A Kingdom on Ruins
Most Tiger Kingdoms are built from ruins. Indiscriminate hunting, poaching and clearing of forests have almost extirpated the tiger populations in India. However, with certain stricter policies and measures such as project Tiger, the Tigers proved that they are resilient and their numbers bounced back.
Ranthambore is flanked by Aravallis, the oldest fold-mountains of the world. It is estimated that Aravallis are formed during the Proterozoic era. According to the snowball hypothesis, the Earth’s surface was frozen 700 million years ago. Around the same time, a massive Malani volcanic eruption and thus the flow of lava in what is known as Malani Event is said to have liberated Earth from the ice sheets, and may be one of the earliest events that led to the creation of multicellular life.
However, millions of years since the formation, the Aravallis have eroded due to constant weathering and through seismic, oceanic and volcanic activities. The rich minerals and rock deposits (such as Granite in the Bundelkand Craton) has led to indiscriminate – both legal and illegal mining, deforestation and thus the destruction of the ecosystems.
Illegal mining has been unbridled in Ranthambore Critical Tiger Habitat (CTH) and Tiger Corridors such as Ramgarh Vishdhari Sanctuary, and parts of Sawai Mansingh Sanctuary. This apart from the rampant poaching in Ranthambore has almost wiped the tigers off the isolated North-Western cluster. At one point of time, there were supposedly only 15 tigers.
This story is just not about the tigers, but how the effects of human-dominated and human-active landscapes are pushing tigers into a human-tiger conflict boundary.
It is on these ruins that one of the most prolific tigresses of Ranthambore, the Balas female (T-8) was born, in 2004, when there were less than 25 tigers in Ranthambore. She is more commonly known as Laadli (T-8), so named because of her mother’s (old Kachida tigress) deep affection towards her.
Born in Kachida valley, Laadli (T-8) was one of the three litter cubs born to X-male aka Big Daddy (T-2) and Kachida female (T-5); the other two being Romeo (T-6) and T-7.
The King of Sariska
In mid-2010, a few kilometres away from Kachida, where he was born, T-7 ventured to the fringes of the park, near a village called Bhoori Pahari. As is the case with most tigers venturing out of the parks, even to this day, a huge gathering stressed the animal. While a rescue team comprising of the then ranger, Daulat Singh Shaktawat was attacked by the panicked tiger, that mauled his face, leaving him blinded in one eye. The tiger T-7 then moved out of the park, escaping the startled rescue teams and the villagers to Mathura and finally settling in Keoladev National Park in Bharatpur. The tiger was subsequently tranquilized and moved to Sariska Tiger Reserve in March, 2011, in a bid to repopulate the tiger reserve that was emptied off its tigers through poaching.
T-7 became the dominant tiger in Sariska where he was codenamed ST-6. In Sariska, the dominant tiger ST-1 (known as T-10 in Ranthambore) was supposedly poisoned in November, 2010 which led to the rise of ST-4 (T-12 or Guda male in Ranthambore) that was translocated to the park in July 2010. Guda male was one of the dominant tigers in Ranthambore before his translocation. He sired Noor (T-39) from old Sultanpur female (T-13); and the vacant territory of Guda male was taken over by Ustad (T-24).
ST-6 and ST-4 both remained arch-nemeses for life, both controlling the entire territory of Sariska. ST-6 incapacitated ST-4 in December 2018; ST-4 succumbed to injuries soon. The famed story of the king of Sariska that started from ruins of Kachida (as T-7) almost came to ruins as he aged graciously, and with ST-13 and ST-15 claiming stake in the erstwhile territories of ST-4 and ST-6.
The second of the litter, T-6 aka Romeo (who was known to share a commensal relationship with his father, X-male), also named so cos of his romantic tryst with his mate, Laila (T-41), later settled and controlled Adi Dagar, Semli, Bakola and Lakarda areas where he mated with Laila. The two tigers remained mates for around 4 years, though nothing much is known about their litters other than T-76, a female, that later moved out of the park. Romeo aka Semli male (since he ruled that area) then faced constant trouble from Dollar (T-25) and his sons Teddy Bear (T-74) and W-male (T-75), with whom he was constantly engaging in territorial fights around 2014, and even with Star male (T-28) and his son Akash (T-64). As the population of tigers grew with time, the territorial conflicts increased and most of these tigers had overlapping territories.
Due to the pressure from the younger tigers, Romeo had to forgo the prime territory and subsequently moved to Chiroli area. Laila later mated with Akash (T-64) and gave birth to Blue-eyed male (T-104). Much like T-76, T-104 also didn’t leave the mother, even into the subadulthood stage. T-104 later became a nomad and roamed the entire park with no territory of his own, and was accused of killing three people. He was caught and moved to an enclosure in the end of 2019.
