The Western Ghats

Author's Preface

2008-09-14T18:49:00.000-07:00

The Western Ghats

Preface

The Sahyadris or the Western Ghats is a major mountain range of the world that runs for 1,600 km N-S forming what has been called “the girdle of the earth”. In terms of geological age, they are much older than the Himalayas.
The range is only next to the Himalayas on the Indian subcontinent and represents the tropical humid area rich in biodiversity. It is a precious gift of the Nature - priceless because the well-being of the entire southern peninsula hinges on the ecological stability of these mountains.
But this priceless asset, an inheritance, is being squandered away through mindless exploitation and wanton destruction. The rate of forest destruction continues at a staggering rate, threatening to turn this once lush green region into a lifeless, brown desert in the not so distant future.

In this book I have attempted to construct a profile of the Western Ghats covering different aspects - from the geological history to the tribes and the hill stations with the intention of showing what is it that we are in the process of destroying. It is high time that the common man is made aware of this irreversible damage which will ultimately affect the quality of life and his well-being and that of the generations to come.

I was born in a village at the base of the Sahyadris in Goa on the West Coast and spent all my life in the shadows of this great mountain range. When I looked for a publication that gives an overview of the Sahyadris, I did not find any. So I started collecting material from various available sources and put it together. This book is the result of that endeavour. I also undertook journeys and travelled the whole length and breadth of this range from Kundaibari Pass, south of the Tapti river to Kanyakumari with my camera.

Mohan Pai
September 7, 2005
Bangalore.

Ecotourism in the Western Ghats

2008-09-14T18:23:00.000-07:00

Ecotourism in the Western Ghats

While the hill stations in the Western Ghats from Saputara in Gujarat in the north to Ponmudi near Agasthyakoodam in the extreme south draw considerable tourist traffic in the Western Ghats, Eco-tourism has now taken roots and side by side with adventure sports like trekking, rock climbing, river rafting, hang-gliding, angling, etc. is becoming popular and spreading in the hills.

Ecotourism is defined as “Responsible travel to natural areas that conserve the environment and sustains the well-being of people”.

Anshi Nature Camp
Ecotourism creates low impact on the environment and local cultures while enabling to understand the importance of environment in true sense. The ecotourist is less demanding, more cooperative and willing to adapt and accommodate himself with minimum reasonable facilities in his search for virgin destinations.
He develops an emotional investment in the places and the species he had visited. He is always willing to contribute for their survival and lend moral support for all conservation action. Many government and private ecolodges have sprung up in the Western Ghats catering to this class of tourist.

The Kerala Forest and Tourism Department have begun the process of developing 12 wildlife sanctuaries under ecotourism and will offer ecolodges for the tourists. The State Tourist Development Corporations of all the concerned states offer comfortable accommodation at all the major tourist spots. The State Forest Departments also offer accommodation at their forest lodges and rest houses inside the sanctuaries like Bandipur and Madumalai.

A number of ecolodges and ecoresorts have come up on the outskirts of sanctuaries at Bandipur and Masinagudi near Madumalai. Karnataka Forest Department has also established Nature Camps in jungles at places like Nisargadhama in Kodagu, Anshi and Kulgi in Uttara Kannada which offer cottages and tent accommodation.

Quite a sizeable number of private ecoresorts have come up among the coffee estates of Kodagu and Munnar. Dandeli and Nersa near Karnataka - Goa border, Lakkidi and Nelliyampaythy in Kerala, Bellikal in the Nilgiris, Dajipur Bison Sanctuary in Maharashtra all have private ecoresorts.

Home Stays is another option now available to the ecotourist in some of the places in the Western Ghats. Kodagu in Karnataka leads in the Home Stay arrangement.

The Hill Stations

2008-09-13T05:04:00.000-07:00

...and they created little England

Majority of the hill stations in India were created by the British during their three centuries in India. Most of them were established during the nine-teenth century expansion of the British empire.
The Moguls, however, had created cool pleasure gardens in Kashmir two centuries before the British arrived in India Club House at Munnar
The British in India attempted to create fond reminders of home but despite their best efforts, they could not entirely succeed in making “a little England” in India - a quaint Indian-ness always pervaded.
During the early and mid-nineteenth century over 80 hill stations were established at altitudes between 1,230 and 2,460 metres.

Coonoor Town

The British had to face the tropical heat in the subcontinent and a great deal of physical discomfort in the months leading up to the monsoons. The Britishers considered from their earliest days in India that tropical heat was downright unhealthy. Most of the earliest stations were built as army cantonments to give European troops a breather from the pre-monsoon heat, military units being regularly rotated between the plains and the hills.
Remote cantonments lingered on in isolation as sterile military barracks while the more accessible ones were transformed by the life-giving force of civilians into gay social and educational centres. It was considered desirable to send women and children to cooler places in the mountains. Memsahibs spent four to five months every year in the hills, while some of their offspring were sent to the boarding schools that had sprung up in these resorts, until the time came for these children to return to Britain.
The resorts nearest to large administrative centres usually attracted local patronage, so Ooty was the summer capital for Madras, Mahabaleshwar became the summer capital of Bombay Presidency.

Others were more popular with particular clientele e.g. Kotagiri served as a station for planters and boxwallahs. Madanapalle, was mainly the goal for pensioned officials; Matheran, always acted as amagnet to wealthy Parsee Merchants sweltering in Bombay’s pre-monsoon humidity. Kodaikanal was not founded by the British but by the ailing American missionaries. Several hill stations have been planned and built since independence came in 1947. But they all served a similar purpose, though northerners rarely went south, and vice versa, and regular visitors to the hills tended to become devoted to a particular resort.
The Western stations, conveniently clustered in a loop south of Mumbai, are not much over two thousand feet, with the highest, Mahabaleshwar, reaching a modest height of 4,700 ASL. These stations perch on the Western Ghats and are free from snowfalls and rarely experience frost. At their southern extremity, the Ghats suddenly descend into rolling downs and then rise again to plateaux of surprising height; Ootcamund and Kodaikanal are higher than almost any other hill station save a few in the Himalayas and have a climate almost European in coolness and damp. Regardless of location, the highest resorts were usually the preserves of the leaders of the society, while the merchant classes, known as boxwallahs recuperated in the lower altitude stations and the common soldiery were confined to adjacent cantonments, on the occasions they were shuttled up from the plains.
The following are the hill stations located in the Western Ghats. Most of the hill stations were founded and developed by the British in the 19th century and some were developed by the princely state in the west and the south.

A number of hill stations have been developed after independence which include Saputara in Gujarat, Malsej Ghat and Igatpuri in Maharashtra, Kudremukh and B. R.Hills in Karnataka, Red Hills, Bellikkal and Palni in Tamilnadu; Wayanad, Silent Valley, Thekkady and Nelliampathy in Kerala.

The major hill stations in the Western Ghats :

Mahabaleshwar
Mahabaleshwar is the largest and most popular hill station in Western India. At 1,372 metres (4,501 ft) above sea level, it also has the most spectacular views.
The first mention of Mahaba-leshwar describes a visit there by the Yadav king Singhana in 1215. In commemoration he built a temple dedicated to the God Mahadev. Subsequently this hill region was undisturbed for centuries.

View from Arthur's Seat

The first white man to visit Mahabaleshwar was Sir Charles Matel, British Resident at Poona in 1791, though others believe that the first European to set foot in these hills was a Major Lodwick in 1824. Lodwick campaigned for the establishment of a hill station at this remote jungle site, the name of which he corrupted to Mahabillysir. The newly arrived Governor of Bombay, stayed at a bunglow built on Sindola hill. He was so impressed that he ordered a survey of the Mahabaleshwar hills and directed the medical board of Bombay to appoint an expert to investigate the climate and convalescent homes for British soldiers were established, though a treaty had to be signed with the Rajah of Satara for a territorial exchange giving him title to the village of Khandala.
Vena Lake

In a short time, Mahabaleshwar became quite popular and was quickly named as the summer capital of the Bombay Presidency. The new resort flourished, houses sprang up, sites were found for public buildings, and a jail was established for Malay and Chinese convicts.
The new community certainly benefitted from the prisoners presence in the form of rapidly and cheaply constructed roads, buildings and gardens. And the industrious prisoners cultivated potatoes, strawberries and English vegetables with great success.
During1830s Mahabaleshwar prospered and roads were built to open up a number of vantage points for the pleasure of the increasing number of visitors. The most popular viewing place was Bombay Point, where a large space was cleared for turning carriages and a band platform was erected, but Arthur’s Seat, Elphinstone and Sidney Points were also much visited. Before long a criss-cross of trails, totalling some 60 kms, cut across this corner of hills.

Panchgani
In1850, a retired officer of the East India Company, chose a site eleven miles away from Mahabaleshwar, on a spur of the Western Ghat, 200 ft lower than Mahabaleshwar, but on the lee side, thus escaping the heavy rains and mist of the outer ranges.
Here five villages were clustered together and called Panchgani. At fifty-six inches per annum, Panchgani rainfall is one fifth that of Mahabaleshwar, making it habitable throughout the year.
The cool salubrious climate was well-suited for a European colony. Panchgani was recognised as a hill sanatorium in 1863 by the governor of Bombay.

Matheran
Matheran was discovered by one Hugh Malet, the collector of Thana on an isolated hill top near the Western Ghats only thirty miles east of Bombay.

Matheran’s summit is crowned with thick forest and undergrowth. Even at the hottest time of the year, the spreading, leafy cover makes mid-day walking a pleasure, except when the monsoon breaks in mid-June, for the annual rainfall exceeds 200 inches.
The railway to Matheran was built by Sir Adamji Porbhoy, the father of Matheran railway. He travelled from Bombay to Neral on the railway line originally built in 1854, the first in India, and planned to continue by the more elementary transport then available on to Matheran. Unfortunately he was in the midst of an excessive rush, for all horses and rickshaws were booked forcing him to return to Bombay. He decided to build a railway of his own to Matheran. After thirteen lakhs of rupees and four years of effort the railway was completed and Sir Adamji could enjoy all the satisfaction of a fulfilled ambition.
The railway was a boon for all Matheran-bound travellers, for until 1907 the lengthy trip on horseback from Neral to Matheran was not exactly relished by Bombay businessmen, who were mostly Parsees, for this community was in the forefront from the time Matheran was first established as a summer resort.

Purandhar Hill
This is an old fort, possessed at one time by the grandfather of the legendary Shivaji, and later used as a refuge by the Peshwas of Poona when they were forced to flee their capital. At the conclusion of the second Maratha War, the British took over the fort in1818 and subsequently, Purandhar became the official sanatorium for European troops of Poona Division of Western Command.

Lonavala/Khandala
Lonavala stood on the Great Indian Peninsular railway line, and was easily accessible from Bombay and Poona. As many as eight schools had been established there as well as two religious missions, a co-operative store and three hotels. An ancient wood of fine trees, fifty six acres in extent, doubtlessly helped to attract the large number of visitors from Bombay.

Just next door, Khandala had an European hotel, four schools, convalescent home, dispensary and several bungalows built by Bombay businessmen.
Khandala offered many fine views of the Ghat range which ran north and south along lines of great natural beauty. A nearby waterfall divided into two cataracts during the rainy season, with the upper fall having sheer drop of three hundred feet.

Amboli
Amboli 30 kms up the Ghats from Sawantwadi, is a small settlement perched only 2,300 ft up on the edge of the Western Ghats. It commanded fine view and offered pleasant climate and good accommodation for the tired travellers who journeyed up via either Ramghat or Mahadeogarh. It was developed as a hill station by the British political agent, Colonel Westrop, after the opening of the Ghat road from the coastal town of Vengurla to Belgaum. Of Amboli in the 1880s it was said ‘the ghats... Swarm with beasts, but the jungle is so dense that it is almost impossible to drive them from their lairs’. Even today there is some forest around Amboli.

Hiranyakeshi Stream, Amboli

Amboli is on record as the wettest place in Maharashtra with an average of 750 cms (296 inches) of rainfall a year, falling between June and October. At this time, the hill station is wrapped in mist. In other seasons there are fine views of the Konkan coastal belt. Because of its size and distance from Mumbai, it is quiet and peaceful.

Kemmanagundi
Kemmanagundi, 55 km north from Chickmagalur is situated in the Bababudangiri range. It was developed by the princely state of Mysore. It is also called K. R. Hills after Wodeyar king Krishnaraja Wodeyar IV who made it his favourite summer camp. It is at an elevation of 1,434 metres and has beautifully laid out ornamental gardens and panoramic view of mountains and valleys.

Ishwara Shrine atop Mulainagiri near Chickmagalur
Madikeri
Madikeri is situated in the Pushpagiri range of the Western Ghats in Kodagu at an elevation of 1220 m.

Madikeri in monsoons

The Kodavas or Coorgis have been the majority population in Kodagu since at least the ninth century AD. The last Indian dynasty to rule Kodagu was that of the Lingayat kings. The British and the rajas never saw eye-to-eye. In 1834 six British troops marched into Madikeri and hoisted the British flag. Madikeri was never developed by the British as a hill station. It was mainly the centre and meeting place for the coffee planters from the surrounding coffee estates. Tombs of Kodava Lingayat Kings at Madikeri
When you enter Kodagu, it is like entering an enchanted land. Range upon range of forested hills stretch into the distance. There are rosewood and sandalwood trees, deep in the shade are thousands of hectares of coffee bushes, black pepper vines, the celebrated Coorg orange trees and near the beds of streams, cardamom plants.

Buddhist Monastery, Bylakuppe, Coorg

The valleys are brilliant green with paddy which produces aromatic rice that is the staple diet of the Kodavas. Over the last decade or so, a number of tourist resorts have come up, spread all over Kodagu and the number of visitors to Kodagu has considerably gone up.

River Kaveri at Nisargadhama, Coorg

Ootacamund
Little is known of the early history of the Nilgiris. The first recorded time the word ‘nila’ applied to the region can be traced to 1117 AD in the report of a general of Vishnuvardhan, King of Hoysalas, who in reference to his enemies, claimed to have “frightened the Todas, driven the Kangas underground, slaughtered the Poluvas, put to death the Malayalas, and terrified king Kala” and then proceeded to offer up the peak of Nila mountain (presumably Dodabetta) to Lakshmi, Goddess of Wealth.
The first European to attempt the gruelling climb to the Nilgiris were Portugese clerics led by Father Jerome Ferreiri in 1602 seeking a lost group of Christians and who struggled up the mountains avoiding elephants, tigers and other wild beasts, and met the Todas at the top. The Toda’s showed no interest in conversion, so Father Ferreiri and his small band headed back to Calicut.

