Our trip to Jilling, near Nainital, was a welcome respite from the August heat. After a short hour’s walk assisted by a guide with a horse carrying our bags, we arrived at the main house, situated just below a long ridge, from which the view of the himalayas- when free from cloud cover- is said to be fantastic. There are other houses on the mountainside, but not many, and the overall feeling is one of a peaceful haven. After the hustle and bustle of the previous days, we were suddenly filled with the desire to just relax- to sit back and read, watch the birds, and take short walks through the forest and along the ridge. Our guide helped us to discover the local fauna and flora, showed us a temple on the ridge, and spoke of his nearby village. The food was excellent, the rooms clean and comfortable, and the mountain air wonderfully cool. We left Jilling feeling well-rested and serene.

Devidhura

The beautiful drive along mountain roads from Ramnagar to Devidhura took nearly seven hours. We arrived for the final days of the Bagwal festivities, and the small village was already bustling with excitement, people congregating from all the surrounding countryside. We walked along the main street, with shops and makeshift vendors’ stalls on both sides, to the site of the temple, built in and among huge boulders shaded by ancient cedars. There also were the « altars » where goats and buffalo had been sacrificed, and we watched magnificent himalayan vultures who had come to participate in the clean-up duty. We felt like we had travelled back in time to another era : there was a man-powered ferris wheel, and groups of people listening to singers and bagpipes, a myriad of colors and odors and sounds, and a constant movement around the temple, of obvious religious significance. All the while we were watching with fascination all this activity, we felt watched ourselves, being the only foreigners present.

In the evening we attended the traditional costumed dances ; the spectacle would continue until the next morning. Back at our hotel- one of few in Devidhura- little chance of sleep, however. The dance and music spectacle was being broadcast over loudspeakers on the street outside, and inside the hotel dozens of parties continued late into the night.

The next morning found us at the open area before the temple, for the Bagwal culminating event. Throughout the morning, throngs of people gathered around, sitting on grassy slopes, on rooftops and stairways, until the central area was surrounded by a mass of colors. Then the opposing teams of village men arrived, many with large bamboo shields, working themselves into a frenzy of adrenalin. Just as the clouds let loose a torrential downpour, a signal seems to have been given, and the opposing teams began lobbing large stones at each other. In another age, men were sacrificed at Devidhura, and the modern version of this tradition demands that blood must be shed. The sky seemed to be raining rocks for a short while (some falling on bystanders), and then suddenly it was over. The opposing teams dropped their stones and ran to embrace their opponents. The spectators dispersed quickly to get under cover from the rain, and all along the road leaving Devidhura we passed buses and trucks full of people celebrating what seems to have been a « victory » for all.

As we got up in the mountains, the air became fresher and drier, the vegetation slowly changing from Sal into pine forests. We arrived in Devidhura on the 4^th of august 2009 and the first impression was that the festival brings many people from far away, bringing a lot of life to the village during this period. A market of clothes, jewelries, food and many other things was in place along the main street. We walked down towards the temple, there was a volley-ball game happening. We reached a spot where we were blissfully surprised to see about ten vultures sitting in trees below us, Himalayan Griffons, Lammergeier and Red-headed vultures. They were looking over to the place where the carcasses of buffalos are thrown, after each sacrifice. They were certainly waiting for the right moment to access the carcasses.

During the evening, we saw a show of local singing and dances, with the beautiful girls of kumaon wearing their traditional dress.

The day after, we went looking for a place with a good view overlooking the “battle field”. As we waited for the fight to begin, hundreds of people were arriving from almost everywhere, taking seats on the slopes of the hill, in anticipation of the fight.

When it began, we saw the teams that were about to fight arriving one after the other, in a ceremony of dances, drums, shouting and running, some men carrying large wicker shields. It looked very disorganised. There are actually four teams coming from four different villages, and they end up as two teams fighting against each other. While the teams were arriving, two massive clouds converged over the battle field, giving a mystic feel to the arena. After that, the fight began! As it did, the rain started falling heavily, too. The rain didn’t dampen in the atmosphere, everyone was very excited and the drums kept pounding on. Men were throwing rocks in the air to hit the other team, which is the goal of Bagwaal! In the middle of the field, a group of men carrying shields, covering themselves, were fighting with sticks.

The sight of the many stones flying through the air was astonishing but also scary since they could have hit us. The whole battle was absolutely incredible to see. To announce the end of the fight, an old man carrying a small copper shield runs among the men, waving a sort of plume around his head. After few minutes the men stopped throwing rocks and started embracing each other, the two teams mixing together. They would go to see the persons injured and congratulate them, with big smiles on their faces and also exchange their scarves. A great feeling of joy was palpable. We ended up drenched but so amazed at what we just had seen.

This festival was unbelievable and we could feel an astounding strength among all those people.

Being in Devidhura and especially during this astonishing festival could only bring us to one of Jim Corbett’s hunt for a man eater, as described in The Temple Tiger. In his story, he headed to “Dabidhura” (called nowadays Devidhura) in order to shoot a leopard man-eater that had tried to killed a man close to the great temple of the village. But when he reached the place, he decided to track and kill a tiger that was slaughtering cattle quite often in the area, a huge cause of concern for the local villagers who have very little possession. A strange thing that Jim was taught by the local priest was “I have no objection, Sahib, to your trying to shoot this tiger, but neither you nor anyone else will ever succeed in killing it”. What was so special about this tiger? A mystic feeling, once again, was covering the village.

In his many attempts to shoot the tiger, Jim faced several problems. First, he was not able to fire because of a new riffle that he didn’t know how to use properly. The next time, he shot at the tiger’s back but did not kill him or even seemed to injure him. After that, he missed the tiger by a few inches. Finally, the tiger went to Jim, while he was sitting up in a tree, waiting to shoot the cattle killer. But at this stage, Jim could not shoot him, and by firing in the air, he made the tiger disappear down the hill. After that, Jim left Dabidhura, hoping that the tiger, “this old warrior, like an old soldier, just faded away”.

Finally, the old priest was right; no one can kill the Temple Tiger.

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