The Laadli saga
After separating from her mother, Kachida female (T-5), in around 2007 Laadli (T-8) took control of Balas, Kundal, Jamoda, and Chid-kho areas.
Her territory was huge, but the landscape was human dominated. Her territory lies close to the Chambal river and Madhya Pradesh border. The Chambal river, the most pristine river water system in India runs through enormous and deadly ravines (called the behaad) that stretch through the river’s flow like a disagreeable enigma.
While natural habitat itself presents with ravenous perils, the heavily exploited and mined rocks, soil excavations, presence of head-hunters (most communities are now undergoing a reformative phase) and poachers, and the encroached and fragmented forest posed a potential danger to these tigers.
It is also supposed that Laadli is the first of the tigers to populate this area in more than 20 years. The absence of an apex predator like a tiger leads to the disintegration and degradation of forests. Humans encroach the lands, cultivate them, convert them to grazing pastures and quarries. Also due to the absence of the apex predator, there will be a continual reproduction and explosion of ungulate population such as that of Blue Bull or Sambhar deer which leads to overgrazing of forest and grass lands; this eventually leads to the eviction of ungulates over a period of time.
Laadli’s territory had a poor prey base then, but she hunted Jackals and even cattle. She found an able mate later in Kumbha (T-34), and the saga of the tigers of Kundal-Balas started; a journey of more than 8 years, where this pair spawned some of the most impressive tigers.
Kumbha (T-34) hailed from the Machli’s bloodline; his father, Jhumroo (T-20) was the son of Machli (T-16) and one of the biggest tigers of Ranthambore – one of the factors that affect the size of a tiger is genes, which has been passed on from Jhumroo to Kumbha and subsequently, Kumbha’s sons. (Aquarius is the water bearer and Kumbha is the Sanskrit for Aquarius. Ironically, Aquarius is an air sign).
Kumbha remained the undisputed king as long as he was with Laadli. A change in his love interest led to an unforeseen outcome, in 2019.
Laadli gave birth to a first litter in 2011; two cubs were born. They were called junior Laadli and Laadla. The female Junior Laadli (T-61) later captured parts of her mother’s territory – Jamoda and Balas. She gave birth to two males, an unnumbered one (which is a nomad and has even entered Oberoi staff colony in March 2017 and sighted near Nahargarh hotel in February 2018) and Toofan (T-95), after mating with the dominant tiger of that area, Rocky (T-58).
The male Laadla aka Bheema (T-62) tried to settle in Jailkho, Khatola Kho,Pretdeh, Sakari, further towards the Chambal river but the presence of two male huge resident and dominant tigers (who were also brothers) Fateh (T-42) and Surjan (T-43) pushed him to Ramgarh Vishdhari Sanctuary and Bundi, southwest of Ranthambore. But he returned soon in mid-2014 even ousting the very mighty Fateh (T-42) the very tiger who pushed him out of the territory, and his reduced Fateh’s dominance to Aantri range.
Bheema (T-62) found a mate in T-59, the resident tigress of Phalodi range and was previously courted by Fateh. T-59 was born to the Indala Tigress (T-31) and Bhola (T-23) who is the brother of Kumbha (T-34). T-59’s sister, T-60 is a resident tigress of Gandhra Deh and Lahpur Valley with her mate Aurangzeb aka Singhsth aka Shiva (owing to a trishul mark on his cheek) aka T-57. Two cubs were born to Bheema and T-59 in late 2017.
Laadli gave birth to a second litter in November 2013, but this litter died too early.
Laadli then gave birth to a third litter in March 2014. The cubs grew up at the Chidikho area and were christened T-86 and T-87. T-87 died sooner, perhaps killed by Rocky (T-58). The lone cub T-86 christened Chirico (as he hailed from the Chidikho area) moved to RajBagh, Padam Talao and surrounding areas.
In early 2017, the aging Star (T-28) was dethroned by a young turk, Alphonso aka Cowboy aka Mirza (T-91), son of Husn-ara (T-30) and Bahadur (T-3) from Machli’s (T-16) earliest litter. With the absence of Star (T-28) who ruled the coveted real estate of Ranthambore – Rajbagh, Padam Talao, Malik Talao till Adi Dagar and surrounding areas for a decade.
The throne, literally, at the hunting mahal facing the Rajbagh lake reigned by the Emperor Star lay vacant. Five tigers had their eyes on this throne. Mirza (T-91) who ousted Star, Star’s son Pacman (T-85) from Krishna’s second litter, Chirico (T-86), Aurangzeb (T-57) and Toofan (T-95).
Mirza not only deported Star but also ousted Pacman to Khandar area (where he seemingly died in a territorial fight in January 2019). Mirza then mated with Arrowhead (T-84), daughter of Krishna (T-19) and Star. Arrowhead then mated with the other king, Aurangzeb (T-57). But Aurangzeb hadn’t shown much interest in the throne of Rajbagh. And this paved the way for Chirico’s ascent.