A view of Ooty from Doddabetta Peak

The East India Company annexed the Nilgiris from the territory of Tipu Sultan, whom the company’s troops defeated in 1799 at Srirangapatnam. Toda tribal temple. Nilgiris
It was not until 1812 that the members of a survey team climbed the mountains, though stopping short of where the Ooty is today.
In 1818, two customs officials on the track of a gang of tobacco smugglers, reported finding a large, secluded plateau guided by some Badagas, a tribe inhabiting the lower mountain slopes. On their return to Coimbatore, they reported their discovery to John Sullivan, Collector of Customs.
Sullivan visited the hills, accompanied by a surgeon and an ailing French naturalist and began construction of a bungalow at Dimhatti, the farthest point he had reached earlier. The Frenchman recovered in the cool climate and wrote an enthusiastic account of his findings, listing over a hundred species of plants new to him. Sullivan was determined to live there and in April 1822 began construction of a small bungalow, the first building in Ooty. Others followed him purchasing land from the Todas for one Rupee per acre. Sullivan, however, bought up vast land and going into construction venture, sold and leased housing at a considerable profit.
In 1827 Ooty became the official sanatorium for the Madras Presidency and the Madras Government began to move up there in hot season.
Ooty stands 2,240 metres (7,349 ft above sea level) in the Nilgiris or the Blue Mountains at the junction of the Western and the Eastern Ghats. The undulating countryside allows Ooty to spread over 36 sq. km. Sullivan, popularly known as the father of Ootacamund, had been the guiding and dominant figure in Ooty’s early years; his portrait still hangs in the Ootacamund Club.

There is an interesting anecdote about the origin of the name Ootacamund. The Toda while selling land to a Briton said in broken English “I take da money and Youtakedamund”.
Among the famous personalities who visited and stayed over a period in Ooty in the early period are Thomas Babington Macaulay, the famous academic and politician and Richard Burton, later to become a controversial explorer and Arabist.
When it was made the summer capital of Madras Presidency. Governors, governor generals and princes flocked to the hill station and its active club life rivalled any centre on the plains. It came to be called ‘Snooty Ooty’. Satellite hill stations grew up around it - Coonoor, Kotagiri and Wellington for the army. Tea became the leading cash crop of the area after the first bushes were introduced at an experimental farm in nearby Kettu by a French botanist. The best Nilgiri teas still rival Darjeeling tea for flavour. Chinchona for quinine, and coffee were also introduced. The hill station’s popularity increased still further after Independence and it is now the favourite hill station for southern Indian holiday makers.

Coonoor
Coonoor, 1,858 metres (6,096 ft) above sea level is the second largest station in the Nilgiris and lies on the eastern side of the Dodabetta range but easily accessible from the plains. It receives rain from north east monsoons. Coonoor rises up the sides of basin formed by the expansion of the Jakatala valley, at the mouth of a gorge and surrounded by wooded hills and it soon became rated in the south second only to Ooty. Its rainfall of sixty-three inches normally falls during the short period of ninetyone days.
Coonoor had several tea and coffee estates in the vicinity. The town was well kept, but the increasing population had strained the drainage system. The Europeans, as always, had occupied the upper level of the town, leaving the native bazaars to the valley below.
Situated at the principal pass from the plains, Coonoor offered several beautiful drives along twenty miles of excellent roads, along the sides of which grew hedges of roses, fuchsia and hellitrop; and magnificent vistas of the steep-sided valleys on either side of the ghat road.

Wellington
A British regiment was stationed in 1843 at a small village called Jakatala, one thousand feet below Ootacamund. An officers training college was built there in order to acclamatise new recruits for the Madras Regiment, and it was renamed Wellington, after the great Duke, in 1854. These barracks became HQ for the Southern Brigade of the 9th Secunderabd Division, turning Wellington into principal military sanatorium. It remained popular until 1947, when it became the site for the permanent quarters of Madras Regiment. Only eleven degrees from the Equator, Wellington has a temperate climate and a covering of rich soil, resulting in rapid and prolific growth of many varieties of fruit and vegetables on its intersecting hills and valleys.

Kotagiri
Kotagiri, founded in 1830, is perched among wooded slopes of the Nilgiris overlooking ravines and fertile valleys. This town became the seat of judgement for fortnightly crime trials. The climate here has long been preferred by many to that prevailing in Ooty as it is warmer and less exposed to the vagaries of the south-west monsoon.

Kodaikanal
Pre-historic artefacts have been found around Kodaikanal, indicating that it was once the home of now forgotten people who left behind mysterious megalithic structures, burial grounds, and tombs containing copper and brass implements and ornaments. In 1834 the collector of Madurai, built a house at the head of Shembagannur pass and the development of Kodaikanal began. Kodaikanal is situated on the upper crust of the Palni Hills at an elevation of 2000 m.

The first permanent homes in Kodaikanal were erected by a group of American missionaries, who had been based in Madurai who suffered many deaths from a fearful attack of cholera. They built a bungalow in Sirmalai hills, but its altitude of 4,000 ft gave some relief from the after effects of cholera, but not from malaria. They appealed to the British to help locate a more suitable site and soon the first two crude bungalows, named Sunnyside and Shelton, had appeared in Kodaikanal basin and six American families moved in. Soon British neighbours settled around them and Kodaikanal was on the map of South India.
Kodaikanal because of its situation is protected from the heavy monsoons which deluge nearby ranges from May to September. As light rain falls throughout the year the region is spared the occasional dry spells and water shortages which affect the Nilgiris.
The scenery with its grassy rolling downs and beautiful little shola woods and perennial streams flowing through them attracted the Europeans.

Alwaye

The early Portugese called Alwaye ‘Fiera d’Alva’ which was their favourite bathing place. It may, have been the very first hill station in the subcontinent, though we do not know when they first appeared at this small hill station in the former Travancore state. The resort boasted twice-weekly market with large trade in grain, fish and cattle. Alwaye popular also in Madras Presidency, now had a police station, post office, district hospital and unusual for a hill station, a custom house.
Alwaye, just 21 km away from Ernakulam is an ideal place for swimming in the river Periyar.

Munnar
Munnar, at 1,652 metres (5,420 ft), is a small town surrounded by the Anaimalai Hills and tea estates. It stands at the confluence of three rivers - the Muthirappuzha, Nallathani and Kundala. Moonu in Tamil means ‘three’ and aar ‘river’. The highest peak in South India - Anaimudi 2,695 m is just 20 kms from Munnar. Munnar was the favourite summer resort of European settlers for centuries but has taken place on the tourism map of India only recently. It was the best-kept secret among hill station destinations.

Tea gardens of Munnar

Until the second half of the 19th century, Munnar was part of an inhospitable and inaccessible area of thickly forested mountains. Its sole inhabitants were a tribal community called the Madhuvans, expert hunters and gatherers, who practised slash and burn cultivation. They still retain their customs although the pressures of modern life are eroding them. Officially Munnar belonged to the Poonjar Rajas of the state of Travancore. Muvathpuza River, Munnar

The first European to venture into the area appears to have been the Duke of Wellington, when, as Colonel Arthur Wellesly, he marched across the ghats to fight Tipu Sultan, the ruler of Mysore in 1790. With Tipu’s defeat, though not at the hands of Wellington’s column, British influence in Kerala became supreme. Malabar was annexed from Mysore and the Rajas of Travancore and Cochin were subject to British interference. Vellara Waterfalls near Munnar

The year 1887 marked the beginning of the opening up of the High Ranges. John Daniel Munro of Pimmede, an officer of Travancore state and superintendent of the Cardamom hills leased the hill tract from the government. Munroe explored the area by following elephant paths and began to bring planters, mainly Scots, to join him in clearing the jungle. Life for pioneers was hard.
In the 1890s, The Finlay Muir company moved into the hills and persuaded some of the proprietary planters to work for them. The company came to control almost all the estates in the area and its name is still preserved in the Indian company, Tata Finlay Ltd, which now owns them.Finlay Muir’s arrival did not make life any easier on the plantations. The hills were still inaccessible, except from the Tamil Nadu side. And so Tamil labourers were brought up to man the estates.
Planters experimented with rubber and chinchona before settling for tea which was transported by ropeways from Top Station outside Munnar to Bottom Station where it was packed in Imperial Chests shipped out from Britain and despatched to Tuticorin harbour. In 1908 a light railway was opened to take the tea from Munnar to Top Station, but it was destroyed by floods in 1924. In 1931, the ghat road from the Cochin side to Munnar was finally opened and Top Station was no longer needed to transport the tea.

Nilgiri Tahr, Eravikulam Park near Munnar

There are roads to Munnar from Cochin, 224 km to the west, and Thekkady, 117 km away. There is also a mountain road which links Munnar with Kodaikanal only 92 km to the east. This road is extremely beautiful and lonely. Munnar has now become quite a popular hill station with many tourist resorts.
Ponmudi
Ponmudi is on the fringes of the Western Ghats near Agasthyakoodam at 6,201 ft. Much less is known of the history of Ponmudi, also on a hilltop in Travancore state 3,281 ft up at the head of the basin of the Vamanapuram river 65 kms from Trivandrum. It is a hill station with a view of the ocean and located among tea plantations in the heart of misty mountain tops.

Courtallam
Though only 1450 ft above sea level, Courtallam is cooled by the summer monsoon in late May. This settlement became a spa town because of the warmth of the water delivered by its waterfalls.
Courtallam is referred to as the “Spa of the South”. Its a small village located half-way between the towns of Shencottai and Tenkasi in Tamilnadu. There are six waterfalls at Courtallam, spread out over an area of 10 sq. km, most people head for the Main Falls formed by the Chittar river thundering down over the huge steps of vertical rockface.
Some of the newer hill stations that have been developed or are in the process of being developed are briefly covered below:

Saputara (the Dangs, Gujarat)

Saputara is situated in the Western Ghats at the southern tip of Gujarat in the Dangs district at an elevation of 3,196 ft above sea level. Saputara means the “abode of Serpents”. Being a post-independence discovery, Saputara exudes a more desi charm than the usual colonial style hill stations. The Dangs is a tribal districtand there are tribal villages of Bhils, Warlis and Gamits among others. Saputara Town

There is also a museum which showcases the life and arts of tribal people that reside in the Dangs. The Dang tribals gave Saputara its name, for they come here during festivals such as Nag Panchami and Holi to worship the snake on the banks of Sarpaganga river. There is a placid lake which is the main attraction and the paddle boats operate throughout the year. The recently built ropeway is another attraction for the visitors. There is also the Hatgadh Fort and Pandava Caves nearby. Saputara is on the border of Maharashtra and only about 80 km from Nasik by road.
Malsej Ghat
Malsej Ghat is located in the Junnar region of Pune district at an altitude of 3,500 ft above sea level in the Western Ghats just 150 km from Mumbai. Malsej Ghat is located on a high plateau surrounded by the magical hills and the backwaters of Pimpal-gaon Joga dam. In the monsoons, the Western Ghats come into their own when the rain begins to lash against them and a series of waterfalls are formed. Harishchandra-gad Fort is nearby on a mountain that rises about 4,670 ft.

Malsej Ghat

Atop the fort is a huge plateau and Harishchandreshwar Mandir. There is also a point behind the temple over-looking the awe inspiring Konkan Kada, a horse-shoe shaped valley with sheer cliff faces. Droves of pink-legged European flamingoes migrate here for about a month every year between July and September. They come here to breed in the marshy backwaters of Pimpalgaon Joga dam.
Kudremukh
Kudremukh, at 6,214 ft elevation in Malnad region of Karnataka, again is a hill resort that is developed during post independence. It is located just 95 km southwest of Chickmagalur. Kudremukh peak is close to the township that has been developed by Kudremukh Iron Ore Company that has extensive mining operations in the area.

River Bhadra at Kalasa

The area is now designated as a National Park, which has extensive evergreen forests and sholas. Ganganamula, the source of three important rivers - Tunga, Bhadra and Netravathi is located in the Bhagwati forest range in this area.
Kudremukh National Park with an area of 600.32 sq. km is situated in two districts - Dakshina Kannada and Chickmagalur.

Kudremukh Forests

The area is home to Lion-tailed macaque, a highly endangered species. Other species include Panther, Tiger, Sloth Bear, Sambar, Malabar squirrel, Wild Pig and Gaur. Kalasa is a picturesque town located on the Banks of Bhadra river is just 20 km from Kudremukh and has many places of tourist interest nearby.
B. R. Hills
Biligiri Rangaswamy Range lies between the Kaveri and Kapila rivers in southern Karnataka. The area is a thick forest of moist and dry deciduous forests with patches of shola rainforest. The altitude varies from 750 to 1,816 metres, the highest point being Kattari Betta in the southern point of the sanctuary.

Lake at B. R. Hills

BRT is a designated wildlife sanctuary spread over an area of 539 sq. kms in the Biligiri Rangaswamy and Male Mahdeshwara ranges which forms an important link between the Eastern and the Western Ghats. The wildlife includes Tiger, leopard, Elephant, Cheetal, Sambar, Sloth Bear, Gaur, Langur, Spotted Deer, Peafowl and Grey Jungle Fowl.
The Soligas are the oldest tribal inhabitants of these forests, with a population of about 20,000. The Soligas have co-existed with the forest for centuries in quiet harmony and have a rich traditional knowledge and cultural life. A few tourist resorts have now come up in the B. R. Hills.
Wayanad
Wayanad lies on the southern slopes of the Brahmagiri hills that separate Kerala and Karnataka at the junction of Nilgiri hills. Wayanad has now become a tourist hill destination because it offers spectacular mountain settings, a rich variety of wildlife in its sanctuaries and tribal settlements. The tourist centres are Tholpetty, Lakkidi, Vythiri, Kalpetta and Sultan Battery (Batheri). Ancient Jain Temple at Sultan Battery

The Wayanad hills were conquered by Tipu Sultan but after his defeat the English army fought with Pazhassi Rajah who killed himself and the East India Company established its rule in Wayanad. Phookoot Lake, Wayanad

The Muthanga Wildlife Sanc-tuary also called Wayanad Wildlife sanctuary was set up in 1973 and became part of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve. There are also two more sanctuaries - Begur and Tholpetty.
Wayanad is homeland to many tribal communities. Prominent among them are Paniya, Adiya, Kuruchia, Kattunayaka and Kuruma tribes.
Silent Valley
The Silent Valley lies in the densely forested hills of northern Palakkad in Kerala.
The Silent Valley is one of the least disturbed extensive patches of tropical monsoon forests in the Western Ghats which was almost destroyed by a proposed hydroelectric power project. In the event, a historic movement by environmentalists forced the Kerala State Electricity Board to abandon the project and made the state government declare the fragile area a protected national park.
Both the Silent Valleys best-known endangered primates - the Lion-tailed macaque and the Nilgiri langur - are listed in IUCN’s Red Book of threatened animals. Today, the Silent Valley Park is in the core area of Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve of the Western Ghats. One popular explanation traces the origin of the name ‘Silent Valley’ to the absence of cicadas, characteristic of any rain forest.
In recorded history, no human has ever made the Silent Valley his or her home. The topograhic isolation of the plateau, cut off on all sides by steep ridges and escarpments, has prevented human habitation, and so the forests here remained undisturbed until the middle of the 19th century. That isolation has also allowed the valley to endure as an ‘ecological island’, preserving the fauna and flora for over 50 million years that is said to be the evolutionary age of the Silent Valley.
Thekkady
Thekkady, at an elevation of 3,300 ft above sea level has become a popular tiger reserve and is set around Periyar lake. Periyar lake itself is an artificial lake formed during the construction of the Mullaperiyar dam in 1895 - that explains the dead tree trunks and branches sticking out of the water. These trees were submerged in the waters of the dam. The Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary is spread over 777 sq. km, roughly half of which is dense evergreen forest, savannah grassland and moist deciduous forest.

