Gir is a forest which is in the state of Gujarat at the western end of India which is considered to be a Crown Jewel of the Gujarat state due to its diverse flora, fauna, and wildlife.Â
In this forest, you will find a variety of species among them the Asiatic Lions were the primary ones and due to them, this GIR Jungle was so famous. Also apart from lions, you will find a variety of different species like Indian leopards, striped hyenas, jungle cats, Golden Jackals, Indian Gray Mongoose, Honey Badger, Owl, etc.
This was a time when the British had come to India and ruled over it and India was shackled with the chains of slavery as the British looted most of the wealth from India and drained its wealth to their country in the United Kingdom. It was the time when the country which was known to be a Golden Bird due to its huge wealth and numerous treasures in the past was struggling with problems like poverty and deaths due to the repeated lootings in the past millennium by foreign forces such as the Mughals and the British. The Country which was also the Knowledge hub of the world and had Great universities like Nalanda was deprived of its universities which were burned down by Bhaktiyar Khilji and the people who lived in peace and tranquility with great wealth in the past were now miserable since their nation was now a colony of the British after the horrible and ruthless rule of the Mughals.
While the people in India were living a miserable life and were invaded by different foreign powers the life in the Jungle and its inhabitants were also not any better. Since the British were looting India for its heritage and wealth they have also started to destroy the wildlife and forests of this country.
Recently the British have found interest in a new sport which is hunting the Asiatic Lions. The British liked this sport because they considered it bravery on their part to kill the Lions since they were considered to be the most dangerous creatures in the Jungle. However, the way they hunt them is very cowardly.Â
First of all one single lion is separated from their pack and lured to a place where it is safe for humans then the lion will be surrounded and cornered by the humans and British officers will mount it on the back of an elephant where they feel safe and shoot the Lion with the rifle. Once the lion is killed the British officers will be showered with praises of bravery and glory by their so-called minions who were also the natives since the British were the invaders and masters of the land so naturally the poor locals had to be in their good books to live a peaceful life.
If someone tries to protest then their lives will become miserable and hell since the British were the masters and had the last say in everything.
However, from time immemorial it has been observed throughout ancient history that even though the oppressor is so powerful and may look like they are invincible they cannot stop the protests since if the one who is getting bullied does not have any other means and the bully has crossed the line then the revolt is bound to happen and nobody can stop it and ultimately the evil is defeated and the goodness wins. This theory was proven throughout the history of mankind: the Devs were victorious in the ancient Dev Asur war, Ram was victorious against Ravan, Krishna was victorious against Kans and Pandavas were victorious against Kauravas.
So among the humans, there were many revolts that were happening at that point in time however all of them were crushed by the Brits before it could become bigger. Likewise in the Jungle also its habitents were fed up with the constant killings of the lions or getting kidnapped and transferred to a zoo. Not only the lions but every other species were facing the same threat constantly so they were living in fear.
In the Vast expanse of the Jungle where one could only see tree after tree which was filled with greenery somewhere inside, there was a vast clearing and in the middle of it, there was a huge banyan tree that looked to be a minimum of thousands of year old and nobody could guess the actual age of the tree.
Just below that tree and in its surroundings something unusual was happening and if a human being happens to see the ongoings here then the humans may not believe their own eyes because the view was quite unimaginable. It seemed like the whole jungle had gathered at this place and there were a variety of different species sitting side by side which was quite unusual. There were Lions, Tigers, Leopards, Deers, Nilgai, Blackbuck, Jungle cats, and then different birds such as silver bell, woodshrike, owls all sitting in close proximity as if they had developed an understanding between themselves to not attack each other.
If the humans saw this scene then they have to question their understanding of behavioral knowledge of the animals in the wilderness since the herbivorous animals like the Blackbuck and Deer were the animals who survived on plant-based food and were natural food for the carnivorous animals like the Lions and Tigers and the birds usually do not come near the jungle cats since the Jungle cats like to eat the birds and Owls like to eat the small species like mouse however at this point of time the birds, the jungle cats, mouse, elephants, and various different species had gathered in this place.
