Indian natural history
This article explores the history and people involved in the study of natural history in India. Natural history is here restricted to the broad fields of paleontology, zoology and botany. For information on the species found see Fauna and flora of India.
Although much of the growth of natural history in India can be attributed to British colonialism and the growth of natural history in Britain, there is considerable evidence to suggest that India with its diverse landscape, fauna and flora along with many other tropical colonies helped in creating an interest in natural history in Britain and elsewhere in world.
Vedic times
The vedas represent some of the oldest historical records available and it lists the names of nearly 250 kinds of birds and also has notes on various other fauna and flora. A notable piece of information is the knowledge of brood parasitism in the Indian Koel, a habit known well ahead of Aristotle. This is possibly because of the commonness of the Indian Koel and its host the House Crow.
The elephant was a well studied animal and the capture, training and maintenance of elephants was documented.
Pre-Moghul
Emperor Ashoka was perhaps the first ruler to advocate conservation measures for wildlife and even had rules inscribed in stone edicts.
Moghul period
The Moghul emperors not only led a leisurely life but also pursued gardening and art. They decorated their gardens with their private zoos and hired artists to paint many subjects including plants and animals. Hunting and falconry were also extensively practised. They also employed scribes and were among the first to document their observations of nature in India. The foremost of the observers were Jehangir and Babur(See also Baburnama).
Pre-colonial
The oldest regional flora work in the world was undertaken in India in the 1700's by the Dutch East India Company through the work of Hendrik van Rheede which resulted in the Hortus indicus malabaricus.
Colonial India
The Indian Civil Services brought many British naturalists to India. Some collected species on behalf of British and other European naturalists and museums, while others carried out their studies entirely on their own. The massive collection and documentation efforts led to the production of the Fauna of British India series.
A large number of naturalists with an interest in sharing observations led to the founding of the Bombay Natural History Society.
Birds
The study of birds in India during the colonial period began with hunting and it was only later that more careful observations were made. The army hunters often made notes on the birds that they shot and some of the more interesting species were skinned and sent back to museums in England for identification.
True ornithology began with Thomas C. Jerdon in southern India and much later Allan Octavian Hume who built an entire network of ornithologists in India. The famous names in the ornithology of the Indian subcontinent during this era include Edward Blyth,Hugh Whistler,H. H. Godwin-Austen,W H Sykes,C. M. Inglis,E. C. Stuart Baker,H. R. Baker,E W Oates Ferdinand Stoliczka,W. T .Blanford,Charles Swinhoe,Robert Swinhoe,C. H. T. Marshall,G. F. L. Marshall, and Samuel Tickell.
Mammals
Like the birds, the study of mammals was largely driven by hunters and for a while it was largely restricted to trophy hunting. It was perhaps R. C. Wroughton a forest officer who began a concerted study of the small mammals of India through the network of members of the Bombay Natural History Society that mammalology in India began. While hunters sent in many specimens for identification, there were a few who studied the habits of species in the wild. Notable mammalologists include Robert A. Sterndale, S. H. Prater and Brian Houghton Hodgson.
Reptiles and Amphibians
The study of reptiles and amphibians were not as advanced as those of the mammals and birds. Only the poisonous reptiles were of some interest to the British army. Serious herpetological studies came from the contributions of R. H. Beddome, Frank Wall and H. S. Ferguson.
Invertebrates
The study of insects in India was initially restricted to the butterflies thanks to the collection craze back in England. However widespread entomology became important thanks to the recognition of the importance of agriculture. Entomologists who left a mark include Harold Maxwell-Lefroy, Thomas Bainbrigge Fletcher, George Francis Hampson, Michael Lloyd Ferrar, W. H. Evans, Frederic Moore, Lionel de Niceville and William Stephen Atkinson.
Fish
The study of fish in India was also initially restricted to that which was of commercial value. Sport fishing was also popular but restricted to major hill areas. Not much is documented of the sport fishing beyond record catches reported in the Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society. Notable publications on the fishes of India were made by Sir Francis Day and Francis Buchanan-Hamilton.
