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Parbati Barua ( as, পাৰ্বতী বৰুৱা) is an Assamese politician, animal conservation activist and a ''Mahout'' (Indian term for an elephant tamer and caretaker), Born as one of nine children to late Prakritish Chandra Barua of the
Royal Family Of Gauripur. Prakritish was the last member of the
Rajahs of
Gauripur to hold power.
She came to the limelight after the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
created the documentary "
Queen of the Elephants" based on her life, along with the companion book by
Mark Shand
Mark Roland Shand (28 June 1951 – 23 April 2014) was a British travel writer and conservationist and the brother of Queen Camilla. Shand was the author of four travel books and as a BBC conservationist, appeared in documentaries related to hi ...
. She resides in
Guwahati
Guwahati (, ; formerly rendered Gauhati, ) is the biggest city of the Indian state of Assam and also the largest metropolis in northeastern India. Dispur, the capital of Assam, is in the circuit city region located within Guwahati and is the ...
and is also a member of the Asian Elephant Specialist Group,
IUCN. She is the sister of
Pratima Barua Pandey
Pratima Barua Pandey (3 October 1934 – 27 December 2002) was an Indian folk singer from the royal family of Gauripur in Western Assam's Dhubri district. Barua Pandey, a national awardee, best known for her Goalpariya (Koch Rajbongsh ...
and niece of
filmmaker
Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, starting with an initial story, idea, or commission. It then continues through screenwriting, castin ...
Pramathesh Barua
Pramathesh Chandra Barua (24 October 1903 – 29 November 1951) was an Indian actor, director, and screenwriter of Indian films in the pre-independence era, born in Gauripur, Dhubri, Assam.
Early life
Barua was the son of the royal family of ...
of ''Devdas'' fame.
Early life
Parbarti was born as one of nine children born to late Prakritish Barua, the last in line of the Rajahs of Gauripur. Since childhood she had a keen sense of understanding and interest in elephants and spent much of her time in the jungles along with her father. Prakritish was an eccentric hunter and had a supernatural understanding of elephants and had 40 elephants in his royal stables.
He used to take his family on extended trips in the forests with a large entourage that included servants, cooks and a private tutor for his children and his family which consisted of his 4 wives and 9 children. It's on these trips that in the words of Parbati herself, she partly developed her interest in elephants. In 1970, the
abolition of privy purse dealt a heavy blow to Parbati and her family.
Now not entitled to any of the tax-free regimes and money allotted to them, the line of Rajahs of Gauripur came to an end – both in terms of power and benefits. Being essentially broke with nothing but his palace and his stable of elephants remaining, Prakritish with his daughter returned to the forests and survived by selling elephants and providing their services to timber businesses directly or through the Sonepur Fair.
At the age of 14, Barua caught her first wild elephant on which her father congratulated get. Since then she has mastered the art of rounding up elephants and capturing them to be domesticated. Over the years, she has been called multiple times in the jungles, tea plantations and rural areas of West Bengal, Odisha and her native Assam to capture or take care of wild elephants.
See also
*
Mela shikar
Mela shikar ( as, 'মেলা চিকাৰ) is a traditional method of capturing wild elephants for captive use. These methods get employed in Burma, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia and in Assam in India.
The process involves lassoing a ...
References
Indian conservationists
People from Dhubri district
People from Guwahati
Living people
Women conservationists
Indian female royalty
Indian women environmentalists
Women from Assam
Activists from Assam
20th-century Indian women
20th-century Indian people
20th-century Indian royalty
1954 births
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