MACHALI – THE LADY OF THE LAKE

MACHALI – THE LADY OF THE LAKE

 

I went to Ranthambore National Park, and there I was lucky enough to see a very famous Tigress called ‘Machali,’. Machali as the most famed tigress of Ranthambore and has been written about in several books. Her famous adventures have given her several interesting names like ‘Machali’ meaning fish in Hindi, as she loves water, and often hides in water. She is also called, ‘Lady of the lake,’ because of her love of water, and ‘Crocodile Hunter.’ The stories behind these nicknames are quite interesting…

Machali had two healthy cubs. The problem was that the father of her cubs, Bumbu Ram, had mysteriously disappeared. {My theory of his disappearance is that he was killed by poachers, and is now stuffed and decorating somebody’s sitting room.} So, as he was not there to protect her cubs, she and her cubs were in great danger.

There was also another male tiger, Nick, who was a great threat to Machali and her cubs as he wanted to kill her cubs, so that he could have cubs with Machali, thus extending his bloodline. So Machali had to protect her cubs. Nick started to prowl around the borders of her territory, leaving marks to show Machali that he was there.

Machali knew of Nick’s impending threat, and that, if Nick found her cubs, she would be helpless to stop him killing them. So, she hid her cubs in a lake. But in order to do so she had to kill or chase away all the crocodiles near her cubs’ hiding place. That is why she is also called ‘Crocodile hunter.’

She then followed Nick everywhere, growling at him if he tried to venture into her territory or near the lake where her cubs were hidden. But, the strangest thing is that the day ended with them stalking a herd of Sambar together. {The deer, not the south Indian dish!} This kept happening time and again till the cubs finally grew up and over time Machali and Nick also became friends!

The First cub  was named ‘Broken Tail’ as his tail was slightly bent and thin at the end. The second was called ‘Slanted Ear’, obviously because his ear was slanted. Soon, Broken Tail and Slanted Ear left, Machali immediately had cubs with Nick.

The first of these cubs was known as ‘Jhalra,’ after the area he was born in. Jhalra now stays in Sariska Tiger Reserve, and her second cub was never named, she is just called T-17, as she is the 17th tiger born in Ranthambore.

Machali is T-16 and continues to inhabit the lakes of Ranthambore even today, awing visitors with her majestic presence and amazing self confidence … .