Kenneth Anderson (writer)
Encyclopedia
Kenneth Anderson was an India
n writer
and hunter who wrote many books about his adventures in the jungles of South India
.
family settled in India for six generations. His father (Douglas Stewart Anderson) was superintendent of the F.C.M.A. in Poona and dealt with the salaries paid to military personnel, having an honorary rank of captain. His father also had a rifle and often hunted for waterfowl. Even though his father was not a hunter of man eating carnivores, he was the person who had the most influence on Anderson's decision to become a hunter.
Anderson did his schooling from Bishop Cotton Boys' School and studied in St. Joseph's College, Bangalore
. He was employed by the British Aircraft Factory in Bangalore (HAL Later) in the rank of Factory Manager for Planning. He owned nearly 200 Acres of Land across Karnataka, Hyderabad and Tamil Nadu as stated in his books. He had a son Donald Anderson (1937–Present) who was also an avid hunter.
led him to big game hunting
and eventually to writing real-life adventure stories. He would often go into the jungle alone and unarmed to meditate and enjoy the beauty of untouched nature
. As a hunter, he tracked down man-eating tigers and leopards to eliminate the threat they posed to villages. Some of his most notable kills include the Sloth bear of Mysore
, the Leopard of Gummalapur
, the Leopard of the Yellagiri Hills
, the Tigress of Jowlagiri
, the Tiger of Segur
and the Tiger of Mundachipallam
.
He is officially recorded as having shot 8 man-eating leopards (7 males and 1 female) and 7 tigers (5 males and 2 females) on the Government records from 1939 to 1966 though he is rumored to have unofficially shot over 18-20 man eating panthers and over 15-20 man eating tigers. He also shot a few rogue elephants.
Unlike Jim Corbett
, who hunted in North India — from the foothills of the Himalayas, the Sivaliks, Garhwal
, Kumaon
to Northern MP
— Anderson hunted in South India — Andhrapradesh, Tamilnadu, Karnataka
, North Malabar
, and Kerala
(then Madras Presidency
, Mysore State
, and Hyderabad Principality
).
He had a dog Nipper, a mongrel
acquired on one of his hunting trips. In his books he writes he was fond of smoking a pipe on many occasions.
s and panthers (or leopard
s) - particularly those that were man-eaters - he also includes chapters on his first-hand encounters with dangerous elephant
s, bison
, and bear
s. There are also stories about the less 'popular' creatures like Indian wild dog
s, hyena
s, and snake
s. He takes pains to explain the habits and personalities of these animals.
Anderson also gives valuable insights into the people of the Indian jungles of his time, with their lush green woods teeming with wildlife and local inhabitants having to contend with poor quality roads, communication and health facilities. His books delve into the habits of the jungle tribe
s, their survival tactics
, and their day-to-day lives.
Besides focusing on Indian wildlife, he also explores the subject of the occult and writes about his live experiences with unusual phenomena (for which he has no explanation). He helped save the jungle dwelling tribes from the horrors of man-eaters in many villages in the south Indian states. He also was well versed in speaking Kannada, the language of his home town Bangalore, and also spoke Tamil
, the language spoken in the neighboring states to some extent. He had a Studebaker
car and usually used a .405 Winchester Model 1895
rifle for hunting. In addition to his reputation as a hunter, he was a pioneer of wildlife conservation in southern India, and spent his later years "shooting" with a camera.
In addition to the themes of adventure and survival, Anderson also expounds on his love for India, its people, and its jungles. He was a firm believer in the power of alternative medicine
and always carried a box containing various kinds of natural herbs from the jungle with him. He refused treatments based on Western medicine and died of cancer
at the age of 64 on 30 August 1974. {However, when he was mauled once by a man-eating tiger, he writes that he had taken a shot of penicillin to counter the possible infection. So it would be incorrect to say that he refused Western medicines.} His last book, Jungles Long Ago, was published posthumously.
In his introduction to Tales from the Indian Jungle, Anderson writes: “He [Anderson] appears to be of the jungle himself, and we get the impression that he belongs there. This is the home for him and here is the place he would want to die; the jungle is his birthplace, his heaven and his resting place when the end comes.”
