Hunting is an activity as old as humankind, but it is relatively under-explored in the monographic literature of South Asia. Julie Hughes has made a significant contribution to this scant literature with an examination of hunting practices in the Rajput states in north-central India. Specifically, the book focuses on the states of Orchha (in present day Madhya Pradesh), Mewar (in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan) and Bikaner (in Rajasthan). She successfully creates a cohesive narrative from these diverse states that examines local power in the context of the late colonial British state. Hughes argues that, in the context of colonialism, Rajput princes maintained or adapted hunting practices to connect with their military past, assert territorial rights and underline their status as rulers. She elucidates Rajput practices and how they acted as both an acquiescence and a protest to British colonialism.

This book is not a micro-history in that it focuses on a number of individuals over a broad geographic and chronological range, but Hughes uses a similar methodology by providing fine detail to weave a rich tapestry of the practices and political ambitions of the Rajput princes. Her careful examination of hunting diaries treat the reader to rich descriptions of hunts and specific quantities of the animals bagged. More than due diligence is given to tigers, the most charismatic of prey, but attention is also giving to less explored game like antelopes, deer, pigs and birds. We learn that Thakur Laxman Singh of Sargahdah (r. 1912–1929) mail-ordered “breeches in the popular Jodphur fashion and others cut from “Shekari Sunproof” fabric, hunting coats in tweed, and imitation leather boots with rope soles to provide a quiet step and good traction” (246). These details are not just noise, but rather are used to demonstrate the investment that these individuals had in maintaining traditional hunting practices and how they expressed them in the face of modernity. This narrative is, in places, enhanced by adept analysis of visual materials like paintings and photographs.

Organized thematically, the introduction sets the stage by defining the “princely ecology”. This term is apparently intended to represent the lack of the “divide between people and wilderness” because “Indian princes were symbolically as well as literally rooted in the forest, their very legitimacy and physical substance nourished on its fruit and meat” (5). The first three chapters examine Orchha, Mewar and Bikaner, respectively. Although little comparative analysis is provided in the text, the intent is clearly to provide three examples of different responses to hunting, environment and colonialism. The next two chapters are comparative in construction. Chapter Five looks at hunting as an expression of military culture in the context of contemporary power structures. Chapter Six is an examination of hunting and the environment. As Hughes is careful to point out, this book does not take a moral position on hunting or its impact on the environment. Rather her goal is clearly to elucidate the relationship between Rajput elites and the environment and, in these chapters, shows the impact of these policies. The brief conclusion is less a summary of the arguments within the book than an examination of contemporary issues like ecotourism that exist within the context of past histories.

The dilemmas and cultural parameters that motivated Rajput actions are elucidated through this process. However, the highly sensitive and empathetic treatment of the Rajput princes is not afforded to British hunters. In the introduction, Hughes does note that, “[H]istorians are increasingly reluctant to admit the existence of a true and unchanging sportsmanship among British imperialists” (21–22), but this is not a viewpoint that comes across strongly in the book. Hughes notes: “We cannot make simplistic comparisons between their [British] standards and those of the princes (22)”, but given that British colonialism is the context, a more nuanced discussion incorporated into the detail would nevertheless have benefited the analysis. The similar lack of reference to practices even in other parts of the subcontinent is not inherently a fault, but is notable in that it is contrary to the trend away from focus on discrete topics and toward the framing (even micro-histories) in the context of world historical trends.

In part because of this focus and despite the engrossing detail, interesting anecdotes and visual materials, this book will be hard going for the non-expert. For example, the knowledge that nilgai (Boselaphus tragocamelus) is a large antelope may be common among South Asianists, but this is not a word found in a collegiate dictionary. While this is a small example, it is representative of the fact that larger contexts and conclusions are suggested rather than spelled out. This is unfortunate because more fully articulated conclusions, a chronological table of Rajput rulers and other small concessions would have given this book a much wider audience. Nevertheless, it is a thoughtful, well-researched project that will be of great interest to scholars of Rajput power structures in the context of colonialism and of the hunt.