeing leopards at regular intervals and had not heard of the tigers
presence here in a long time. In August 2001, TVN Murthy, Honorary Wildlife Warden and
wildlife activist of Tumkur-based Wildlife Aware Nature Club (WANC) claimed the sighting of
two fully grown tigers inside this forest near the Namadachelume area. Reports of tiger
sighting here continued coming in including by the forest department officials through the
first decade of this century.

Over 40 years before Dr. U.V.Singhs sighting, noted hunter Kenneth Anderson wrote about
his shooting down of a tigress, in his book Nine Rouges and One Man Eater published in
1955. A tigress he named 'The Hermit of Devarayanadurga' had killed 3 people in the vicinity
of Devarayanadurga village. The tigress was said to be unusually aggressive and killed the
gunman of a party of men that had gone to collect the body of an old woman whom it had
killed earlier. He writes he shot it down after tracking it for 4 days. But that was an era when
the human population was lesser and the pressures on this forest were few. What could
have drawn the tiger again to the wilderness of Devarayanadurga towards the dawn of 21st
century?

There are many theories that crop up on how a tiger could have entered this forest despite
the fact that it today is isolated with no forested contiguity with another forest inhabited by
tigers. In the late 1990s the possessing of wild animals in moving circuses was banned by the
Government and there was pressure on people with captive tigers and other wild animals to
account for such animals and hand over their custody to the authorities. Although the tiger
could have been one such species left to fend for itself in the wilderness of
Devarayanadurga by its owner who wanted to avoid the bureaucratic red tape , the
possibility of a wild tiger having made this place its temporary home may not be out of
place. Movement of wildlife is not always predictable. There are recent scientifically proven
events of the tiger walking long distances often slipping through human habitation to reach
forests hundreds of kilometres away. We also are witness how for over a decade an animal
as big as the elephant is travelling unnoticed for long distances each summer to suddenly
appear in the dry non-forested areas of south interior Karnataka, chiefly Tumkur. In his book
Dobbs observes that the tiger is migratory, and constantly came from different ranges to

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the superior cover in the vicinity of Daveroydroog. Lt. Col. Pollock in his book says the tiger
of Devarayanadurga, had its beat extending from here all the way south to Magadi town,
west of Bangalore. Finally, Kenneth Anderson mentions that tigers had not been seen in
Devarayanadurgas jungles in many a decade and the one he shot had migrated here
'among flat, cultivated fields'.

Every forest and wilderness is blessed with its own rich history of tales and legends.
Devanarayanadurga boasts of its own hard to believe stories that fortunately have been
documented in literature over the centuries. It is in our interest to conserve this wonderful
part of our country, its associated memories and heritage into posterity.