The Bandhavgarh Fort
The Bandhavgarh Fort resides amidst the scenic Vindhya mountain ranges in the Bandhavgarh National Park in the District of Umaria of the state Madhya Pradesh. The Bandhavgarh Fort has its mention in the prominent Hindu Mythology “The Shiv Purana”.
It is believed by the local folks that this prominent hillock was gifted by Lord Rama to his younger Brother or the “bandhav” to keep watch on the Ravana’s Lanka. Hence the name of the fort is derived as Bandhavgarh.
Apart from the mythology, the Bandhavgarh fort is believed to be the business centre for traders travelling fro Kaushambi to Bharat. A lot of sculptures and coins were found during the archaeological surveys near the fort and adjoining villages that support the fact of the Bandhavgarh Fort to be a business center.
The Baghel Dynasty
The first ruler of the Baghel Dynasty was the Maharaja Vyaghradev. He was saved by the blessings of Goddess Durga who was also referred as the Vyaghradevi, hence the name of her tiger was attached to the first rulers of the Baghel King, Maharaj Vyaghrasingh Deo Baghel and henceforth his dynasty was called as the Baghel Dynasty.
It was found, that Maharaj Vyaghradev entered the Vindhya Mountain ranges in the year 1234. He decided to stay in chitrakoot. The beauty of this amazing region made him decide to expand his kingdom to the Vindhya Region.
The baghel dynasty then took over the Bandhavgarh Fort made it their center of their various operations. The Fort has seen the mighty rise and the downfall of the baghel dynasty. Due to the weakness in the baghel forces. During the reigns of the 19th King of The Baghel Dynasty, Maharaja Ramchandra Deo faced a confrontation with mighty Akbar’s army. During the war of 1641, Akbar took over Gahora, which was the capital of the Baghels. It was then, the baghels shifted their capital to Bandhavgarh.
Heritage Inside The Park
During the period of 1654-1681, the baghel dynasty was the most vulnerable and wek since Maharaja Veer Bhadra has died. Both of the sons of Veer Bhadra were young and immature, which led the control of the Bandhavgarh and overall of the baghel dynasty in the hands of Akbar. Akbar assigned Patradas as the Governor of Bandhavgarh.
The Baghel leadership managed to negotiate with Akbar and Maharaja Vikramditya Singh Deo Baghel was appointed as the leader of the Bandhavgarh. During his reign he came across the unfinished half-built fort of Rewa. He ordered to reconstruct the fort of Rewa and from then the capital of the Baghel Dynasty was shifted from Bandhavgarh fort to Rewa.
Once the kingdom was shifted the forests took over the fort deep in its heart and the reigns were established by the king of the forests, The Tigers.
Although the dynasty left the Bandhavgarh Fort, the national park still has a lot of heritage and ancient sculptures left within. One such noticeable place is the Shesh Shaiya Vishnu, which is a huge stone carved sculpture of Lord Vishnu sleeping by a small Jal Kund besides it.
Bandhavgarh National Park: A game reserve turned tiger haven
The Bandhavgarh National Park as we see today was totally different in the ancient period. The pristine forests surrounding the fort and the Vanganga river flowing through the Vindhyan Hills made it a prime habitat for the Royal Bengal Tiger.
The forests had a flourishing population of Tigers. A tiger being top predator in the jungle meant the forest is flourishing with abundance in other wildlife. This made the fort susceptible to the famous shikar sport of the royal dynasties. Tiger Hunting was the sport honed by the rulers of baghels and their guests.
The first white tiger named Mohan was shot during a hunting expedition by one of the baghel descendant’s in the national park. The taxidermized head of the famous white tiger can still be found.
The pristine forest caught attention of the Indian Government post freedom. The reserve forest was granted the national park status in the year of 1968. After the constitution of The Project Tiger & the wildlife protection act in 1972, several measures have been taken to protect the endangered tiger. Fast forward to 2020, Bandhavgarh is a safe haven to 125 tigers.
Flora & Fauna at Bandhavgarh National Park
The Bandhavgarh National park currently constitutes of 450 Square Kilometers of core zone with an additional 695 Square Kilometers of surrounding buffer forest. The three main zones of the Bandhavgarh National Park are Tala, Magdhi & Khitauli.
The beautiful & scenic forest is spread through the valleys of the Vindhya Mountain Range. The park boasts a moist deciduous forest. Sal trees are found in abundance in the valleys meshed with long grasslands. Other Trees found in the park are the Saja, Salai, Dhonim etc. Dense bamboo thickets are also seen at various places in the park.
