23rd October, 2021
Gir in Gujarat is 43 kms away from Somnath. It was established in 1965 in the erstwhile Nawab of Junagarh‘s private hunting area, with a total area of 1,412 km2 , of which 258 km2 is fully protected as national park and 1,153 km2 as wildlife sanctuary.
In the 19th century, the rulers of Indian princely states used to invite the British colonists for hunting expeditions. At the end of the 19th century, only about a dozen Asiatic lions were left in India, all of them in the Gir Forest, which was part of the Nawab of Junagarh’s private hunting grounds. British viceroys brought the drastic decline of the lion population in Gir to the attention of the Nawab of Junagadh (Nawabs of the Babi clan) who established the sanctuary.
British colonists were still being invited for a game of shooting, while neighbouring princes too used the forest to kill lions. The Nawab conducted the very first lion census in 1936, which presented a total figure of 287.
It’s a battle MahabatKhanji fought till 1947, even though between 1920 and 1943, 89 lions were killed, as per records with the Junagadh State. When India declared Independence on August 15, he made the blunder of acceding to Pakistan on the advice of his diwan Shah Nawaz Bhutto (former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto’s grandfather).
After losing control of his administration thanks to this decision, he had to leave for Karachi on 24 October, and eventually the erstwhile princely state acceded to India.
Following his departure, however, there was little administrative protection for the lions from hunters and within a span of five years from 1963 to 1968, the population of lions fell from 285 to about 177.
Understanding the need to prevent its extinction, the Indian Forest Department in September 1965 started a conservation programme for the Asiatic Lions and the forest area was designated as the Gir National Park and Wildlife Sanctuary. From 177 in 1968, the number of Asiatic lions has jumped to 674 as of 2020. While forest officers and guards at Gir are tirelessly protecting the Asiatic lions, it was an idea that first saw the light of day under the Nawabs of Junagadh, who felt the need to protect instead of hunting them.
Reportedly, when Mahbatkhanji left for the airport to fly into Karachi, there were tears in his eyes. He looked upon the Girnar mountain, he said, ‘Who will protect my lions now?’ It took a while, but local villagers living in the vicinity of the National Park, forest officers and rangers in India have now taken these conservation efforts to another level.