Periyar Lake

The sanctuary was declared a tiger reserve in 1978 under Project Tiger, and so the name Periyar Tiger Reserve is sometimes used to denote the place as well. Thekkady Junction is the central part of the Periyar sanctuary, and has a number of tourist resorts.
Nelliampathy

Nelliampathy is another hill station destination which is becoming popular of late.
This is a small, tea-and-orange hill station situated 75 km from Palakkad and 40 km south of Nenmara, the nearest town.
Nelliampathy is in the midst of evergreen forests and orange plantations. The forests are part of the Sahya Range of the Western Ghats. There are a number of hill resorts at the top including one run by Kerala District Tourist Promotion Council.

Nelliampathy Reservoir

The West Coast

2008-08-27T04:28:00.000-07:00

The West Coast

The West Coast south of Surat runs parallel to the great escarpment of the Western Ghats for its entire length of about 1,600 km culminating at Cape Comorin.
The straight looking coast is however quite jagged, marked by a large number of coves (small sheltered recesses in the coast) and creeks(small tidal inlets or estuaries of small streams). A large number of small streams descend from the precipitous Western Ghats and flow through the narrow coastal plain to open into the Arabian Sea.
Although the streams are small, some of them have formed spectacular waterfalls. The Konkan coastal plain is cliffy and there are several shoals, reefs and islands in the Arabian Sea. Mumbai was a large island but parts of the sea have been reclaimed in recent years to connect it with the mainland. There is a submerged forest near Mumbai which suggests that the sea level rose on the Konkan coast not long ago.

Gateway of India, Mumbai - Pic by Mridula Pai

The coastal plain is dotted with flat-topped hills. Transverse flat-looped spurs come down almost to the shoreline from the edge of the plateau and dip into the sea at Karwar, the northern part of Karnataka. These appear to be abrasional platforms, now dissected by the west flowing streams.
It is only on the Malabar coast that there are seen a number of lakes, lagoons and backwaters which form a noteworthy feature of the coast. These backwaters, locally called Kayals, are shallow lagoons or inlets of the sea, lying parallel to the coastline. The largest among them is the Vembanad Lake, which is about 75 km long and 5-10 km wide; it gives rise to a 55 km long spit. Cochin harbour is situated on its opening into the sea. These backwaters form important physical as well as economic features of the Malabar coast, affording facilities for inland water communication. The silt brought by recurring monsoon floods support large forests and plantations along the shores. There are remarkable mangrove swamps lining the coast.

Unspoilt, virgin beach near Kumta

Although the Ghats run parallel to the coast, the width of the coastal lowland varies. At Konkan it is about 50 to 60 km wide. From Goa to Kozhikode, the width of the coastal zone is more variable than in Maharashtra. It is about 40 km wide at the latitude of Goa and then suddenly narrows near Karwar where the Ghats almost meet the sea.

The Sahyadris dip into the sea near Karwar and form picturesque islands

To the south of 140N, the coastal zone now called Dakshina Kannada, widens once more to almost 80 km south of Mangalore. The coastal region after Kodagu, known as Malabar, is not more than 30 km wide up to the latitude of Kozhikode. From here it widens out to about 60 km near Palghat Gap.

Sunset at Maravanthe, Karnataka - Pic by Mohan Pai
South of the Palghat Gap the coastal zone constituting Travancore varies in width between 30-50 km.
The tropical monsoon climate covers the entire coastal belt. The Western Ghats greatly influence the climate and separate the west coast from the dry interior upland. The elevated Ghats obstruct the monsoon winds from South West and the orographic effect is considerable. Rainfall on the coast is extremely heavy during June-September averaging 100 inches (2,540 mm) with some of the wettest spots recording 300 inches (7,500 mm). The duration of the dry season gradually increases from two months in the southern parts of the Ghats to over eight months north of Mumbai.

Calicut Waterfront - Pic by Mohan Pai

The monsoon generally arrives towards the end of May at the southern tip of India; Tiruvananthpuram in the first week of June, in another five days it has already crossed Mumbai and by middle of June it is beyond Kutch.
Kerala is directly exposed to the southwest monsoon but also receives rains from the reverse (north east) monsoon. And for this reason the dry seasons towards the south are shorter.

A Coast of Maritime Legends

The maritime history of the West Coast of India predates the birth of Western Civilisation. The world’s first tidal dock is believed to have been built at Lothal around 2,300 BC during the Harappan civilisation near the present day Mangrol harbour on the Gujarat coast. Even before Alexander, there were references to India in Greek works and India had a flourishing trade with Rome. Roman writer Pliny speaks of Indian traders carrying away large quantities of gold from Rome, in payment for much sought exports such as precious stones, skins, textiles, spices, sandal wood, perfumes, herbs and indigo. It was the lure of spices that attracted traders from the Middle East and Europe to the many trading ports in Kerala - Calicut, Cranganore, Cochin, Alleppey and Quilon - long before the time of Christ. And it is believed that it was on a trading vessel plying between Alexandria and the Malabar that St. Thomas, the Apostle arrived in Cranganore in 52 AD and began preaching the Gospel and established seven Christian communities in Kerala.
From the earliest times, the West Coast had developed a considerable shipbuilding industry, specialised in building large vessels. There are several accounts of such activities including that of Marco Polo who has described the Indian built ships.
European interest in India has persisted since classical times and for very cogent reasons. Europe had much to derive from India such as spices, textiles and other Oriental products. When direct contact was lost with the fall of Rome and the rise of the Muslims, the trade was carried on through middlemen. In the late Middle Ages it increased with the prosperity of Europe. Spice trade was not solely a luxury trade - spices were needed to preserve meat through the winter (cattle had to be slaughtered in late autumn through lack of fodder in winter) and to combat the taste of decay. Wine, in the absence of ancient or modern methods of maturing, had to be ‘mulled’ with spices. This trade suffered two threats in the later Middle ages. There was the threat of Mongol and Turkish Invasion which interfered with the land route through Egypt, and there was the threat of monopoly shared between the Venetians and Egyptians.

Idalcao's Palace, Panaji, Goa - Pic by Mohna Pai

The Arabs controlled the spice trade with India since the end of the 12th century AD. During the 15th century Spain and Portugal, the then main maritime powers of Europe initiated a series of expeditions with Royal patronage. While one such voyage led to the discovery of West Indies by Columbus, another voyage brought the Portugese to India, the El Dorado. Vasco da Gama
Vasco da Gama set sail on July 8, 1497 with four ships and 170 men, rounded the Cape of Good Hope four months later, and reached Kappad twelve km north of Calicut on the Malabar coast of Kerala, on May 17, 1498. Calicut then was a busy sea port, where the Arabs and the Chinese met to exchange the products of the west and the east. Memorial to Vasco da Gama, Kappad beach near Calicut - Pic by Mohan Pai
The Moors in Calicut instigated the Zamorin against Vasco da Gama, and he was compelled to return with the bare discovery and the few spices he had bought there at inflated prices (but he still made 3,000% profit !). A force left by a second expedition under Cabral (who discovered Brazil by sailing too far west), left behind some men in a “factory” or trading station, but these were killed by the Moors in revenge for Cabral’s attack on Arab shipping in the Indian Ocean. Vasco da Gama was sent on a mission of vengeance in 1502, he bombarded Calicut (virtually destroying the port), and returned with great spoil. His expedition turned the commerce of Europe from the Mediterranean cities to the Atlantic coast, and opened up the east to European enterprise.
The Portugese eyed the Arab monopoly of Indian spice trade and tried to overthrow the Arabs. They succeeded after continuous battles with the Arabs for twenty years. Cabral, who led the second voyage established the first Portugese factory at Cochin. Francisco de Almeida, the Viceroy of Portugal (1505-15) built forts in Anjediva and Cannanor. In the year 1510, Afonso de Albuquerque captured Goa and developed it into a great trading centre, particularly for importing

Basilica of Bom Jesus, Old Goa - Pic by Mohan Pai
Arab horses. Apart from Calicut (1510-1616) and Goa (1510 -1961), the other Portugese possessions on the west coast included Bombay (1530-1664), Diu (1535-1961), Surat (1540-1615), Damao (1558-1961) and Bhatkal (1560-1637) .
In 1534, Sultan Bahdur Shah, the ruler of Gujarat ceded the island of Bombay to The Portugese and in 1661 it was given as a marriage dowry to King Charles II when he married the Portugese Princess, Catherine of Braganza. The crown ceded it to the East India Company in 1665.
During the fourth Mysore War (1799) between the British and Tipu Sultan of Mysore, Tipu was defeated and killed and among the other territories, the coastline of Karnataka came under the British rule. By the year 1818, the Marathas were completely subdued and their territories annexed by the British which also included most of the west coast of Maharashtra. The West Coast was now completely under the British regime with the exception of few pockets under the Portugese (Goa, Damao & Diu), the French (Mahe) and the Travancore coast.

Today, the west coast represents one of the most developed areas, both industrially and economically, of the country with four major ports - Mumbai, the largest port in the country, Marmugao, Mangalore and Cochin. Mumbai is the financial capital of India and also an important industrial hub with a population of over 12 million. A major Naval Base is taking shape at Karwar.
Apart from the major ports the entire coast is strewn with smaller harbours all along. It’s also a high population density area with Kerala having the highest population density in the country.
Surat southward, the coast is connected by National Highway 8 up to Mumbai and then by NH 17 - Panvel-Mangalore-Trissur. From Trissur NH 47 takes over and goes up to Kanyakumari. Konkan Railway, the west coast railway route was launched in January, 1998. Konkan Railway line connects Mumbai to Mangalore with a distance of 760km. It connects the three states - Maharashtra, Goa and Karnataka through the mountainous terrain of the Western Ghats. It goes through 92 tunnels and crosses nearly 1700 bridges and traverses through one of the most picturesque region of the west coast. Surat downwards the west coast is dotted with innumerable beaches interspersed by estuaries of the west flowing rivers, creeks and shoals.
The more famous beaches are that of Goa and Kerala which have been attracting considerable tourist traffic - both international and domestic.
The popular west coast beach destinations are as follows:
Maharashtra * Juhu * Marve-Manori* Alibag* Murud * Janjira * Kihim * Ganapatipule* Sindhudurg* Vengurla* Malvan

Goa
* Calangute * Baga * Colva * Anjuna * Vagator * Arambole * Palolem Karnataka
* Devbagh * Om & Kutle (Gokarna)* Murudeshwar* Malpe* Maravanthe* Ullal

Karwar shoreline - Pic by Mohan Pai

Kerala
* Bekal * Kappad * Varkala * Cherai * Kovalam* Alleppey

Conservation

2008-08-22T23:03:00.000-07:00

Ecosystems Conservation and
Wildlife Protection

The protection of wild life has a long tradition in Indian History. Wise use of natural resources was a prerequisite for many hunter-gatherer societies which dates back to at least 6,000 B.C. Emperor Asoka’s edicts of the third century B.C. depicts one of the earliest conservation laws.
Centuries later, the Mogul emperors, sportsmen, men of action and born observers that they were, displayed a deep interest in the animal life of the country. The ethos of conservation and reverence for nature and wildlife as reflected in some of the exquisite images depicted in Indian art, painting, sculpture and architecture and use of animal fables from early literature like Panchatantra and Hitopa-desha are more relevant today than they were centuries ago.

Pre-colonial rulers had set up hunting reserves in many parts of India. In later years some fine sanctuaries were established in what was then British India, and in a few of the princely states. Well known examples are Bandipur in Karnataka, Corbett Park in Uttar Pradesh, Vedanthangal in Tamil Nadu.

Water hole at Muthanga Wildlife Sanctuary, Wayanad - Pic by Mohan Pai

But for the protection given to the Lion in Junagadh State and to the Great Indian Rhinoceros in Nepal and Assam, these two animals would have been exterminated long ago. Natural ecosystems have evolved over millions of years. A remarkable feature of the ecosystems is the basic stability of populations that they sustain, providing for a natural balance. Each ecosystem sustains a variety of organisms adapted to their environment and participating in a cycle of events involving interdependence between organisms and the physical world around them. Deforestation has been one of the major causes for the depletion of wildlife. Wild animals are left with no alternative but to adapt, migrate or perish. Widespread habitat loss has diminished the population of many species, making them rare and endangered.

There was a wholesale slaughter of wild creatures during late 19th and early 20th century during the colonial period. ‘In sheer numbers, over 80,000 tigers, more than 1,50,000 leopards and 2,00,000 wolves were slaughtered in a period of 50 years from 1875 to 1925’ (Mahesh Rangarajan). The beginning of the Second World War in 1939 resulted in enormous pressures on Indian forests for timber in early 1940s. Contractors moved in and large tracts of forest were cut down. They had guns, they hunted on a large scale. Few accurate records exist of the slaughter that took place.
The wood was even sent to Burma and beyond for building all that the British required. The forest service was fully occupied in this task.

