TRAVELOGUE RANTHAMBHORE- AUG 2019

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.