Pig Sticking in the Ganga Khadar

[Katana]

Sat,

Good to see you back on the forum after such a long time. I'm sure you you've got a whole lot of photgraphical material of your grandfather's shooting days. Why not put them up for all of us?

Prashant,

My mother's family are 'Shaktawats', descendants of Shakti Singhji, younger brother of Maharan Pratap. the story that we, as children were told is a bit different. the lady in question impaled the pig with a corn stalk, not a spear or lance. She asked the Maharana not to enter her maize field because animals may eat the crop but not destroy it, while men on horseback would surely do so. In lieu, the Maharana asked her to surrender the pig or boar which she did with a single throw of a sharpened stalk.

I am likely to believe this story because of two reasons. One is that the maize stalk, the 'desi' varieties actually are really quite woody and that the steadfast resolution of the lady may have endeared the Maharana to her.

Secondly, Rajput farmers in Rajasthan and Gujarat, to this day do not allow men to just walk around or tresspass in their lands. However, animals have no such restrictions. I should know, since I'm one of them.

Regards,
Katana

[prashantsingh]

That's a very different version from what I read in the book.
The only thing common to both the stories is that the Maharana was out "pig sticking", and finally the two of them got married.

[Katana]

Prashant,

I know this is a bit off topic, but I presume you may have read it in a Amar Chitra Katha Anyway, Rajasthan and Gujarat have a rich tradition of heraldic storytelling. Apart from the fact that I may be biased, I'm likely to believe it.

Regards,
Katana

[prashantsingh]

No the "old book" was not an Amar Chitra Katha. Please go thru the p.m. I have sent u.

[Katana]

Prashant

Amar Chitra Katha was a joke. What matters is that there was pig sticking and the two of them got married. Suggest you prod Sat for some very juicy shooting memoriblia. He has some intersting stuff from the mid-20th century.

regards,
Katana

[nagarifle]

i hope there are no 'don't cry for me sargntmajor' lark in you neck of the sticks eh Charlie.

[shooter]

the story katana is stating was heard by me as a legend re: Sir Pratap Singh ji and bhatiyaniji.

Since he was already married, he chose her as a daughter in law.

Maharajkumar Shakti Singh was present in the battle of Haldighati fighting in the imperial army but had a change of heart and killed the two turkish soldiers fighting with the wounded Maharana pratap and thus saved his life. For this he was given the Jagir of Bansi and the Descendents were called shaktawat who later branched into present day rajasthan MP and gujrat.

nice pic sat. please post more.

[Rothers]

Hi boys,

Thought you might like these couple of snaps from Pigsticking in Argentina last weekend. We will be open for business next year. Dove shooting, deer stalking, fishing, polo, and of course.... pigsticking.

Rothers

-- Fri Apr 30, 2010 1:38 am --

hi Yaj
unable to say where or when, i had stored them but lost it on the system going haywire. maybe in 1925 Agar? Muttra tent club? do not quote me on this.

Thanks Mate!
Regards,
Yaj.

That is the staff of the Kadir Cup. A photo taken from Wardrop's book "Modern Pigsticking"- by far the best book on the subject. The man on the white mare is Wardrop himself. Wardrop was honorary secretary of the Meerut Tent Club and thus organised the Bandobast for it and also delegated umpires. I can't remember what year it is exactly- but certainly before the book was published in 1930.

-- Fri Apr 30, 2010 1:42 am --

Lovely snaps nagarifle.
Doesn't the Khadir Cup in all it's silver look spectacular. Check out the little wild boar on top of the cup. I wonder why the Brits called it "Khadir" when the actual pronunciation is "KhadAr".
The snaps you have put up are probably those of a tiger hunt. Simply because there are more elephants than horses.While the poorly armed native "beaters and pickers" walk along the bush, their "Angraiz Saahebs" sit safe and secure high up in the "Howda" (surely with their heavy rifles).
Camels and Elephants were also a part of the Pig sticking event . I have some snaps of them as well. While the ladies and children were put on the elephants giving them a "birds eye" view of the proceedings down below .....the camels were mostly used by the beaters to locate the wild boars.

Prashant, I hate to be a know-it-all pain in the ar*e... but that is a photo of the Kadir Cup. Its also from Wardrop's book. As you say, the additional elephants were used to transport spectators so they could watch the heats. One of the elephants also had a white flag with a red cross on, which contained the doctor.

This may be of interest to some of you:

http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=5211

-- Fri Apr 30, 2010 2:12 am --

[nagarifle]

some good hunting there mate, now for the inside story?