After independence in 1947, a spate of ill-advised developmental schemes, an uncontrolled push for agricultural land, and unmonitored hunting wrought havoc on wilderness.
A series of river valley projects sprung up in prime wilderness areas. While this habitat devastation was taking place, the elite took to more sophisticated guns and tougher vehicles like jeep to make inroads into the forest and shoot thousands of tigers and other game. It was free-for-all. The British had left but the Indian elite was on a binge to shoot tigers. Shikar companies sprang up everywhere, enticing hunters from all over the world to the killing game.

With a growing concern for the fast dwindling wildlife, the Government of India in 1952 set up the Indian Board of Wildlife, as also state wildlife boards. Wildlife together with forestry, has traditionally been managed under a single administrative organisation within the forest department of each state or union territory, with the role of central government being mainly advisory. There have been two recent developments. First, the Wildlife (Protection) Act has provided for the creation of posts of Chief Wildlife Wardens and Wildlife Wardens in the states to exercise statutory powers under the Act. Under this act it is also mandatory for the states to set up state wildlife advisory boards. Secondly, the inclusion of protection of wild animals and birds in the concurrent list of the constitution, has proved the union with some legislative control over the states in the conservation of wildlife. The situation has since improved; all states and union territories with national parks or sanctuaries having set up wildlife wings.

The adoption of a National Policy for Wildlife Conservation in 1970 and the enactment of the Wildlife (Protection) Act in 1972 lead to a significant growth in protected areas network, from 5 national parks and 60 sanctuaries to 87 national parks and 485 sanctuaries in 2000.
The network was further strengthened by a number of conservation projects, notably Project Tiger, initiated in April 1973 by the Government of India with support from WWF and the Crocodile Breeding and Management Project, launched in April, 1975 with technical assistance from UNDP/FAO.

The large number of protected areas indicates concern for conservation. However, not all biogeographic provinces have received adequate attention, and vital habitats have been left unprotected. As many as 105 of India’s protected areas (out of a total of 571 parks and sanctuaries) are located in the Andaman and Nicobar archipelago alone. But the sanctuaries occupy only a small percentage of total mainland, barely 4 percent of mainland India. Many of them are small; 113 sites are less than 20 sq. km in extent, and some of these are too isolated from other wilderness sites to form viable habitats. Only 25 wildlife reserves in India cover more than 1,000 sq. km each.

Protected Areas of the Western Ghats

Western Ghats is an area of exceptional biological diversity and conservation interest, and is one of the major tropical evergreen forest regions in India. As the zone has already lost a large part of its original forest cover (although timber extraction from the evergreen forests of Kerala and Karnataka has now been halted) it must rank as a region of great conservation concern. The small remaining extent of natural forests, coupled with exceptional biological richness and ever increasing levels of threat (agriculture, reservoirs, flooding, plantations, logging and over exploitation) are factors which necessitate major conservation inputs.

The system of Protected Areas in the Western Ghats includes Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, the first and the largest biosphere reserve in India, 13 National Parks and 45 Wildlife Sanctuaries. The largest national park is Bandipur with an area of 874 sq. km and the largest wildlife sanctuary is in the Anaimalai hills having an area of 841.49 sq. km the 58 protected areas together cover an area of 14,140.36 sq. km this amounts to 8.8% of the Western Ghats area. Of this, Bhadra, Bandipur, Periyar, Kalakad Mundanthurai are Project Tiger Reserves (Ministry of Environment and Forests, 1998). Some of the protected areas in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala have also been designated as Project Elephant Reserves. The Bandipur national park in Karnataka is flanked by the Mudumalai sanctuary in Tamil Nadu, the Nagarhole park in the north and the Wayanad sanctuary in Kerala in the west thereby providing a continuous corridor and the largest habitat area to elephants.

Project Tiger

It is believed that there were more than 40,000 tigers in India some 80 years ago. Habitat destruction, rampant poaching and hunting brought about a sharp decline in their numbers. The National census of tigers in 1972 recorded the existence of only 1827 animals.

Considering the alarming endangered status of this majestic animal, the Government of India with support of WWF launched a scheme to protect the tiger called “Project Tiger” with nine sanctuaries declared as tiger reserves.
More tiger reserves were added in due course of time and today there are 28 national parks/sanctuaries under Project Tiger.
The main objective of Project Tiger was: “To ensure maintenance of a viable population of tiger in India, and to preserve, for all time, areas of biological importance as a national heritage for the benefit, education and enjoyment of the people”.

The then Prime Minister of India, Mrs. Indira Gandhi, a strong supporter of the Project, and of conservation in general observed, “The tiger cannot be preserved in isolation. It is the apex of a large and complex biotope. Its habitat, threatened by human intrusion, forestry and cattle grazing, must first be made inviolate”.

Project Tiger is a holistic conservation programme. The tiger cannot be saved in isolation. Saving the tiger involves the maintenance of a viable population of its prey species - the herbivore animals. For the herbivores to survive it has to be ensured that the vegetation of the forests is rich and varied. Thus saving tiger means saving an entire ecosystem.

The project is administered jointly by the wildlife departments of both the states and the centre. Project tiger, initiated in 1973, is one of the most comprehensive conservation efforts ever launched. At the apex of a complete biota, the tiger can be saved, not in isolation, but by making its habitat sacrosanct. Populations of rhinoceros, elephant, swamp deer, gaur and several other species have been preserved in this way.
Tiger Reserves in the Western Ghats

Project Elephant

Project Elephant, a scheme sponsored by the Government of India has designated 10 elephant reserves in the country of which 4 are in the Western Ghats. The four reserves also contain a mosaic of vegetation types and ecosystems harbouring high diversity of flora and fauna. For each elephant reserve a perspective plan has been provided which identifies the spatial integrity, important corridors, conservation issues and recommended action.

Dubare Elephant Camp, Coorg - Pic by Mohan Pai

Elephant Research and Conservation Centre (AERC 1998) has set up GIS database for 39 divisions comprising the four reserves in the Western Ghats. The AERC has also established a database on the demography and mortality of elephants and human elephant conflicts within the reserves.
Source: Asian Elephant Research and Conservation Centre (1998); ENVIS (1998)

Note: About 6,000 sq. km of these reserves are actually outside the limits of the Western Ghats yet contiguous. An estimated 6,822 elephants occur in this area.

Since the launch of the tiger conservation movement and the ‘Project Tiger’ in India, the tiger has made a dramatic recovery. Improvement in the quality of habitat and available prey has been considerable not only within the Project Tiger reserves, but also outside in Anaimalais and Nagarhole in the Western Ghats. Further to the managing the systems of Protected Areas and initiatives such as afforestation, eco-development, Joint Forest Management, the state departments of forests have mooted programmes that specifically address conservation of endangered vertebrates. Chief amongst these is the annual wildlife census organised by the forest departments. These censuses have enabled the closer monitoring of the status of some of the endemic and endangered mammals of the Western Ghats. Programmes on captive breeding and ex-situ conservation of such mammals and reptiles have also been coordinated by the forest departments through the zoos.

The Wildlife

2008-08-06T21:40:00.000-07:00

Vanishing Forests...
Vanishing Species

“ This universe is the creation of Supreme Power meant for the benefit of all; Individual species must therefore learn to enjoy its benefits by forming part of the system in close relationship with other species; let not the other species encroach upon the other’s right”.
_ Isavasya Upanishad

Over the past century, India’s wildlife has dwindled to a mere fraction of its former strength and the flora and the fauna in the Western Ghats have not fared any better. Reduction in the forest areas means reduction of the wildlife habitat, which due to various factors has become fragmented. Conversion of forests into plantations, roads, railways, agricultural holdings, human settlements, hydroelectric project, irrigation dams, mining and location of industries in forest areas have all contributed to a very sizeable area of forests lost in the Western Ghats. The other factors which contributed to the depletion of wildlife are uncontrolled hunting, poaching and pollution.
Evergreen forests of Uttara Kannada -Pic by Mohan Pai

Deforestation has been one of the major causes for the depletion of wildlife. With the increase in human population and the growing need for resources, forests were cleared or encroached upon for agriculture, for human habitation, for grazing of livestock and for hydroelectric and irrigation dams. Thousands of square km of prime, evergreen forests have been submerged and destroyed in the Western Ghats for the sake of these development projects.

Lion-tailed Macaque

Industries also made heavy demand on forest resources such as wood for paper mills, exploitation of gums and resins, mining of forest land for minerals and ores, building materials, etc. Uncontrolled hunting of wildlife for pleasure, food, furs, skins, horns, tusks, etc. posed a serious threat to the survival of wildlife. The illegal trade in animal skins has been responsible for destruction of a large number of tigers, leopards, deer, fishing cat, crocodile and snakes as well as birds with beautiful plumage. Elephants were hunted for ivory. There are laws in the country to prevent such illegal trade, but these are often violated by unscrupulous elements, traders and exporters. Added to this is the practice of trade in exotic mammals, birds and reptiles and use of animals for biomedical research.

Pollution of air, water and soil due to various industrial activities apart from affecting humans affect the well being of animals also. Industrial effluents containing harmful chemicals discharged into the lakes, rivers and oceans adversely affect the aquatic life.
DDT and Dieldrin, used as pesticides also has major effect on birds, particularly sea birds. The egg shells of birds become thin, making them vulnerable to breakage due to the weight of the female while incubating them. Oil pollution is another serious problem affecting the seas through leakage from cargo ships and due to accidents.

Natural Extinction of Species
Despite, the seemingly complex and stable nature of ecosystems, a large number of animals which roamed the earth in early geological periods have become extinct. Extinction is a natural phenomena in the evolution of animals. Certain species disappear gradually as they are unable to withstand the competition from those that are better adapted. Sometimes a whole group of animals have become extinct as had happened with dinosaurs at the end of Cretaceous period, some 70 million years ago. Many mammals like mammoths and mastodons have also become extinct. Countless other forms of animals and plants have flourished and disappeared. We know about them from fossil records preserved in the crust of the earth. Extinction is irreversible. This has been part of the evolutionary process which has produced more advanced forms of life - a process that has occurred over a vast span of time over millions of years. The greatest contribution of Charles Darwin, who propounded the Theory of Evolution, in his logical explanation for evolutionary changes and appearance of new form of life - natural selection - the success of those organisms that are capable of adapting to the environment, to survive and reproduce.
Extinction of species has taken place over millions of years, long before the advent of man. Primitive man lived in harmony with nature and did not cause the extinction of animal species. However, the spread of civilization across the world and the progressive exploitation of Nature have had an adverse impact on wildlife. Hunting for animals, alteration of the environment, habitat destruction, pollution of the land, air and water, the human population explosion - all these have been responsible for the extinction of animal species in recent times. Since the 17th Century about 120 mammals and 150 birds have become extinct. The rate of extinction due to human interference has accelerated since the dawn of industrial age. In India, the Cheetah, the lesser one-horned rhinoceros, the pink- headed duck and the mountain quail have become extinct in the last one century. Many mammals and birds have become rare and endangered and many a natural range diminished in size with increasing deforestation, often confining the animals to small territories.

Animal Association in Hindu religion

The wildlife always had an association with the folklore and the legendary belief of India. Some 30 different mammals are mentioned by name in the Samhita (the four principal Vedas). Among them is the elephant, the favourite of Indra, whose sanctity is enhanced by the belief that eight elephants guard the eight celestial points of the compass. The langur or Hanuman monkey is held in veneration because of its association with the warrior monkeys who helped Rama in his war against Ravana. The lion is one of the many incarnations of Vishnu. The tiger finds mention in the later Vedic texts. The mongoose features in Mahabharata as a teacher of wisdom to King Yudhistira.

The deer is always associated with Brahma, the creator, and is the constant companion of Mahadeva. The wild boar is referred to as ‘Boar of Heaven’. It is told how in the primordial floods Vishnu taking the form of a boar, raised the submerged earth from the waters and supported it on his tusks.

Lord Ganesha, Hanuman, Narasimha, are deities worshipped all over India that have animal association. Different animals and birds are also venerated as vehicles of different deities. Nandi, the bull for Shiva, deer for Brahma, eagle for Vishnu, peacock for Saraswati, tiger for Durga, horses for the Sun God, and so on.

The earliest known record of measures taken for the protection of animal life comes from India. The oldest record which we have today is the Fifth Pillar edict of Ashoka the Great by which game and fishery laws were introduced into northern India in the third century B.C. In this inscription the Emperor had carved on enduring stone a list of birds, beasts, fishes and possibly even insects, which were to be strictly preserved. The mammals named are bats, monkeys, rhinoceros, porcupines, tree squirrels, barasingha stags, brahminy bulls, and all four footed animals which were not utilised or eaten.

Gaur
The edict further ordains ‘that forests must not be burned, either for mischief or to destroy living creatures’. Centuries later, the Mogul Emperors, sportsmen, men of action and born observers that they were, displayed a deep interest in the animal life of the country.

Their writings are full of descriptions, some in great detail, of the animals, the plants and the flowers of the country over which they ruled.
The animal life of the Indian peninsular region is characterised by the absence of many of the Indo-Malay species which are so abundant in the hill forests of the Himalayas. It is the home of the true Indian fauna of which the spotted deer, the nilgai, the blackbuck, the four-horned antelope, and the sloth bear are typical representatives. They are found no where else. Other species like the gaur, the sambar and the muntjac (barking deer) occur both in India and Malay countries.

The Western Ghats, in sharp contrast to the adjoining dry zone of the Deccan present a region of great humidity and heavy rainfall. The forests covering the western slopes are at times very dense and composed of lofty trees, festooned with perennial creepers. Bamboos form a luxuriant undergrowth. In parts of the range the forests are more open and the banks of clear streams running through them are covered with spice and betel groves.

Malabar Giant Squirrel - Pic by Vivek Kale

The Nilgiris, an offshoot of the Western Ghats, rise precipitously to form extensive grassy downs and tablelands seamed with densely forested gorges or Sholas. They are composed of evergreen trees with dense undergrowth.

Sholas similar to Nilgiris occur in Anaimalais, Palni Hills, Kudremukh and other south Indian ranges. They provide the main shelter to wild elephants, gaur and other large animals of these hills. The most interesting feature of the higher level forests of Nilgiris is their affinity to the Assam hill ranges.

Many of the trees found in these high ranges and some of the forms of animal life are common to both the areas. The forests of the Western Ghats and the south Indian hill ranges have a richer fauna than the remaining areas of the peninsular region.

