Jim Corbett
Edward James "Jim" Corbett | |
|---|---|
 Jim Corbett | |
| Born | 25 July 1875 |
| Died | 19 April 1955 (aged 79) |
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation(s) | hunter, naturalist, writer |
Edward James "Jim" Corbett (25 July 1875 in Nainital, India – 19 April 1955 in Nyeri, Kenya) was a British hunter, turned conservationist, author and naturalist, famous for hunting wild animals in India.
Corbett held the rank of colonel in the British Indian Army and was frequently called upon by the government of the United Provinces, now the Indian states of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, to kill man-eating tigers and leopards that were harassing people in the nearby villages of the Garhwal and Kumaon region. His hunting successes earned him a long-held respect and fame amongst the people residing in the villages of Kumaon. Some even claim that he was considered to be a sadhu (saint) by the locals.
Corbett was an avid photographer and after his retirement, authored the Man-Eaters of Kumaon, Jungle Lore, and other books recounting his hunts and experiences, which enjoyed much critical acclaim and commercial success. Later on in life, Corbett spoke out for the need to protect India's wildlife from extermination and played a key role in creating a national reserve for the endangered Bengal tiger by using his influence to persuade the provincial government to establish it. The national park was renamed Jim Corbett National Park in his honour after his death in 1957.
Early life
Edward James Corbett was born of Irish ancestry in the town of Nainital in the Kumaon of the Himalaya (now in the Indian state of Uttarakhand). Jim grew up in a large family of 13 children and was the eighth child of Willam Christopher and Mary Jane Corbett. His parents had moved to Nainital in 1862, after Christopher Corbett had been appointed postmaster of the town. In winters, the family used to move to the foothills, where they owned a cottage named 'Arundel' in Chhoti Haldwani or 'Corbett's Village' now known as Kaladhungi. After his father's death, when Jim was 4 years old, his eldest brother Tom took over as the postmaster of Nainital. From a very young age, Jim was fascinated by the forests and the wildlife around his home in Kaladhungi. At a young age he learned to identify most animals and birds by their calls - owing to his frequent excursions. Over time he became a good tracker and hunter. Jim studied at the Oak Openings School, later merged with Philander Smith College in Nainital (later known as Halett War School, and now known as Birla Vidya Mandir, Nainital). Before he was 19, he quit school and found employment with the Bengal and North Western Railway, initially working as a fuel inspector at Manakpur in the Punjab, and subsequently as a contractor for the trans-shipment of goods across the Ganges at Mokameh Ghat in Bihar.[1]
Hunting man-eating tigers
Between 1907 and 1938, Corbett tracked and shot a documented 19 tigers and 14 leopards — a total of 33 recorded and documented man-eaters. It is claimed that these big cats had killed more than 1,200 men, women and children. The first tiger he killed, the Champawat Tiger in Champawat, was responsible for 436 documented deaths. He also shot the Panar Leopard, which allegedly killed 400 people. One of the most famous was the man-eating Leopard of Rudraprayag, which terrorised the pilgrims to the holy Hindu shrines Kedarnath and Badrinath for more than ten years.
Other notable man-eaters he killed were the Talla-Des man-eater, the Mohan man-eater, the Thak man-eater and the Chowgarh tigress.
Analysis of carcasses, skulls and preserved remains show that most of the man-eaters were suffering from disease or wounds like porcupine quills embedded deep in the skin or old gunshot wounds, which never healed. The Thak man-eating tigress, when skinned by Corbett, revealed two old gunshot wounds; one in her shoulder had become septic, and as Corbett suggested, could have been the reason for the tigress to have turned man-eater. In the foreword of Man Eaters of Kumaon, Corbett writes,
"The wound that has caused a particular tiger to take to man-eating might be the result of a carelessly fired shot and failure to follow up and recover the wounded animal, or be the result of the tiger having lost his temper while killing a porcupine".
Corbett preferred to hunt alone and on foot when pursuing dangerous game. He often hunted with a small dog named Robin, about whom he wrote much in his first book The Man-Eaters of Kumaon. At times, Corbett took great personal risks to save the lives of others. Still remembered by some in India as a great preservationist, his memories command a distant respect in the areas where he worked.[2]
Hunter turned conservationist
Corbett bought his first camera in the late 1920s, and inspired by his friend F. W. Champion, started to record tigers on cine film.[2] Although he had an intimate knowledge of the jungle, it was a demanding task to obtain good pictures, as the animals were exceedingly shy. As his admiration for tigers and leopards grew, he resolved never to shoot them unless they turned man-eater or posed a threat to cattle. He apparently expressed regret at killing the Bachelor of Powalgarh.