Grave picture of Keneeth Andreson can be viewed here:
http://daveswildlifechannel.blogspot.com/2010/08/kenneth-andersons-grave-in-bangalore.html
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
and hunter who wrote many books about his adventures in the jungles of South India
South India
South India is the area encompassing India's states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu as well as the union territories of Lakshadweep and Pondicherry, occupying 19.31% of India's area...
.
Background
Kenneth Anderson hailed from a ScottishScotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
family settled in India for six generations. His father (Douglas Stewart Anderson) was superintendent of the F.C.M.A. in Poona and dealt with the salaries paid to military personnel, having an honorary rank of captain. His father also had a rifle and often hunted for waterfowl. Even though his father was not a hunter of man eating carnivores, he was the person who had the most influence on Anderson's decision to become a hunter.
Anderson did his schooling from Bishop Cotton Boys' School and studied in St. Joseph's College, Bangalore
St. Joseph's College, Bangalore
St. Joseph's College , Bangalore is one of the oldest colleges in the State of Karnataka with a history of more than 125 years behind it. It imparts graduate, post-graduate and research education while searching, renewing and expanding itself, attempting to be ever relevant to the changing...
. He was employed by the British Aircraft Factory in Bangalore (HAL Later) in the rank of Factory Manager for Planning. He owned nearly 200 Acres of Land across Karnataka, Hyderabad and Tamil Nadu as stated in his books. He had a son Donald Anderson (1937–Present) who was also an avid hunter.
Career as a hunter
His love for the inhabitants of the Indian jungleJungle
A Jungle is an area of land in the tropics overgrown with dense vegetation.The word jungle originates from the Sanskrit word jangala which referred to uncultivated land. Although the Sanskrit word refers to "dry land", it has been suggested that an Anglo-Indian interpretation led to its...
led him to big game hunting
Big game hunting
Big game hunting is the hunting of large game. The term is historically associated with the hunting of Africa's Big Five game , and with tigers and rhinos on the Indian subcontinent. In North America, animals such as bears and bison were hunted...
and eventually to writing real-life adventure stories. He would often go into the jungle alone and unarmed to meditate and enjoy the beauty of untouched nature
Nature
Nature, in the broadest sense, is equivalent to the natural world, physical world, or material world. "Nature" refers to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general...
. As a hunter, he tracked down man-eating tigers and leopards to eliminate the threat they posed to villages. Some of his most notable kills include the Sloth bear of Mysore
Sloth bear of Mysore
The Sloth bear of Mysore was an unusually aggressive Indian sloth bear responsible for the deaths of at least 12 people, and the mauling of two dozen others. It was killed by Kenneth Anderson, who described it in his memoirs Man-Eaters and Jungle Killers:...
, the Leopard of Gummalapur
Leopard of Gummalapur
The Leopard of Gummalapur, also known as the Spotted Devil of Gummalapur, was a man-eating Indian leopard responsible for the deaths of 42 people in the villages of Gummalapur and Devarabetta in southern Karnataka over an area of . At sundown, the villagers would barricade their doors, daring to...
, the Leopard of the Yellagiri Hills
Leopard of the Yellagiri Hills
The Leopard of the Yellagiri Hills was a man eating Indian Leopard which claimed three victims in the vicinity of the Yellagiris, a crescent formation of hills east of the Jalarpet Junction railway on the Southern Railway...
, the Tigress of Jowlagiri
Tigress of Jowlagiri
The Tigress of Jowlagiri was a man-eating Bengal tigress responsible for the deaths of 15 people over an area extending Jowlagiri in the extreme north, to Gundalam 30 miles to the south; and from the borders of Mysore State to the west...
, the Tiger of Segur
Tiger of Segur
The Tiger of Segur was a young man-eating male Bengal tiger. Though originating in the District of Malabar-Wynaad below the south-western face of the Blue Mountains, the tiger would later shift its hunting grounds to Gudalur and between Segur and Anaikutty...
and the Tiger of Mundachipallam
Tiger of Mundachipallam
The Tiger of Mundachipallam was a male man-eating Bengal tiger which killed 7 people in the vicinity of the village of Pennagram, four miles from the Hogenakkal Falls.-First attacks:...
