No Beast So Fierce: The Devil Of Champawat

How It Was Hunted By Jim Corbett

The Start Of It All

The story's primary setting is Champawat, a town in the Kumaon region of Uttarakhand, Northern India, during the early twentieth century. Its hilly terrain and dense forests characterize Champawat. The catastrophic story began in the year 1907 when there were reports of a man-eating tigress that had started hunting people. This was the year which marked the beginning of terror which awaited for the locals, and Jim Corbett. Initially, the fatal hunter was considered a tiger, but it was later discovered that it was a tigress. The notorious female Bengal tigress didn’t just hunt in India, but in Nepal too.

The Devil’s Terror

Almost in no time, the fear had developed so much that people would barely step out of their houses. The tigress primarily targeted women, particularly those cutting grass, leaving behind only blood as a grim reminder of her presence in the dense forest. Children and women began to go missing from the village of Champawat. The news reached the royalty of Nepal, and the King sent a team of hunters to capture or kill the tigress, however, their efforts were in vain. The Britishers reigned the area back then. When the alarming complaints about people disappearing reached them, the authorities had to react to the situation. Gurkha soldiers were released to take the initiative but failed. Ultimately, the authorities offered a reward for killing the predator. The reward attracted many, but either they came empty-handed or became the victims themselves. This demon man-eater tigress is responsible for the most recorded human deaths reaching a whopping number of 436. When things started to fall apart, it was the administration’s telegram to Nainital that led to the involvement of a legendary hunter, as a last hope.

The Arrival Of The Saviour

Portrait of Jim Corbett

Jim Corbett, also known as Edward James Corbett, was a renowned Anglo-Indian hunter, naturalist, and author known for his efforts in tracking and hunting tigers and leopards in India. “Man-Eaters of Kumaon” is a chronicle of his encounter with this devil, which he published in 1944. In the book, he writes that even during the bright sunny time of the day, people would be caged in their houses due to fear. This was because the tigress found its last prey in that specific village. Later, it was found out that the tigress had a large area under its control and could cover a distance of 30 km in a single day for hunting. Jim Corbett took the situation seriously and put forward two conditions. The first condition was removing the rewards placed on the head of the tigress since it encouraged many inexperienced hunters to take the initiative and lose their lives. Secondly, no other hunter other than him should pursue the tigress, since he didn’t want any interference. Jim confidently took responsibility. He learned that the tigress made its last hunt five days ago. Anticipating its hunger, he set out to find the tigress. On his first night of the hunt, he sat up all night waiting for the tigress, but she didn’t show up. The next few days went by, but she didn’t show up, making Jim wait for a long time. In the meantime, Jim hunted three wild animals for the village so that he could gain the confidence of the locals.

Every night Jim would set out towards the dense forest, hoping to find the tigress, but would always come empty-handed. He realized that being a man, the tigress didn’t go near him. So like women, he started wearing a saree. He even dressed a scarecrow-like woman to deceive the wise animal. A couple of times, he spotted the tigress but it was out of his gun’s range. After so many days, he realized the tigress had changed her shelter.

A Stunning Encounter

Jim received news that the tigress was spotted near the Champawat Dak Bungalow, nearly 15 km away. He approached the bungalow and decided to stay there. Unknowingly, Jim was about to experience an incident that made the tigress a secondary matter. As he arrived at the bungalow, he noticed the Tehsildar, who welcomed him and strangely decided to light up a lantern and walk home, which was about 5 km away, through the dense forest at night, despite acknowledging the fact of the presence of a predator in that area, which could potentially be on the way. This decision puzzled Corbett and raised his safety concerns. Little did he know that he would receive the answer to this query during the same night. After having dinner, Jim went to his room and slept. The servant, Bahadur Khan, was sleeping in the next room. Bahadur reported about that night saying that there were strange noises from Jim’s room. At midnight, Jim suddenly came running out of his room, not wearing his entire clothes and drenched in sweat. He felt a strong urge to sleep in the room of his servant, Bahadur Khan, indicating his distress and fear. Jim described the night as filled with strange noises coming from his room, which contributed to his anxiety. In his writings, Corbett mentioned that he had a story about the bungalow that he would not share, suggesting that he experienced something ghostly or supernatural.

The End?

The very next day Jim received the news that the tigress had hunted another woman. Jim, along with his rifle, went out and scouted the area. The footsteps of the tigress were visible on the spots of blood. Jim couldn’t waste any more time, or else soon the numbers would have increased. Jim followed the footsteps and after some distance, he spotted the tigress unravelling the dead body. The tigress too saw Jim with the rifle. The devil managed to save its life by running away but had to leave its prey. Jim gave it all but even after four hours of pursuit, the tigress was elusive and he couldn’t reach her.

The next day, Jim wanted to end it all at once, so he made a rock-hard plan. The tigress had left its prey, so there was a high chance that it would come back. Jim knew this fact and settled up his trap. He gathered up all of the villagers with axes and knives, along with drums to make loud noises. Jim’s plan was simple but fruitful. The plan was that the locals would make loud noises and upon seeing the massive crowd with ear-splitting noises, the tigress would change its path and run in the opposite direction, where Jim would be waiting for the devil himself along with his rifle.

The plan was as successful as it could be. The next morning, everything happened as it was intended to. Upon encountering the massive crowd with ear-splitting noises, the tigress changed its path. As soon as Jim got the devil on his target, he shot her. Jim shot twice. One bullet hit the tigress’s back and the other one hit its leg. Jim went closer and fired once more, but the ‘Devil of Champawat’ had already passed away.

Not What It Looked Like

As soon as the tigress died, people started celebrating. Jim was happy too, until he glanced over something that faded away his smile. He saw that the teeth on the right side of the tigress were completely broken and her jaw was injured. It had already been a victim of a bullet, which made it very difficult for her to hunt. Jim realized that this was the exact reason why this beautiful tigress became a man-eater. Initially, who he thought was a devil, actually became a devil because of a bullet by a human. This dreadful incident, along with some more incidents, influenced Jim and made him join campaigns to save these beautiful animals. Uttarakhand’s Nation Park is named after Jim Corbett because of how great of a naturalist, eminent conservationist and hunter he was.

The Champawat tigress tragedy brings to the fore the worst fallouts of human activities on wildlife. With increasing encroachment of natural habitats due to deforestation, agriculture, and settlement, humans disturb the balance of ecosystems. Natural predators like the Champawat tigress, accustomed to living on available prey, are forced to look for other sources of food as their homes, along with hunting precincts, are destroyed. This problem is further deteriorated by human-inflicted injuries that compel such animals to turn to humans as a last resort. The tigress's broken teeth and jaw injury are grim reminders of what one has to face as a result of interference in nature by humans. This tragic scene can be seen underlining the responsible co-existence and conservation effort by stating that the true villain is not the wildlife compelled to take desperate measures, but human actions. Humans have a million tongues to speak in our favour, but animals don't even have one. It's insane how easily we consider that those who don't speak up for their rights don't have issues. It was humans who entered the homes of animals and harmed them, and still, we're quick to assign blame to the animals in cases like these. Animals have a right to live on this planet; it is humans who have a responsibility for their plight, hence the need to do everything possible to achieve harmonious coexistence.

A man-eating tiger is a tiger that has been compelled, through the stress of circumstances beyond its control, to adopt a diet alien to it.

Jim Corbett