BOSELAPHUS TRAGOCAMELUS, the NILGAI 7.1 the Living Animal

CHAPTER SEVEN BOSELAPHUS TRAGOCAMELUS, THE NILGAI 7.1 The Living Animal 7.1.1 Zoology The nilgai, or blue bull, is a large, dark-coated antelope-like bovid with a shoulder height of 1.2–1.5 m (fi g. 110). It is a plump animal with small horns, borne only by the males, very high shoulders, and steep hips. The nilgai holds its head high up, has a small mane like a horse, and a beard below the throat in the males. Seen from a distance, it is reminiscent of a giraffe because of its sloping back, longer front than hind limbs and the high, upright neck, especially when browsing the high tree branches or fl eeing away. It also resembles a horse with its beautiful mane and high shoulders. The nilgai seems thus to have been composed out of several species; this is refl ected in its scientifi c name: bos = cattle, elaphus = deer, trago = goat, camelus = camel. Despite its plump appearance, it is a swift runner and easily catches up with a horse. As its common name tells, its coat colour is bluish grey in the males. The females, however, are light brown. Both sexes have white socks with a horizontal black ring in the middle; this ‘alarm pattern’ is easily recognised from a distance. Nilgai are distinguished from true antelopes by, among others, a different kind of horns: they are keeled and smooth.1 They are social animals and live in herds. Nilgai are further tamed easily and are rather docile. The nilgai is found in the open forests and the grass jungles on the lower hills and occasionally on the open plains of Eastern Pakistan, India and Nepal, but recently disappeared from Bangladesh. Deserted villages and cultivation, which are usually covered with long grass, low shrubs and bushes are seldom without a herd of nilgai. Nilgai are never found very far from cultivation, which they visit regularly at dawn and 1 Their only living relative is the chowsingha or four-horned antelope, Tetracerus quadricornis (Chapter 41). 116 BOSELAPHUS TRAGOCAMELUS dusk (fi g. 111). They are fond of fruits and sugar cane, which makes them agricultural pests. Remains of Boselaphus tragocamelus are recovered from the archaeo- logical site of Lothal, Gujarat (2,300–1,750 B.C.E).2 It was a common species on the subcontinent until about 1900, after which it gradually declined in numbers due to habitat decrease and hunting by the Euro- peans. In Rajasthan and Gujarat, however, it is still the commonest large wild animal. 7.1.2 Role of Nilgai in Society Antelopes and deer are the commonest game animals in India, but the nilgai seems to escape this fate partly. The orthodox Hindus do not hunt it, because they consider it a close relative of the cow. Indeed, its overall impression is cattle-like, hence its scientifi c name Bos-elaphus, meaning cattle-deer, although zoologically speaking, the cow and the blue bull are only very distantly related. Muslims do not hunt it either, because they consider it a worthless game and prefer the more impressive Indian bison. Exceptions are formed by tribals, such as the Sahariya of Rajasthan, who hunt nilgai. In the past, hunting nilgai was much more common as is evidenced by a miniature painting of maharaja Dhiraj Singh of Raghogarh hunting nilgai on horseback (late seventeenth-early eighteenth century). Although nilgai are not hunted, they are sometimes shot when considered an agricultural pest. Nilgai seem not to play any particular role in religion. It seems, however, that they are considered equal to antelopes in regard to the game animals (mriga) in Buddhism. These mriga can be either deer, gazelles or antelopes, including the nilgai. After his enlightenment, the Buddha held his fi rst sermon or teaching to his disciples in a game park (mrigavana), which is generally translated as deer park.3 In narrative reliefs of this event, all types of mriga can be depicted. A further indi- cation for this event is the presence of a wheel (dharmachakra) between the pair of mriga. 2 Nath, op. cit. (1968), 1–63; Chitalwala and Thomas, op. cit. (1977–8), 14. 3 See further sections 1.1.3 (antelopes as mriga), 2.1.3 (spotted deer as mriga), and 22.1.3 (gazelles as mriga)..

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