JOAO PEDRO GALHANO ALVES

"all human beings in these parts are kind to animals...,' says the legendary monkey-god Hanuman to Bhim, one of the Pandav brothers, in the epic Mahabharat ; he was referring to the Sariska valley.

Even today, Hanuman's words ring true as far as the people of Sariska valley are concerned. The rural societies of the region have inhabited the heart of what is now the Sariska Tiger Reserve for ages. Established in 1978, most of the reserve's 1,145 sq km is covered by dry tropical deciduous forests. Local fauna includes several wild carnivores (tiger, panther), herbivores (sambhar, nilgai), scavengers, primates, rodents, reptiles and more than 300 species of birds.

My study covered four of the 16 villages in the reserve