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Literary Review
Tiger tales
"HIS Eminence", "My Lord", "Lofty One". These are not appellations for a reigning monarch or a head of State. These are the terms by which the tawny-eyed tiger, the beauty among the beasts, is addressed by the Mnong community in Indo-China; they never refer to him by name.
Valmik Thapar, the Tiger Man of India, in this slim book, traces the cult of the tiger and provides a cache of interesting stories and beliefs connected with this magnificent animal. The tiger's immense power and strength give it an aura unmatched in the animal world. In all the countries where it is found, the respect in which it is held owes in large measure to the fear it arouses. And this has helped protect the animal. Says Thapar, "The link between man and tiger goes back thousands of years. In a way, it is the cult of the tiger that has played a vital role in keeping it alive in the 21st Century." The mixture of adoration and fear has led to a wealth of legend and myth. In religion, ritual and art, the tiger holds a place of unmatched eminence because of the sacred status it enjoys, states Thapar. He traces man's relationship with the tiger in a journey from the Siberian forests of Eurasia to the forests of Indonesia, taking pains to unearth numerous stories and rituals connected with this animal which is on the brink of extinction. He quotes passages from the accounts left by European hunters and missionaries as also historians and art lovers.
Forest communities in all the Asian countries ("the tiger is solely an Asian animal") have always held the animal in reverence. Tigers were generally killed only for ceremonial purposes. It was believed, says the writer, that man and the tiger have similar souls. From this comes the idea of the were-tiger and medicine man (shaman) in forest communities "transformed" into tigers to effect cures.
The man-tiger relationship in these communities is fascinating. In Siberia, where fossil remains of the sabre-toothed tiger were found, both the tiger and bear were revered as sacred ancestors and never hunted in the past as the animal was considered protector and guardian of the forest. So too in Korea where the tiger was protected against the pressures of hunters. Paintings of the white tiger, considered a symbol of auspiciousness and repeller of evil, were once seen in every home and they were looked upon as benevolent messengers of the mountain spirit. In China too, the white tiger held a special place and in Taoist religion, it refers to Yin, the complementary force of Yang, the other source of energy. The animal forms a vital element of Chinese medicine with minute details of preparation of each part of its body being specified for various ailments.
Going to Hong Kong, Indo-China, Thailand, Malaysia, Bali (where the smallest sub-species of tiger in the world was once found) and Burma, Thapar comes to India. Here, both in tribal religion and mainstream Hinduism, the tiger occupies prime place. The Harappan seals have this graceful and powerful animal engraved on them. The striped splendour is Goddess Durga's vehicle and Lord Ayyappa's victorious return with the tiger's milk reveals his godly status to his foster parents.
To tribal communities across the world, the tiger is the symbol of prosperity and fecundity and the essence of the feminine force. All this helped save the tiger. But today, the tiger is seen no more in Siberia, it has vanished from Pakistan and it is nowhere to be found in Korea, points out Thapar. The dismal scene is repeated throughout Asia, once the proud home of this graceful animal. The statistics are chilling. For instance, there were 40,000 tigers in India at the turn of the last century. Now there are just 1,800. The tiger, which enjoyed protection and supremacy in Asia, through its cult, was brought low by the cowardly power of the White man's gun when it became a trophy and an affirmation of "manhood". Colonisation by the Europeans marked the beginning of the end of this magnificent animal and so did "civilisation" and the destruction of its habitat.
The format of the book is not the most attractive. You can't do justice to the photographs of the most photogenic animal on earth if it looks tamely at you from less than A4 paper — it shrinks his stature. Though the logo at the beginning of the chapters is good, the chapters sometimes begin at the bottom of the page — fine for saving paper but not the best way to begin.
The language is functional. There are no passages of lyrical power. But then you don't look for lyrical language from the Tiger Man. You want to gain information about an animal that once roamed our fortunate, tropical countries in abundance but is sadly now on its way out.
A fascinating book for all those who love tales and are mesmerised by this nonpareil among Nature's creations.
The Cult of the Tiger, Valmik Thapar, Oxford University Press, Rs. 295.
KAUSALYA SANTHANAM
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