Leaving the buzz of New Delhi amidst the school and the office
traffic is an unique challenge in itself. All the roads leading out of
Delhi suck time and make the vehicles guzzle fuel. Traffic is dense and
there are no pardons. We could leave Delhi behind after almost 90
minutes of veering through the traffic lines. The first relief came
after crossing Manesar and the skies poured. Visibility was reduced to a
haze and the Green Duster enjoyed the rain to the hilt. The cabin
inside was chilled, Laid Back Classics played seamlessly from Amazon
Music and the 4x4 cruised along taking all the challenges of the road. A
breakfast stop at Basant Dhaba was refreshing and then I pressed on the
pedal to race along with a Toyota Fortuner and Nissan Kicks. The Green
Renault Duster rose to the call and my rear view kept seeing both trying
to overtake each other.
We left Jaipur City on our right and
then cut onto Tonk Highway. The road is a Driver’s delight with
virtually no trucks and or much vehicular traffic. The only challenge is
cattle on the road as they are still grappling with human activity
cutting across their zone. Be careful and look far ahead. The zoom from
Tonk to Sawai Madhopur is again delightful but for the cattle on the
road. The Dhoti clad villagers will amuse the city folks- it is a no
trouser village zone! Sawai Madhopur has one of the cleanest Railway
Stations of India and its first railway line brought it closer to Jaipur
when the Jaipur Royals got the control of Ranthambore Fort. The pink
hunting lodge of Jaipur Royals is now a Forest Guest House and right
behind it stands the 2nd oldest banyan tree of India. Surrounded by
rough edged mountains and deciduous jungle, the region boasts of Mango
Trees too! How did the Mangoes get in to this region whose main
vegetation is thorny Keekar? Let us dive into the history of
Ranthambore.
Allaudin Khilji saw the rout of his Army at the hands
of brave King Hammir Dev in 1301 AD. The King and his Army marauded
through the rank and files of Allaudin’s Army and the battle was won.
Hammir looked back towards his formidable Ranthambore Fort perched at
481 Metre above the Mean Sea Level. His eyes were filled with anger when
he saw the Black Flag flying at the Fort. He could not clean up the
shattered Mughal Army as he had to scale back his Fort. The Black Flag
gave the doomsday signal to Hammir’s Queens. He knew that the sacred
fire of Joauhar would have been lit seeing the Black Flag’s flutter.
Seething in both anger and pain, King Hammir pushed his horse Badal to
cut through the thick vegetation. Badal galloped and lunged across
mountain tracks. It reached the main gate but the King had no time at
his hand.
King Hammir Dev prayed hard in his mind and the folk
lore says that the steep mountain wall turned into a wax wall. Badal
climbed the wax wall leaving 2 horse shoe marks (visible till date),
took a giant leap and jumped right inside the Fort!
The Royal
Bengal Tigress Machli (or Machali) was born to Tigress Machli-1. Both
the mother and daughter had an unmistakable Fish symbol on their
foreheads. Machli-1 forefeited her empire to Machli who went on to
convert Ranthambore into a Tiger watchers delight. Raising her clan to a
75 strong today, Machli faded away at the age of 19 years in 2016. Her
moments with the humans and wild population were unique. She would walk
quietly even as shutters clicked ferociously capturing her moments. She
would be lying quietly basking in the Sun as tourists would try to
control their adrenaline. Rantahmbore of today is a multimillion dollar
industry as humans hungry for jungle King moments flock the hotel
properties in and around the Ranthambore National Park.
Ranthambore
takes its unique name from Ran (Mountain), Tham (Valley) and Bhor
(Water Body). It is in this geography that both King Hammir and Tigress
Machli created a unique historical blend.
Machli fought a major
battle with a 14 Foot long Crocodile- captured in the camera. She lunged
at the water beast and did not let him go from her clutches till the
life was sucked out of its wind pipe. She lost her two canines in this
battle and also an eye but she made sure that her litter survived. The
progeny grew under her watchful eyes and is spread across 350 square
kilometres of this amazing National Park. Machli gave way to her
daughter Sundari and walked into a painful old age. She was accorded a
Life Time Award by BBC and became the most photographed Royal Bengal
Tigress.