Tiger
Among the species limited to these forests are the Nilgiri langur, the Lion-tailed macaque, the Nilgiri brown mongoose and the striped necked mongoose, the Malabar civet, and the spiny mouse. In the higher levels of the Nilgiris and the Anaimalais are found such characteristically Himalayan animals as the tahr, the pine marten and the European otter.

Endemic species of the Western Ghats

One hundred and twenty species of mammals are known from the Western Ghats of which fourteen species are endemic (found only in that area). The mammalian fauna of the Western Ghats is dominated by insectivores (11 species), bats (41 species) and rodents (27 species including porcupine). Few studies have, however, paid attention to the community structure and organisation of these small mammals in the Western Ghats, although there have been attempts to review our understanding of the status and ecology of smaller cats and lesser carnivores.

The Great Pied Hornbill

Rare, Endangered Species of the Western Ghats

Endangered animals are those whose numbers are at a critically low level and whose habitat is so drastically reduced or damaged that they are in imminent danger of extinction.

Slender Loris
In animal population, the tempo of decline accelerates after a gradual fall to a low level; once the local population of a species is much reduced its ability to recoup deteriorates progressively, and with the fall in numbers often the factors of depletion gain lethal potency.

Dhole (Indian Wild Dog) - Pic by Maximus

The International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) maintains a Red Data Book providing a record of animals which are known to be in danger. In India, the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, provides four schedules categorising the fauna of India based on their conservation status. Schedule I lists the rare and endangered species which are afforded legal protection. It is revised from time to time representing the exact status of the species. At present estimate, 81 species of mammals, 38 of birds and 18 amphibians and reptiles are considered to be endangered in India. Conservation efforts have restored the status of some of these animals, like the tiger, rhinoceros, crocodile, etc.
Mating Frogs - Pic by Mohan Pai

Note: This chapter is condensed for the blog. The original chapter in the book gives detailed information about the endemic and other species

The Tribals

2008-08-02T06:33:00.000-07:00

.... may his tribe increase

The hill tribes or Adivasis (original inhabitants) as they are called, account for barely 5% of the area population in the Western Ghats. The tribals have coexisted with nature for centuries in quiet harmony with rich traditional knowledge and cultural life.

The changing times have told on the lives of the tribals and they have to make a hard choice; accept development with its positive and negative features or perish. In recent years with the reduction in forest area, imposition of forest regulations, construction of dams etc. the lives of the tribals have been highly disturbed. Hunger, ignorance and exploitation have forced them to leave their traditional forest living and take to crimes, migrate or seek employment in rural and urban areas.

Interior of a Toda Tribe Hut in the Nilgiris - Pic by Mohan Pai

The profiles of some of the major tribes of the Western Ghats are as follows:

The Tribes of the Nilgiris
Before the British opened up the high pastures of the Nilgiris in 1818 to the western civilisation, they were the preserve of four tribes: The Kotas, who gave their name to Kotagiri, made tools and music; the Badagas, who cultivated the land, the forest dwelling Kurumbas who collected honey and wood and also performed sorcery; and the Todas, who with their herds of sacred buffalo, provided milk and ghee. Toda Woman in traditional shawl - Pic by Mohan Pai
The Todas

The Todas have unique traditions revolving around their buffalo and their temples, which are dairies. Unlike their neighbours on the plains, in feature or build, they are tall athletic and well-proportion built and variously described as being Italian, Mesopotamean, Arabic or Jewish origin (it has been suggested that they are the lost tribe of Israel or descendants of Alexander's army). Their traditional dress is Roman type toga, covered by a shawl, and their language is Dravidian in origin, which supports the theory that they were part of the Dravidian flight southwards from the invading Aryans. The idea does not explain however, their physical appearance which is so different from their shorter neighbours on the plains below; when and why they sought refuge in the Nilgiri plateau must remain a mystery forever. The Todas consider they were created by gods to be the lords of the Nilgiris, and have been here beyond human memory. The Todas live in hamlets called munds. Their huts have an entrance less than a metre high, and closed by a solid block which slides across to close the entrance.

Toda Hut- Pic by Mohan Pai

Inside these bamboo and rattan structures is a raised sleeping platform, a fireplace and a cooking slab. Toda life centres around their cattle and dairy produce - milk, curds and ghee -forms the basis of their diet. When a tribesman dies, several of his valuable buffaloes are bludgeoned to death so he will have solace of their company and the nourishment of their milk on his journey to the kingdom of death.

Toda Temple - Pic by Mohan Pai

The Todas practice polyandry, a woman marrying all the brothers in the family; inbreeding and syphilis led to a long and steady decline in their numbers until recent times, when the advent of drugs and better medical care has helped stabilise their population. Today there are about 60 Toda settlements around Ooty.

Author at a Toda Village

The Soligas

The forest regions of Yelandur, Chamarajnagar, Nanjangud and Kollegal which include Biligiri Rangaswamy and Malai Mahadeshwara hill ranges in the southern part of Karnataka are inhabited by nearly 20,000 indigenous people called Soligas. The Soligas have co-existed with the forest for centuries in quiet harmony. Though primarily semi-nomadic, in recent years with the imposition of forest regulations, the Soligas have taken to more or less sedentary existence in small forest villages called ��podus�� or ��doddi�� or ��hadi��. To an outsider what impresses most is their traditional knowledge, cultural life and a life in harmony with nature.

Soliga Tribal Sttlement, B. R. Hills - Pic by Mridula Pai

The Soligas live in small huts at appropriate distance from water sources in fairly safe places to protect themselves from wild animals. All through the night they keep fire near their huts so as to ward off wild animals and protect them against cold.

The staple food of Soligas is ragi. The crop cultivation practices are quite primitive and their agriculture is known by the name ��kalakodu besaya��. The Soligas depend extensively on a number of non-timber forest products that are collected by the entire family.

The Soligas have their own medicine system known as ��naru beru aushadhi�� (roots and tuber medicine). They also depend on ��Thammadi�� (the priest) who worship their Gods and Goddesses and give them ��vibhuti�� (sacred ash).

The Soliga marriage is simple and by elopement. The boy and girl normally in their teens love each other and elope to the forest and may land up in some remote podu. The local Soligas provide them food and water. They are then brought back to their podu and a ��Nyaya�� (inquiry) is held. They are fined Rs. 12.50 and then blessed by the elders. A simple marriage ceremony is held thereafter involving a community feast. In some cases, however, no ceremony is held and the boy and girl live as man and wife in their podu. The Soligas appear to be acutely aware of their environment. Their concern for environment appears to be a product of their necessity and intuition. Years of close association with nature might have made them realise her secrets and inner life. Their life-line being forest, by sheer necessity too, preservation of forest has been ingrained in their culture.

Hallaki Vokkals of Uttara Kannada

Halakki Vokkals are confined to the coastal talukas of Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka. They are agriculturist living on farm lands located at the outskirts of towns that are sandwiched between the Western Ghats on the east and the expanse of the Arabian sea to the west. 75,000 Halakkis live in Koppas under direct control of their community heads. Mud walls and floors of their thatched huts are elaborately decorated with ��Hali��( White rangoli against black or red background). They have a rich folklore.

Their women (Gowdathis) are graceful, light in colour and very pretty. The hair are parted in the centre and brought back into a pendulous bun. Their nose, ears, necks arms and ankles are loaded with ornaments made of brass, copper and silver. They have a great fancy for blue, yellow and red beads, and wear them in large numbers around their necks in the form of strings. Women are extremely hardworking and a bridegroom has to pay ��Tara�� (bride price) to his father-in-law prior to the wedding.

The Siddis

Siddi schoolgoing children near yellapur- Pic by Mohan Pai
The Siddis are the descendants of African Negroes, who were brought to India mainly by Arabs, the Portugese and the Dutch. They are chiefly found in the forest areas of Ankola, Mundgod, Haliyal and Yellapur taluks. They live in small clusters constituting a distinct settlement of a village or independent settlement. Their occupation is agriculture and they also collect honey and go hunting. They speak Are-Marathi, a mixture of Marathi, Konkani and Kannada.
Tribals of Wayanad
Wayanad district is predominently a tribal district and the major tribes are : * Paniya * Adiya * Kuruchiya *Kathinayaka * Kuruma tribes.

The Paniya

Paniya Woman - Pic by Mohan Pai

The Paniya, a major tribal community in Kerala live in the hills of Wayanad. The headman of Paniya settlement is called ��Kuttan��, and the head of the family is ��Mudali��. The Paniya priest ��Chemmi�� wields authority over a group of settlements.

They practice monogamy and widows are allowed to marry. The Paniyas were bonded labourers employed by the planters.

Wayanad Tribal

The Adiyas

This is another of the slave tribes and the community is divided into subgroups called the ��Mandu��. The headman of the Mandu is called ��Peruman��. Polygamy is not a taboo among them and sex offender is not ostracized.

The Kattunayakans

This is a primitive tribe and the Kattunayakans literally live in jungles and are mainly engaged In collecting forest produce and honey. They do not mingle with other tribes. The headman is called ��Muthan�� whose decisions are always final. The Kattunayakans worship animals, birds, trees and other Hindu deities and firmly believe in black magic and sorcery.

The Kuruchiyans

Author with Wayanad Tribals

The Kuruchiyans are an agricultural tribal community and they are excellent archers who joined Pazhassi Raja in fight against British. They live in small though clean houses and do not encourage drinking alcohol except on festive occasions.

The Kuruma

The Kuruma tribals are supposed to be the original inhabitants of Wayanad. They are also good archers and had joined Pazhassi Raja in his fight against the British.

Subsistence economy in the Western Ghats is gradually dwindling for much of the hill dwelling tribals have sought employment in the local private and government sectors. The proportion of people classified as scheduled tribes is less than 5% in the four biodiversity rich states viz Goa, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. In fact the population classified as scheduled tribes in the states of Goa, Tamil Nadu and Kerala is hardly 1%.

Distribution of the Tribes of Northern and Central Western Ghats (Gujarat, Maharashtra and Goa)

Bhils are considered to be amongst the oldest settlers in the country. They derive their name from the Dravidian word ��Billu��, which means bow. Bhils are thus seen with bow and arrow which is their traditional weapon. They live in isolation, go for hunting, fishing, practice shifting cultivation and have escaped to a large extent the influence of Brahmania (upper caste) culture. This tribe was able to maintain political independence to a great extent and it remained the most turbulent amongst all the tribes.

Warli Tribe has become famous because of their traditional folk painting art. The Warlis are mainly residents of Thane district of Maharashtra spread out in the villages of Dahanu, Talasari, Mokhada, Vada, Palghara and extends up to the Gujarat border. Their tribal paintings are different from other folk and tribal art. They do not narrate mythology in primary colours as did the Madhubanis instead they are painted on mud, charcoal, cow dung based surfaces using only white colour, and are decorated with series of dots in red and yellow. Their paintings are influenced by the seasonal cycle as their life around them is directly reflected in the paintings.

Goa tribes include Gaude, Velip, Dhangar and Kunbi.

The Forests II

2008-08-02T05:13:00.000-07:00

The Fast Disappearing Forests

“There was a time when meadow, grove
and stream,
The earth and every common sight
To me did seem Apparell’d in celestial light,
The glory and the freshness of a dream.
It is not now as it had been of yore;
Turn whereso’er I may,
By night or day, the things which I have
Seen I now can see no more.”

- William Wordsworth

As in many other tropical regions throughout the world, deforestation and forest degradation due to various factors such as extension of cultivated lands, grazing of livestock, extraction of forest products, commercial plantations, road and railway building, hydroelectric projects, atomic reactors and poaching continue unabated in the Western Ghats.

There have been various estimates and guesstimates about the loss of forest cover in the Western Ghats.
* A recent study (year 2,000) says that the Western Ghats, one of India’s most prestigious “biological hotspot” has lost one-fourth of its forest cover in the last 22 years. The study which estimated changes in forest cover between 1973 and 1995 in southern parts of the Western Ghats using satellite data reveals a loss of 25.6 percent in that period. The decrease in forest can be attributed primarily to increase in plantations and agricultural areas due to population growth with Kerala observing the most rapid changes.

The study also renews the debate that despite conservation measures adopted by various agencies, the rate of deforestation has accelerated in recent years. The data shows a whopping five fold increase in forest loss from the periods 1920-60 to 1960-90. The threat seems even bigger if one considers the fact that the study does not include forest degradation and habitat fragmentation that also eventually contribute to forest loss.

The southern stretch of the Western Ghats an area of approxi-mately 40,000 sq. kms, has experienced the most significant forest loss during 1973-95. There has been a loss of 2,729 sq. kms of forests with an annual deforestation rate of 1.16 percent.
(Study by ATREE, NRSA and University of Massachusetts, USA)

* According to U.N. Food and Agricultural Organization, the area alloted to plantations in India has been increasing at an average of 15 percent a year. At this rate, if all plantations were taken from existing forests - even the sparsely covered tracts - would be destroyed in less than a quarter century.

* An earlier report by TERI, New Delhi has made the following assessment:
Very little has been documented recently about the status of the forest cover in the Western Ghats, except that it seems to have declined between 1972 and 1985 at a rate paralleling that for India as a whole, which implies a loss of cover 2.4% annually. If we extrapolate from 1986 to 1989, this means a total loss of 34% from 1972 to 1989.

Still worse is the decline of the primary forest; the amount remaining seems to be no more than 8,000 sq. kms.
All but isolated pockets of original forest have been opened up by shifting, cultivation, allowing take-over by deciduous species and bamboo among other degenerate species.

* Another study reports (Menon and Bawa 1997): Nearly 40% of the natural vegetation in the Western Ghats disappeared between 1920 and 1990. Of these 76% were converted to open or cultivated lands and 16% to coffee plantations. The rest was due to conversion to tea plantations or hydroelectric reservoirs.

* Recent studies (Ramesh and Swaminathan 1999) indicate that in the Western Ghats of Karnataka, nearly 12% of the forests have been completely lost in the past two decades. During the same period in a region like Kodagu, coffee cultivation has increased by nearly 100% with a concomitant loss of 18% forest area.

* In the state of Kerala alone, in a period of 30 years, there has been a 47% decline in evergreen/semi-evergreen forests(Prasad 1998).
Less than a century ago 40 percent of India was forested. Large tracts of deciduous and tropical rainforests in the Western Ghats region were destroyed over the past century as the British expanded India’s railway network across the country. Then, between 1951 and 1976, some 15 percent of the nations’s land were converted to cropland and much of this came from natural forest.