In mid-2017, the nail in the coffin was driven by Chirico (T-86), a seemingly shy and aggressive tiger, from the third litter of Laadli. He first drove Mirza out of the territory to claim the throne at Rajbagh. He then mated with Arrowhead and she littered for the first time. However, the first litter was short lived as they were supposedly killed by Toofan (T-95), the grandson of Laadli.
In an ensuing battle, Chirico ousted Toofan from the territory. Arrowhead then delivered the second litter of Chirico; the two females have grown to subadulthood stage and will pose a threat to the mother, sooner or later. Meanwhile, Chirico, young and yet to reach his prime continues to rule and defend the coveted throne of Rajbagh with no other challenger in the near horizon.
In late 2016, Laadli gave birth to a fourth litter of three cubs, this time in Kundal. Two males known as Jai (T-108) and Veeru (T-109) and a female that died much early. Much like her earlier litters, the cubs generally looked impoverished for their age till they reached 15-18 months. But as they hunted on their own while still dependant on the mother’s kills, the cubs became healthier and stronger, with an added heftiness.
Jai and Veeru were named so (for their inseparable nature), after the characters from the Indian film Sholay, which ironically was about dacoits of Chambal. As common with brothers who indulge in playful fights as they age, Jai and Veeru never fought with one another and always looked over the other’s shoulder.
As they entered subadulthood, they still stayed together, sometimes venturing close to father’s (Kumbha) resting place.
Kumbha (T-34), one of the biggest tigers of Ranthambore and has probably mated with no other tigress than Laadli for many years, till recently when he found a new love-interest, which was the start of his downfall.
Noor (T-39), considered one of the most beautiful tigresses made inroads into Kumbha’s territory after her territorial fights with her daughters, Noorie (T-105) and Sultana (T-107) who took over her territory. The ageing Noor was a cynosure of eyes for all her mates – Ustad (T-24), her first mate was relocated to and enclosure in Sajjangarh, on account of man-eating charges; Aurangzeb (T-57), her second mate who even raised the cubs of Ustad (Kalua T-88 and Dholya T89) as his own, for he was so much in love with her.
Ravished by her beauty, Kumbha followed her and mated with her in the summer of 2019. Tigers mate for a period of 4-5 days, during which they generally don’t hunt (particularly the males, cos’ they don’t want to forgo the females). Aurangzeb (T-57) must have kept a close eye on Kumbha’s interest that he confronted Kumbha after the mating period, as he came hunting for Kumbha. Kumbha, though a seasoned warrior wasn’t in the best of his condition, and he was grievously injured (With the intervention of the forest department, Kumbha was treated). Life of the King never was the same again.
With Kumbha not patrolling his territory in a while and crippled, his two sons, Jai and Veeru have started patrolling Kumbha's territory like never before. Rocky (T-58) was making inroads into Kundal area and in the conspicuous absence of Kumbha, he mated with Laadli. Kumbha was forced into exile, and he seemingly found a new mate in T-99 (daughter of T-60 and Aurangzeb) and is now living off the boundaries of Aantri and Kundal ranges. Ironically, T-99 mated earlier with Fateh, but didn’t bear any cubs.
Meanwhile, Jai and Veeru both made inroads to Aantri range, where Veeru met with an aging but stiff opponent Fateh. Fateh mauled Veeru who later succumbed to injuries in October 2019. Jai (T-108) seems to have settled in Zone 10, with T-114, Daughter of Fateh from Sultanpur female (T-13, Noor’s mother). If Jai were to avoid any confrontation with Fateh in the nearest future, he could become the new king of Aantri range. If history were to repeat; just the way one male from each litter of Laadli has become the undisputed king of an entire zone/range.
Laadli then gave birth to a fifth litter of three cubs in the monsoon of 2019, fathered by Rocky (T-58), for a fifth time. It is a very uncommon scenario for a tigress to give birth for the fifth time, in Ranthambore landscape. Certain studies point to the heavy stress levels due to anthropogenic activity in this forest surrounded by a matrix of villages, agricultural fields, illegal mines, quarries, and grazing pastures.
Like most zones of Ranthambore, human disturbance is generally high in Laadli’s domain, particularly during local festivals, when tens of thousands of pilgrims walk on feet, through the prime territory of Laadli, to Soleshwar Mahadev temple located on a hillock in the Kundal range; and this is a common feature throughout the year.
In the remarkable and picturesque blend of dense tropical dry forest, open bushland and rocky terrain, plateaus, meadows and narrow gorges, interspersed with shallow perennial lakes and streams, Laadli, the queen of Balas and Kundal still rules undisputed, and has literally built her kingdom on the ruins; where no tigress had dared to go.
