Man and Wildlife in Mughal India : Jahangir and Nilgaw hunt

Abstract

The Mughal Emperors were keen observer of nature. It began with Babur’s vivid description of natural phenomena particularly of the flora and fauna of Hindustan. The commentary by the Mughal Emperors on nature culminated in the Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri. These narratives are characterised by an overtone of admiration for the beauty they found in subjects and they did not hesitate to express thier feeling of repulsion for an ugly looking animal. Jahangir’s descriptions are precise enough to make possible for us to scientifically identify the objects .All the Mughal emperors particularly Jahangir appear to have been extremely fond of hunting nilgaw. Jahangir makes repeated references to the sport in his memoirs. The Jahangirnama (Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri) reveals Jahangir’s multi-faceted persona as a sovereign, naturalist, aesthete, patron of the arts and collector. The Mughals hunted nilgaw in the qamarghah. fashion or shot it with a gun and killed with swords, spikes, arrows and muskets. By the end of the year (1617) Jahangir hunted 28532 wild animals and birds were hunted in which 889 nilgaw included.The places where these wild animals particularly Nilgaw were killed were spread over a large area. It signifies the distribution of these animal in these areas where it is no longer found.The paper analysed Mughal Emperor’s keen observation almost scientific and their hunting expedition in different regions