Divyabhanusinh

Like others in this series from Marg Publications, this is a lavishly illustrated and information-packed glossy work of deep scholarship and detailed field knowledge - a difficult combination to achieve. One of the real eye-openers for me was the fresh insight into the personality of the last Nawab of Junagadh, Mahabbatkhan, who took his state over to Pakistan and precipitated a crisis and is thus generally reviled, but who staunchly protected his lion against pressure from his brother princes and the British gentry to permit shooting for trophies. There are also separate chapters on the current status, and the pros and cons of creating a second home outside Gujarat. All in all, this should be a last word on the lion in India (the author also has a separate book on the same, but I am assuming that there will not be much additional material there; I may be mistaken). The author has a similarly well-researched book on the Cheetah.… (más)

The last word on a scholarly record of the cheetah in the Indian sub-continent. While one cannot hold the author responsible, one wonders at the obstinate and unrelenting way in which the princes went about pursuing these beautiful animals, even when it was obvious that they were getting rarer and rarer. One wonders what the maharajah of Korea, Madhya Pradesh thought of his bag of three cheetahs (presumably siblings), the last recorded such kill. However that may be, the book itself is a labour of utter devotion and scholarliness, with profuse illustrations including maps, reproduction of Mughal-era 'miniature' paintings, historic photographs, and drawings from old books. There is an exhaustive list of references, as well as tabulated statements of recorded kills, which however are rather confusing as they amount to just one per year, which obviously could not account for its extinction. Finally, the author, like all his relatives from the princely clans, makes a plea for the re-introduction of the cheetah from abroad.… (más)