ROYAL LINEUP: Pushparaj Singh wishes more people could see his mounted tigers

Among the exhibits at the Indira Gandhi Memorial in Delhi is a letter written by a mother to a son in 1956. In it Mrs Gandhi tells her son Rajiv, then in Doon School, of a gift the prime minister's household had received from the Maharaja of Rewa. It was a stuffed tiger. The sight of the animal reduced to a taxidermist's pedestal troubled Mrs Gandhi. "He should be roaring in the forests," she wrote. But the bygone days were not the best of times to be sensitive about animals. Those were the days of the shikar, when a dead tiger symbolised both a man's courage and his love for adventure. Hundreds of the tawny beast were shot during those reckless days. It is just as well that 150 survive in the palace at Rewa in Madhya Pradesh. Stuffed and mounted, yet disdainful and arrogant as ever.

Yet it is not with vicarious pleasure that Pushparaj Singh considers the collection he has inherited-the largest of mounted tigers and skins in the world. His ancestors revelled in hunting (Singh's great-grandfather Maharaj Gulab Singh and father Martand Singh were so well known in the hunting world that the National Geographic magazine specially commissioned an article on the Rewa royals and their tiger collection in 1968) but Pushparaj Singh's passion is preservation. Thirty-sixth in the ruling line that once warranted a 17-gun salute, he has also converted the erstwhile Shikargah (hunting lodge) in Bandhavgarh into a hotel from where he keeps track of poachers.

The 1967 ban on hunting brought about changes in attitude towards the now endangered species. While the bigger cats were mounted and displayed, the smaller tiger skins often lay rotting in godowns. "We brought out as many as we had and tried to preserve them," says Pushparaj Singh. "We also registered at least 150 tiger skins with the Revenue Department." Preserving tiger skin costs Rs 2,000-3,000, while mounting can cost up to Rs 30,000. There is only one firm, based in Bangalore, that specialises in mounting and giving the skins a life-like appearance. Pushparaj Singh and his father mounted 50 of their prize collection. The younger Singh also contacted erstwhile rajas and ranis from Rajasthan and Gujarat and formed an informal tiger lovers' club. They now not only preserve their tiger skins but keep track of those in the black market. Each mounted specimen fetches more than Rs 25 lakh depending on its condition. They come into the black market either through theft or due to a distress sale despite the legal necessity of registration.

The tiger arouses awe. Even the stuffed felines can send a chill down the spine. In deference to the might of the king of the jungle, hunting expeditions were no less than a military operation. An army of nearly 900 soldiers moved with Gulab Singh when he set forth into the forests of Bandhavgarh, Gobindgarh and further south to Amarkantak. Each expedition would last up to a month. Cooks, entertainers and musicians would accompany the party, and the servants would not dare forget to take along a western commode. Machans would be set up at appropriate places. Bands of armed men would comb the forest with .375, .416 and 30 Springfield rifles, wide-mouthed Bharmar guns and drums. The tigers had little chance of escape. Each was later carefully measured, skinned and celebrated.

These were taken to the Rewa Fort, originally built in the 1540s by a general in Sher Shah Suri's army. Senior British officials interested in big game would frequent Rewa. Once suzerainty was established the British followed a policy of minimum interference in Rewa and Gwalior and were, therefore, not above a little bonhomie with the royals. On one such occasion, in a week-long expedition the party hunted five tigers and several smaller animals. The expeditions, however, were not always about killing; both Gulab Singh and Martand Singh kept a sizeable number of animals in their private zoo. They also gave shape to Bandhavgarh much before it became a national park.

Pushparaj Singh's collection, in terms of money, is worth over Rs 15 crore. But just preserving it makes a huge dent in his pocket. He has now formed the HH Maharaj Martand Judeo Memorial Trust and converted one of his smaller palaces into a museum. The Rewa prince has one lament though. Despite its proximity to Bandhavgarh, Khajuraho and Allahabad, Rewa does not attract tourists, so not too many people see his collection. If they do, perhaps they would agree that the remaining tigers should be left to roar in the forests.