Parbati Barua

Early life

Parbarti was born as one of nine children to late Prakritish Barua, the last in line of the Rajas of Gauripur, Dhubri. Since childhood she had a keen sense of understanding and interest in elephants and spent much of her time in the jungles along with her father. Prakritish was an eccentric hunter and had a supernatural understanding of elephants and had 40 elephants in his royal stables. Since then, she has mastered the art of rounding up elephants and capturing them to be domesticated. Over the years, she has been called multiple times in the jungles, tea plantations and rural areas of West Bengal, Odisha and her native Assam to capture or take care of wild elephants.

Awards 2024: Awarded the Padma Shri in the field of Social Work.