Jawai: The Temple of Leopards

 Man and the predator

written by: Kapil Kumar, Tara House, Bhowali, Uttrakhand

It was 20th Sept 2020 and time was 9 pm in the nigh when we entered Bheemtaal, District Nainital, Uttrakhand. The sun sets at 5 pm in the hills and till 8 the hill towns and hamlets becomes ghost towns. No traffic on the road and all doors locked from inside. We were on bikes and it was not a sensible thing to reach so late, but nonetheless we reached. The Chowkidar Rattan Singh saw us and rushed towards us with a lathi and a torch.

“Sahib, so late – come fast there are Leopards in the area”, he screamed.
we hurriedly parked our bikes, unloaded them and entered our cottage as soon as we can. Rattan Singh said “ Sahib, during this lockdown the Leopards have scaled down the mountains and now they are feeding on cattle and dogs of the area. We believe him since he was our old Chowkidar cottage and also takes care of plants and our cow. After a while we settled down, he gave us a cup of tea and we rested on chairs and couches. The sky was lit with millions of stars which we hardly find in the cities now and slowly the time passed by. Till 2 am we heard nothing but after that we clearly heard the growls of the leopard. He was very near to our cottage. Though he could not enter our house but his proximity gave us goose bumps enough to take his scary tale. He stayed around till 4 am and suddenly his growls stopped.

Everywhere on earth humans are scared of predators and there have been man animal fights killing each other. But there is a place in Rajasthan India called Jawai where Leopards and man live with each other peacefully. There have been no instance of Leopards attacking man in this area. The presence of Leopards have been recorded for centuries now. There is a tribe called Rabaris who live here and think that killing Leopards is a sin though he can kill their cattle for food.

Jawai’s geographical location is such that there is a big lake filled with crocodiles and birds. There are Rocky Mountains surrounding the village and on top of those mountains is a temple. Adjoining to the temple there are hundreds of Leopards who have made these Rocky Mountains as their home. The priest of the Temple says “ the goddess takes care of her children – we and Leopards are her children and no one attacks each other”. The spirituality plays a great role here when people realise that all lives on planet earth are sacred.

Nature lovers from all over the world come to Kawai to witness this beautiful bond between man and Leopards. Bird watchers come here to shoot them with their lenses as the Jawai lake offers one of the best habitats for their survival. People can even spot jackals, fox and stripped hyena in this area. And you can live in luxury tents too who offers wildlife safaris and best of hospitalities.

Though it has been noticed that Leopards have killed cows and dogs of the village but villagers never retaliate. They don’t want to start a never ending war – till someday any leopard becomes a Maneater