His Imperial Majesty's Shoot in Nepalese Terai, December 1911

These 50 photographs depict scenes of the shikar, or hunt; the hunted animals, and the hunting camps of King George V in the Tarai in December 1911. The photographs feature the wild animals of the Tarai including tigers, bears and rhinoceroses; the use of the elephant "hunting ring" technique; the activities of the mahouts (or elephant trainers/handlers) and shikaris (or hunters), as well as the various dignitaries involved in the visit. Each individual photograph has a pencilled number, but no caption. The ANU Library has supplied the captions for this collection.

The album

The album consists of 16 pages and 50 photographs. It appears incomplete with the back cover missing. The front cover bears the company name Herzog & Higgins, Mhow (Central India) and the words "Bound at the Caxton Works, Bombay" inside the front cover. The album was discovered in a rural Indian home in Madhya Pradesh by the donor, Dr U.N. Bhati, Visiting Fellow, Economics and Marketing, School of Resources, Environment and Society at The Australian National University. The album was given to Dr Bhati by a distant relative who had worked for the former Maharaja and Maharani of Ratlam (in Madhya Pradesh), Mr and Mrs Parbinder Singh - who had given him the album.

Sources

• Encyclopaedia Britannica. S.v. Nepal.


• Fabb, John. India : the British Empire from photographs. London : Batsford, 1989.


• Fulford, Roger. Hanover to Windsor. London : B.T. Bataford, 1960.


• Halperin, John. Eminent Georgians : the lives of King George V, Elizabeth Bowen, St. John Philby, and Nancy Astor. New York : St. Martin's Press, 1995.


• His Imperial Majesty King George V and the princes of India and the Indian Empire : historical-biographical. Compiled by K. R. Khosla; edited by R. P. Chatterjee. Lahore : The Imperial Publishing Co., 1937.


• The historical record of the Imperial visit to India, 1911 : compiled from the official records under the orders of the viceroy and Governor-General of India. London : Pub. for the Govt of India by John Murray, 1914. [Hyperlink to text of pp.228-233]


• Nicolson, Harold George. King George the Fifth : his life and reign. London : Constable, 1952.


• Rose, Kenneth. King George V. London : Weidenfeld And Nicolson, 1983.


• Sever, Adrian. Nepal under the Ranas. Sittingbourne [England] : Asia Publishing House, 1993.


• Smythies, Olive. Ten thousand miles on elephants. London : Seeley Service, 1961.


• UNESCO World Heritage listing: http://whc.unesco.org/sites/284.htm


• World Heritage Site Protected Areas Programme: http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/