Corbett became deeply concerned about the fate of tigers and their habitat.[3] Corbett took to lecturing groups of school children about their natural heritage and the need to conserve forests and their wildlife. He promoted the foundation of the Association for the Preservation of Game in the United Provinces and the All-India Conference for the Preservation of Wildlife. Together with F. W. Champion he played a key role in establishing India's first national park in the Kumaon Hills, the Hailey National Park,[4] initially named after Lord Malcolm Hailey. The park was renamed in his honour in 1957. [4]
Retiring in Kenya
After 1947, Corbett and his sister Maggie retired to Nyeri, Kenya,[4] where he continued to write and sound the alarm about declining numbers of jungle cats and other wildlife. Jim Corbett was at the Tree Tops Hotel, a hut built on the branches of a giant ficus tree, when Princess Elizabeth stayed there on 5–6 February 1952, at the time of the death of her father, King George VI. Corbett wrote in the hotel's visitors' register:
For the first time in the history of the world, a young girl climbed into a tree one day a Princess, and after having what she described as her most thrilling experience, she climbed down from the tree the next day a Queen— God bless her.
Jim Corbett died of a heart attack a few days after he finished writing his sixth book Tree Tops, and was buried at St. Peter's Anglican Church in Nyeri.
Legacy
Corbett's home at Chhoti Haldwani, Kaladhungi has been converted into a museum. The 221 acres (0.89 km2; 0.345 sq mi) village, which he bought in 1915, still has his memories intact in the form of the Chaupal called meeting place, Moti House, which Corbett had built for his friend Moti Singh, and the Corbett Wall, an about 4.5 miles (7.2 km) long wall built around the village to protect crops from wild animals.
Jim Corbett's first book, Man-eaters of Kumaon, was a great success in India, the United Kingdom and the United States; the first edition of the American Book-of-the-Month Club being 250,000 copies. It was later translated into 27 languages. His fourth book, Jungle Lore, is considered his autobiography.
The Jim Corbett National Park in Uttarakhand, India was renamed in his honour in 1957. He had played a key role in establishing this protected area in the 1930s.
In 1968, one of the five remaining subspecies of tigers was named after him: Panthera tigris corbetti, the Indochinese Tiger, also called Corbett's tiger.
In 1994 and 2002, the long-neglected graves of Corbett and his sister (both in Kenya) were repaired and restored by Jerry A. Jaleel, founder and director of the Jim Corbett Foundation.[5]
Hollywood movie
In 1948, in the wake of the success of the book Man-Eaters of Kumaon a Hollywood film, Man-Eater of Kumaon was filmed (director Byron Haskin, starring Sabu, Wendell Corey and Joe Page). This was a typical Hollywood production. The film did not follow any of Corbett's stories; instead a fictional new story was made up. The film was a flop, although some interesting footage of the tiger was filmed. Corbett is known to have said that "the best actor was the tiger".[citation needed]
Documentary
In 1986, the BBC produced a docudrama titled Man-Eaters of India with Frederick Treves in the role of Jim Corbett. An IMAX movie India: Kingdom of the Tiger based on Corbett's books, was made in 2002 starring Christopher Heyerdahl as Jim Corbett. A TV movie based on The Man-Eating Leopard of Rudraprayag starring Jason Flemyng was made in 2005.
Books
- Man-eaters of Kumaon. Oxford University Press, Bombay 1944
- Man-eaters of Kumaon. Oxford University Press, Madras 1945 (second ed.)
- Man-eaters of Kumaon. Oxford University Press, 1946
- The Man-eating Leopard of Rudraprayag. Oxford University Press, 1947
- My India. Oxford University Press, 1952
- Jungle Lore. Oxford University Press, 1953
- The Temple Tiger and more man-eaters of Kumaon. Oxford University Press, 1954
- Tree Tops. Oxford University Press, 1955
See also
References
- ^ Kala, D. C. 1979. Jim Corbett of Kumaon. Ankur Publishing House, New Delhi
- ^ a b Rangarajan, M. (2006) India's Wildlife History: an Introduction. Permanent Black and Ranthambore Foundation, Delhi. ISBN 81-7824-140-4 p. 70
- ^ Thapar, V. (2001) Savings Wild Tigers: the essential writings. Permanent Black, Delhi book preview
- ^ a b c Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2009), The Eponym Dictionary of Mammals, Johns Hopkins University Press, p. 86, ISBN 978-0-8018-9304-9
- ^ Jaleel, J.A. (2009) The Jim Corbett Foundation, Canada
Further reading
- Booth, Martin. 1986. Carpet Sahib: A Life of Jim Corbett. Constable, London. ISBN 0-09-467400-0, ISBN 978-0-09-467400-4
- Jaleel, J. A. 2001. Under the shadow of man-eaters : the life and legend of Jim Corbett of Kumaon. Orient Longman, New Delhi. ISBN 81-250-2020-9, ISBN 978-81-250-2020-2
- Kala, D. C. 1979. Jim Corbett of Kumaon. Ankur Publishing House, New Delhi
External links
