ABSTRACT
In this Introduction, the discussion revolves around the way nonhuman animals have been perceived in the folk narrative, in ancient Indian folklore, in European philosophy and in contemporary natural sciences. The main issue is that of animal sentience and how it is understood in the folk narrative, in British writings and in the natural sciences today. Proceeding from the elaboration of these premises, the Introduction defines colonial British writings on Indian wildlife as modern folk narratives that impacted the image of India and her wild denizens in newer terms. The study of these works is emphasized and proposed so as to understand what was this image of India’s forests and wildlife that the British writers propagated across the world.
