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The name ‘Chitwan’ has several possible
meanings, but the most literal
translation of the two NEPALI words that
make it up: chit or chita (heart) and
wan or ban (jungle). Chitwan is thus
‘the heart of the jungle’.
At the beginning of the nineteenth
century, cultivation in the valley was
deliberately prohibited by the
government of Nepal in order to maintain
a barrier of disease-ridden forests as a
defense against the invasion of diseases
from the south. Then for the century
between 1846 and 1950, when the Rana
prime ministers were de facto rulers of
Nepal, Chitwan was declared a private
hunting reserve, maintained exclusively
for the privileged classes. Penalties
for poaching were severe - capital
punishment for killing rhino - and the
wildlife in the area thus received a
measure of protection.
From time to time great hunts for rhino
were held during the cool, mosquito-free
winter months from December to February.
The Ranas invited royalty from Europe
and the Princely States of India, as
well as other foreign dignitaries, to
take part in these grand maneuvers,
which were organized on a magnificent
scale, often with several hundred
leopards.
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