Forests are strained by the increasing demand of their resources. As human and livestock population swell and forests shrink, the relationship between rural communities and forest has become increasingly precarious. Nearly 90 percent of the wood taken from the forests is used as fuel. And India’s forest provide fodder for some 100 million head of cattle that trample and denude under-growth as they graze.

Yet, India’s natural forests provide it with some extremely vital services: They protect topsoil from wind and water erosion, regulate temperatures, replenish aquifers, store genetic diversity, offer recreational relief and provide a number of products other than wood - including medicine and food.

Deforestation leads to several changes in the landscape. The degradation and fragmentation of forests, which generally precede deforestation, considerably affect the biodiversity of the region. In the Western Ghats, low elevation evergreen forests dominated by Dipterocarp constitute the most threatened habitat. Its continuum along the Western Ghats has been fragmented due to selective logging, increase in permanent settlements, and rubber plantations. Consequently, several typical low-elevation species have almost become extinct, several have become rare, and some species have taken refuge in the sacred groves.

One of the major forms of human interference to vegetation and flora in the Western Ghats is the building of dams. According to published sources, there could be hundreds including small and big dams, with Maharashtra alone having 631 dams(Nair and Daniel 1986).

Hill agro-systems in the Western Ghats are today dominated by estates chiefly of tea, coffee, rubber and monocultures of various tree species, including the oil palm that was introduced lately. Available estimate indicate that above an altitude of 1,500 m in the Western Ghats, there are 750 sq. km of tea plantations. A total ofnot less than 1,500 sq. km are under coffee and 825 sq. km under cardamom. It has also been highlighted that the Nilgiri district with a total area of 2,549 sq. km has around 1,000 sq. km under various forms of cultivation.

The impact of growing coffee in the Western Ghats has been studied to some extent. According to legend, the Arabica variety was introduced at the beginning of the 17th century by a Muslim pilgrim - Baba Budan, who brought seven coffee seeds from Yemen and planted them in his hermitage in Chickmagalur, Karnataka.

Coffee plantations were then introduced in Kodagu with large scale planting of coffee near Mercara. Growing in partial shade and the traditional system adopted by people have together favoured a greater diversity of native trees in the coffee dominated agro-systems of Kodagu.

Casurina plantations first appeared in Uttara Kannada district around 1868. Teak was first raised as monoculture in 1840. The first teak plantation in Kerala was established in Nilambur in 1844. Over the years, eucalyptus, cinchona, wattle, rubber, clove, cardamom, etc. have displaced extensive patches of natural forests throughout the Western Ghats.
Apart from introduction of commercially important plants, there have been invasions by a number of aggressive alien plant species during the past 200 years in the Western Ghats. Important among these are Lantana camara (var aculeata), Eupatorium odoratum, Mikania cordata, Parthenium hysterophorus, etc. Wattle (acacia) once introduced for the extraction of tannin in the higher hills is today a major threat to the Sholas and grasslands at these altitudes. The impact of these exotic plants has been subject of lot of debate.

Large number of ornamental plants of temperate origin have also run wild in the higher elevations of the Western Ghats. Hundreds of such species have been reported both from the Palni hills and from the Nilgiris. Human influences had an adverse impact on the diversity of flowering plants in humid forests of the Western Ghats. In the Uttara Kannada district lack of coppicing ability in conjunction with their use in the wood/matchwood industry has led to disappearance of several evergreen species.

With villagers concentrating on harvest of trees in the height class of 4 - 8 m as poles and commercial interests mostly extracting trees above 16m height, there was a reduction of around 45% in all height classes between the sites of low and high level disturbance.

Unique landscapes such as Myristica swamps gave way to cultivation of rice. Along with the swamps many species of the swamp trees disappeared locally. Selective logging in the Western Ghats has had differential influence on biodiversity. When evergreen forests are thus disturbed, the woody plant species diversity has shown a gradual decline. This has been accompanied by the selective loss of certain species of greater economic value and an overall reduction in forest biomass. Other organisms have responded to human disturbance of evergreen forests rather differently. Selective logging (consequently lower tree and canopy density) has locally increased the diversity of butterflies, lizards and birds in the Western Ghats.

Top Soil & Siltation

Deforestation leads to a very sizeable loss of the top soil. It is only the forests on the slopes that prevent the run-off which takes place after heavy rains and allow water to percolate into the earth. Loss of tree cover means the top soil that is held in place by the roots of the trees becomes loose and the run-offs carry the top soil to the bottom of the river causing siltation.

Where the top soil is lost, there can be no vegetation; most deserts for instance, are what they are because the wind has blown away the top soil, and no trees can grow there any more. We cannot really ‘create’ top soil, for top soil is the product of innumerable layers of leaf litter and dead vegetable matter which disintegrate and mix with the earth. It can take anything from 500 to 1,000 years to build up one inch of new top soil. No amount of money can buy new soil. River Bhadra at Kalasa, Karnataka

Most loose soil from the hill slopes gets to a riverbed very fast, for in a heavy shower it travels down with the rain water or run-offs and settles down at the bottom of the riverbed, raising by a little bit, the level of the riverbed. This rising of the river bottom is called siltation and it is this which is the root cause of the floods which now we face every year. Floods are only one facet of the damage.

River Pravara near Wilson Dam, Maharashtra.

As the river bears with it its load of silt and mud out to the sea, harbours too are silted up, making it necessary to continuously carry out expensive dredging opera-tions.

The cycle of losing valuable soil, the siltation of riverbeds and consequent flooding has a strong adverse impact on the environment of the region. What is worse is that we are not only losing the invaluable soil, but large quantities of underground water as well.

River Valley Projects

The hydel potential especially of the west-flowing rivers is being utilised round the year by impounding seasonal waters behind high rise dams situated at strategic locations. To utilise the available head, water is channeled through penstocks to turbines in power houses. Penstocks in earlier projects as at Sharavathy in Karnataka and Khopoli in Maharashtra were on the surface.

Wilson Dam, Bhandardara, Maharashtra

In recent years penstocks have been laid in steep tunnels bored into rocky mountains. Idduki in Kerala and Nagjahri on the Kali have covered penstocks. The power houses also have gone underground as at Idduki and Varahi where they are within the mountain. Hydel generation is considered to be clean and relatively cheap. The environmental costs of hydel projects are, however, high though not easily quantifiable. The environmental issues of hydel projects are site specific but many are common. The following is a list of some common issues:

1. Submersion of large scale vegetation by the reservoir.
2. Degradation of forests due to quarries, roads, power lines and housing colonies.
3. Disturbance to wildlife during construction and change of the habitat after the construction.
4. Siltation of the reservoirs due to inadequate catchment area management.
5. Possibility of reservoir induced seismicity.
6. Cumulative impact of a series of dams and reservoirs in close proximity.
7. Displacement of people and lack of proper rehabilitation.
8. Impact on riparian communities when the pattern of river f low is changed or the water of one river basin is diverted to another basin.
9. Increase in salinity due to ingress of sea water, especially when water of a river is diverted to another basin.
10. Cumulative impact of all developmental activities in a particular region of the Western Ghats.

Submersion of Vegetation

The water impounded by the high dams generally submerge large tracts of evergreen forests of the western valleys. Linganamakki reservoir of the Sharavathy hydel project in Karnataka submerged 326.3 sq. km, mostly covered by luxuriant forests.

Harangi Dam Reservoir, Kodagu

In order to increase the quantity of stored water, auxiliary dams were constructed. The waters from Savehakkalu and Chakra further reduced the forest cover in Shimoga district of Karnataka. The Periyar basin in the High Ranges of Kerala has a series of 12 large dams which directly or indirectly resulted in destruction of about 4000 sq. km of rainforests and grasslands. Kali river with 6 major dams has submerged about 32,000 acres of prime forests in Uttara Kannada district. As hydel projects are being multiplied more forests are being lost. The compensatory afforestation programmes in arid areas do not compensate for the loss of rich evergreen and moist deciduous forests of the Western Ghats.

Colonies, quarries, roads and power lines

At peak construction activities, the work force at Sharavathy was around 50,000. Housing colonies were set up after denuding the surrounding hills. During the Kali stage, the township of Ambikanagar in Uttara Kannada was located in an area that still then was covered by dense forests. Before handing over the area to Karnataka Power Corporation, the forest department removed all the trees and handed over a totally denuded area. A similar denudation occurred at Ramanagara, the rehabilitation area for the Supa reservoir oustees .

Supa Reservoir on Kali Nadi, Karnataka

Degradation of wildlife habitats

The Western Ghats have a rich fauna. Herds of elephants, gaur and deer, flock of birds, many species of reptiles and amphibians, to mention a few, have inhabited these forests. The blasting of rocks, the rumble of heavy machinery, the incursion by humans have greatly reduced the fauna of the Ghats. These activities have also fragmented the forests to a large extent.
The change in river flow patterns so essential to spawning and migration of fishes has resulted in a drastic reduction of aquatic fauna. The lack of fish ladders in most dams confines fishes to particular areas and prevents normal movements. Studies have shown a marked reduction in aquatic fauna.
Siltation of reservoirs
The slopes of the Western Ghats are steep. The rainfall is heavy during the monsoon. Once the forest cover is lost and the grasslands are disturbed, run-off and soil erosion is high. Other activities in the catchment area increase the silt load. The Kali river valley schemes afford matter for a case study. In addition to 6 large dams, this area has nine active mining operations with scarcely any measure for controlling mine run-off and soil erosion from tailing dumps. Each of the mines contributes to the silt-load of the river. The water holding capacity of each reservoir is being reduced by this siltation.
Reservoir induced seismicity
Seepage and pressure built up by a large mass of water are known to induce seismicity. In order to monitor seismic movements and dam vibrations new techniques are being adopted. The double arch dam at Idduki has a number of sensors embedded in it. Most dams in the Western Ghats do not have such monitoring devices. Reservoir induced tremors and earthquakes in the Koyna region were felt several hundred km away from its epicentre. Had the dam collapsed, several downstream towns would have been washed away.

Cumulative impact

The environmental issues relating to hydel projects become more pronounced when a river has a series of dams or, when several basins in close proximity are taken up for power generation. The Sharavathy and Kali basins have a concentration of hydel projects. The series of dams and reservoirs alter the riparian ecology and biodiversity. The biota of a natural river bank cannot survive on the artificial shores of a reservoir. The cumulative impact of several projects has to be examined. As indicated earlier, the Sharavathy with its many dams and reservoirs destroyed extensive forests in Shimoga district. The Kali project has ruined a rich game sanctuary. The Koyna project resulted in seismic disturbances.

Mattupetty Dam Reservoir , Kerala

Silent Valley in the Western Ghats is a concrete example of abandoning the project due to prudence. The plans to submerge the Silent Valley caused a lot of agitation among conservationists. The scheme was to build a dam 390 ft high and 720 ft wide which would be used for the generation of 120 MW of hydroelectric power and would irrigate 5,000 acres of land. In this instance the conservationists were quite sure that the amount of damage that would be done by constructing the dam would be out of proportion to the advantages gained. The balance sheet was simple. The evergreen rain forests of the Silent Valley which would be submerged by the dam, was the kind which has evolved over thousands of years; there were few comparable areas of such forest left in India, and, once it went, it would mean that we had lost not only the forest itself, but hundreds of plant species which had not yet been studied. Fortunately the pressure from conservationists resulted in project being dropped. However, there is a recent move by the Government of Kerala to reopen the Silent Valley Project with a dam on Kunthipuza river.

Displacement and resettlement

Several studies have been made on displacement of people due to land acquisition and land submersion. The hydel reservoirs in the Western Ghats have displaced many thousand of people especially tribals and agriculturists. For example, the Kali project in Karnataka displaced 1,665 families, The Savehakkalu and Chakra projects displaced 227 families, the Varahi 1,361 families.

The trauma of displacement is made more painful by the inadequacy of the legal and financial provisions. Especially the displaced tribals go without any compensation. The socio-cultural environment of displaced communities is shattered. Their means of livelihood are undermined. Skills have to be learned once again as they shift from non-market economy to a competitive market based economy.

The responsibility of resettling displaced people is that of various departments of the State and Central Governments. Legislation to ensure justice to the displaced is weak and outmoded. There is a strong feeling among the displaced that “Peter is being robbed to pay Paul”.

Impact on riparian communities by changes in river flow

At the peak of the S-W Monsoon, the crest gates of the dams are opened to release excess water. The sudden release have affected the people living along the river banks. The situation can be so critical that the army has been called upon to rescue the marooned people. Sometimes the hydel projects are so designed that water from one river basin is diverted to another.
For example the double arched dam sealed the Periyar. The water in the reservoir is being diverted to the power house at Moolamattom. The tail race from the power house meets the Muvattapuzha river, leaving the Periyar with highly reduced flow. This has adversely affected the communities along the Periyar banks. A similar situation has resulted by the westward diversion of the waters of the eastward flowing Koyna river.

Increase in salinity due to ingress of sea waters

When there is reduction in flow of a river due to diversion of its water, the river in its lower reaches is not sufficiently flushed by the monsoon rains. Thus there is acute scarcity of fresh water at Ernakulam because of ingress of sea water after the construction of Idukki dam.

Cumulative impact of developmental activities

There are different activities going on simultaneously in the Western Ghats. Besides the hydel projects, irrigation projects are also implemented. Surface mining is taken up both within the forest and outside them. The controversial Kaiga Nuclear Power station, the only nuclear plant in a forest in the world is located at Kadri in the Kali river basin. There are traditional activities of forestry, agri-culture, horticulture. Plantations of coffee, tea, cardamom, pepper, rubber and ginger are being expanded. The cumulative effect of all these activities seriously threatens the ecosystems of the Western Ghats and undermines the resource base in this mountain range.

Irrigation Projects

In order to conserve seasonal waters of the east-flowing rivers, innumerable dams both big and small have been constructed in the Western Ghats and in the peninsular India. These are classified as large, medium and small irrigation projects. Only the large and medium irrigation works are being considered here. The Western Ghats merge with the Deccan plateau on the eastern side. They descend gradually from the ridge forming shallow valleys. Where the rivers flow through a narrow neck formed by the hills, dams are constructed to impound the water which is then conveyed over long distances by canals. The submergence of these valleys is of great consequence.

