How bandhavgarh become so famous?

Kingdoms And Tigers

Bandhavgarh National Park is the most visited and tremendously famed tiger palace in Madhya Pradesh located in the Vindhya Hills of Umaria district. The tourists hitting to Bandhavgarh National Park makes a must visit to the fort to find the written proofs of the Bharihas and Vakatak dynasties who ruled over the land in and around the Bandhavgarh region.

This region also unveils the history to find the major dynasties that ruled the Bandhavgarh regions including Sengars, the Kalchuris and the Baghels. Out of all the Baghels were believed to rule the regions for the longer period .During their rule, the Baghels decided to shift their capital to Rewa as they were extending themselves and the Bandhavgarh region came to the corner of the kingdom bringing difficulty in reaching there and thus the location was converted earlier into a deserted land due to the presence of thick forest and then into the habitat of the wild beasts (the tigers).

The kings of Rewa killed at least 109 tigers due to the increasing terror of the tiger attacks and in the series of showing the chivalry Raja Gulab Singh Baghel shoot down 83 tigers in a single year to pursuit the magical figure of 109 tigers .No wonder this place has been the hunting point for the Maharajas of Rewa and the entire place was their private property but later they handed over the land to the state government and in 1968, this royal place was being declared as the national park. When the park was established the cases of poaching were increased to greater extents and the density of the animal population began to deteriorate and so several measures were taken to improve the living conditions of the wild animals in Bandhavgarh National Park.

Tigers Growing journey

Banka, which means handsome, was the undisputed king of Bandhavgarh then. Banka was born in the late 1970s. I heard that there were 0 tigers in Bandhavgarh in early 70s, courtesy, the continued hunting even after India attained Independence. The first ever tiger was sighted in mid-70s. Nobody knows where Banka was born or who his earlier mates were.

Battle of Banka and young Aggressive tiger

On the particular dusk of summer in 1991, Banka was patrolling his territory suddenly a series of resounding roars from up the hill jolted the jungle. Banka stopped dead in his tracks and immediately looked up. All strained up, ears turned forward, he faced the hilly slope trying to understand what was happening. He instinctively knew that he has a challenger now. The resident tiger (Banka) accepted the challenge replying vent to a full throated roar.

Emerging through the cover of bamboo bushes was a vicious looking tiger in his youthful prime, with mane like long hair fringing his face. Without any warning the behemoth pounced on Banka like a thundering storm. The next moment the young male was towering over Banka frantically trying to get his teeth into his opponent’s skull and neck. Saliva dripping down his widely open jaws, Banka roared in defiance and raked the body of his rival with his fully stretched paws. Soon the ferocity, youth and indescribable anger of the young tiger took better of Banka. He gave up and disengaged himself from deadly grip of his rival. . A final heart rendering roar from the young male announced the crowning of a new king of Tala zone.

How Charger found ?

The next early morning sunrays brought in a new day. The safari jeeps lined up at the Tala gate to have their first sightings. As they approached a turn, they could see a vicious tiger lying down beside the forest road, licking his bleeding gashes and growling at intervals. The furious tiger raised his head and intently stiffened his body as a posture of uncomfortable aggression. He swiftly prepared himself for a charge. As the jeep stopped near the tiger, he jumped up, rushed towards the jeep roaring menacingly. His momentum almost made him collide with the vehicle. It was just a mock attack but he made his intension clear. The turn of events was so spontaneous that the occupants of the jeep were frozen in fear following a shrill cry. Fortunately the tiger wheeled back abruptly and went off into the forest.

The jeep got back to the camp and due to a misunderstanding the word was spread that “Banka” has gone mad. Sightings of a Banka like tiger near villages away from his territory added to the confusion .Kuttapan, the head Mahout (person who drives elephant) decided to solve the mystery. Riding over his huge tusker Gautam, he entered the high grass behind Gopalpur pond looking for Banka. Within a moment, he heard a distinct loud growl from his right, and next moment a thundering striped fury shot out from the grass and charged at elephant Gautam. Kuttapan somehow managed to stir the elephant away from the grassland. He rushed out of the forest perspiring profusely and declared that a very dangerous, short-tempered tiger had arrived in the forest.

Thus, the Legendary Tiger came to be known by the name of “Charger”- The aggressive one.

Charger and Sita Journey

One of the most prolific tigers and the cradle of tigers at Bandhavgarh, Sita was born in 1982, in a steep hillock with a cave system, now referred to as Sita Mandap. Apparently, she had taken over the territory of her mother. The origin of Charger is not clearly known. Park rangers consider him to be from a different part of the park. He first made his appearance in the summer of 1991, when he defeated Banka and claimed his territory in Tala zone. His tenure as a overlord of Tala stretched almost a decade (1991-1999). It is extraordinary as the life span of tiger is 12-15 years.

Charger had a lifetime mate, “Sita”. In 1992 their first litter was with two male cubs “Langru” and “Bada Bachha”. Bada Bachha was strong and later claimed his territory around Ghora demon. But the younger son had a slight limp in his hind leg, hence named Langru ( limping one). Langru did not make his own territory instead decided to stay with Charger. It came as a surprise to forest official when a vicious territorial male like Charger accepted his 4 year old lame son, denying the logic that dominant males drive away their own grownup male cubs.

