ago as group hunters on savannas of East Africa and hunted meat has been an important source of nutrition for humans over most of our evolutionary history and right up till present times in settings as different as Africans hunting for bushmeat and Swedes and Norwegians hunting moose. If not for meat, hunting for pleasure continues throughout the world except in medem day India. Individuals strive to nse in social hierarchy in all group-living mammals including our own species. Courage displayed during the hunt and hunting skills are valued by group members and facilitate a person’s rise in social hierarchy. Pleasure in hunting would help a person acquire superior hunting skills and courage. Hence humans have evolved to experience hunting as a pleasurable experience. Hunting was being widely practiced in India when I was a schoolboy in 1950s and knew many people who boasted of their hunting exploits with great pride and enjoyment. To support their claims of being courageous and skilful hunters they displayed trophies of the hunt and their photographs standing next to the hunted animals, generally with a leg planted on its body. One of my uncles who had been a member of the Indian Civil Service had tiger skin rugs scattered around all rooms of his luxurious bungalow and used to enthral me with tales of the many hunts, especially of panthers and tigers over his lifetime. Salim Ali, too, had a panther skin in his bungalow on Pali Hill n Mumbai. The many maharaja friends of Salim Ali had their own game preserves where hunting was reserved for themselves and their honoured guests. Right up to 1972, many
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