Kenneth Anderson: More Tales of the Man eaters!. Review on This is the Jungle - Kenneth Anderson

THIS IS THE JUNGLE was first published in 1964 by Allen and Unwin Ltd, London in hardcover format with photographs and maps at the original price of 21 shillings. Today, some 40 years later, this book is worth about $100.00 US. A paperback edition without photographs and maps is available in India.

According to Anderson, each man eater is unique and each hunt is different creating new problems and circumstances which require new solutions.

Let's scan the contents of this book here without going through much details.

This is the Jungle contains 8 chapters on hunting man eating tigers and leopards and jungle life. The man eating tiger of Crescent Mountain is of particular interest, as Anderson had a clash with a government official over occupancy of a dak bungalow while hunting the tiger in 1936 in the Baba Budans area in Mysore. I am not be revealing any plots here as to how the man eaters met their end

Another interesting story here is about a tiger called 'bagh'. Anderson describes some of the incidents involving this particular tiger from its birth till death, several years later. One has to spend several years in the jungle observing tigers to come up with a chapter like this. I know of one author who made a few trips to Ranthambhore Park on a 4 wheel drive and wrote a dozen books on tigers.

Another man eater, a tiger by the name of ''Villain of the Windy Valley'' operated in Kollegal Taluk in Coimbatore district. All Anderson stories are revolved around the south Indian states of Madras, Mysore, Andhra Pradesh and Northern Malabar.

Many of the Anderson fans will know that he had a son named Donald. In this volume there are some photographs of 'Don' hunting in the jungle, and a chapter titled ''Lonely Panther of Kuppa Gudda Hill'' is about Donald's hunting.

My favorite story in this volume is ''Swami of Valaithotu''. Here you see Anderson at his best. A swami ( Holy man) appeared in a small hamlet on the foothills of the Nilgiri Hills, some 12 miles from Ootty where he met Boora, owner of a banana plantation. The Swami told him that he had been travelling for so long from the Himalayas and would like to rest there for a couple of days. Boora was delighted to accommodate the swami who decided to stay there for good and started demanding large amount of money from the villagers warning consequences if they failed to meet his wishes. At about the same time a tiger appeared from no where in the vicinity and started preying on the villagers. The swami then declared that he was the tiger and had the power to change into the form of any animal. To avoid any trouble from him, the villagers poured everything they had to please the swami. The tiger continued to prey on unsuspected people.

Enter Kenneth Anderson with his powerful .405 rifle. After hearing the stories, he confronted the swami who asked Anderson to mind his own business and leave. The swami spoke fluent Tamil, and so was Anderson (so much for the swami's Himalayan origin!). The swami asked Anderson to go back to his home or risk his life. A determined Anderson decided to stay. Then there were so many unexpected things happened. Anderson himself had some brush with supernatural powers before and felt leary about the present condition. Will this tiger get shot?

Kenneth Anderson was more than a hunter. He displayed a deep love and affection towards the forest and its denizens in all his books, and was very much concerned about their future. While many of his friends left India in 1947 when India became independent, Anderson decided to stay to the relief of many villagers who dwelled in and around the jungles. His hunting came to an end in the early 1970s. Leaving his comfortable home in Bangalore, Anderson stayed in an old thatched hut in the heart of the jungle, close to the nature. He despised authority and firmly believed in the power of herbal medicine. He refused to see a doctor, and depended heavily on herbs to cure his illness. Unfortunately for him, it didn't work. He died in 1974, after writing his final book ''Jungles Long Ago''. More about this in a future review.