The face of Bandhavgarh
Nestled deep within the Vindhyan and the Satpura ranges is a fort on a hillock that is known to have existed since treta-yuga. Encompassing this hillock is an enchanting forest that is privy to an enigma. It is dotted with the largest sandstone-successions in the world where the relics of Cambrian explosion of life are buried in the sand’stones’ of time.
Bandho-garh or Bandhagarh means fort of the brother – a place built by Ram’s vanars (monkeys), commissioned by Ram for Lakshman to overlook Lanka. As per the Hindu puranas, the Hindu deity Rama ordained his brother Lakshman as the lord of the fort where Lakshman is still revered as Badhav-dheesh in the temple.
The justification and reasoning for killing carnivores has always existed since the time humans became hunter-gatherers. The Moghuls and Britishers killed the carnivores under the pretext of saving humans (from these fierce predators). Then, they started to kill them for sport and trophy.
When India became independent in 1947, the sport of shikaar opened for any affluent man in the entire world, not just the British nobles and Indian maharajas, as was previously. As per one advertisement that ran in the Government of India, tourism offices at New York, San Francisco, and Toronto; tiger - a sportsman’s greatest trophy. Officially, tigers were hunted unmethodically, and the business was booming.
The forests of Bandhavgarh have been the private hunting grounds of the Baghel rulers. In the late 1960s, after a negotiation with the Indian government, Maharaja of Rewa - Maharaja Martand Singh Deo Bahadur donated 105 sq. Km, which laid the foundations for Bandhavgarh National Park. Hunting reduced.
However, in 1968, the export of pelts and trophies was prohibited, legally. This created an uproar by the traders who had already received pre-orders for the pelts – which meant ‘many tigers and leopards not born yet, were destined to honour these commitments’, in the words of Mr. Kailash Shankala, the first director of Project Tiger (yet to be formed). In around 1969, Smt. Indira Gandhi, the then Prime Minister of India called for a ban on hunting tigers. But before the legislation could be passed, because it was the last time one could ever participate in a Shikar, more people rushed to India, and a greater number of tigers were hunted and killed in the year than an entire decade. In February 1971, the high court of Delhi passed a landmark judgement banning tiger hunting.
Meanwhile, by 1950s, another evil was taking birth. The South China tiger became functionally extinct. There are just 70 captive tigers all born from 6 wild tigers captured in 1950s. So, Indian tigers were poached indiscriminately from late 1970s (to meet the Chinese demand).
Bandhavgarh was not privy to this massacre. In 1982, three zones, namely, Khitauli, Magdhi and Kallawah were notified as a part of Bandhavgarh National Park, increasing its area from 105 sq. Km to 448 sq. Km.
Former Chief Wildlife warden of M.P., J.J. Dutta quipped “We walked through the park area for two days just before its formation (of the 448 sq. Km park). We did not come across a single animal.”
It seems that indiscriminate hunting and poaching had killed all the tigers in the 105 sq. Km area of the Tala, Bandhavgarh. In fact, the forest became devoid of trees and even bamboo clumps. There were only vast scathes of barren land. As per a 1968-69 census report, there was no mention of tiger (indicating that there were 0 tigers); while the leopard count stood at 4. After the addition of the new zones, the tiger numbers stood at more than 20 (incl. cubs) – even that seems disputable given that the unreliable pugmark method was used for tiger census.
The earliest reports of any tiger in Tala come from the patrolling staff and mahouts in the late 70s. One of the most prolific tigers and the cradle of tigers at Bandhavgarh, Sita was born in 1982, in a steep hillock with a cavern, now referred to as Sita Mandap. Apparently, she had taken over the territory of her mother.
Banka was the then ruler of the prime territory between Tala and Khitauli. Though both sired two litters, comprising Nar Bacha, Dao, Balram and Hardia female, the whereabouts of these cubs after they became subadults remained unknown.
It wasn’t until Charger, a fierce and territorial tiger, entered the scene who drove out the ageing Banka, that Sita and Charger became the founding tigers; Charger was so dominant that almost every bloodline has a connection to him and Sita.
