The Man-Eater of Rudraprayag — Jim Corbett's 1926 leopard kill site at Gulabrai.
Rudraprayag is famous to pilgrims as the second Panch Prayag, but to readers of Jim Corbett it is famous for something else entirely — the 1918-1926 man-eating leopard that killed ~125 people across these hills, hunted down by Corbett on the night of 1-2 May 1926 at Gulabrai village just south of the prayag. Most pilgrims drive past the kill-site marker without noticing.WHY NOBODY KNOWS
The Leopard of Rudraprayag was a male man-eater (~7ft 6in / 228cm long) responsible officially for around 125 confirmed kills between 1918 and 1926 across Garhwal — among the deadliest single man-eaters in recorded history. Hunter-naturalist Jim Corbett took up the contract in autumn 1925 and, after a ten-week stalk, shot the leopard at Gulabrai village (about 1.5km south of Rudraprayag town along the Rudraprayag-Kedarnath road) late on the night of 1 May / early hours of 2 May 1926. Corbett's 1948 book "The Man-Eating Leopard of Rudraprayag" recounts the hunt. A sign-board and small fair (held annually around 2 May) commemorate the site. The leopard's skin was originally displayed at the Kala Bhavan, Banaras.