Sita’s second litter (March, 1994) with Charger was ill-fated with a blind female cub, which died early.
She also had a beautiful female from the same litter, who came to be known as “Mohini” (because of her mesmerizing looks).

A few years later Mohini mothered three male cubs B1, B2 and B3. In September 1996, Sita produced her fifth litter from Charger comprising one male and two females. Three months later Sita went missing, and Charger was left alone. Charger had no mate ever since.), another set of prolific females that raised around 25 cubs in multiple litters between them (with atleast 18 of them being fathered by B2 aka Sundar alone). With time Charger was growing old. He was hungry most of the time and survived through scavenging. He wandered in search of dead animals. His movements were restricted to a particular region of “Barua Nala”.

And now the new generation of Tigers: B1, B2 & B3 were claiming their dominance in the area. During this Charger could not restrict himself long in a limited territory and ventured into Rajbehra and had a conflict with B1 and both face injuries. On a fateful day in June 2000, Charger engaged in a conflict with strong B2 for territorial dominance. In this fierce battle B2 wrote the last deciding chapter of Charger’s grand saga.

A week later, Charger was found half dead, lying in a ditch close to Mardari village. To avoid any controversies and danger to villagers, the forest department tranquilized Charger, put him in a cage and transferred him to an enclosure at Chirhadhar, Magadhi Zone. The forest officials attended to his wounds and within a few weeks Charger’s health seemed to improve.

On 29th September, 2000 Charger breathed his last.
In his honor, his final resting place is named “Charger Point” in Magadhi zone.

Era Of B2

The massive territory of Charger fell into the hands of his sons, B1, B2 and B3. B1 (aka Raj) took control of Rajbhera area where he sired a litter with Kokila in August 2000.

B2 (aka Sundar) kept the lush Chakradhara area to himself while B3 (Bada Ladka) – the biggest of the three brothers dominated over B2 even from a young age, took control of hills beyond Chakradhara and parts of Mirchaini area. B3 mated with Reshma and gave birth to two litters in 2000 and 2002 before he was electrocuted by poachers and died in November 2003.

The entire territory again fell into the hands of B2. Unlike his father, B2 was at peace with human presence. The only thing he disliked the most was a motorcycle. B2 was challenged first by Challenger (his two-year-old own son) who was taking on Jhurjhura, Chorbehra and Mahaman areas. After Challenger’s mysterious death in 2003-04, a new male, Bokha (meaning broken tooth) ventured into these territories, and has remained one of the archnemesis of B2 and later of B2’s son, Bamera. For a major part of his life, and the decade, B2 seemingly had no other opponents.

By January 2010, Bamera (also known as Shashi), a massive male was trespassing into the territory of B2.

Bamera Journey

Bamera was born in December 2004 to B2 and Chakradhara female (aka Pyari) in her 4th litter. Age was catching up on B2, while Bamera was getting bolder and occupying much of B2’s territory.

B2 left the territory that he royally inherited from his father, and moved to Charwaha forest range,
He was seen in an incapacitated state on 19th November, 2011, and died due to a possible tranquilizer overdosage and/or old age.

Following the death of B2, Bamera amassed a huge territory for himself; like his father, he occupied much of the prime territory with the high seat of power at Chakradhara. The tougher challenges were ahead of Bamera. Jobhi (son of Bokha aka Shaki) reduced much of Bamera’s territory. In one of the fights with Jobhi, Bamera was injured in both his fore paws, while he blinded Jobhi in one eye.

By November 2015, Bamera had a bad limp and he was relocated to a zoo for treatment. He never recovered and died six months later. Bamera had been a fighter through-out and probably faced and fought more tigers than any other single tiger from Bandhavgarh. His rule was perhaps the shortest of the dominant males of Charger line, but he fought like a true warrior, even though he hated war.

Mr. X, The Unknown

Mr. X aka Bamera’s son was born in October 2011 to Kankati.He’s perhaps one of the few tigers from Bandhavgarh that has killed the mighty Gaur, but supplements his kills well with domestic cattle. He has had his fair share of fights with Mahaman male (born to Jobhi and Chote Mahaman female), whom he defeated and pushed him further into where he (Mahaman) rules now.

First, Mr. X wooed Solo, Kankati jr’s sister, to mate with him, and Solo gave birth to his cubs that eventually couldn’t survive (or were killed). Mr. X was left without a mate, but not for long when he decided to expand his territory, from Magadhi to Tala, thus coming in contact with Solo again. Solo, this time, having delivered 5 cubs (a rarity in wild) from Mangu, a dominant male from Tala was grievously injured by Mr. X. She was saved with the intervention of the forest department. Spotty’s cubs were killed by the Chakradhara male while Bamera’s son went back to his own territory in Magadhi, finding a mate in Dhamokhar female (sister of Kankati jr. and Solo, daughter of Rajbhera ii female).

With age on his side and perhaps with no other males to challenge, Mr. X (remember, Bheem is aging) could rule Bandhavgarh – both Tala and Magadhi for a long time and enthral the tourists just like his forefathers did and perhaps contributing to the tribe. And by early 2017, Mr. X defeated and exiled Mamu out from his erstwhile territory, thus bringing to fore, the rivalry to the third generation; one that existed between their grandfathers and then their fathers – probably the longest standing rivalry in the tiger world.