Article By Team CCF
According to the PIB press release dated 22 SEP 2024, “Rhinos are ancient creatures, surviving millions of years due to their size, thick skin, and distinctive horns. “
“As of 2022, Kaziranga National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is home to 2,613 greater one-horned rhinoceroses”
“Over 70% of The One Horned Rhino population resides in Assam’s Kaziranga.”
The Indian Rhinoceros, also known as the Greater one-horned rhinoceros, is native to the Indian subcontinent. It is easily distinguished from other rhino species by its single black horn and thick, armor-plated skin.
Kaziranga and Folklore
According to Karbi legends, the Goddess brought both rhinos and paddy seeds from her heavenly abode and began cultivating rice on earth.
The Karbis believe that the Goddess Kajir Ronghangpi descended to earth and arrived at the very region that is now Kaziranga. Karbi folktales recall that the Goddess used rhinos to till the land for paddy fcultivation. This folktale is the reason why the Karbis connect the name ‘Kaziranga’ to her legend. Rhinos are regarded as auspicious animals. They say that if a rhino wanders into their fields and eats the paddy, it is seen as a sign of good fortune.
Local communities who live around the park recall different stories surrounding the origins of Kaziranga.
The geographical location that is now ‘Kaziranga,’ derives its name from a childless couple, Kazi and Rangai, who used to live there. Troubled by the fact that they did not have any children, they sought the blessings of a saint and scholar called Srimanta Sankardeva. This saint blessed the couple but in turn, asked them not to long for a child but instead to dig a pond in the area.
The couple dug the pond out of sheer devotion, and oral history has it that this act of Kazi and Rangai, rooted in devotion, is gave birth to the name “Kaziranga.”
The legend from the Ahom community, dates back to the reign of the Ahom King, Swargadeo Suhungmung Dihingia Roja, who was at the helm of the Ahom Kingdom between 1497 and 1539.
Story Credit: https://www.etvbharat.com/en/!bharat/kaziranga-a-tale-of-two-legends-and-story-behind-world-famous-national-park-enn24121104577 ; By ETV Bharat English Team; Published : December 11, 2024 at 5:17 PM IST
Few regional legends are recounted in The Story of India’s Unicorns (Marg, 2018), a volume co-authored by art historian Asok Kumar Das and scholar Shibani Bose. The following excerpt is drawn from their book:
“According to one legend the Princess of Sonitpur, daughter of King Ban, had a dream of a handsome prince with whom she fell in love. Her friend Princess Chitralekha drew likenesses of all the eligible princes of India until finally she drew a picture of Aniruddha, the grandson of Lord Krishna, whom the princess recognized as her dream prince. Aniruddha came to Sonitpur to fetch the princess and apparently he was confined there by the king. Then Lord Krishna arrived, riding on a rhinoceros all the way from Dwarka, to rescue Aniruddha. He left his mount in Kaziranga to graze and crossed the Brahmaputra to wage war.”
“Upon the successful completion of his mission he played his flute to call the rhinoceros who could not hear it because of the sound of the flowing waters of the river. Lord Krishna was annoyed. He disowned his mount and proceeded to Dwarka without it. The mount loved the environment of the green grass and stayed back. “
“Hence the animal’s presence in Kaziranga. It is also believed that the animal has no hair on its body as it was saddled for battle, according to a variant of the legend, and thus has hair only on its ears and tail tip! According to yet another legend, Lord Krishna’s mount was readied for battle with armour. Later, it was considered unsuitable for war and abandoned; however the armour remained, thus explaining the folds of its armour-like skin which it bequeathed to its descendants.”
Story Credit: https://marg-art.org/blog/how-the-rhinos-place-in-assamese-tradition-helped-save-the-species
The Rhinoceros and Folklore
The “gainda” or “gaur”, as the rhino is referred to in Hindi or in Assamese respectively, has been written about and depicted in art since ancient times in the Indian subcontinent.
