Three stories from the same forest.
Three thousand years ago, the Pandava brothers sheltered somewhere in the Aravalli Hills during their twelve years of forest exile. The temple at Pandupol, which means gateway of the Pandavas in Sanskrit, marks the legendary spot where Bhima, the most physically powerful of the five brothers, encountered Hanuman in the form of an old monkey lying across his path. Bhima asked the monkey to move. The monkey challenged him to lift his tail. Bhima, who could move mountains, could not shift it by a fraction. The temple commemorating this moment of humbling is inside what is now Sariska Tiger Reserve, accessible on the jeep safari route.
Three hundred and fifty years ago, Mughal emperor Aurangzeb built a fort inside these same Aravalli Hills and imprisoned his own brother in it.
Dara Shikoh was the eldest son of Shah Jahan and the heir apparent to the Mughal throne. He was a philosopher who had translated the Upanishads into Persian, a poet who had argued that Islam and Hinduism shared a common mystical ground, a man his father loved above all his other sons. He was also, in the eyes of his orthodox younger brother Aurangzeb, a heretic.
After a bitter war of succession that ended with the Battle of Samugarh in 1658, Dara was captured, imprisoned in Kankwari Fort in the heart of the Aravalli Hills, tried for apostasy and executed in 1659.
Historians still ask what India might have looked like if the philosopher prince had won instead of the orthodox emperor.
Twenty years ago, the last tiger in this forest was poached.
By 2005 Sariska Tiger Reserve had been completely emptied of every single tiger it had. Zero. The first Project Tiger reserve in India to lose all its tigers to poaching. A crisis that shocked India and prompted a complete rethinking of how tiger reserves were managed.
And today, fifty tigers move through the same Aravalli landscape.
This episode tells all three stories.
What You Will Discover in This Episode
The complete Mahabharata story connected to Sariska, the legend of Bhima's encounter with Hanuman at Pandupol, what the name Pandupol means in Sanskrit, and how a pilgrimage shrine associated with the Pandavas sits inside an active tiger reserve accessible only on a jeep safari
The complete story of Dara Shikoh, eldest son and heir apparent of Mughal emperor Shah Jahan, his extraordinary intellectual character as a philosopher who translated the Upanishads into Persian and argued for the harmony of Islam and Hinduism, his defeat in the war of succession at the Battle of Samugarh in 1658, his imprisonment in Kankwari Fort inside what is now Sariska Tiger Reserve, and his execution in 1659 on charges of heresy
The history of Sariska as the private hunting ground of the Maharajas of Alwar, who entertained guests including British royals until hunting was banned in 1955, and the story of the Sariska Palace built as a royal hunting lodge in the late 19th century that now operates as a heritage hotel inside the reserve
How Sariska became a Wildlife Sanctuary in 1955, a Project Tiger reserve in 1978, and how its tiger population was systematically destroyed by poaching, culminating in the complete absence of tigers by 2005, the most devastating single conservation failure in the history of Project Tiger
The world's first successful wild tiger relocation programme launched in 2008, what it involved, why wildlife experts debated whether it could succeed, and how the tigers from Ranthambore settled, hunted, established territories and bred in their new Aravalli home
The complete recovery story from zero tigers in 2005 to fifty tigers in 2025, including eleven adult males, fourteen adult females and twenty-five cubs, and what makes this one of the most extraordinary conservation turnarounds in the history of wildlife management anywhere in the world
The complete wildlife profile of Sariska beyond tigers, including the substantial leopard population, striped hyena, jungle cat, four-horned antelope, chital, sambar, nilgai and over 220 bird species including the crested serpent eagle and Indian eagle-owl
How the two safari zones work, the difference between the Pandupol zone and the Kalighati and Slopka zones, the best times of year and day for tiger and leopard sightings and why two safaris are significantly more productive than one
How 5 Senses Tours brings the complete Sariska experience to international travellers through private two-safari tours from Delhi, with overnight stays inside the reserve and naturalist guides who track tiger movements each morning before entering the forest
Experience Sariska Tiger Reserve With 5 Senses Tours
The tigers are back. Fifty of them. In a forest that also contains a Mahabharata pilgrimage shrine, a Mughal prison fort and the ruins of a royal hunting lodge where British royals once came to shoot the animals that today define the reserve.
Our Sariska Tiger Reserve and Alwar tour from Delhi combines two jeep safaris with an overnight stay inside the reserve and the Alwar royal heritage on the return journey at https://5sensestours.com/tour/sariska-alwar-from-delhi/
For travellers visiting between October and March, the tour can be upgraded with a Fairy Queen train arrival in Alwar on the world's oldest working steam locomotive at https://5sensestours.com/fairy-queen-train-oldest-steam-locomotive-india-delhi-alwar/
Our Neemrana Fort and Alwar tour from Delhi covers the complete Alwar royal heritage with overnight stay in a thousand-year-old fort and a visit to the 15th-century Neemrana Fort Palace at https://5sensestours.com/tour/neemrana-fort-alwar-from-delhi/
For a customised private Sariska experience combining wildlife, Mughal history and Rajasthan royal heritage, contact us at https://5sensestours.com/
5 Senses Tours is recognised by India's Ministry of Tourism, winner of the Tripadvisor Travellers Choice Award and the Outlook Responsible Tourism Award. Every tour is private, expert guided and completely customised for your group.
