‘Billy’ Arjan Singh: The Hunter-Turned-Conservationist Who Spent Over 40 Years Protecting Tigers
“He has often said that jungle animals seem to treat him as a kind of honorary tiger — and that is what, over the years, he has become.”
I spot these words in the foreword of naturalist Duff Hart-Davis’ biography ‘Honorary Tiger’ (2005), which chronicles the life and times of ‘Billy’ Arjan Singh, also known as India’s ‘Tiger Man’.
One anecdote that lives in the popular imagination is of Billy Arjan attempting to convince then prime minister of India, Indira Gandhi, to have the forests of Dudhwa in Uttar Pradesh declared as a tiger reserve under the prestigious ‘Project Tiger’ — a wildlife conservation movement initiated by the Government of India in 1973 to boost the protection of the country’s wild cats.
AdvertisementAfter great deliberation, the then prime minister conceded. And in 1987, Dudhwa received status as a tiger reserve. Billy Arjan was thrilled; his life mission felt accomplished.
To most, it would seem almost unbelievable that this man lobbying for the protection of the striped cats was once a hunter. The slide from one to the other is intriguing.
So, what compelled ‘Billy’ — a moniker given to him by history and the locals — to dedicate more than four decades of his life to secure a safe future for tigers in India?
AdvertisementThe answer to this lies in an incident in his youth.
The shikari retires
Born in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, on 15 August, 1917, Billy Arjan was raised in the then princely state of Balrampur. Owing to his father’s lineage — Jasbir Singh came from the royal family of Kapurthala, and served as a special manager for the nominal ruler of Balrampur — he was privy to the royal activities, which in those days included hunting.
As his niece Brinda Dubey shares, “The family usually stayed there [in Dudhwa] from Christmas until New Year. It was right in the middle of the jungle and almost like living with nature. And that’s where he [Billy Arjan] grew close to the tigers.”
Advertisement View this post on Instagram© The Better India
