Life with an Indian prince

About this book

"With a royal invitation resulting from an article in the National Geographic Magazine describing their adventures with birds of prey and their fascination with the ancient sport of falconry, these two young Americans ventured to India in 1940. As guests of the ardent naturalist and falconer, Kumar Shree Dharmakumarsinhji, youngest brother of His Highness, the Maharaja of Bhavnagar in the Kathiawar States, the Craighead brothers observed and enjoyed the final days of the centuries-old sporting traditions of India's Rajput princes. "Yet their adventures went far beyond days spent trapping and training falcons on the shores of the Arabian Sea and coursing cheetahs at blackbuck on the Gujurat plains. They also traveled by royal train to attend (as the only Western guests) the colorful and exotic ceremonies of the royal marriage of their host's brother to the sister of the Maharaja of Tripura whose princely state lay on the opposite of the subcontinent. They participated in a royal lion hunt, traveled to the Himalayas and spent sleepless nights in ambush of man-eating tigers. "Through all of these once-in-a-lifetime adventures they meticulously recorded - with pen and camera - all that they witnessed. A brief account of their extended adventure appeared in a 1942 edition of the National Geographic; it has enthralled falconers for decades. "However, the present AAF Heritage Series offering is the complete narrative diary recorded at the time, day-by-day, including extracts from their "technical" naturalists' journal. This coupled with several hundred color photographs, makes this unique volume rank as a true classic, both in the literature of sport and in the history of the subcontinent." --Publisher's description.