King Hammir and Badal landed right inside the Fort and
saw that the fire had touched the sky. The entire 13000 Queens clan had
jumped into the fire to save them from the victorious enemy (wrongly
reported). The King’s unmarried daughter had jumped into a pond inside
the Fort and drowned! He was distraught and was told that it was one of
his Minister Ranmal who had raised the Black Flag. It was the duty of
Ranmal to raise the victory flag of Saffron Color but he had done
exactly the opposite thus saving the enemy army from a complete rout- he
had a bargain with them for this act! Hammir Dev was crestfallen,
distraught and angry. He mounted Badal and rushed to find Ranmal whom he
caught at the last Gate of the Fort. With one stroke he had removed his
neck and it was kept at the Gate to remind generations about his
treachery. The replica of neck in a stone format remains even today and
is stoned by people who cross the gate. Treachery never gives
sustainable results and Ranmal epitomizes the prophecy. He wanted to be
the King and sided with the enemy.
The Mughal Army regrouped and
laid a 07 month siege around the formidable ramparts of the Fort. The
gates of the Fort with their iron nails still stand testimony to their
strength. The gates would not let the elephants move ahead as these
thick iron nails would bleed them. King Hammir was a man of his words
and never let down someone who had sought refuge under him. It was
Mohammad Shah (who was Allaudin’s General and had betrayed the faith of
his King) who had sought refuge under Hammir. Allaudin wanted Mohammad
Shah and King Hammir stood true to his words. The Mughal Army had
carried mangoes in its food stock and the thrown mango seeds led to the
mango trees growing into the jungles surrounding the Fort.
The
Fort ran into a famine like situation as the siege progressed for 07
months and till one day Hammir came charging out of the Fort for that
one last battle. Their families long dead, the King of Ranthambore led a
dispersed attack. He was extremely brave and courageous in his approach
but somewhere his heart was broken by the sequence of his life. The two
armies fought but soon the King was outplayed and outnumbered. He had
no support from outside Kings as he had made no friends with them in his
13 year of rule and some of his important Generals also lost their plot
in the battle- they too sided with the enemy. The folk lore reveals
that he cut his own neck and presented it to Lord Shiva- his God.
Allaudin Khilji entered the Fort but it had nothing left inside other
than the bricks and remains of its grandeur. He did not give Hammir’s
Generals their due and removed their necks for not being true to their
own King! What an irony of fate as even they did not learn from Ranmal.
Both
Hammir and Machli lived within miles of each other in different times
but lived by their own principles. They would put their lives at great
risk to maintain their respective honor.
Today, the Ranthambore
Fort is also famous for its 3 eyed Ganesha Temple. As we walk toward the
temple, we cross small stone houses built by devotees seeking the
blessings to build their own houses. The wind blowing at the Fort is
refreshing and the lungs gasp to grab the clean oxygen. The clouds
occasionally poured to give the clean water that splashed into the face
even the wind dried it away. The sight of lush green jungle all around
gives the confidence that the oxygen factory is still working and the
concrete is only within the mountains with no heat generating machines.
Climate change is still a little away from these zones. The
infrastructure leading to various tourist spots needs to be done up and
keep Ranthambore an economic paradise for its population.
Our
guide Manish was from a nearby village and reminisced his life of
venturing into the jungles with his cattle. Spending nights in the
jungles with cattle’s is the best thing as per him. I could only imagine
the lit up sky as I rested my neck on a stone in Manish’s description.
Wrapped in a woolen blanket which does not permeate water, the jungle
wind caresses my head and I fall asleep surrounded with the pleasant
sounds of the jungle and the cattle bells. He speaks fluent English
without any accent and this truly is an example of Skilled Indian- no
one has taught him but his brush with the tourists. He runs a safari
tour booking service, helps tourists understand about Ranthambore Fort
and also manages his cattle. He continues with his education and is now
enrolled into his MA. He laughs when I ask him where is his stone home
near the Ganesha Temple. He rings the bell of the Temple and says that
he is happy in his village home right inside the jungle territory. It
has its stones. He plans a smaller family even as his bride is finishing
her Bachelor studies from her mother’s home. He has a dream for him and
her.
Rantahmbore is a dream igniter. Mother Nature has blessed
its territory. We could be part of some moments of its existence since
944 AD!
The Jungle Safari will be done soon and I hope that some
progeny of Machli would be magnanimous to let us a watch a glimpse of
their lives.
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