Photo by Dr Indira Khurana
By Dr Indira Khurana*
Excerpted from the book Climate Resilient Socioeconomic Growth through Water Conservation: Evidence, Implications. Livelihood, Green GDP, Circular Economy: Villages in the Chambal region, by Indira Khurana, PhD. This book brings a message of hope from the Chambal villages of Rajasthan to the world – A message of climate-resilient green growth that is decentralised, equitable, regenerative and sustainable.
Karauli is famous for its striking geography and natural beauty. In Karauli tehsil, the hills become higher and extensive. Hills and broken grounds characterise almost the entire area locally known as Dang. Choria Ghata in Sapotra Range is the highest point in the region at 475 metres. On moving westward towards the river Chambal, one encounters 5-8-kilometre-wide stretches of ravines, at places 35-50 metres deep.
The erstwhile State of Karauli was located on the western bank of the River Chambal and was part of the Matsya States (1400-300 BCE) which included Alwar, Bharatpur, Dholpur and Karauli. The Kingdom of Mathura was the predecessor of the princely state of Karauli founded by Arjun Deo in 1348 and existing as such till 1949. Most parts of the State were dominated by low hills with a Vindhyan element, marked by a plateau like appearance and deep gorges formed by nallahs called khohs.
Also read: The Chambal Civilisation – 3: The Dacoits of the Ravines
Karauli of the 18th century was a resource-rich area. During the 18th century, Karauli was under the Maratha empire until the Marathas were defeated by the British. Timangarh’s fort and chhatris (canopy over tombs) of mystics tell stories of the glory of the area. The area was rich in biodiversity with trees, such as neem, babool, ber, dhok, ronjh, tendu, salar, santha, mango, jamun, khejadi, peepal and shrubs.
Karauli State had the largest area under forest cover in all of Rajputana after Mewar. With a large population belonging to the grazer Gujjar community, agriculture was not widely practiced and two-thirds of the state covering around 2,000 square kilometres was under forest cover or ravines.
Karauli was rich in wildlife. Forests of Karauli were known for tigers, believed to have hosted more tigers than the neighbouring forests of Sawai Madhopur. Maharaja Sir Jiwajirao Scindia (1925-61) of neighbouring Gwalior favoured preserving wildlife and during his regime, tigers grew in numbers in Gwalior territory and were sometimes seen crossing the Chambal and entering Karanpur area of Karauli.
Towards its southeast, forested areas existed around the famous temple of Kailadevi. This area was known for tigers, leopards, bears, sambars, blackbucks, chitals and wild pigs amongst other species and was contiguous with the forests of Jaipur State in the south and Gwalior to the east. Chinkara were also widespread in the region. Blackbucks were found around Masalpur and Nadoti.
The ruler and his special guests had exclusive hunting rights. Even in case of a habitual cattle-lifter or man-eater, only the ruler could destroy the animal or designate someone to do so. Even jagirdars (Landlords), who had control over forests under their administration, were prohibited from hunting such animals without the ruler’s permission. Severe punishment existed for illegal hunting, wood cutting or grazing. For instance, anyone caught hunting wild pig was immediately imprisoned for three months.
The wildlife has declined. Blackbuck went extinct in 1949-50 at the time of the merger of states, while chinkara, which had a widespread distribution throughout the State, is now restricted to Kailadevi.
Until the 1950s, 25-30 tigers were hunted in the Karauli territory every year and speculation is that territories of those individuals were replaced within 15-20 days by other tigers. Some of these individuals were hunted at the request of livestock owners or to reduce the tiger population as a culling operation. Although tiger hunting continued until the 1960s, their numbers were on a drastic decline. Tiger sightings become rare in the region, and especially so towards the north where amongst the last tigers were sighted in the Gaddi area of Sarmathura in 1967. Eventually the species was restricted to the Kailadevi Wildlife Sanctuary which was declared a protected area in 1983 and covered an area of 673 sq. km.
By the 1970s, commercial poaching for tigers began in this area and dealt a severe blow to their already diminishing population. Other reasons for decline included artillery practice at Damoh, lack of enforcement by the Forest Department, uncontrolled grazing. Cases of poisoning of carnivores were also reported.
In 1991-92, a census conducted in Kailadevi on special order from the Supreme Court revealed evidence of 6-7 tigers but resulted in no direct sighting. By 2000 it was clear that the tiger had vanished from all parts of Karauli. In contemporary times, only an occasional transient tiger may enter Kailadevi. However, these are rare events and short-lived. In 2010, T-7 or Mohan traversed through the area, continuing its journey to Keoladeo-Ghana. In January 2013, T-26’s cub entered the reserve from Ranthambhore via Gopas Ghati and then continued to Kuno-Palpur Sanctuary after crossing the Chambal. In November 2014, T-71 was photo-captured in Kailadevi near Ghanteshwar ki Khoh.
The only species that seems to have made a comeback in the Kailadevi region is wolves. Hunting by the Rapid Action Force, deployed to control dacoity in the region along with other forest dwelling communities dependent on bush-meat, have also been identified as causes for decline in populations of sambar and chital in the Kailadevi region. These species have suffered a great decline in their populations over the last three decades, with almost no large natural prey other than nilgai left for tigers.
To continue…
*Indira Khurana, PhD is Chief Advisor of Tarun Bharat Sangh, an NGO working since 1975 towards climate change mitigation and adaptation by promoting water conservation, sustainable agriculture and rural development in the arid and semi-arid regions of India.
