Satara, Athara and Unnis were born during the 2006 monsoon months to tigress Machali and Ranthambhore's dominant male T2. Machali's cubs from her previous litter, Bahadur and Sharmelee, were still living within her territory and hadn't separated from their mother. After giving birth to her new litter, Machali became intolerant of Sharmelee and would chase her away whenever she found her close to the younger cubs.

Sharmelee eventually took over Lakkarda – once part of Machali's territory – and rarely returned to her mother and the new litter. Bahadur stayed with Machali and the new cubs for a few months and then drifted off to establish his own territory. At first, Machali kept the cubs between the lakes and Nalghati and rarely ventured out of this area. The territory boasts a high density of sambar deer (India's largest deer species) on which the cubs were raised. Ranthambhore had recently been targeted by organized gangs of poachers and the tiger population had plummeted. As a result the cubs were relatively safe from attack and continued to expand their territories as they matured.