dc.contributor.advisor	Minault, Gail, 1939-	en
dc.contributor.committeeMember	Talbot, Cynthia	en
dc.contributor.committeeMember	Davis, Janet	en
dc.contributor.committeeMember	Hyder, Syed Akbar	en
dc.contributor.committeeMember	Louis, William Roger	en
dc.contributor.committeeMember	Charlesworth, Michael	en
dc.creator	Hughes, Julie Elaine	en
dc.date.accessioned	2010-08-06T16:37:29Z	en
dc.date.available	2010-08-06T16:37:29Z	en
dc.date.available	2010-08-06T16:37:49Z	en
dc.date.issued	2009-12	en
dc.date.submitted	December 2009	en
dc.date.updated	2010-08-06T16:37:49Z	en
dc.description	text	en
dc.description.abstract	Shaped in part by diverse landscapes, game profiles, and ruling personalities, hunting in the Indian princely states in the colonial period was heterogeneous to a previously unrecognized extent. At the same time, significant underlying political, social, and cultural continuities unified states and their rulers’ approaches to sport. Focusing on the Rajput realms of Mewar, Orchha, and Bikaner, I show how princes of different ranks negotiated their states’ divergent landscapes in pursuit of dissimilar game, and how they trusted in superior hunting grounds, wildlife, and shooting methods to advance their personal standings and sovereign powers. I also investigate how these rulers used hunting to maintain connections with their state and lineage histories, to exemplify local Rajput ideals and identities, and to manage relationships with various audiences, including their subjects, state nobles, other princes, and British officials. This study is concerned as much with princely perceptions of game and shooting grounds as with “real” landscapes or environmental changes. I examine how the princes conceptually linked natural abundance with favorable political conditions and degradation with lost power and compromised dignity. I consider what it meant to pursue tigers, wildfowl, antelope, and wild boar in dense jungles, wetlands, arid plains, and imposing hills. In addition, I look at the ways princes attempted to employ and also to modify those meanings to suit their own purposes. I did the research for this dissertation at government and private archives in India and the United Kingdom. Because my primary goal was to discover princely views, I relied as far as possible on sources produced by elite Indians or by those in their service. Among the materials I used were state government records, personal correspondence, speeches, game diaries, hunting memoirs, photographs, and miniature paintings. Much of the documentation was in English, with the major exception of records relating to Mewar State and its subordinate noble estates. The language of those papers ranged from Hindi through Rajasthani (Mewari). To understand British responses better, I consulted Government of India records. Published memoirs and travelogues written by Europeans who visited and hunted in the regions under consideration also proved useful.	en
dc.description.department	History
dc.format.mimetype	application/pdf	en
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/2152/ETD-UT-2009-12-437	en
dc.language.iso	eng	en
dc.subject	India	en
dc.subject	Princely states	en
dc.subject	Environment	en
dc.subject	Hunting	en
dc.subject	Shikar	en
dc.subject	Rajputs	en
dc.subject	Landscape	en
dc.subject	Mewar	en
dc.subject	Udaipur	en
dc.subject	Bikaner	en
dc.subject	Orchha	en
dc.subject	Gajner	en
dc.subject	Pigsticking	en
dc.subject	Sportsmanship	en
dc.subject	Tiger	en
dc.subject	Sandgrouse	en
dc.subject	Sand grouse	en
dc.subject	Wild boar	en
dc.subject	Blackbuck	en
dc.subject	Black buck	en
dc.title	Animal kingdoms : princely power, the environment, and the hunt in colonial India	en
dc.type.genre	thesis	en
thesis.degree.department	History	en
thesis.degree.discipline	History	en
thesis.degree.grantor	The University of Texas at Austin	en
thesis.degree.level	Doctoral	en
thesis.degree.name	Doctor of Philosophy	en

Animal kingdoms : princely power, the environment, and the hunt in colonial India

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