TROUBLE AT TEMPLE: Navegaon Ramdegi

On the western slopes of Chimur hills, deep within the narrow and steep ravines lies a temple of Lord Rama and centuries-old Buddhist caves. The temple is called Ramdegi temple. Devotees and safarist can enter the area from Nimdhela gate. The only difference is that the safarist can explore entire forest in a gypsy and devotees can access only the temple in a private vehicle. The foot of the hill is largely dominated by trees of Bamboo, Anjan, Bael, Jamun, Ber and Arjun trees. This makes it an ideal habitat for tigers and their prey. The park abruptly ends at Chandai backwater with large farms adjoining the forest. In summers when water level recedes, movement of animals towards village is very easy.

The temple area falls under buffer forest which is dominated by Chota Matka, a 7 year old male in his prime and Bhanushkindi female the ever so shy tigress. Sometime in monsoons of 2022, Bhanuskhindi (lovingly called Bhanu) gave birth to four tiny tots – 3 males and one female. One of the male cub died in the first few months. The remaining three grew up strong, bold and healthy like their parents. The ambush (group of tigers) was frequently led by the largest male cub called Bhola, other siblings been- Shiva (temple male) and Nayantara (female). I have been seeing them since they were cubs and fell in love with them, especially Bhola the biggest and naughtiest of the ambush. 

As they are grew up they became the star attraction of Navegaon buffers, thanks to their antics and boldness. With deers and boars in plenty, they have grown extremely well for their age. They are not bothered by tourist vehicles and lead a seemingly comfortable life around humans/vehicles. They move freely around the temple, visiting the idols of lord Hanuman and others on a regular basis. The cubs had become used to seeing humans and didn’t see them as threat.

Trouble around the temple areas started when the boldest of the ambush, Bhola along with his siblings killed a human who ventured into the forest. This was the first incident sometime during the late monsoons of 2023. It was a case of mistaken identity. A few months later, just before Diwali they were again involved in negative man-animal interaction and ended up killing another human. This time also the incident happened inside the park.  In both cases, they didn’t consume the victims and left the body. It felt as if they were rehearsing tactics to handle anything that moves. The second incident put them under scanner for probable & Bhola became the “problem tiger”. Forest department took corrective measures immediately. They closed certain areas of the park like the canal on Rivulet called Chandai which originated on the northernmost tip of Tadoba. They put electric fences along their frequent path which was used by cubs to venture outside the park. The villagers took action at their end by bursting crackers if they saw the tiger cub hanging around farms. Visitors to the park around the Diwali period could hear the crackers day in and day out.

Everything seemed fine in temple area until recently. On a fateful night, Bhola ventured outside the park in evening and killed young farmer near his farm. Supposedly the farmer had climbed down from his mara. Mara is a local word for small structure like a machan. It is 8 to 10 feet above ground and used by farmers to stay overnight and guard the crop from the destruction caused by wild boars and deer. The victim was not only killed but also partially consumed by the tiger. The act of consuming led to severe agitation by locals living around the park. These villagers are marginal farmers who already suffer a lot due to destruction caused by wild boars, nilgai and deers. This human attack became a tipping point for them. The matter escalated and villagers threatened to bring down the ecosystem, for their valid reasons – Fear of life. They put a list of demands on forest officers, threatening retaliation towards forest and wild animals. The demands included capturing the troublemaker among many other demands. Very recently, even I sensed the fear in the villagers, when I was asked by locals to leave the FD premises near safari gate immediately.

Forest department are guardians of the locals, wildlife and forest itself. They have to walk on a tight rope to manage and control man and animal interaction. Post the incident, they had to ensure quick resolution to control the rage of villagers. They agreed to all demands and took quick action to resolve the man-animal conflict. Once problem tiger (Bhola/Hazare) was confirmed, they caught him with 48 hours and dispatched to Gorewada Zoo in Nagpur. The question remains, who is at fault – FD/Villager/Tiger?

It is easy for tourists/urban dwellers to blame villagers and FD. IMHO, we urban dwellers can’t even imagine what it is life like on edge of the forest. I live in Tadoba quite often along the edge (in a village close to the incident) and I know what fear means. Imagine a situation, where you are told not to venture out alone. Imagine a situation you are told not to send your kids outside to play. Imagine waiting for your brother/father/husband who had gone to his farm/work to return. Fear drives the “Fight or Flight” response, villagers had enough and they decided to fight. FD did what it should. The question remains about the tiger and his future.

Bhola ventured out of park, killed and consumed victim. This does not make him technically a man-eater but behaviour shows a possibility of it. Regulars of Tadoba know his mother is injured and weak. She’s not been sighted for more than two weeks now. Probably the cub was hungry and he killed in haste. The temple gets a lot of visitors and many come to see tiger under garb of visiting temple and move in temple area on foot. I have myself witnessed this behaviour closely. They eat, cook and have picnics in temple area. IMO Bhola had killed humans twice before and maybe, as he is growing up to become an independent adult, he has judged that humans (on two feet) can’t outrun him and make an easy prey (though unnatural). We don’t know, what triggered the attack on that fateful night. The circumstantial pieces of evidence don’t favor Bhola. The Forest Department won’t let villagers kill him/other wild animals and destroy the forest neither can they risk another human life. The best solution was to capture and relocate or send to the zoo. Relocation is difficult because what happens if Bhola kills again? Who will bear the responsibility? FD will be blamed again or the villagers. Hence dispatched to the zoo, most probably for life, atleast for now.

He can now be truly called Bhola. The poor animal has no idea of what he has done. He might never know what hit him. The marvellous spirit of the wild has no clue that he will spend the rest of his life behind bars. We will miss an impressive specimen of tiger from the wilds of Tadoba. So much so, for causing Trouble at Temple.