A Goodbye Nobody Wanted
A tigress who not only ruled a forest but was the heart of every visitor of Kanha Tiger Reserve. For thousands of wildlife enthusiasts, a safari through Kanha is always a hope to see a tiger, but during the last ten years, the hope has been to see a particular tigress, apart from other tigers. The tigress, named Dhawajhandi or DJ, is famous for her frequent and unique sightings by visitors.
She was calm, confident and exceptionally tolerant of safari vehicles; she ruled her territory for years and became one of Kanha’s most photographed tigers.
Today, she no longer walks in those forests. After old age and increasing human-wildlife conflict cases, which include a recent unfortunate death of a lady in a village located next to the buffer zone of the reserve, she has been relocated to Van Vihar National Park. Her departure marks the end of an era.
The Queen of Dhawajhandi and Kanha Tiger Reserve
Dhawajhandi female was born in mid-2012 to the first litter of Chhoti Mada and an old thin-stripe male. Her childhood was spent in Dhawajhandi, Baba Thenga, Singarpur and the Malkhedi area of the Mukki zone of the Kanha Tiger Reserve. These places, though, mostly fall within the tourism area of the Mukki zone but are also close to the Kisli zone of the reserve.
The Kanha Tiger Reserve, in the Mandla and Balaghat districts of Madhya Pradesh, is a well-known tiger reserve in India. The reserve is renowned for its management and is known as one of the best-managed national parks and tiger reserves in Asia. Its tiger sightings and biodiversity draw thousands of tourists from around the world each year.
To reduce tourist pressure, Kanha’s tourism zone, which constitutes about 20% of the core zone, divides into four areas: Kisli, Kanha, Mukki, and Sarhi. The reserve has three gates: Khatia, Mukki, and Sarhi. All zones are accessible from all gates. However, these zones serve only as administrative boundaries for the equal distribution of safari vehicles; the vegetation and wildlife are similar across all zones. Tigers, being territorial animals, keep moving in different zones, and their territory and home ranges overlap between zones.
DJ was born near the boundary of the Kisli and Mukki zones, and though most of her territory was within the Mukki zone, she also observed taking a stroll in the Kisli zone. This is the reason she was the favourite tigress of visitors from both the Mukki and Kisli zones. Many tourists enter from the Khatia gate but book the Mukki zone just to increase their chances of seeing DJ.
Parents of DJ
Mother:
The mother of DJ was Chhoti Mada; she was also a very famous tigress of the Mukki zone. She was born in 2008 to a tigress known as Minkur Female, also referred to as Badi Mada. She established her territory in an area that overlapped with her mother’s territory.
DJ was born in her first litter of four cubs, which Chhoti Mada raised successfully. In her second litter of four, only one cub survived. In the 3rd litter, all three cubs died in a territorial fight, and in the 4th litter, out of three, only one survived. When she lost all the cubs she mated and produced the litter, soon thereafter, only a female cub, Sharmili, managed to survive and is now known as another famous tigress of Mukki.
Father:
Initially it was believed that her father was Kankata (meaning “torn ear”), a male who was one of the most dominent males during the period of 2009-2015. He was born in Sarhi and spent much of his childhood and adulthood there, but later moved to Mukki, where he was known to sire litters with 8-10 different females during his lifetime.
It was later realized from the account of several naturalists, guides, and forest guards that Kankata was not the father of DJ, but another male known as the old thin-stripe male was her father. This old thin-striped male was known to have migrated from Pench Tiger Reserve, which is connected with Kanha by a functional wildlife corridor.
This thin-stripe male is known to have migrated to Kanha in 2010-11, and because of his thin-stripe pattern on his flanks, which is not the characteristic of the tigers of Kanha but is a hallmark of Pench, he was named the old thin-stripe male because another male probably from Pench also was there with thin stripes. Unlike the thin-stripe male, the old thin-stripe male was very shy, and it was believed that he had not made his territory but somehow managed to mate with few females. This old thin-stripe male was rarely photographed and only observed on very few occasions.
Siblings of DJ
DJ was born in a litter of four in which two females and two male cubs were there. Her sister, T-34, or Chimta female, moved towards the Kisli side and made the area around the Chimta camp her territory. She is a shy female, and only occasionally has her sighting been reported in her territory. The male siblings were moved far away from the tourist zone, so there is no record of them.
