White Portfolio Finalists | Nature Infocus
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I still remember how I felt when I first heard about the Sloth Bears of Chandi Mata Temple in Bagbahara, Chhattisgarh. I was thoroughly taken aback. In a country like India, where population explosion and habitat encroachment have made human-wildlife conflict a daily phenomenon, this story of human-animal harmony sounded too good to be true. A temple where wild Sloth Bears visit every day, eat prasad (food offering) fed to them by the devotees and roam freely within the premises without harming anybody?! I knew I had to see it for myself. So on an August weekend in 2019, my wife and I packed our bags and caught a train to Raipur, Chhattisgarh.

The Chandi Mata Temple is situated nearly 100km from Raipur, in the Ghuchapali village of Bagbahara, in Chhattisgarh's Mahasamund district. The temple is seated atop a hill, surrounded by a sparse forest and adjacent hills that are inhabited by a population of Sloth Bears. The locals believe that the bears are cursed devotees of Chandi Mata, who seek salvation by visiting the temple. Some even see them as reincarnations of the mythical 'Jambavan' from the Ramayana epic. Cursed or otherwise, never have I seen or heard of wild animals being so disciplined.

The forest department volunteers deputed at the temple, who act as a barrier between overenthusiastic visitors and the bears, do their job well. The Sloth Bears even respond to their commands, eat what they feed them and return peacefully to the jungle once their stomachs are full. According to the volunteers, the bears visit the temple due to a scarcity of natural food in the forest. They also agree that the bears have probably become too lazy to find food for themselves.

It has almost been a decade since Sloth Bears started visiting the temple, and during this entire period, not even a single incident of human-bear conflict has been recorded. The Chandi Mata temple in Bagbahara is a heartening example of human-wildlife coexistence in 21st-century India!

Chandi Mata temple in Bagbahara, Chhattisgarh
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The Chandi Mata temple in Bagbahara, Chhattisgarh, was constructed between 1949-50, but according to the locals, the naturally formed Chandi Mata idol is more than 150 years old.
Sloth bear with cubs at the Chandi Mata temple in Bagbahara
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A Sloth Bear mother and her two cubs (around six months old) entered the temple premises at around 4 PM. They immediately became the centre of attention. Some started taking selfies and photos, and others recorded videos with their cellphones, all from a very close distance.
Devotees feeding wild Sloth Bears at the Chandi Mata temple
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As soon as the photo session got over, some overenthusiastic devotees started to feed prasad to the mother bear and her cubs from their own hands.
Forest department officials taking care of Sloth Bears at Chandi Mata temple
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Prompt intervention by the forest department volunteers reeled in the eager devotees as they were restricted to feeding the bears from a distance (as seen in the photo). The prasad consisted mainly of dates, coconut, and sweets, which the bears devoured happily.
Wild Sloth Bears drinking bottled juice at Chandi Mata temple
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Once the devotees were done feeding them and the crowd dispersed, the bears were let out from the enclosure. That was when I saw something unexpected as one of the volunteers handed the mother bear a bottle of Frooti (a flavoured mango drink). The bear sat on her hind legs, held the bottle up and emptied it in one go!
Sloth Bears drinking bottled fruit juice at Chandi Mata temple
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I learned from the volunteers that the mango drink was their favourite. They don't offer it to the cubs till they reach a certain age, but the adult bears are very fond of it. Whenever a bear needs to be medicated, the volunteers lace a bottle of Frooti with the required dosage. Some might argue that wild animals should not be fed flavoured drinks, but the volunteers say they haven't seen a single bear become sick from this. As you can see in the image, the mother bear is hand-fed a bottle of Frooti by a volunteer as her cub longingly watches on.
forest department volunteer feeding wild Sloth Bears
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A forest department volunteer feeds groundnuts to the mother bear as a small crowd gathers to capture the scene on their mobile phones. The volunteers work to keep the devotees at a safe distance, and the bears even follow their commands.
Wild Sloth Bears at the Chandi Mata Temple in Chhattisgarh
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The mother bear and her cub receive a loving pat on their heads from a forest department volunteer. It was just before the bear family left for the jungle, after being amply fed, almost as if they were saying goodbye for the day. The visitors, of course, never wanted to miss a moment!
Wild Sloth Bears near the Chandi Mata Temple in Bagbahara Chhattisgarh
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Once the bears left for the day, I tried to follow them to see where they were going. There must be a cosy cave somewhere in those rocky hills, I thought to myself as I watched them disappear into the jungle.