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 side 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 cameras - all that they witnessed. A brief account of their extended adventure appeared in a 1942 edition of the National Geographic and has enthralled falconers for decades.
This Edition is handsomely printed and bound to the same exacting standards of the AAF's earlier volume, from selection of the archival paper to employing the most regarded practitioners of the book making art! Painstaking attention to detail ensures a volume of great beauty and archival quality certain to appreciate over time. |