.
He is officially recorded as having shot 8 man-eating leopards (7 males and 1 female) and 7 tigers (5 males and 2 females) on the Government records from 1939 to 1966 though he is rumored to have unofficially shot over 18-20 man eating panthers and over 15-20 man eating tigers. He also shot a few rogue elephants.
Unlike Jim Corbett
Jim Corbett (hunter)
Edward James "Jim" Corbett was a British hunter, conservationist, author and naturalist, famous for slaying a large number of man-eating tigers and leopards in India....
, who hunted in North India — from the foothills of the Himalayas, the Sivaliks, Garhwal
Garhwal Kingdom
Garhwal Kingdom was a princely state in north-western Uttarakhand, India, ruled by the Panwar dynasty. It was founded in 888 AD and existed until it was annexed by the Gorkhas in 1803...
, Kumaon
Kumaon Division
For Kumaoni/Kumauni People see Kumauni PeopleKumaon or Kumaun is one of the two regions and administrative divisions of Uttarakhand, a mountainous state of northern India, the other being Garhwal. It includes the districts of Almora, Bageshwar, Champawat, Nainital, Pithoragarh, and Udham Singh Nagar...
to Northern MP
Madhya Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh , often called the Heart of India, is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal and Indore is the largest city....
— Anderson hunted in South India — Andhrapradesh, Tamilnadu, Karnataka
Karnataka
Karnataka , the land of the Kannadigas, is a state in South West India. It was created on 1 November 1956, with the passing of the States Reorganisation Act and this day is annually celebrated as Karnataka Rajyotsava...
, North Malabar
North Malabar
North Malabar , is a historic as well as geographic distinction in India used to refer the area covering; present Kasaragod and Kannur Districts, Mananthavady taluk of Wayanad District and Koyilandy & Vatakara taluks of Kozhikode District in modern Kerala and the entire Mahé sub-Division of...
, and Kerala
Kerala
or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....
(then Madras Presidency
Madras Presidency
The Madras Presidency , officially the Presidency of Fort St. George and also known as Madras Province, was an administrative subdivision of British India...
, Mysore State
Mysore State
The Kingdom of Mysore was one of the three largest princely states within the erstwhile British Empire of India. Upon India gaining its independence in 1947, the Maharaja of Mysore merged his realm with the Union of India...
, and Hyderabad Principality
Hyderabad State
-After Indian independence :When India gained independence in 1947 and Pakistan came into existence in 1947, the British left the local rulers of the princely states the choice of whether to join one of the new dominions or to remain independent...
).
He had a dog Nipper, a mongrel
Mixed-breed dog
A mixed-breed dog, also known as a mutt or mongrel, is a dog whose ancestry is generally unknown and that has characteristics of two or more types of breeds. A mixed-breed may be a cross-breed dog, a random-bred dog, or a descendant of feral or pariah dog populations...
acquired on one of his hunting trips. In his books he writes he was fond of smoking a pipe on many occasions.
Hobbies
His style of writing is unassuming, descriptive and engaging as he talks about his adventures with many wild animals. While most stories are about hunting tigerTiger
The tiger is the largest cat species, reaching a total body length of up to and weighing up to . Their most recognizable feature is a pattern of dark vertical stripes on reddish-orange fur with lighter underparts...
s and panthers (or leopard
Leopard
The leopard , Panthera pardus, is a member of the Felidae family and the smallest of the four "big cats" in the genus Panthera, the other three being the tiger, lion, and jaguar. The leopard was once distributed across eastern and southern Asia and Africa, from Siberia to South Africa, but its...
s) - particularly those that were man-eaters - he also includes chapters on his first-hand encounters with dangerous elephant
Elephant
Elephants are large land mammals in two extant genera of the family Elephantidae: Elephas and Loxodonta, with the third genus Mammuthus extinct...
s, bison
Bison
Members of the genus Bison are large, even-toed ungulates within the subfamily Bovinae. Two extant and four extinct species are recognized...
