A Kingdom of Legends
Banka, the overlord
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.
Her first and second litters were from the dominant male of the time, Banka (also referred to as Barkha), in 1986 and 1989, giving birth to three cubs each time. The most prolific of these two litters is the Hardia female, who went on to become the grand matriarch of Bandhavgarh. 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. It is possible that Sita is one of his cubs and he mated with Sita after she drove her mom out; tiger population was so low then that inbreeding should’ve been more common.
After ruling at the helm, Banka was challenged for the first time by a new male, who entered the park in the early 1990s.
Charger, the indomitable
The ageing 15-odd-year-old Banka became more aware of this intruder’s presence that he patrolled the territory more often than not. Little did he know that he would be overthrown by the notoriously aggressive 7-year-old tiger who came to be later known as Charger, for his attitude of charging at anything such as an elephant or a tourist vehicle.
A vicious battle ensued between Banka and Charger in the dark of a night, with roars echoing through the forest. On that particular night in the summer of 1991, Charger mauled Banka and left him for dead, fighting the old warrior with such onslaught that Banka bled and was tattered. The era of Charger and his descendants has arrived. Together, Sita and Charger would go onto rule for the greater part of the decade.
In 1991, Sita gave birth to 4 cubs. The males were known as Bada Bacha (big boy) and Langdu (Limper). Langdu was tolerated by Charger even at the former’s age of 4 years.
In March of 1994, Sita gave birth to two cubs, one of them dead during infancy while another went on to give birth to a prolific line of male tigers. This tigress Mohini or Bacchi as she was fondly called, gave birth to B1, B2, B3 male tigers in April 1997, fathered by Charger, her father. Certain accounts state that Charger isn’t the father; The cubs were born in Tala range, primarily controlled by Charger then. No other male would have dared to enter Charger’s territory and also Charger wouldn’t have tolerated these three tigers for two years. I recollect one story where the males B1, B2, B3 made a kill with Charger in the vicinity and Charger snatched the kill from them, with them standing down and not engaging Charger. Generally, intruding males are dealt with severely. I also believe that notorious bad temper of B2 (a generally calm tiger, most times), who hated and charged at motorcycles (and gypsys sometimes), seems to have been inherited from his father.
Mohini gave birth to two litters, later on. The second litter was from Charger and the third litter was from B2 (her own son). In March 2003, when her third litter of cubs were around 18 months old, Mohini succumbed to injuries inflicted in an accident by a vehicle plying through the highway that passes through the forest. The cubs seemed to have perished sooner.
Coming back to Sita’s story, in September of 1996, she gave birth to a litter of three cubs that died at a very young age, and she littered again in the same year, for the last time, to 1 male and 2 female cubs. The male went missing, and the females were then known as Banvehi (or Vanvehi, aka Reshma) and Chakradhara (aka Pyari, from the areas, they ruled), 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).
Monsoon of 1998 was the last time, anyone ever heard of Sita. In all probability she was poached or perhaps died of old age (at a ripe age of 16, a feat for a wild tiger), and Charger lost his long-standing mate once and forever.
Early 2000, Charger was challenged by a subadult B2 (aka Sundar), his own son. Regular fights with B2 left Charger injured and his age couldn’t handle B2’s growing might. Charger was exiled from the territory centred at Chakradhara, the throne of his territory, that he once fearlessly roamed and defended for more than a decade. Charger was driven away to Rajbhera meadows where he faced another son B1 (aka Raj) and was injured in the conflict. Charger perhaps was weakened by the cataract which impaired his hunting abilities and he was getting weak; else he would have still been potent enough to fight back his own sons. By June 2000, B2 ended the rule of charger who went missing, but was soon found by the department, in a starving and bruised condition in a ditch close to Mahaman / Mardari village. He was shifted to an enclosure where he breath his last on 29th September, 2000.