[prashantsingh]

Wow Rothers......That's a big fellow you got there. How much did he weigh?

Those are lovely snaps.
You indeed "know it all" and are NOT at all "A pain in the ar*e". It's great to have someone (who actually plays the game) to contribute to this post. Thanks.

What breed of horses do you use for the game? They don't look like Thoroughbreds to me.

-- Fri Apr 30, 2010 8:15 am --

P.S.
Lovely video of the Muttra Cup.

[Sakobav]

Rothers

Nice pictures and thanks for sharing plus one nagarifles request for story..and off course the hole in the pocket LOL

best

[Rothers]

The spear I used was an original bamboo shafted hogspear, made in Allahabad in around 1895. I spent some time burnishing the rust off it and getting it razor sharp.

We were hunting on a 9000 Hectare cattle ranch in San Luis province- approximately a 6 hour drive from Buenos Aires. We get up an hour or so before dawn, at 6am ish and saddle the ponies under the stars. There are around 100 ponies on the farm, ranging from top end polo ponies out to grass, to working horses used by the gauchos (cowboys) to herd the cattle. We then ride out onto the Pampas- which is very similar to the Ganga Khadar, as the sun rises (a beautiful ride), in an attempt to catch the Boar as they are returning from their nocturnal feeding grounds.

Since this was more of a recce than a full blown shikar trip we did not have many beaters and were using dogs to try and drive the pigs from cover. There were 3 of us mounted with hogspears to ride the pig, and one gaucho with dogs. Eventually in the mid morning a large boar broke cover at the far end of some scrub. We waited until it was well out into open ground before riding after it, so it would not be able to turn back in.

The 3 of us then dug in our heels and galloped towards him. I was astonished how fast he moved when he realised what was up. We had an incredible gallop over 600m or so before we were able to get level. The boar really do "jink" as described in the old books. Just when you think you are going to get close enough to spear it will shoot off in a different direction like a hare.

After a few minutes the boar jinked left away from one of my fellow riders and towards me. I was able to get a good spear as he came in from my right. The old hogspear did the business and went straight through like butter, flexed and came out as I rode past. The effect was extraordinary and killed the boar almost instantly- faster than I have seen many boar dispatched that have been shot with high velocity rifles.

All in all an extremely adrenalin fuelled activity, an quite incredible. Quite in an incredible day given that we then spent the afternoon doing some incredible dove shooting in the same place, and it also has a large number of red deer!

All boar hunting is now going to stop on the property in order to let the population increase (which it will do rapidly with no control), before we open for business next year. We are going to buy some old school shikar tents such as made by http://www.royaljodhpurtents.com/ and recreate a genuine tent club/shikar camp feel. All food will be cooked and served under the stars.

We are also investing and developing a property 35 minutes from the centre of Buenos Aires.

The plan will be for guests to spend a week at our luxurious lodge in BA (where the accommodation with will luxury thatched bungalows around a central lodge in the style of an Indian cavalry mess) where they can play polo and spend a couple of evenings shooting ducks on the estuary, before going down to the camp on the pampas.

Guests can then stay for 4-5 days in the camp, pigsticking in the morning, having a leisurely siesta and then dove shooting all afternoon. There will also be opportunities to stalk deer and herd cattle with the gauchos.

All food/local beer and wine will be included, as will the trophy fees for any boar- i.e. guests will be able to take as many as they can. The only additional cost will be for going over an agreed number of shotgun cartridges per day- such as more than 500.

We are provisionally looking at a figure of $6000 for 2 weeks all inclusive, but this may go up or down depending on our expenditure and the size of groups etc.

I will keep you all updated as things progress and send the link to our new website soon. We aim to open this time next year!

[prashantsingh]

Sounds great Rothers. All the best for your venture.
Read your post in the afternoon.
Will have to work harder from today, so that I can plan this holiday in the Pampas.

-- Fri Apr 30, 2010 10:22 pm --

any horse riders on IFG ? Let's all make a big group and go "Pigsticking".

[Rothers]

btt.

[Sakobav]

Rothers

Great write up -- now as prashant said start working hard saving money and offcourse learn riding may be bit late for me..

Just wondering if any one in India makes Hogspears any more? You mentioned Cavalry mess may be one of the old Indian CAVS Deccan horse ( 9 Horse) , Skinner et al have pictures or even the decor of current one could lend some ambiance.

Check the yellow boys Skinners horse now designated as 1 Horse in Indian Army
http://www.skinnershorse.co.uk/gallery.htm


Good luck