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Artifacts
depicting animals found during excavation of Indus valley civilizations
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thousand year old Panchatantra contains numerous stories
in which the animals have been given prominence. This collection
of stories is also the basis for 'Aesop's Fables'. Even
today, children as well as adults find great excitement
in reading these animal stories. Talkative turtle, stupid
frog, rat and lion stories are too well known. Similarly
all grandma stories have crows, sparrows, snakes as main
characters. The court poets have written numerous collections
in which the animal life has been described in minute detail.
Kalidasa and Bana give a vivid picture of a variety of animals
that lived together at ashrams |
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Jathaka stories
attach great importance to rebirth. The elephants and
the monkeys come across a variety of animals in different
rebirths. During his long vanavasa Lord Rama developed
special relation with different animals such as Jatayu,
Sugreeva, Hanuman, deer and monkeys. Kishkintha of Ramayana
now known as Hampi has good population of monkeys even
today. Lord Krishna was also an animal lover. In order
to protect the animals, that he loved, from heavy rains
and thunderstorm he lifted a huge mountain and came to
be known as Govardhana Giridhari. |
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The
emperors, kings and queens adopted different animals as their
emblems. Gangas of Talkadu opted for an elephant, whereas a
lion was Kadamba's choice. Hoysala's emblem has a tiger whereas
Vijayanagara kings settled for a boar. Mysore Maharajas went
for Ganda-bherunda, two-headed mythical bird. These emblems
were printed on flags that were hoisted at the time of different
religious functions. Coins of different denominations were minted
by embossing these emblems. These emblems were also displayed
prominently on temples, forts and palaces.
Kalidasa
, the Sanskrit poet famous for his literary works , frequently
uses bird imagery in his plays and poetry .His 'Meghdoot' is
a sensuous poem about a lover exiled from his beloved in the
monsoon and uses birds breeding in that season to explain about
the character's feelings.
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Kalamkari
art form depicting Kurmavatar |
Kalamkari art form depicting Matsyavatar |
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A 16th century Mughal miniature painting from the 'Akbarnama'
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History
records that Babur the Mughal emperor is said to have observed
his first pied myna and his keen interest in nature was inherited
by his son Humayun, who even when fleeing India after being
defeated by an Afghan invader, stopped to have a painting made
of a bird of a type he had never seen before, which happened
to fly into his tent.
The
emperor Jehangir noted with amazement the devotion of a sarus
crane to his dead mate.The bird refused to leave the bones of
its spouse,and when, weak and dying, it was lifted from the
remains, worms and maggots were found to have dug into its breast.
His own legendary love for his queen Noorjahan , which manifested
itself in the form of the Tajmahal was perhaps inspired by the
sarus crane incident .
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