The Emperor of Pench.
The tiger stories of Pench revolve around a handful of tigers and it is impertinent to not talk about the history of tigers from Pench.
The great matriarch of Pench was Badi Maa (or the elderly mother) who with the Charger of Pench, gave Pench the legendary tigers – Kalapahad (the highest peak of Pench MP) male from first litter (1999) and BaghinNala and Collarwali from second litter (2005).
Kalapahad male was also known as Charger because of his aggression towards tourist vehicles and elephants. He went on to become the father of the third litter of Badi Maa, his own mother (2008). Kalapahad was later challenged and outcast by a tiger of unknown ancestry (and probably from the Maharastra side of Pench) that goes by the name BMW, who went on to father the subsequent litters of Badi Maa (2010 and 2012).
The Kalapahad male (also known as T2, and collared later) mated with Collarwali (his sister from previous litter) in May 2008. The cubs soon died of pneumonia not withstanding the harsh monsoons. She littered again in October 2008. At this time, a new male from Raiyyakassa area (and hence his name), was expanding his territory and proving to be an imminent danger for Collarwali’s cubs.
Collarwali (T-15) wasn’t seen for many days, leaving the very young cubs to fend for themselves. It was then noted that she was distracting the new male, Raiyyakassa (T-30) and saving her cubs; something that her mother too did, to save her cubs (sired by Kalapahad male).
Collarwali then went on to give birth to subsequent litters from the doting father, Raiyyakassa male, who is the emperor of Pench now.
Raiyyakassa’s origins were unknown too, and he too was shy of the tourists and charged at them (though he mellowed with age). He ousted the prime male, Kalapahad, and has been a long time rival of BMW. He pushed BMW to the corner of the park, and enjoyed the vast expanses of Pench for his own self.
As of today, another big tiger known as Tarzan has just scratched the edges of Raiyyakassa’s territory. Raiyyakassa who owns the biggest territory of any tiger from Pench MP, and has many females including Collarwali, Langdi (Badi Maa’s another litter) and other tigresses, is the undisputed emperor of Pench.