Mega Mammals in Ancient India

Description

Since antiquity, big mammals have inspired fear as well as fantasy among humans. Not only do megafauna pervade the domains of religion, art, literature, and folklore, it is also now widely acknowledged that they can serve as important, if not always adequate, indices of environmental quality. In this book, Shibani Bose looks into eras bygone in order to chronicle the journeys of three mega mammals, the rhinoceros, elephant, and tiger, across millennia in early north India.

Carefully sifting through archaeological evidence and literary records in Sanskrit, Pali, Prakrit, and classical Western accounts, Bose documents the presence of these big mammals in diverse cultural contexts, from hunter-gatherer societies to the first urban civilization of India and beyond. This work aims to reconstruct human interactions with these mega species through time while trying to understand the larger ecology of ancient India.  

This book is especially well-timed as the conservation of our megafaunal heritage is a major concern for biologists, ecologists, and conservationists. It underlines the need to historicize human interactions with these mega mammals with the contention that awareness regarding their past is critical for their future.

About the Author

Shibani Bose is an independent researcher, and has taught at Miranda House, University of Delhi, and also at the University of St. Thomas, Minnesota, USA.

Table of contents

List of Figures ix

Foreword xiii

Acknowledgements xvii

1. Introduction 1
2. Trailing the One-Horned Wonder 37
3. Beyond the Glittering Eye: Tiger Tales from Ancient India 117
4. Trunk Calls in Antiquity: Elephant in Archaeology and Art 185
5. Trunk Calls in Antiquity: Elephant in Textual Traditions 239
6. Conclusion 302

References 319

Index 347

About the Author 361