Bandhabgrah, a legendry mythological domain with devout
story engraved into it’s heart. As the legend goes, it derived it’s name
“Bandhabgarh – Meaning Brother’s fort”
for it was a gift from Lord Ram to young brother Lakshman to acts as a sentinel
from the invading Sri Lankan demons. It’s been the canvas of different vibrant
eras ruled by the Gods, Maharajas and now the Tigers. As I tell you this story,
we will slip back in time and find ourselves among the ages when Gods overtook
Gods, Maharajas overturned kingdoms and Majestic Tigers reclaimed the ancient
territories.
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| Bandhabgarh Fort |
Prior to being a National park, Bandhabgarh was the
private game reserve of the Maharaja of Rewa. The kings and noble men used to
hunt animals from the elephant back. Tiger was always a prized game. Hundreds
of tigers were killed during the late nineteenth and early twentieth
century. The elusive beasts were almost
killed to the verge of disappearance. But it all changed. Bandhavgarh
was declared a national
park in 1968, with an area of 105 km2. The
buffer zone covers the forest divisions of Umaria
and Katni and totals 820 km2.
. Conservation efforts paid off and it is now considered the national
park with highest density of tigers.
Bandhabgarh’s landscape was and is
always dominated by fierce kings. The story of “Charger” adorns as a jewel in the royal history of the fort kingdom. My
heart pounds and pulse race frantically as I put down this story because the valor
of this Tiger and his tale is beyond words. But I regret that in my lifetime I
couldn’t get to lay my eyes upon him… Charger.
Crowning of the King:
Charkadhara region in Tala range of Bandhavgarh National Park was
a richly diverse area with prominent hillocks. During 1991, it was ruled by a
very masculine dominant male, “Banka”. Banka
in
local language means “the handsome one”, true to his name he was. On the
particular dusk of summer in 1991, Banka was patrolling his territory with
deep throated calling of “aaungh- aaungh”,
displaying his might. While Banka was prowling along the Aama Nala road, 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. His ears picked up the sound of fast approaching
footsteps. Whatever it was, was now heading straight towards him churning the
dry leaves scattered on the ground. Occasional short hideous growls followed
the footsteps. He instinctively knew that he has a challenger now. The resident
tiger (Banka)
accepted the challenge replying vent to a full throated roar. The roar was
answered by quickened movement of the oncoming stranger. The stranger’s walk
turned into a jog, and finally into a full intensity gallop…
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| Battle for the Territory |
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 collision sent both
rolling down the ground. 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. The roar of the battling tigers sent tremors through the forest. The echo
was to be heard by every creature in the far vicinity and for a moment it felt
like the war driven days of maharajas has come back to life in Bandhabgarh.
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.
Bleeding profusely Banka left the battlefield and tottered away from the
onslaught. A final heart rendering roar from the young male announced the
crowning of a new king of Tala zone.
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| Charger- Charging at theVehicle |
The next early morning sunrays brought in a new day.
The safari jeeps lined up at the Tala gate to have their first sightings. The first
jeep to enter the park carrying a party of jungle-trackers was driven by Rajan.
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. They had
unknowingly come very near to the new tiger following overnight pugmarks of
Banka. The furious tiger raised his head and intently stiffened his body as a
posture of uncomfortable aggression. He swiftly prepared himself for a charge. He
growled and scratched the earth with his claws in anger clearly hinting them to
stay away. 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.
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| Charger walking past the Safari elephant |
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.
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| Charger |
Thus, the Legendary Tiger came to be known by the name
of “Charger”- The aggressive one.
Biography:
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. He was in his prime even during his last days. His
ferocity made him an International Legend and even today years after his
passing his story drifts along the folklore of park rangers and wildlife
enthusiasts.
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| The Legendary Couple - Charger with Sita |
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. This shook Sita
down to the core. 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.
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| Charger, wounded after his battle with B1 |
During 1995-1998 he had a few feuds with other male
tigers but none dared to match his caliber. He ruled his territory with utmost
dominance. 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. Charger had to
retreat.
Decline of the Charger’s reign:
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.
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| Charger in his enclosure in Magadhi Zone |
True to his name, he did not like being enclosed and
used to charge at the fence very often. He used to prowl through in the
enclosure as though he was patrolling his territory. Teeth blazing, he used to
roar and growl at anyone who came near his fence. He was like an imprisoned
king, who never let go of his pride, valor and royalty.
His spirit was never grounded but his old body had
given away to the test of time.
On 29th September, 2000 Charger breathed his last. He neither cringed
nor whimpered during his last moments. He lived like a king with all his glory
and accepted death with open arms as a warrior would do.
In his honor, his final resting place is named "Charger Point" in Magadhi zone (Gate no. 2).
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| Resting place of the Legendary Charger - Charger Point |
He engraved his legacy in golden letters on the
history of Indian wildlife. Made internationally famous by his nature, he paved
way for a better future for Bandhabgarh’s tigers.
His pugmarks might have faded away on the sands of
time but for every soul that ever heard of him, he will always be… “Charger –
The Overlord of Bandhabgarh”