It seemed like the habitants of the Jungle, which were the animals themselves, decided to do a meeting among them. To find a solution to this ongoing threat to their existence.
In the middle of all the animals just under the Banyan tree, there were a few of the animals who had stood out among them and seemed to be the leader of their respective packs. Among them were a Lion, a Deer, An owl, A Jackal, and A Mongoose and these five seemed to be the decision-makers of the Jungle and looked to be very old.Â
These five animals were seated just below the huge banyan tree and were discussing among themselves while the crowd of animals was gathering in front of them from different directions of the Jungle. After waiting for ten more minutes when no more animals were coming the Old Lion stood up and came in front to address the crowd of animals. The Lion had an overbearing aura on himself so when he came in front to address the crowd everyone became quiet and there was pin drop silence which showed the reverence and fear which the jungle animals had for this lion.
The old Lion said addressing the Large crowd of the animals: "Friends you all must be wondering why we all have gathered here under the elder tree of the Jungle. Also this must be a first time for you all that we are conducting a meeting across species and you are surprised to see your Jungle mates who normally hunt you or you hunt them but that is only normal because that is the food chain of life. However what these foreign humans have done to the jungle is horrible so today we all have gathered here to find a solution to this."
The Jungle crowd was listening to the Lion intently while he was speaking.
The Old Lion further said: "From the last few years we have all been suffering our childrens, friends, families they have been kidnapped by these humans and sent to captive prison in the zoos to be kept there so that the humans could come there in a group and enjoy the miserable look on the animals and then the human kids taunts and torture them for their entertainment purpose it is a horrible thing if anyone has to go that that kind of situation. Hope that nobody has to go through that situation in the future. So we have to do something about this situation if we have to avoid this since this has been going on for the last three to four years and it seems that they will not stop now. For their entertainment purpose they just kill us as if our lives have become their playthings. We have to do something which will make them regret their actions in future."
There was a silence among the crowd as all of the animals were listening to the lion and realizing what was happening to their jungle.
Sensing and then taking advantage of the emotions of the animals, the old lion who was matured with his life long experience continued: "Now we have to make some plan to stop them."
someone from the audience asked: "Respected Lion sir But what could we possibly do now to go against the humans as they are such a stronger force than us."
The Lion replied: "Is there anything which you all can suggest or give any ideas regarding this."
One of the other judges said: "We have discussed this matter among ourselves about this matter; however , we also wanted to take the opinion of the rest of the jungle as well since this is a decision which will affect everyone."
One of the Birds said from the crowd: "We think that we should attack the humans."
Many of the other animals were surprised by the sheer aggressiveness and enthusiasm with which the tiny bird answered the judges to fight the humans as no one expected that such a small and pretty creature could be so ferocious in its ideas.
Another animal which was a hyena said: "We should kill them and eat them all."
One of the rabbits said: "I think we should not do anything since humans are too powerful and advanced than us so we should just run away and hide."
One of the horned Deers said: "We think that hiding will not help since the humans are very advanced and can definitely find us so we should entirely abandon this place and shift all the jungle animals to a different area to a new forest."
One of the cheetahs said: "No that is not going to help even if we move to a different location what is the guarantee that the humans will not follow us their to the new jungle so we will have to fight them and we have to make sure that we retaliate in such a way that in the future the humans should not cross us and do not dare to come to the forest again."
Then the old lion said who was among the leaders: "OK we have noted down all your suggestions and decided on what exactly we have to do now. We all have seen the power of human beings exactly what they can do to us and none of the animals have the chance to stand and confront the humans if we are alone since they are always in groups and with advance equipments so what we have decided is that we should form a group among ourselves and move in groups since humans only tries to capture us by removing us from our groups. So if we move together they can't do anything as the saying goes "united we stand, divided we fall." so we should stand together in this situation of crisis and make sure that the humans could not capture any more animals who can be any of our friends or relatives and we have to save them from this disaster."
With that the meeting among the animals was concluded.
The elder lion greeted and said farewell to his buddies before joining his group and the rest of the animals also went with their respective groups. Since this was a first time temporary arrangement wherein different species of the jungle had come along because normally they would wander around in their separate groups.