The royal Bengal tiger being the apex predator, the park has a good population of leopards.
Herbivores such as sambhar deer, spotted deer, blue bull, barking deer. The park also has an excellent population of Jackals, striped hyenas and the caracal.
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The park has recorded over 250 different bird species. A few to name amongst them would be the flameback woodpeckers, green bee eaters, white throated kingfishers, Wooly Neck Storks, Lesser Adjutant Stork, Jungle fowls etc.
The park is also home to the endangered Indian Vulture which are often seen hovering in the park in the morning safari drives. Apart from that around 80 species of butterflies and numerous species of reptiles also reside inside the park.
Reins of The Royals: Sita & Charger
In the beginning of the tourism in the core zone of the park, forest department reported 22 Tigers in the total initial core area of 105 Square Kilometers.
The said tiger haven was then under the reigns of the famous tigress Sita. She was the most photographed tigress in the world. She was considered as the legendary matriarch of the Bandhavgarh tiger reserve. She was born in the year of 1983 and had a lifespan of about 16 years.
Usually a tigress raises 3-4 litter of cubs in her total life span. Contrary to this sita successfully raised 6 litters in the park. Amongst all her mates, charger was the most famous male tiger.
He was known to aggressively charge on the elephants in the national park. Hence goes the name “Charger”. Charger was the second most photographed tiger in the world.
Charger was one healthy and furious male tiger who challenged banka the earlier dominant male tiger of the Chakradhara area. The fight was quite heroic as reported by the forest officials.
One fine dawn at the Tala zone when it was silent in the early morning. Deep and loud tiger calls could be heard from the chakradhara area. The dominant tiger Banka reacted to the calls and started to prowl. From the bamboo thickets emerged a full grown adult male tiger in his prime with a beautiful mane like beard. This was charger who challenged banka.
Banka also being equally huge and powerful, accepted the challenge. Soon the deep tiger calls were replaced by loud and furious roars. The entire forest watched these two powerful titans fighting ferociously for the control of the pristine forest land. Charger attacked banka like thunder struck lightening. The entire forest witnessed this dramatic fight. The aggression frequented chills through everyone. Banka submitted to the chargers deadly attack and was bleeding to death.
He then trotted away from the Chakradhara leaving Charger the new ruler of Bandhavgarh
Sita & Charger’s love tale was famous amongst the wildlife enthusiasts. Charger used to snatch and steal away sita’s killa and fed on it. Sita never resented charger. The dynamic couple was famous and gave the park a major boost in its tiger population.
The dynamic duo often defied the written rules of the tiger kingdom. One such story is, when sita had delivered her 3rd litter of two cubs. Both were male tiger cubs. One was named bada bacha and the other was named as langdu. Since the younger cub was born with hind legs he was named langdu by the park officials.
In the prime age, bara bacha separated from the family and made his territory in the Ghoda Demon area of the park. However Langdu being weaker than his brother decided to stay with his parents charger and sita.
Contrary to the logic that adult tigers drive away their young males to avoid territorial conflicts, charger and sita accepted langdu and let him live with them.
The dynamic couple had also been through tough & heartbreaking times. When Sita delivered her 4th litter, one of the cubs was born blind and weak. The cub couldn’t survive for long and died eventually. This incident had made a deep emotional wound on Sita. She was often found crying and calling for the cub in the different areas of the Park.
The entire Bandhavgarh park is filled with the descendant’s of Sita & Charger. One such famous tiger was Sundar or often called B2. B2 was the dominant tiger after charger and played an important role like his father by carrying his genome forward.
Today the park is dominated by famous tigresses such as Spotty, Dotty, Mahaman, Banbehi, Sukhi Patiha, Solo and etc. The notable and furious male tigers are Bheem, Chakradhara Male & The Bamera son (Grandson of B2).
How to reach Bandhavgarh National Park?
The Bandhavgarh National Park is situated in the Umaria district of the Madhya Pradesh State. The nearest airport is the Jabalpur Airport and the Nearest railway station to the park is the Katni Railway station.
Below are the distances from Major City / Airport / Railway station
- Jabalpur Railway Station to Bandhavgarh By Road – 200 Kilometers.
- Katni Railway Station to Bandhavgarh by Road – 90 Kilometers.
- Umaria to Bandhavgarh – 40 Kilometers.
- Jabalpur Airport to Bandhavgarh by road – 250 Kilometers
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