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Thanks Sita for helping with the image. You can find these guys in many Tharu households, the tiger holds a special place in their fundamental practice of Animism.
I don't have time to go into this deeply now and while I personally don't have a religion or faith with a name, Animism does fascinate me especially with regards to human-wildlife coexistence. I get a bit worried when people start using words like totem etc because it's a fine line between that type of thinking and those which dominates practices which use wildlife body parts, there's a type of reverence which to me smacks of being unhealthy. Animism however is much more about equality (all living beings), something I do firmly believe in with regards to rights, place in the web of life. So putting the tiger top of the tree, questions have to be asked how that really fits.
I've had too many moving experiences in nature to categorize by way of faith, that's just my choice. I simply subscribe to the thinking based around the word respect, so equality feels comfortable to me. However such is the way we've managed to mangle ecosystems some hard decisions have to be made while rebuilding them. As someone pretty much in the jungle every day I appreciate very much the role of all living beings there, it's just that the way things have worked out some need our help desperately if they are to continue those roles...