“The Indus Valley Civilization flourishing in parts of Pakistan and West India between 2600 and 1900 BC depicted the rhinoceros on seals and modelled it in clay. “
In Gujarat, there is a folk deity known as the Dhavdi Mata, who rides the rhinoceros. Dhavdi Mata is from a region in where the Harappan seals are supposed to have come from. This suggests that the rhinoceros was a very important part of western India in ancient times, and stories from that time continue to persist. Dhavdi Mata is worshipped even in parts of Pakistan and is known to be sacred to local nomadic communities.
Story Credit: https://devdutt.com/alone-as-the-rhinoceros-horn/
“Ibn Battuta saw the animal in the lower Indus Valley in 1333. Emperor Babur observed and hunted rhinoceros in parts of northern Pakistan, around Peshawar towards the Khyber Pass between 1519 and 1526. Sidi Ali Reis traversed the Khyber Pass in 155G and saw rhinoceros or ‘Kerkedans’ either on the Pakistan or the Afghanistan side of the mountains”
“Modern Iraq still has a tradition of ‘tears of the karkadann,’ dumiu al-karkadan, which are reddish beads used in the Misbaha, the Muslim prayer beads (subuhat). The accompanying legend says that the rhinoceros spends days in the desert looking for water; when he does, he first weeps ‘out of fatigue and thirst-pain.’” These tears, as they fall into the water of the drinking hole, turn into beads.
Rookmaaker, L. C. (2000). Records of the rhinoceros in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Pakistan Journal of Zoology, 32(1), 65–74.
As per a folk poetry in the Terai region, Vishwakarma created this beast by mixing elephant skin, horse hooves, crocodile eyes, bear brain, lion heart and a bull’s horn.
In the Rig Veda, the rhinoceros is called the thick-skinned Khadga, a name that hints at awe and respect it commands. Arjun’s mighty bow, Gandiva, is even said to draw its name from Gandaka, another Sanskrit word for the rhino.
For the warrior Aryans, this powerful animal, with its heavy hide and razor-sharp horn, was more than a beast; it was a symbol of strength. Its hide was prized for shields, thought to be nearly impossible to pierce. In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna himself speaks of being Ekashringa, the one-horned creature, prompting us to wonder if the Varaha avatar could have been inspired by the formidable rhinoceros?
Story Credit: https://devdutt.com/alone-as-the-rhinoceros-horn/
In a folk retellings of the Mahabharata, the rhinoceros plays a striking role. In the Garhwali Pandav Leela, the Pandavas are said to have hunted a celestial rhinoceros in Indraloka, offering its flesh in a ritual so their father, Pandu, could ascend to heaven.
In Sarla Das’s Odia Mahabharata, the rhino lives in Shiva’s garden, where Arjun sets out to hunt it. But before he can claim his prize, he is challenged by the animal’s guardian, who turns out to be Nagarjuna, Arjun’s own son with a Naga princess, a figure still honored in regional folklore.
Story Credit: https://devdutt.com/alone-as-the-rhinoceros-horn/
In Jain tradition, the rhinoceros is revered as the emblem of Shreyansnath, the eleventh Tirthankar.
Buddhist lore also draws on the animal’s imagery: the Khaggavisana Sutta compares the monk’s solitary path to the single horn of the rhinoceros, a powerful metaphor for living apart from worldly ties.
“Wander alone like a rhinoceros! Free from longing, finding no pleasure in the world’s games, love, or sensual bliss, abstaining from adornment, speaking the truth, wander alone like a rhinoceros! Abandoning offspring, spouse, father, mother, riches, grain, relatives, & sensual pleasures altogether, wander alone like a rhinoceros! Shattering fetters, like a fish in the water tearing a net, like a fire not coming back to what’s burnt, wander alone like a rhinoceros! Eyes downcast, not footloose, senses guarded, with protected mind, not oozing, or burning, with lust, wander alone like a rhinoceros!”
Story Credit: https://devdutt.com/alone-as-the-rhinoceros-horn/