The moist deciduous forests are rich in timber species like rose-wood, teak, venteak. The fauna is varied and abundant. Many of the wildlife sanctuaries are located here. Plantations of coffee and tea, gardens of areca and pepper, orchards with a variety of fruit trees thrive well in these valleys. Flourishing agricultural communities have occupied the area and harvested cereals and pulses. Several studies have been carried out on the impact of these irrigation dams in the Western Ghat. Some of the environmental issues associated with these dams are common to hydel projects. Some are specific to the projects in the shallow valleys in the rain shadow area of the Ghats.

Deforestation and the Global Carbon Cycle

Carbon dioxide ( CO2) is the major gas involved in the greenhouse effect, which causes global warming. All the things that produce CO2 (like car burning gas) and the things that consume Co2 (growing plants) are involved in the “global carbon cycle”.

Tropical forests hold an immense amount of carbon, which joins with oxygen to form CO2. The plants and soil of tropical forests hold 460-575 billion metric tons of carbon worldwide. Each acre of tropical forest stores about 180 metric tons of carbon.

Deforestation increases the amount of CO2 and other trace gases in the atmosphere. When a forest is cut and replaced by cropland and pastures, the carbon that was stored in the tree trunks (wood is about 50% carbon) joins with oxygen and is released into the atmosphere as CO2.

The loss of forests has a great effect on the global carbon cycle. From 1850 to 1990, deforestation worldwide (including that in the United States) released 122 billion metric tons of carbon into the atmosphere, with the current rate being 1.6 billion metric tons per year. In comparison all the fossil fuels (coal, oil and gas) burned during a year release about 6 billion tons per year.

Releasing CO2 into the atmosphere increases the greenhouse effect, and may raise global temperature. The role of fossil fuels burned by cars and industry is well known, but tropical deforestation releases about 25% of the amount released by fossil fuel burning. Tropical deforestation, therefore, contributes a significant part of the increasing CO2 in the atmosphere.

The Forests

2008-08-01T06:29:00.000-07:00

The Groves were God's first Temples

What we are doing to the forests of the world is but a minor reflection of what we are doing to ourselves and to one another.
__ Mahatma Gandhi

Although they receive vast amounts of rain, the evergreen forests of the Western Ghats are not rainforests in the strictest sense. In the tropical rainforests of the Amazon, for example, rain falls steadily and predictably throughout the year. This ensures that the niches which flora and fauna occupy are always available; and this in turn enables an enormous variety of species to survive. So the diversity of the monsoon forests in the Western Ghats cannot be compared with that of the Amazonian jungles.

Moist deciduous forests - Mahadayi Valley

The tropical monsoon forest contains trees of smaller stature than those found in the rainforest. The trees of the monsoon forest have a more open canopy than the rainforest, creating a dense, closed forest at the floor, or what we think of as a tropical jungle beneath. The thick surface undergrowth makes it difficult to navigate through the forest. Jungle growth is also found along streams, and in openings created by humans.

The southern Western Ghats has the best preserved and most extensive climax vegetation in the peninsular India. Some of the tropical moist forests in southern Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu are among the best representative areas of Indo-Malayan rainforest formations.

Forests - the mother of rivers

There is an umbilical connection between healthy forests and water regimes. Forests are nurseries and cisterns for our life giving rivers. Forest areas in the Western Ghats give birth to all the major and minor rivers of the peninsula. Most of the rivers spring from some unknown forest of the Western Ghats and yet there is a wholesale destruction and wanton pillage of forest areas that give birth to the rivers.
Because of the slope the rain water cannot stay to soak into the earth, it flows downhill rapidly taking some of the earth with it. This run-off on the hillsides will only be halted, and water will percolate into the earth where there is good tree cover. In fact a forest traps rainwater and channels it into underground streams. The fact that so many mountain springs have dried up in recent years is not due to some inexplicable form of bad luck. It is the direct result of the reduction in the number of trees on our hills.

Relationship Between Climate and Vegetation

The climate of the Western Ghats shows two rainfall gradients and a temperature gradient.

The West-East Gradient
The west-east rainfall gradient is determined by the effect of Ghats escarpment. The reliefs of the Ghats act as a barrier to the eastward movement of the cloud masses brought by the summer monsoon rain-bearing winds of the south-west monsoon.

Bisale Ghat, Karnataka - Pic by Mohan Pai

These masses bring prodigious amount of rainfall over the western slopes of the Ghats. For instance in Agumbe (height 645 m) which is situated at the edge of the Ghats, the mean annual rainfall is 7,460 mm, and in some years it exceeds 12,000 mm in only 130 rainy days. Overall the western slopes receive 2,000 to 7,500 mm of rainfall. Once this obstacle is crossed, the rainfall decreases rapidly to <800mm>

Aerial View of Evergreen Forests - Mahadayi Valley

The South-North Gradient
An important feature of the Western Ghats is that they form more or less continuous chain of hills with a latitudinal extent of almost 12 degrees. This has few parallels in the tropical world(eastern part of Madagascar and Queensland in Australia). The monsoon, the very pulse of India, adds yet another dimension : the duration of the dry season gradually increases from two months in the southern parts of the Ghats to over eight months north of Mumbai. This gradient is determined by the arrival and withdrawal of the summer monsoon. The monsoon generally arrives towards the end of May at the southern tip of India, in the first week of June at Tiruvananthpuram, five days later it reaches Karwar, in another five days it has already crossed Mumbai and by middle of June it is beyond Kutch. Thus it takes only 10-15 days to cover the Indian peninsula from 80 N to the Tropic of Cancer.

The monsoon begins to retreat by the end of September in north India but it takes nearly 15 days for the front to withdraw from Kutch to Ratnagiri which it reaches in the beginning of October, in another 15 days it covers 400 km, the distance separating Ratnagiri from Coondapur. The front passes through Mangalore at the beginning of November and Kozikode in a fortnight, and reaches Kanyakumari only in early December. Thus the withdrawal is spread over a period of nearly two and a half months. The advance and specially the gradual withdrawal of the monsoon leads to a reduction in the rainy period from south to north and consequently a concomitant lengthening of dry season.

This gradient is one of the key factors for understanding the variations in the floristic composition along the Ghats. The distribution patterns of the species clearly show that many species cannot thrive under prolong dry periods. Thus several species are not found north of the Shencottah-Ariankavu pass, while others disappear beyond the Palghat Gap. Hence, the number of endemic evergreen species which are generally confined to a moist environment diminishes from south to north in the Western Ghats. In the northern part of the Ghats, this gradient also determines the climatic limits beyond which the evergreen formations gradually give way to deciduous forests. Evergreens survive only under special edaphic conditions or at the higher elevations, where dew and mist provide additional moisture.

Temperature gradient
The temperature gradient is mostly related to increase in altitudes. The influence of the decreasing temperature with increased altitude is explicit only in those regions of the Ghats where the altitude is sufficiently high i.e. from 700 or 800 m upwards. Generally the mean temperature of the coldest months ranges from 230C at sea level to 110C at 2,400 m. However, it must be noted that for the same elevation, the temperature may differ considerably from one place to another, depending on exposure or slope. This decrease in temperature influences the kinds of changes: a) structural change from tall forests (canopy higher than 30 m) to stunted forest (canopy lower than 20 m or sometime 15 m). b) floristic change as some species are unable to adapt to very low temperatures which are optimal for others.

Uttara Kannada Forests

Climatic Variations and Endemics

The high degree of endemism in the evergreen forests of the Western Ghats can be attributed to the isolation of the Ghats from other moist formations and the prevailing drier climatic conditions in the surrounding areas. This isolation seems to have facilitated the process of speciation (formation of new biological species) leading to the phenomenon of vicariance between sister species derived from a common ancestor, one of which thrives in the evergreen forests of the Ghats and the other in the adjacent dry regions (for example Diospyros assimilis in the moist evergreen forests and D. Ebenum in dry forests).
South of Kodagu, the Western Ghats are comprised largely of high ranging hills with several enclaves which formed ideal refugia for certain species when the climatic conditions became drier . Within the Ghats, the variation in the degree of endemism is mainly determined by
a) the increase in the number of dry months from south to north and
b) the decrease in the temperature with increase in altitude. These two gradients also explain the numerous cases of vicariance encountered within the evergreen continuum. Local topographic variations add another dimension to the floristic diversity and endemism.

Bamboo Brakes - Muthodi, Karnataka - Pic by Mohan Pai

Vegetation Types
In the Western Ghats, based on the ecological factors and floristic composition, 4 major forests and 23 floristic types have been distinguished. These types are closely related with the temperature and rainfall regimes. Wet evergreen, dry evergreen, moist deciduous and dry deciduous are clearly distinguished by the mean annual rainfall, whereas low, medium and high elevation wet evergreen types are distinguished by the decrease in minimum temperature with increasing altitude. In addition to forests, high altitude grasslands are another unique ecosystem in the Western Ghats.
Wet Evergreen Forests
Wet evergreen forests are mostly confined to the windward side of the Ghats where the rainfall exceeds 2,000 mm.
By taking into account the distribution pattern of certain characteristic species, which reflect the climatic variation, the forests are further subdivided into 15 main floristic types - low (0 - 800 mm), medium (600 - 1,450 mm) and high (> 1,450 mm) elevation types. In the low elevation type, they are tall dense forests with four strata and emergent layer - canopy height often reaches 35 - 45 m.
The deep valleys on the western windward side nurture closed canopy, stratified evergreen forests. These are arranged in a series of tiers. Each tier receives a different amount of light; the tallest trees are bathed in perpetual sunlight, smaller trees and shrubs receive dappled light. The forest floor is almost in complete darkness. The canopy is supposed to be closed because the contiguous crown of tall buttressed trees merge to form a veritable roof.

Occasionally, giant trees termed as emergents push through the canopy to obtain dominant position. Light, temperature and humidity differ at different heights beneath the canopy. Two or more strata of shade loving trees find the appropriate level at which light intensity and relative humidity are best suited for their metabolic activities.
The density of growth in these hot and humid jungles is so great that over 70 tall trees can exist in one hectare. These trees may be 35-45 m high and have evolved small narrow leaves to minimise moisture loss through evaporation. The lower growing plants have larger leaves in order to maximise the benefit of the little light that manages to penetrate. At every level, leaves tend to be narrow with drain-like tips so that the monsoon water flows off efficiently. This makes it possible for the leaf to remain relatively dry and breath.
The forests are in leaf throughout the year and hence termed evergreen. These trees shed their leaves at a slow and steady rate throughout the year, which results in continuous decay and decomposition on the forest floor which is full of leaf litter and decaying wood on which mushrooms, lichen and fungi thrive. In the relative gloom of the forest floor herbs are frequent with good representative of gingers and orchids. Climbers and lianas supported by sturdy trees, spiral towards the canopy in search of better light and fresh air.

Dry Evergreen Forests

The steep eastern slopes of the Ghats where the rainfall is less than 1,500 mm harbour dry vegetation types. However, in the relatively moist valleys and along streams, forests are evergreen and distinct in floristic composition with its counterpart on the western side. Physiognomic structure of these forests varies according to moisture level of the soil. Generally they are short forests, with a canopy seldom higher than 12 m, and with two strata.
Moist Deciduous forests
Moist deciduous forests, which are in primary nature, are found in the rainfall zone of 1,500 mm to 1,800 mm; as a transition between wet evergreen and dry deciduous forests. Large extent of these forests occurs in the Wayanad, Mysore and Karnataka plateau. Moist deciduous forests also occur within the potential area of wet evergreen formations, where the rainfall is more than 2,000 mm. Its very presence in the zone indicates their secondary nature after a possible degradation of original wet evergreen forests. On the leeward rain shadow side as well as on the coastal lowlands there are fairly long dry periods. Moist deciduous trees survive the rigours of the dry months by shedding all their leaves simultaneously to avoid loss of water through transpiration.
During the leafless period the trees carry on their reproductive cycle by spectacular flowering followed by abundant fruiting. With the pre-monsoon showers, a flush of fresh leaves appears to herald the beginning of a fresh annual cycle. A number of good timber trees are found in these open canopy forests.

Dry Deciduous forests

Dry Deciduous forests are confined to the rain shadow areas of the Ghats. Based on the topography of the Ghats, floristic types of dry deciduous formations vary.
Grasslands (The Sholas)
In the Western Ghats natural grasslands are found above 1,800 m in Bababudangiris, Kudremukh, Nilgiris, Anaimalais, Palnis and Cardamom hill ranges. The grasslands which are also called as shrub savannas or the Sholas are characterised by number of herbaceous and shrubby species mixed with grasses.

Kudremukh Sholas - Pic by Mohan Pai
The Shola are subtropical montane evergreen forests that harbour species which have outlasted the gradual climatic and ecological changes since the last glaciation 30,000 to 20,000 years ago. The exact course of evolution of the Sholas which is a mosaic of grasslands with stunted evergreen vegetation in sheltered hill folds is not certain.
One point of view attributes the expansion of grasslands to recurrent fires brought in by the early inhabitants. Using fire they cleared forests and these cleared areas became grasslands. Another point of view attributes the grasslands to climatic conditions in those elevations preventing emergence of closed canopy, multi-tiered vegetation.
Plant communities on reaching grass community level are arrested from proceeding further in succession.

Grasslands then become climatic climax. It is possible that the climax vegetation i.e. montane evergreen forests, did occur elsewhere along the crest line earlier but have been slowly regressing and receding due to climatic changes particularly due to the post Pleistocene dessication and warming. These Pleistocene refugia are mostly restricted to the Western Ghats south of Kodagu and are among the most endangered ecosystems in India.
The grassy meadows of the Sholas are at their best towards the end of south-west monsoon. Thousands of gentians, orchids and violets stud the carpet of grasses with a rapid succession of flowers. The trees are generally stunted and do not form strata. A stream generally runs through these forests. There is a thick layer of humus that holds water and filters it into the limpid streams. The stream waters the forest and the forest protects the streams.

Seaside Vegetation & Mangroves

The marshy areas, the swampy places where the sea comes in high tide, or where a river finally empties itself into the ocean, these are the places where many kinds of fish come to spawn. Often these areas are very large; trees do not grow here, for salt water washes over them, or floods them regularly; the loose muddy sand shifts easily, and the only plants which can take hold are mangroves with their long spreading roots. The mangrove bushes prove their worth during a storm, for they break its force; in a rough sea the mangrove belt acts as a buffer and prevents erosion and keeps the coastline in tact.

The mangrove vegetation has to survive on the scorching, shifting and saline sands. Trailing stems, fleshy leaves, salt excreting glands are some of the aids for their survival.