Flora and Forests
The forests of India were some of the richest resources in the British colonies. The value of forests was realized very early and forest management was introduced early on the sub-continent. Forest management was however oriented to the production of commercial products such as teak timber and not oriented towards conservation. Even today, vast tracts of Indian forests are covered with teak plantations which are devoid of wildlife. The first foresters in India were highly influenced by forest management in Germany and many forest officers in India were trained in the German school of thought brought into India by Dietrich Brandis. Numerous officers in the Indian Forest service added information on the flora of India. Several amateurs also worked alongside from other civil services and they were assisted by professional botanists such as Joseph Dalton Hooker, John Gerard Koenig, Nathaniel Wallich and William Roxburgh.
Some of the prominent names associated with botany and forests of India include Charles McCann, Walter Elliot (ICS), T. F. Bourdillon, A. A. Dunbar-Brander (conservator of forests in the Central Provinces), H. G. Champion, F. W. Champion (Deputy Conservator of Forests, United Provinces) and P. D. Stracey.
Hunter-Naturalists
Hunting was a way of life in colonial India and people from different walks of life wrote about their hunts and their observations in the wild. Many of them were talented writers who left behind their hunting lore in various publications. These include Kenneth Anderson in southern India, F M Bailey in Tibet and along the Himalayas, Jim Corbett in the foothills of the Himalayas, R. C. Morris in the Biligirirangan hills and George P. Sanderson in central India. There were also much travelled hunters like Richard Meinertzhagen who contributed to various other fields such as ornithology. Numerous other hunters wrote to the BNHS journal and a lot of the observations were inaccurate.
Travelling naturalists and collectors
India was on the route for explorers and travellers in the region and many collectors from different countries travelled through India. These include such naturalists as Pierre Sonnerat, Jean Baptiste Leschenault de la Tour and Jean de Thévenot.
Popularizers
There were a few naturalists who were especially gifted writers and made the study of natural history immensely more popular. The foremost among these writers was Edward Hamilton Aitken who wrote under the pen name of EHA.
Museum workers
Several museums were started in India including the Asiatic Society in Calcutta. There were also many people working in the British Museum who received specimens collected from India. They made significant contributions by their publications. Notable museum curators and workers include Alfred William Alcock, John Anderson, Nelson Annandale, Edward Blyth, George Albert Boulenger, John Gould, Albert C. L. G. Günther, C. M. Inglis, Norman Boyd Kinnear, James Wood-Mason, Richard Bowdler Sharpe, Malcolm A. Smith and Nathaniel Wallich.
Post-Independence (1947-current)
Ornithologists
Post independence ornithology was dominated by Salim Ali and his cousin Humayun Abdulali who worked with the Bombay Natural History Society. Salim Ali worked with American collaborators like Sidney Dillon Ripley to produce what is still the most comprehensive handbook of Indian ornithology. Another major contribution was the introduction of field ornithology and pioneers in it included Horace Alexander. The Zoological Survey of India also conducted its own surveys and they were led by Biswamoy Biswas. Eastern India and Burma was covered by ornithologists like Bertram E. Smythies.
Ichthyologists
One of the foremost ichthyologist of India was Sunderlal Hora and he is credited with the Satpura hypothesis a biogeographical hypothesis based on his observations on the adaptations of hill stream fishes.
Entomologists
Scientists
Popularizers
Conservationists
External links
References
- Archer, Mildred & W. G. (1955) Natural history paintings. In Indian painting for the British 1770-1880, pp. 91-98. Oxford, Oxford University Press.
- Bates, R. S. P., & E. H. N. Lowther. 1952. The history of bird photography in India. Journal, Bombay natural history society 50:779-784
- Blunt, Wilfrid. 1948. The Mughal painters of natural history. Burlington magazine 90 (539): 49-50.
- Irwin, John. 1952. A note on the two reproductions [paintings of birds by Ustad Mansur and an unknown artist of ca. 1790]. Marg 5 (4): 35-36
- Kinnear, N.B. (1952) The history of Indian mammalogy and ornithology. Part II. Birds. J. Bombay. Nat. Hist. Soc. 51(1): 104-110
- Kramrisch, S. The representation of nature in early Buddhist sculpture. Rupam 8. 1921.
- Mehta, Nanalal C. 1926. "Some floral studies." In: Studies in Indian painting: A survey of some new material ranging from the commencement of the VIIth century to circa 1870 A.D., pp. 75-84. Bombay, D. B. Taraporevala Sons & Co.
- Newton, Paul & Matt Ridley. Biology under the Raj. New Scientist. (?)