ISBN: 9780198069690    Publisher: OUP India Year of publishing: 2010     Format:  Hardback No of Pages: 184        

Represented in various art forms from time immemorial, the tiger, India's national animal, resides in the very soul of the country's cultural beliefs, myths, and legends. This book explores and reveals almost every facet of this amazing animal in terms of its first impressions on the 8000-year-old cave paintings of Madhya Pradesh to its presence on Mohenjodaro seals, some 4500 years ago. The volume covers tribal belief and worship, ancient tiger art, the Mughal period, and the tiger in miniature painting. The book is a testimony to the power, beauty, and magnificence of the tiger, which captured man's imagination to the extent that it was worshipped across the country. How a host of emotions, including fear, almost compelled man to express his feelings on stone, wood, paper, and much more. The relationship 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 this animal alive in the twenty-first century. It is vital to make sense of the awe and reverence this animal inspires in India, for that will help save it from extinction.
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Valmik Thapar is an internationally celebrated tiger and wildlife conservationist. He is a member of the National Board of Wildlife chaired by the Prime Minister, and other policymaking bodies responsible for tiger conservation. A member of the National Tourism Advisory Council of the Government of India, he is the author of fifteen books on tigers.

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