Man-Eaters of Kumaon

1954 Edition published by Oxford University Press and Illustrated by Raymond Sheppard

Man-Eaters of Kumaon is a 1944 book written by hunter-naturalist Jim Corbett. It details the experiences that Corbett had in the Kumaon region of India from the 1900s to the 1930s, while hunting man-eating Bengal tigers[1] and Indian leopards.[2] One tiger, for example, was responsible for over 400 human deaths. Man-Eaters of Kumaon is the best known of Corbett's books and contains 10 stories of tracking and shooting man-eaters in the Indian Himalayas during the early years of the twentieth century. The text also contains incidental information on flora, fauna and village life. Seven of the stories were first published privately as Jungle Stories.

Book Contents

Origins

After much prompting by friends and family in 1935 Corbett finally put to paper seven accounts of his Jungle encounters. These were then made into a small book and 100 copies were privately published under the title Jungle Stories and distributed amongst friends. The stories were titled, "Wild Life in the Village: An Appeal," "The Pipal Pani Tiger," "The Fish of My Dreams," "A Lost Paradise," "The Terror that Walks by Night," "Purna Girl and Its Mysterious Lights," and "The Chowgarh Tigers."

In 1943, whilst Corbett was wheelchair bound recovering from typhus fever, his close friend (R.E. Hawkins) and manager of India's branch of Oxford Press convinced him to write a book for publishing. Using the 1935 Jungle Stories as a basis, Corbett wrote Man-Eaters of Kumaon (10 stories) which was first published by Oxford University Press in 1944.[3]

Notable Editions

1944 - First publication in India by Oxford University Press - with 8 black and white photographs

1946 - Published in UK and USA by Oxford University Press - with 5 black and white photographs

1948 - Abridged Educational Edition published for schools under the title 'The Mohan Man-Eater and Other Stories' - illustrated by C.H.G. Moorhouse

1952 - Published in UK by Oxford University Press - illustrated by Raymond Sheppard (no photographs)

1953 - Published in USA by Pennant Paperbacks

1955 - Published in Paperback by Penguin

1962 - Published in Paperback by Bantam

1990-1995 Limited 1,500 Red Leather Bound set of Corbett's Complete works published by John Culler & Sons

Legacy

Sales & Success

"Man-Eater of Kumaon", 2005 painting by Merab Abramishvili.

By May 1946 over half a million copies of Man-Eaters of Kumaon were in print. The book had been translated into four Western languages (including Spanish, Czech and Finnish) as well as six Indian languages. By 1980 the book went on to sell over four million copies worldwide.[4]

Chhindwara Court Case

In Chhindwara, India 1949 Jim Corbett's Man-Eaters of Kumaon was read out in court by defense for a murder charge. A villager by the name of Todal was found dead in the forest on 19 September 1949. The police's theory was that the accused conspired to murder the victim as he was in love with his wife, the defense was that the victim was killed by a man-eating tiger. Thus the defense produced Corbett's book and read passages relating relevant wounds and circumstances of an attack. The accused was later found not guilty.[5]

Film Adaptations

In 1946 Universal Pictures brought the rights to the book and made the film Man-Eater of Kumaon (1948). The movie bore no relation to the book and centred on an American played by Wendell Corey who wounds a tiger and is later killed by it. Corbett saw the movie once and claimed that the best actor was the tiger.[6] 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. Corbett was played by Christopher Heyerdahl.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Chundawat, R. S., Khan, J. A., Mallon, D. P. (2011). "Panthera tigris tigris". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2016.2. International Union for Conservation of Nature.
  2. ↑ Stein, A.B.; Athreya, V.; Gerngross, P.; Balme, G.; Henschel, P.; Karanth, U.; Miquelle, D.; Rostro, S.; Kamler, J.F.; Laguardia, A. (2016). "Panthera pardus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2016.1. International Union for Conservation of Nature.
  3. ↑ Jim Corbett, My Kumaon: Uncollected Writings (India: Oxford University Press, 2012), vii, xv.
  4. ↑ Martin Booth, Carpet Sahib; A Life of Jim Corbett (New York: Oxford University Press, 1991),230.
  5. ↑ Jim Corbett, My Kumaon: Uncollected Writings (India: Oxford University Press, 2012),137-140.
  6. ↑ Martin Booth, Carpet Sahib; A Life of Jim Corbett (New York: Oxford University Press, 1991), 230.
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