The life of DJ
When she became independent, like most of the female tigers, she did not disperse far from her mother’s territory. She established her own territory next to her mother’s. The Dhawajhandi area, located on the boundary of Kanha’s Mukki and Kisli tourism zones near the Dhawajhandi camp, became her kingdom. Over time, she expanded her range towards Babathenga and Singarpur, and the Forest Department officially designated her as T-27.
For several years, DJ was the undisputed queen of Mukki zone. She was calm, confident and exceptionally tolerant of safari vehicles, she became one of Kanha’s most reliable and beloved tigers. For many visitors, a trip to Mukki zone felt incomplete without sighting of DJ. Guides and naturalists often joked that if someone spent three or four safaris in Mukki and still hadn’t seen her, they had been really unlucky. She played an big role in making Kanha one of India’s most celebrated tiger tourism destinations.
Yet her greatest contribution to the forest was not tourism, it was the next generation of tigers.
Over the course of her life, DJ raised four litters, giving birth to an extraordinary 14 cubs.
Her first litter, sired by the male Bhima, was consisted of four cubs. Her second litter was fathered by Chota Munna (CM), produced three more cubs. Her third litter ended in tragedy when another dominant male, the Jamuntola Male, killed all of her cubs.
Her fourth and last litter was one of the rarest events ever recorded in Kanha. DJ gave birth to five cubs, fathered by DB3 (Diwan Behra Male). Although only two of them survived a male (DJ-8) and a female (DJ-9), the birth itself remains an exceptional event in the reserve’s history.
As the years passed, nature followed its certain course. DJ-8 dispersed to establish its own territory elsewhere, but DJ-9 stayed behind. Like many young tigresses inheriting prime habitat, she challenged her own mother for the Dhawajhandi territory. After repeated confrontations, the ageing DJ was forced to surrender the kingdom she had ruled for years.
The Incident
She remained on the fringes of her former territory for nearly a year, moving back and forth between Mukki and neighbouring forests. By then, age had taken its toll. Most of her canine teeth were broken, making it increasingly difficult to hunt fast and active wild prey. Like many elderly tigers across India, she began turning towards easier targets, including livestock grazing near forest edges.
Eventually, she drifted towards the Kisli landscape and adjoining territorial forests, where encounters with people became more frequent. The Forest Department had already begun monitoring her closely because of repeated cattle lifting cases.
Then came the incident that changed everything.
On the night of 2 August, DJ attacked and killed a 50-year-old woman. The circumstances surrounding the incident are deeply tragic, both for the victim’s family and for the tigress herself. Whether driven by age, failing physical condition or an unfortunate encounter, this became the first recorded human fatality associated with DJ and thankfully her last.
Shifting To Van Vihar National Park
Recognising the increasing risk of further conflict, the Forest Department made the difficult decision to capture and relocate her. Instead of spending her final years in the forests of Kanha, the once-celebrated queen of Dhawajhandi was shifted to Van Vihar National Park, Bhopal, which is a national park as well as a zoo and rescue centre, where she will live under care for the rest of her life.
Her Legacy
DJ was never merely another tiger in Kanha. She was one of the reserve’s greatest ambassadors, an animal that inspired thousands of visitors to fall in love with India’s forests. Through her calm temperament, she offered unforgettable sightings to photographers, naturalists and first-time wildlife enthusiasts alike. The best part was her , fourteen cubs she has given to the reserve, by which she strengthened Kanha’s tiger population and left behind a lasting genetic legacy.
Although DJ will never again walk the forests of Dhawajhandi, Babathenga or Singarpur, her story does not end with her relocation. It lives on in her surviving descendants that still roam Kanha’s sal forests, in the memories of those fortunate enough to have watched her, and in the continuing success of one of the world’s finest tiger landscapes.
The Queen of Dhawajhandi may have left Kanha, but her legacy will forever remain woven into the forests she once ruled.
Every tiger photographed in Kanha helps people fall in love with forests. Every visitor who returns inspired becomes another voice for conservation. In that sense, Dhawajhandi female protected forests in ways she could never have understood.
She did not know she had become famous.
She never posed for photographers or became a symbol of Kanha by choice.
She simply lived as every tiger is meant to live, raising cubs, defending her territory and surviving in an increasingly crowded landscape.
The forests of Kanha will still echo with alarm calls, fresh pugmarks and new generations of tigers. Yet, for many who spent years exploring these jungles, every drive through Dhawajhandi will carry the memory of a queen who once ruled there.
Some stories in the wild don’t end with death.
They end with silence.
If you like our blog, also give a read to What to expect on a luxury tiger safari in India? and 5 Beautiful Birds of Kanha National Park Every Nature Lover Should See
