Are khichdi-eating jackals of Rann of Kutch disappearing?
The practice of feeding them khichdi has halted for the past 8-10 years. (India Today)  Kala Dungar mountain is situated at a distance of about 25 km in Kutch in Gujarat. Here, tourists flock to the mountains to enjoy the view. Another thing that attracts attention here is the Dattatreya temple, where jackals come every evening to eat khichdi (rice dish) prasad. However, the practice of feeding them khichdi has halted for the past 8-10 years. Hiralal Khavda, the chief of the Dattatreya temple, told India Today TV that earlier 60-70 jackals used to come to the temple to eat khichdi offerings, but for the past few years, "jackals do not come here now and even if they come, only a few of them visit the place, which is worrying". The tradition of feeding khichdi to jackals is a 200-year-old practice. The jackals used to come every evening when called from 'Long Prasad Otlo', a platform built near the temple. Now, they have stopped coming to the temple. Hiralal Rajde Khavda said, "I am 72-year-old and have been seeing a tribe of jackals in the temple since childhood. My ancestors have also come here telling us things about eating khichdi by a pack of jackals. But in the past 8-10 years, the number of tourists has increased. People take pictures of jackals, which scares them. So they have stopped coming." Nimisha Srivastava, who has done research on jackals, told India Today TV that there is a fair number of jackals in the Kala Dungar area. But after the 2003 Bhuj earthquake, authorities are planning to reduce jackals here. Nimisha said that when she went to do research on jackals in Kala Dungar, she saw only two of them. Nimisha interacted with the local Maldhari community to know more about the extinction of jackals, Besides the earthquake, it has been suspected that a disease could be behind the declining number of jackals. However, she said that no disease has been ascertained regarding the disease so far. Deputy Conservator of Forests (Kutch East forest division) Harsh Thakkar, "The increase in tourists was also one of the reasons why jackals no longer come to the temple. But it is not that the number of jackals has decreased. Even today, there are many jackals around the Kala Dungar mountain. Hiralal Rajde Khavda said that it is believed that Guru Dattatreya wandered towards the mountain of Kala Dungar. "Here he saw a jackal yearning for food. He had nothing to give the jackal to eat, so Guru Dattatreya gave his finger to the jackal by saying 'le ang' (come, eat)." Hiralal Rajde Khavda said that it is believed that Guru Dattatreya wandered towards the mountain of Kala Dungar. "Here he saw a jackal yearning for food. As he had nothing to offer it, Guru Dattatreya offered the jackal his finger."