Charger – Overlord of the Brother’s Fort

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.

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 km^2. . 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… 

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.  

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 29^th 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).

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”