Bonds of the big cats of Bera

Around 140 kilometres from Udaipur is the village Bera, which has drawn international attention for the estimated 55 leopards living in harmony with the villagers. A timely book illustrated with several photographs has now brought the story alive.

The area near Jawai Bandhi is an open sanctuary, where leopards and villagers seem to have lived in peaceful coexistence for the past century and a half, villagers claim. While reports of panthers killing human beings come in from various parts of even Rajasthan, in the last 150 years not a single case of a leopard killing a human being has been reported from Jawai.

Leopards are mostly sighted on the hills in the area, the elevation creating a natural boundary between the two worlds-the cats above and the human habitat below. The Devgiri cave temple in the Jawai hills is dedicated to goddess Ashapura Mata, the mother goddess of the hill who is believed to protect the entire village. There are several smaller temples also on the hills and flashlights are used to reveal to the safari-goers, the leopards in hiding. When the light catches the eyes, the glint is a startling yellow-green.

“Bera, the big cats have been cohabiting with humans for over a century and offer a “unique learning of coexistence and harmony that was both beautiful and bewildering”, recalls the author Sundeep Bhutoria. The Rabari tribesmen (who claim to be direct descendants of Lord Shiva) consider protecting wildlife their religious duty and also welcome the beasts as they keep other animals from destroying crops, he explains.

With stunning photographs and inside stories — in his introduction, actor-writer Victor Banerjee paints a picture of a ‘Marwari cowboy’ courtesy Bhutoria’s Jodhpurs and Stetson hat — the book was put together during the lockdown. The writer credits Bera-based conservationist and photographer Shatrunjay Pratap Singh, for encouraging him to write about his experience at Bera, and the book The Bera Bond (Pan Macmillan; Rs 750) was born.

“I did not have the faintest idea that I would get along so well with him (Shatrunjay Pratap Singh); it was an instant bond, a friendship formed on the very first meeting. The best thing about travelling with Shatrunjay was his ability to spot a leopard camouflaged against the landscape. He would just pass me the binocular and say something like, “After three rocks, there is one.”

“Leopards are reclusive animals, so they’re a lot harder to spot. Lions can be found in groups and tigers are seen nonchalantly walking alone disregarding human beings, cameras and jeeps. But leopards like to lurk under the rocks, in caves, or even up in the trees,” he adds.

One of the highlights of my stay was being able to name a leopard cub, at the request of the locals. I named it Gullu, Bhutoria recalls.

Railway tracks running through forests result in many deaths. Thus, despite an exemplary and unique bond between local residents and the leopards, the big cats are not entirely safe. The overhead electricity lines pose another danger.

The Rajasthan government has made a budgetary allocation for a new tourist and wildlife circuit, the Gorwar circuit with temples and leopards being the central attraction.