The hunting ritual begins on the last day of Chaitra (mid-April) or Pana-Sankranti as it is called in Oriya -- and continues till the end of May. Tribals, in groups of 50 to 500, enter the Park through untrodden paths and establish shikar camps in areas known to be populated by animals. They then set fire to the dry leaves that litter the forest floor. The animals are thus trapped within a ring of fire. It is then that the animal killing spree begins. The hunters kill all the animals they come across indiscriminately, except for the tiger andelephant.

Before they set out, the participants go through a series of rituals conducted by the dehuris or tribal priests. It's an age-old tradition, with its date being fixed by the Parganas or the heads of all the clans. The date is then publicised by means of a knotted string called the gira-ganthi. A special messenger then carries the gira-ganthi from village to village to publicise the date. Other details, like the areas of the forest to be covered, and so on, are also fixed by the Parganas.

The dehuri offers puja to the presiding deity of the hills, and the ceremony, includes the offering of vermilion and red fowls to the gods, together with sun-dried rice and incense. As the fowls are sacrificed, its blood is poured on the sun-dried rice and offered to the other gods of the locality with incantations.

The formalities over, news of the hunt is conveyed by blowing the horn made from the horn of the Indian bison. The hunting carries on as musical instruments, which include drums, bells and cymbals,are played by a band constituted for the purpose. After the day's hunt, the tribals assemble to a fixed area for a night of festivities. The Parganas also decide disputes that may arise over the sharing of the hunted game, which is heaped under the shade of a tree.

Incidentally, women never accompany the men in these excursions. In fact they don't comb their hair, wash their clothes or apply cow dung on the floors of their homesteads until the men return because they believe that this would endanger the lives of the hunters. One of the special rules followed is that the men who hunt sleep separately from their wives and do not have sexual intercourse on the night before the hunt. The end of a hunt is an occasion for joy. The women wash the feet of the hunters and rub oil into their tired legs.

But while these akhand shikars could interest the anthropologist, environmentalists have expressed concern on the irretrievable damage they cause to the tapestry of life in the forest since at least a thousandtribals go on a rampage liquidating hundreds of wild animals and spoiling vast tracts of vegetation by setting it on fire.

During the current shikar season, there has been 14 encounters between the field staff of the Simplipal Tiger Reserve and the tribals so far. On April 19, two people were arrested at the Kalikaprasad check gate for carrying some sambar meat and two bison horns. Yet another healthy bison was killed by another group near Tiktali. The bison meat was burned by the Project Tiger staff, and two persons were arrested in this connection.

In another incident, during a camp shikar near Patharghera, hunters killed one barking deer and roasted its meat for a tribal feast. The jaws of the animal was the only evidence of their presence that they left behind. Of the 14 encounters, the authorities claim to have successfully aborted the hunt in 11 instances and their anti-poaching staff claim to have chased away large groups of hunters.

``Anti-poaching surveillance has been stepped up and 29anti-poaching camps have been established to combat the menace,'' says S.S. Srivastava, field director of the Simlipal Tiger Reserve. The camps were so designed as to blend in with their environs and anti-poaching staff even hid on tree-tops under adverse conditions.

According to Srivastava, the annual akhand shikar seriously disturbs the prey base of the tiger, besides causing irreparable damage to Simlipal's bio-diversity. The Park, he says, is a unique repository of endangered species from both the animal and plant kingdoms. ``Many of the plants and animals here may be pushed to the brink of extinction if the practice continues, year after year,'' he says. The Park has an estimated 1,076 plant species which includes 87 species of orchids. There are 29 species of reptiles here, as also 281 species of birds. He would like the core area of the Park to be made inviolate and free from human presence, so that the tiger and its faunal associates can exist in perfect harmony with each other, breed andprosper.

While his arguments may please the conservationist, it is difficult to ignore the human dimension of this problem. Gurva Soren, secretary of the Society for Research and Development of Tribal Culture, sympathises with the tribal cause. ``This hunt has been part and parcel of Santal tradition and cultural practices,'' he argues. He however hopes to educate the tribals on the need to conserve wildlife.

At the Sarbanaghati Mankadia colony, G. Hebrom, a headman of the Birhor tribal community, points out that the tribals in the area are so poor that they are compelled to fell trees and kill animals. ``A colony built for tribals about 10 km west of Udala is devoid of even the basic facilities, including drinking water, schools and health facilities for children,'' Hebrom points out. Tribals don't have any employment opportunities and thus have no option but to carry on with the ways of their forefathers.

Hebrom points to the unhappy lot of the Birhor tribal. ``To this day they eke out a living bymaking ropes from the Siali creepers that grow locally. When they were in the forest, they had access to plenty of Siali fibre, but the moment they were resettled at the Sarbanaghati Mankadia colony, they were deprived of their only means to a livelihood. Now they have to trek at least 100 km from their present homes to collect the creeper,'' says Hebrom.

Swagat Bose, a member of the Society for Advancement of Forestry and Environment, also states that life has become extremely difficult for the tribals in this region. ``The special needs of the tribals must first be addressed sympathetically, if you want to solve the problem of rampant poaching. Give them the means to a decent existence and they will no longer hunt down animals and cut wood,'' says Bose. It is a point that Sonali Murmu, another social activist of the area, couldn't agree with more: ``Conservation cannot be tackled without first dealing with the human dimension of the problem.''