The Triumph of the Tiger in India

A big cat dominated the seat called ‘India’s national animal’ for quite some time. However, it was because of the British supremacy that prevailed in India for a long time. The stripped Bengal Tiger soon proved to be a better fit for this role and eliminated the symbol of the British Raj.

The national animal of India has a name called Joe I Source: Oneindia

When India was a colony of the British, with the Queen’s supremacy being the ultimate command of the land, the portrayal of the British Raj with the allegory of a lion became very famous. The lion, being the king of the jungle, proved to be the ultimate animal to represent the interests of the British. Great Britain, at that time, was launching to be not only the epitome of global trade but also the only global coloniser. Both of these aspirations later turned out to be true because “the sun never sets on the British Empire.”

The first combat between the lion and the tiger took place during the Anglo-Mysore war. The ruler of Mysore, Tipu Sultan, had an obsessive interest in the black and yellow striped feline, so much so that he was called “the Tiger of Mysore.” He decorated his throne, war banners, soldier’s uniforms, books, coins, etc., with tiger motifs which served as the watermark for the royal family. The British army, by no means, could miss this tiger, as they had the lion as their emblem.

The press and the British Raj, from then onwards, began using subtle symbolism to represent India. This was the Bengal Tiger. The triumph of the British lion over the Indian tiger was always a matter of pride for the conservative British. Tipu Sultan’s toy tiger, a life-size tiger figure pouncing on a British soldier with mechanical sounds of dying moans, was the most famous loot Britain had during that time and was displayed in the East India Company’s Museum in England.

The Battle of Seringapatam was a decisive moment. This was when the British occupied Mysore. The medal awarded to the Indian and British soldiers who helped the British in this battle depicted a lion mutilating a tiger.

The mechanical toy tiger of Tipu Sultan I Source: Pinterest

Now fast-forwarding to 1948. Independent India was just born, and India was still trying to live without the dominion of the British. The Gujarat Natural History Society compelled the then Prime Minister of India, Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru, to declare the Asiatic lion- found only in the Gujarat region, the national animal of India. This also tallied with the national emblem of India which consisted of four lions. Therefore, the lion continued to rule over India as the national animal until 1972.

When the Reserve Bank of India was formed, they looked for a logo to fit their true nature and the Indian spirit. The East India Company’s double mohur was chosen to be the base design with minute changes. The biggest change was to replace the company’s lion with the Bengal tiger.

In 1973, the focus shifted towards the tiger. Tigers were at first found in around sixteen Indian states and they were famous worldwide. The Indian Board for Wildlife, thus declared Tiger to be the national animal of India. The popularity of tigers in Indian history appeared to be a dominant factor here. The Pashupati seal of the Indus Valley Civilisation depicted the tiger as one of the animals around the Pashupati. The tales of Indian kings hunting tigers and showing their might and the popularity of the Indian tiger from Tipu Sultan’s tiger obsession made it possible to choose the tiger over the lion.

The broken seal of the Harappan Civilisation with a carved tiger on the right I Source: Vedantu

This was probably the first time the king of the jungle lost his place and was succeeded by a tiger. But this was a necessary call of that time. The tiger population in the world was decreasing at an alarming rate. The Indian Royal Bengal Tiger was also on the verge of being extinct. For this, Project Tiger was launched, which created tiger reserves across the country and increased the tiger population from around 250 in 1973 to more than 3500 in 2023.

Tigers lived to be the soul of India, and India had to do everything to protect its soul. The long past and glorious stories of the most ferocious cat of the country indeed had to be preserved. Their rise in population and the attempt by the authorities to keep a check on their habitat proved that they truly deserved to be the national animal of the country.