 "Big cat diary")
JAWAI
LAND OF THE LEOPARD
Author: Anjali Singh & Jaisal Singh
Publisher: SUJÁN Art
Pages: 284
Price: Rs 3,999
Eight hundred and fifty million years ago, long before the first humans appeared, molten magmatic and volcanic activity created one of the most breathtaking landscapes on the planet - Jawai.
Woven into the geological evolution, human civilization has created its own dramatic narrative giving this region a rich natural, as well as a vibrant cultural heritage.
The billion year-old Aravalli hills, a visible backdrop to the Godwar region, of which Jawai forms a part, were first inhabited by aboriginal tribal communities with a long history of their own. Tribes such as the Bhils, Grasias and Minas, continue to reside throughout these parts many centuries on. It was in these hills that Rana Kumbha, the Sisodia Rajput king of Mewar, established the fortress of Kumbhalgarh in the fifteenth century whose exalted eyries still loom over the plains of Jawai below. These forested ranges are also where, about a century later, Kumbha's descendent Rana Pratap fought his celebrated guerrilla campaign against the expansion of the mighty Mughal Empire...
Unmistakable in their striking red turbans and traditional garb, the semi-nomadic Rabari herdsmen are as much a feature of Jawai's Arcadian panoply as its leopards, landscapes and wildlife. In fact, the Jawai 'belt' is one of the few places this charismatic community of traditional herders and pastoralists call home. Grazing their livestock across traditional pastoral lands, the Rabaris often lose sheep and goats to the big cats. Owing to their spiritual and traditional beliefs of leopards being protectors of their deities, they have more often than not justified this loss as an offering to their gods. In keeping with the times and to protect an iconic species, the government of Rajasthan today offers financial compensation for their loss...
Spiritualism and religion are at the very core of daily life for the people of Godwar. Temples and shrines to local deities, as well as the better-known figures of the Hindu pantheon, dotted around the hills, stand testament to their devotion. It is estimated that there are over a hundred and fifty in the vicinity of the Jawai reservoir alone. With these holy sites situated in natural leopard habitat, the big cats invariably traverse sacred ground, and have over the centuries acquired an aura of divinity. This association has aided not just their survival, but also allowed for one of the world's highest concentrations of leopards in a semi-agrarian, semi-pastoral landscape; where their peaceful coexistence with people is a remarkable phenomenon for the twenty-first century. Jawai is a wilderness unlike any other.
Reprinted with permission from SUJÁN
LAND OF THE LEOPARD
Author: Anjali Singh & Jaisal Singh
Publisher: SUJÁN Art
Pages: 284
Price: Rs 3,999
Eight hundred and fifty million years ago, long before the first humans appeared, molten magmatic and volcanic activity created one of the most breathtaking landscapes on the planet - Jawai.
Woven into the geological evolution, human civilization has created its own dramatic narrative giving this region a rich natural, as well as a vibrant cultural heritage.
The billion year-old Aravalli hills, a visible backdrop to the Godwar region, of which Jawai forms a part, were first inhabited by aboriginal tribal communities with a long history of their own. Tribes such as the Bhils, Grasias and Minas, continue to reside throughout these parts many centuries on. It was in these hills that Rana Kumbha, the Sisodia Rajput king of Mewar, established the fortress of Kumbhalgarh in the fifteenth century whose exalted eyries still loom over the plains of Jawai below. These forested ranges are also where, about a century later, Kumbha's descendent Rana Pratap fought his celebrated guerrilla campaign against the expansion of the mighty Mughal Empire...
Unmistakable in their striking red turbans and traditional garb, the semi-nomadic Rabari herdsmen are as much a feature of Jawai's Arcadian panoply as its leopards, landscapes and wildlife. In fact, the Jawai 'belt' is one of the few places this charismatic community of traditional herders and pastoralists call home. Grazing their livestock across traditional pastoral lands, the Rabaris often lose sheep and goats to the big cats. Owing to their spiritual and traditional beliefs of leopards being protectors of their deities, they have more often than not justified this loss as an offering to their gods. In keeping with the times and to protect an iconic species, the government of Rajasthan today offers financial compensation for their loss...
Spiritualism and religion are at the very core of daily life for the people of Godwar. Temples and shrines to local deities, as well as the better-known figures of the Hindu pantheon, dotted around the hills, stand testament to their devotion. It is estimated that there are over a hundred and fifty in the vicinity of the Jawai reservoir alone. With these holy sites situated in natural leopard habitat, the big cats invariably traverse sacred ground, and have over the centuries acquired an aura of divinity. This association has aided not just their survival, but also allowed for one of the world's highest concentrations of leopards in a semi-agrarian, semi-pastoral landscape; where their peaceful coexistence with people is a remarkable phenomenon for the twenty-first century. Jawai is a wilderness unlike any other.
Reprinted with permission from SUJÁN