, and bear
Bear
Bears are mammals of the family Ursidae. Bears are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans, with the pinnipeds being their closest living relatives. Although there are only eight living species of bear, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the Northern...
s. There are also stories about the less 'popular' creatures like Indian wild dog
Dhole
The dhole is a species of canid native to South and Southeast Asia. It is the only extant member of the genus Cuon, which differs from Canis by the reduced number of molars and greater number of teats...
s, hyena
Striped Hyena
The Striped Hyena is a species of true hyena native to North and East Africa, the Caucasus, the Middle East, Middle and Central Asia and the Indian Subcontinent...
s, and snake
Snake
Snakes are elongate, legless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes that can be distinguished from legless lizards by their lack of eyelids and external ears. Like all squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales...
s. He takes pains to explain the habits and personalities of these animals.
Anderson also gives valuable insights into the people of the Indian jungles of his time, with their lush green woods teeming with wildlife and local inhabitants having to contend with poor quality roads, communication and health facilities. His books delve into the habits of the jungle tribe
Tribe
A tribe, viewed historically or developmentally, consists of a social group existing before the development of, or outside of, states.Many anthropologists use the term tribal society to refer to societies organized largely on the basis of kinship, especially corporate descent groups .Some theorists...
s, their survival tactics
Survival skills
Survival skills are techniques a person may use in a dangerous situation to save themselves or others...
, and their day-to-day lives.
Besides focusing on Indian wildlife, he also explores the subject of the occult and writes about his live experiences with unusual phenomena (for which he has no explanation). He helped save the jungle dwelling tribes from the horrors of man-eaters in many villages in the south Indian states. He also was well versed in speaking Kannada, the language of his home town Bangalore, and also spoke Tamil
Tamil language
Tamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and in the Indian union territory of Pondicherry. Tamil is also an official language of Sri Lanka and Singapore...
, the language spoken in the neighboring states to some extent. He had a Studebaker
Studebaker
Studebaker Corporation was a United States wagon and automobile manufacturer based in South Bend, Indiana. Founded in 1852 and incorporated in 1868 under the name of the Studebaker Brothers Manufacturing Company, the company was originally a producer of wagons for farmers, miners, and the...
car and usually used a .405 Winchester Model 1895
Winchester Model 1895
The Winchester Model 1895 is a lever-action repeating firearm developed and manufactured by the Winchester Repeating Arms Company in the late 19th century, chambered for a number of full-size military and hunting cartridges such as 7.62×54mmR, .303 British, .30-03, .30 Army, .30-06, .35 Winchester,...
rifle for hunting. In addition to his reputation as a hunter, he was a pioneer of wildlife conservation in southern India, and spent his later years "shooting" with a camera.
Books
Anderson's books are fairly popular, and recently two omnibuses of his work have been published. The following is a list of the books written by him:- Nine Maneaters And One Rogue (1954)
- The Black Panther of Sivanipalli and Other Adventures of the Indian Jungle (1959)
- Jungles Long Ago
- Man Eaters and Jungle Killers
- Tiger Roars
- Tales from the Indian Jungle
- This is the Jungle
- The Call of the Man Eater
In addition to the themes of adventure and survival, Anderson also expounds on his love for India, its people, and its jungles. He was a firm believer in the power of alternative medicine
Alternative medicine
Alternative medicine is any healing practice, "that does not fall within the realm of conventional medicine." It is based on historical or cultural traditions, rather than on scientific evidence....
and always carried a box containing various kinds of natural herbs from the jungle with him. He refused treatments based on Western medicine and died of cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
at the age of 64 on 30 August 1974. {However, when he was mauled once by a man-eating tiger, he writes that he had taken a shot of penicillin to counter the possible infection. So it would be incorrect to say that he refused Western medicines.} His last book, Jungles Long Ago, was published posthumously.
In his introduction to Tales from the Indian Jungle, Anderson writes: “He [Anderson] appears to be of the jungle himself, and we get the impression that he belongs there. This is the home for him and here is the place he would want to die; the jungle is his birthplace, his heaven and his resting place when the end comes.”
Grave picture of Keneeth Andreson can be viewed here:
http://daveswildlifechannel.blogspot.com/2010/08/kenneth-andersons-grave-in-bangalore.html