B2, the formidable
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. He was last seen in June 2002; most probably poached. 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 twi 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 initially avoided Bokha and B2, the males that were becoming dominant then, in Tala range then. Bamera was born in December 2004 to B2 and Chakradhara female (aka Pyari) in her 4th litter. The other cub, a female has been relocated to Panna. In February 2011, the challenge to B2’s long reign then came from Kalua (aka Kallu), B2’s son from the old Mirchaini (aka Tulsi) female. Kalua was too young to face B2 and was exiled by B2. Age was catching up on B2, while Bamera was getting bolder and occupying much of B2’s territory. Bamera delivered the final nail in the coffin around the monsoon of 2011. B2 left the territory that he royally inherited from his father, and moved to Charwaha forest range, 80 Kms away from his throne at Tala. He was seen in an incapacitated state on 19th November, 2011, and died due to a possible tranquilizer overdosage and/or old age.
Bamera, era of Tiger warfare
Thus, arrived the true reign of Bamera, in 2011. 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 rising male tiger population in Bandhavgarh, particularly in the rich Tala area ensured that Bamera was never at peace, particularly after early 2013. Bamera wished to avoid conflicts. He even watched his mate Lakshmi (aka Langdi aka Chorbehra tigress) mate with Bokha from a distance, and didn’t challenge Bokha at that instant. But he eventually fought tigers.
Bamera’s resistance to rule in his early years came from Mirchaini’s subadults at the time. His own son Pushparaj (from Waqeeta aka new Banvehi female) and one of Mirchani’s subadult cubs injured him (Bamera) from which he possibly never recovered fully. Rahasya (mystery male; some accounts say that he’s the son of Indrani, the Mahaman female and Jobhi) was also known to have fought aggressively with Bamera in Chakradhara area. Rahasya was later killed by Jobhi, in all probability.
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.
Around March, 2014, Bamera was ousted by his son, born to Banvehi, from the prime territory.
In October 2015, after park opened, Bheem aka Tarun encountered Bhagoda. Both of them were in a stand-off position before retreating but a few minutes later, a surprised Bamera who was passing through the area met Bheem. A dangerous fight ensued, in which Bamera bit Bheem in the shoulder, damaging his own canines in the process. Bheem turned out to be a nemesis for Bamera’s son, Mr. X as well.
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. The males he fought during his lifetime included Bokha aka Shaki, B2, Rahasya (Mystery male), Jobhi, Pushparaj (son of Bamera from Waqeeta), another son from Waqeeta, Blue Eyes (who later died due to a tranquilizer overdose, and perhaps destroyed by Jobhi/ Chota Charger) and even Mr. X (his own son aka Somanshu).
Mr. X, the unknown
Mr. X aka Bamera’s son was born in October 2011 to Kankati (aka Vijaya) and Bamera with two other females in the litter. In May 2013, one of the sisters was killed by an unknown male. He was seen till June with the other sister but was declared dead by the forest department in the following month. Though he was reportedly seen on and off in Hardia, Fort and Chakradhara areas.
He resurfaced after 3 years in early 2016. I saw him for the first time in March 2016, after we entered the park, late. He appeared huge for a 5-year-old male, primarily because he has been living off the cattle in the patches of grazing pastures and agricultural lands interspersed in his territory. He’s perhaps one of the few tigers from Bandhavgarh that has killed the mighty Gaur, but supplements his kills well with domestic cattle. The territories of Bandhavgarh remain porous and with human settlements and agricultural pastures immediately next to the core area, with chain-link fencing often separating the boundaries. Most tigers turn to cattle-lifting.
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. The only serious defeat was in the hands of Bheem, who vanquished his father too. Nevertheless, Mr. X’s territory was limited to the current Magadhi zone where he fathered Kankati jr’s (daughter of Rajbhera ii female aka Jaya) cubs. After the park opened in October 2017, Kankati jr was apparently poached, and that incident set a chain of events rolling.
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.
Bamera's son had a tussle with Mangu too, and drove Mangu out of his territory, and then seemed to be making inroads to conquer his home range.
With Mangu driven out, and no other prime male in the heart of Tala, Mr. X just opened the avenues for an imminent threat to females such as Banvehi, Solo and Spotty who were at a risk of losing their cubs. The threat loomed from other males as well, such as new Chakradhara female's (T-44) son from previous litter and Banvehi's son from previous litter. 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.
Disclaimer – A lot of information has been collected from various sources, accounts and personal stories. There always is room for discrepancy; please help me correct, if any.