RIP Machli: Loving mother, fighter and dignified survivor

At least half of Ranthambore’s 60-odd tigers have descended from Machli Known as the Lady of the Lake, she reigned over Rajbagh, Padam Talao and Jhalra

The world’s oldest, most famous, most photographed, and most talked about celebrity tigress, Queen of Ranthambore is dead. T-16 or Machli as she was popularly known fought against the severest odds to retain a small part of her once sprawling kingdom for 13 years and spent even her last years with every wildlife lover’s attention dancing on her. 

She loved it and was used to it as well. In my previous visit there, I spent almost an hour sitting in a jeep next to her resting in a water body. She didn’t move an inch, looked a couple of times indifferently till confronted by her daughter who came sniffing the hunt that Machli had saved for herself. Machli lowered her ears signalling she is not interested in a fight and was ready to let go of her food. The rules of the jungle are different.

Anybody who has visited Ranthambore National Park in Rajasthan would know Machli.

She became a mother at three-and-a-half and had five litters, the highest in Ranthambore, and unheard of anywhere else. At least half of Ranthambore’s 60-odd tigers have descended from Machli. 

She would meet two litters at the same time without letting either litter know. She would hunt for them, and teach them to hunt sometimes hiding behind safari jeeps to pounce on her prey or take on alpha males to tell them who is rules the lakes of Ranthambore. She lived by her own rules till she was too old to fight even her own daughters.

It is unusual for a tiger to be named after a fish. She inherited the name from her mother because a fish sign on her left cheek. Machli’s identification mark, however, was a stripe that resembled the digit 4 in Hindi.

Machli’s big celebrity moment came when she had an incredible encounter with a 14-foot crocodile at Rajbagh in Zone 3, which was caught on camera. The tigress pounced on the crocodile, twisted it and killed it by biting into the back of its neck.

But it was not Machli’slooks and aggression but her almost human qualities that endeared her to the forest guards and her fan club. When she reigned over Rajbagh, Padam Talao and Jhalra as the 'Lady of the Lakes', she delighted tiger lovers with stories from how she would teach her cubs to hunt to how she would walk the fort like a queen or fight like no other. 

It was at Lakarda in Adi Dagar where she lived peacefully for many years till she was challenged by T6. She decided to go further and made a home in an even smaller area between Gular Kui and Jhoka/Pilighati. But her majestic swagger was still there. 

She had lost the ability to hunt, and the forest department apparently made efforts to keep her alive something that was criticised by many for trying to alter the natural course in the wild. 

But she still attracted visitors and wildlife observers and will be remembered as a loving mother, a fighter who controlled the alpha males, a survivor who knew how to live with dignity to the last day. 

RIP Machli.