Human-Nature Interface and the allegory of anthropomorphism1: An Ecocritical study of Dhan Gopal Mukherji’s The Adventures of Sirdar: The Chief of the Herd (1929)

Abstract

Dhan Gopal Mukherji’s The Adventures of Sirdar: The Chief of the Herd (1929) sketches the outline of a classic story of an Elephant, Sirdar, his herd and their adventures in the forest of India. Sirdar is a majestic young elephant who is the chief of the herd. The elephants are free and fearless - their only enemy is man, who will hunt them for their ivory or just for the joy of killing. Sirdar saves his herd from many dangers-floods, fires, hunters’ traps and more. He is as noble as he is brave, a true leader who looks out for the weakest of creatures. Till one day, he has to face a great test of his leadership, when his family and herd will be in the gravest of dangers. Will Sirdar be able to save all those who look up to him for guidance?

Initially, the story mirrors the adventures of Sirdar, an elephant leader but underneath it is a story of the patterns of behaviours and that align with the human traits profoundly. It is all about the skillful delineation of Human-Nature interface in multiple layers. Most interestingly, it is an example of an allegory of anthropomorphism. Metaphorically, the story of Sirdar encapsulates the conception of the human-centric traits of power, leadership, enmity, love, sacrifice, heroism etc. At first, this paper excavates how the story reflected the nuanced human-nature interconnection(s) and dichotomies(s) and secondly, how this human-nature interconnection(s) and dichotomies(s) weaved the allegory of anthropomorphism. At the outset, the story appears as if it is a story of an eponymous character called Sirdar, an elephant and his herd and their arduous adventures and heroism. Metaphorically, it is a delineation of the concept of power-structure, how power dictates and manifests in different forms, how the concept of power and its ramifications that energized human society, can also dictate the world of nonhumans, how the gender dynamics are operating in the domain of the nonhumans. These themes automatically direct to the theme of allegory of anthropomorphism where the identical parametres are meticulously streamlined amongst nonhumans. Some pertinent questions arise in this context: Does this allegory of anthropomorphism direct attention to the nonhumans only as Hamlet, the eponymous character of William Shakespeare, formulated the renaissance concept of human as ‘the paragon of animals? Or is this allegory of anthropomorphism a direct onslaught or satire over ‘the paragon of animals? or is it a strategic ploy to bring them together both on the same platter by demolishing the dualism of nature-culture binary in this age of planetary crisis? Or does this fictionalization of nonhumans pose a caveat to rethink who we are today and what it ought to be?