By the end of Sita’s fertile reign and her mysterious disappearance, Charger was already 13-14 years old, but he mated with his own daughter Mohini to sire B1, B2 and B3 (the trio that carried the legacy of their dad-grandad) in 1997. Though a bone of contention whether Charger indeed sired with Mohini, there are two reasons which support the fact. Despite his old age (beyond prime), Charger was so dominant that there wasn’t any evidence of another male in his territory. Only B2 could drive away Charger after 3 full years. The second reason was that Charger was seen sharing or stealing the meal from the B1-B2-B3 cub trio, without harming the cubs.
Generally, tigers avoid incest – mating between immediate family members. Since inbreeding affects gene pool health, tigers have evolved a mechanism – male tigers disperse (to far off places) and female tigers remain philopatric. But every mechanism has its exceptions.
In the heart of Bandhavgarh, where the most dominant and strongest tigers rule, a few male tigers engage(d) in incest. Charger mated with his daughter Mohini. B2 probably mated with his own mother, Mohini siring her last litter of 3 cubs (which perished later), before she succumbed to injuries sustained in a vehicular collision. In fact, atleast 18 cubs of B2 were littered by Chakradhara female and Banvehi female, both from the last litter of Sita, making them sisters of Mohini, B2’s mother.
Even before charger, Banka, the dominant male seemed to have mated with Sita’s mother, to sire Sita.
Incest seems inevitable in an isolated (not connected) forest with a handful of founding tigers. There were 5 founding tigers of Tala-Bandhavgarh from which almost every tiger in the Bandhavgarh tiger reserve is born – Charger, Bokha, Bheem male tigers and Sita, Kokila female tigers.
Tiger-stripe pattern is much akin to human finger-print pattern. Both are unique with no exact match between any two individuals. Early pioneers of dermatoglyphics demonstrated that in humans, the overall size, shape and spacing of ridges and creases in the fingerprint, are inherited.
And not unsurprisingly, the overall size, shape and spacing of stripes of tigers are inherited. The arrangement of ridges of the fingerprint and the tiger-stripe pattern arise in what is defined as Turing pattern.
The stripes and the stripe-patterns could vaguely provide an idea of the parentage and lineage. For example, the stripe patterns of Bokha were thinner and longer (and not like the stripe patterns exhibited by Charger, Sita or any of their litter), from which we can decipher that Bokha wasn’t related to Charger or Sita. Similar pattern can be found in his son Jobhi and grandson Mahaman (Mamu) male.
The stripe pattern of Bheem is also different from that of Charger and Bokha, surmising that Bheem doesn’t belong to Charger or Bokha line.
The life of a tiger is so secretive that until and unless captured on camera, it is hard to determine the exact parentage. So, deductions, assumptions and hypotheses fill some gaps, though not 100 percent infallible.Z
Likely, the tigers in Bandhavgarh (especially those from Tala-Magadhi-Khitauli) trace their lineage to 5 tigers – Charger, Bokha, Bheem, Sita, and Kokila.
The density of dominant tigers is ever increasing with a considerable overlap. In the beginning, Banka and Charger were the rulers. Then started the reign of B1, B2, B3 and Bokha. It was followed by the likes of Jobhi, Bheem, Bamera. Then came Rancha male, Mr. X, Mahaman male, Chota Charger, Mangu etc. And now the newer generation of tigers such as Bajrang, Chota Bheem, Pujari, Chakradhara male, Banvehi male, A7, D1 have established territories.
The sizes of the territories have now shrunk, making it extremely difficult for new entrants. Every year, a lot of subadults go missing.
Dhamokar male was born in early 2021; despite the odds, managed to capture a territory and even has a mate – Raa female; and is perhaps one of the few tigers tracing its lineage to all the 5 founding tigers of Bandhavgarh.
In these isolated and mysterious forests of Bandhavgarh, male tigers try/search for a mate by the time they reach 3 years of age (though they are sexually immature). This has been observed since the time of B1, B2 and B3. Male tigers seem to establish territories first and then search for mates, even if they haven't reached sexual maturity.
And Dhamokar male at an age of around 3 years is upholding the legacy. It isn’t just any tiger, but the face of Bandhavgarh.