The mangroves in the slushy estuaries have special features to overcome the difficulties of their habitat. The mangrove trees and shrubs anchor themselves against the push and pull of the tides by stilt roots.
Air in the marshy soil is meagre. The trees often turn their breathing roots upwards in search of fresh air. The seedlings of mangrove trees remain attached to the parent plant until they have a chance of surviving on their own. They fix themselves like darts in the marshy saline slush to avoid being washed away by the sea until they have a chance of surviving on their own.
If we remove the mangroves, the coast is exposed to the danger and damage from storms and rough seas.

A number of factors have been responsible for the depletion of wetland areas, mainly the mangrove forests, along the coasts. Intensive aquacultural development, deforestation, pollution from tankers, domestic waste, agricultural run off and industrial effluents are some of the factors. Most of the surviving mangroves are now confined to West Bengal and the islands in the Bay of Bengal.

Sacred Groves and Sacred Trees

Many traditional societies all over the world revered and worshipped nature and considered certain plants and animals as sacred. India has a long tradition in protecting nature - both plants and animals considered as sacred. Forests have been the lifeline for tribals and other forest dwelling communities since ages. Communities all over India followed the practice of setting aside certain patches of land or forest dedicated to a deity or village God, protected and worshipped.

The forest deities are generally of a primitive nature. Sometimes in the form of unshaped stone lumps smeared with red paint - Kalkai in the Konkan, Kenchamma in South Kanara. They are amongst the fiercest of deities; and breaking even a dead twig in a sacred grove is sure to invite the wrath of the deity. Sacred groves are to be found all over the country and abundantly along the Western Ghats and the west coast and in several parts of Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Goa.

Sacred groves ranged from 50 hectares or more to a few hundred square meters. Some sacred groves have remained in tact till recent times as in the Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts of Karnataka. These pockets have contributed to the preservation of tropical biological diversity, for several new species of plants which have disappeared from everywhere else have been found to be preserved in the sacred groves.

Sacred groves in different areas are locally known by different names. In Kerala there are hundreds of small jungles called Sarpakavu. There are the Ayyappan kavus dedicated to Lord Ayyappan, the most famous of which is Sabrimala. In Maharashtra, they are known as Devarai, Devarakavu in Kodagu, Kavu in Kerala and Kan in Uttara Kannada.

In spite of the depletion of forests, some sacred groves still remain in-tact. The sacred groves have contributed to the conservation of nature though in a small measure. There are also sacred ponds attached to temples in many parts of India.

Some of these have been responsible for the protection of certain endangered species of turtles, crocodiles and the rare fresh water sponge.
Many plants are considered sacred from historical times - the peepul tree(ficus religiosa), the banyan tree(ficus bengelenses) and khejadi tree which were traditionally revered and therefore never cut. More than a hundred such species are considered sacred.

These include sandalwood tree, betel nut palm, coconut tree, juniper, champak, lotus and tulsi. This traditional and cultural attitude, though based on religious faith, has made a significant contribution to the protection of various species of trees and plants in India.

Author in the Sahyadris

The Rivers

2008-07-31T19:04:00.000-07:00

Life Sustaining Waters

The heavy seasonal rainfall from the South West Monsoon has sustained a large number of rivers flowing either to the east or to the west of the Western Ghats range which is the main watershed of the peninsular India.
The Western Ghats are remarkable for being the headwaters of all the major and many smaller rivers of the peninsula. The principal rivers originate and flow eastward, journeying across the peninsula for hundreds of kilometers to pour their waters finally into the Bay of Bengal. On the western face of the Sahyadri scarp, numerous indentations have been made by a large number of short, perennial, torrential west flowing rivers which traverse the short distance through the narrow west coastal plains before discharging into the Arabian Sea through narrow inlets and creeks. Several of these streams form remarkable waterfalls.

The duration of the wet season varies from about three months in the north to over nine months in the south. The rainfall ranges from 2,000 to 7,500 mm per annum in some places on the western, windward side but rapidly decreases on the eastern, leeward side to about <>

The source of Hiranyakeshi river - Amboli Ghat - Pic by Mohan Pai

The three major rivers that originate in the Western Ghats and flow to the east and traverse a great distances right across the peninsula are:-
1. The Godavari 2. The Krishna 3. The Kaveri
They are all mature, that is, they are so ancient that they have reached the base level of their erosion. Their valleys are wide and shallow, and they flow through flatlying alluvial tracts through which they meander at a sluggish rate, or through uplands and plateaus where their velocities are greater and into which they occasionally cut narrow defiles and gorges.

Vivid Rock formation - Sintheri Rocks, kaseri River, Uttara Kannada - Pic by Mohan Pai

There are other smaller streams that also originate in the Western Ghats and flow east to join the Bay of Bengal. These are Tambraparni (arises in the Agasthyamalai Hills) and Vaigai (originates in the Varushanad Hills).

River Sharavathy - tailrace

The Godavari
The Godavari arises in the Tryambak plateau near Nasik about 80 km from the shores of the Arabian Sea at an elevation of 1,067 m it meanders south-eastwards through fairly steep banks of lavas, and then, from its confluence with the Manjra through gneisses and Gondwana sediments until it arrives at its delta, traversing over 1,465 km it flows through Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh.
It reaches Bay of Bengal through an extensive delta beyond Rajamundri in Andhra Pradesh where it divides into branches - western branch is called ��Vashistha Godavari�� and the eastern branch is called ��Gautami Godavari��. It projects about 35 km into the sea with a front of 120 km with many distributaries. Its northern part is made up of low-lying marshes extending into a 15 km long spit forming the Kakinada Bay.
Its main tributaries in the upper reaches, the Purna and Manjra, flow roughly parallel to the Godavari before draining into it. The Godavari has many tributaries such as the Purna, Manjra, the Pranhita (Penganga - Wardha), Indravati, the Sabari, Darna, Kadwa, Mula, Karanji, Madhurnala, Devanala, Hebbala. etc.

The Krishna

The Krishna is the second largest river in the peninsular India. It begins at an altitude of 1,360 m near Mahabaleshwar in Maharashtra 64 km away from the Arabian Sea.
It is augmented by several tributaries along its 1,400 km course, until it reaches Machilipatnam on the east coast of Andhra Pradesh. The delta area of the Krishna begins from Vijayawada and occupies an area of about 4,600 sq. km, and also extends about 35 km into the sea with a shoreline of about 120 km it has been progressing gradually to south due to vast amount of sediments brought and spread by the river and its distributaries.

Several rivulets and rivers arising in the Western Ghats go to form its tributaries - the Koyna, Varna, Panchganga, Doodhganga, Bhima, Musi, Paleru, Maneru, Ghataprabha, Malaprabha and Tungabhadra.

The Kaveri

The Kaveri is the third major river of the peninsula. It originates near Talakaveri at a height of 1,340 m in the Brahmagiri range of Kodagu district in Karnataka at the very edge of the Sahyadri range overlooking the Arabian Sea. As peninsular rivers go, this is a comparatively small river only about 800 km long.

Talakaveri, the source of river Kaveri, Kodagu - Pic by Mohan Pai

It flows mainly through the Dharwarian crystalline rocks during its passage through the Eastern Ghats and the Tamil Nadu uplands where its gradient is quite gentle. The river cuts across the strike of the country rocks and appears to be an ancient river whose meandering course has been superimposed on a topography which has become youthful as a result of recent uplift.
A dam has been constructed near Mysore - Krishnaraj Sagar where it meets Hemavati and Laxmantirtha rivers. After 25 km from Srirangapatna, Kabini and Suvarnavati rivers meet with it. The river creates waterfalls at Sivanasamudram (101 m high) and then enters a long picturesque gorge.

River Kaveri at Srirangapatna - Pic by Mohan Pai

On the border of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu it meets with Simsa and Akrawati rivers. In Tamil Nadu it flows in easterly direction but from Hogenkal waterfall, it flows in south direction. It cuts through the Eastern Ghats and emerges from the hills at the Stanley Reservoir formed by the Mettur Dam. At 45 km from Mettur it meets its main tributary - the Bhavani and when it enters Tiruchirapalli district it meets with Noyil and Amravati.
Here it is the widest of whole of its path and hence called ��Akhand Kaveri��. After Tiruchirapalli it divides into two branches. The delta starts from below the island of Srirangam in the river, where it issues its largest deltaic channel, the Coleroon and joins the Bay of Bengal at Poompuhar. The southern branch is called Kaveri and joins the Bay of Bengal at Tranquebar.
The Kaveri delta is quadrilateral in shape covering about 8,000 sq. km area; it consists of several terraces which indicate that it was subject to uplift and erosion at various periods of its formation. It has an almost straight front of about 130 km along the Bay of Bengal and on the south it takes an almost right angle turn towards the west at point Calimere from where it faces the Palk Bay for another 60 km.
The major tributaries of the Kaveri which arise in the Western Ghats are : The Hemavathi, Harangi, Kabini, Lakshmantirtha, Moyar and Bhavani.

Tambraparni

The river Tambraparni originates on the eastern slopes of the Western Ghats near Agasthyamalai in Tirunelveli district at an altitude of 2,000 m.
The Tambraparni basin is situated between latitudes 8021�� and 9013 ��N. Vanatheertham waterfalls (40 m) is located close to the origin of the main river. Among the many tributaries which join it are: Peyar, Ullar, Karaiar, Pambar, Servalar, Manimuthar, Gadana, Pachaiyar and Chittar. The river Tambraparni after the confluence of Chittar, travels another 53 km and enters the Gulf of Mannar near Palayakayal.

Vaigai

The river Vaigai arises in the Varushanad Hills of the Western Ghats and initially flows north-east through Kambam and Varashunad valleys and then flows eastward into the Vaigai Reservoir at Narasingapuram. Near Sholavandan it bends south east, passing Madurai town on its course to its mouth on the Palk Strait which separates the south-east coast of India from Sri Lanka. The total length of the river is 250 km.

The West-flowing rivers

The western side of the Sahyadris is characterised by a very large number of short perennial/non-perennial torrential west-flowing rivers.
From Gujarat to Kerala these short, swift west-flowing rivers plunge over the precipitous escarpments to discharge their waters into the Arabian Sea. As they plunge towards the coastal strip they often pass through deep gorges creating spectacular waterfalls, some with a drop of over 200 m when the rivers encounter geological faults.

Magod Falls - River Bedthi plunges in two steps -Uttara Kannada - Pic by Mohan Pai

Among them may be mentioned the Bedthi Falls (137 m) also known as Magod Falls, Jog Falls (253 m), Chalakudi Falls (56 m) and several falls ranging in height from 20 to 300 m on the Anaimalai - Palni - Elaimalai hill chain.
The west side rivers which flow into the Arabian Sea do not form deltas, but only estuaries, which are channels where the fresh water of the rivers mix with the tidal sea waters. The possible reason why deltas are not formed is that they flow through hard rocks and therefore unable to form distributaries through the coast. The coast had been advancing seawards during historical times in these parts as is proved by the fact that Surat - now an inland town - was a port on the sea only a few centuries ago.

The west side streams are too numerous to be listed. Kerala alone has 44 west-flowing streams.

Periyar River, Kerala - Pic by Mohan Pai

The main west-flowing rivers of the Western Ghats are listed below :
Gujarat : Purna, Auranga, Par
Maharashtra : Surya, Vaitarna, Damanganga, Ulhas,

Savitri, Vashisthi, Gad, Kajavi, Kodavali

Goa : Mandovi(Mahadayi), Zuari, Tiracol, Chapora, Talpona

Karnataka : Kali, Gangavali (Bedthi), Aganashini, Sharavathy, Kollur-Chakra-Gangoli, Sita, Mulki, Gurupur, Netravathi

Kerala : Chaliar, Bharatpuzha, Periyar, Pamba

Ecological Past

2008-07-31T06:03:00.000-07:00

The Early Human Settlements

Palaeolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic times

The earliest human settlement in the Western Ghats have been traced back to the Palaeolithic or the Old Stone Age period - over 10,000 years BC.
Stone tools were discovered from the river valleys of Bharatpuzha (Palghat district), Beypur (Malappuram district) and Netravathi basin (Dakshina Kannada district).
Palaeolithic artifacts have been found at Kibbanahalli (Mysore district), Lingadahalli and Kadur (Chickmagalur district) and Honnalli (Shimoga district).

Tribal Woman, Wayanad, Kerala

Mesolithic or the Middle Stone Age (10,000 - 3,000BC) witnessed

the transition of hunter-gatherers into food growers. Many Mesolithic sites have been discovered from Mandovi river in Goa to Kerala. They are located at Karwar and Ankola (Uttara Kannada district), Netravathi valley (Dakshina Kannada district) Nirmalagiri (Kannur district), Chevayur (Kozikode district) and Tenmalai (Kollam district). Charcoal found from the trenches in Tenamalai, indicates that the people could have burned forests.

The Deccan Plateau during the Neolithic or the New Stone Age (3,000-1,000 BC), was practising primitive agriculture and pastoralism. In Hallur (Dharwar district) close to the Western Ghats, cattle, sheep and goats were domesticated (1500 BC) and millet and horse gram were cultivated 300 years later.

The Jorwe people of Inamgaon - in the western Deccan Maharashtra, had irrigated rice during 1400-700 BC. The Jorwes brought marine fish and shells from the Konkan coast, 200 km to the west, which shows that the Neolithic people had some knowledge of the Western Ghats and the coast.
Many Neolithic sites have been found in the Western Ghats at Tambdi Surla (Goa), Anmod (Uttara Kannada district), Agumbe (Shimoga district), the hill slopes of Sita river (Karkala) and many others in Kerala. The Nilaskal site in Agumbe, being close to the sources of west coast rivers Sharavathy, Chakra and Haladi, was strategic to Neolithic people giving them an easy access to the coast.

Neolithic people with their stone axes descended from the Western Ghats of Dakshina Kannada to the coast in the last part of second millennium BC and resorted to cultivation, probably by slash and burn method. Hill cultivation (presumably shifting) in South India is probably older than the spread of iron tools, about 3,000 years ago.

During the Megalithic period (1000-0 BC) iron implements were widely used. Iron implements date back to 1500 BC in Hallur. The west coast of south India was intensely settled during this period and the Megalithic period witnessed intensification of forest clearance by agri-pastoralists. Many excavated burial chambers in laterite plains have been found in Malabar, Dakshina Kannada and also in Siddapur.(Source : Subhash Chandran, 1997)

The Nilgiris were colonised by the Todas, as early as 200 BC.

Vedic Civilisation

Vedic civilisation was largely confined to one of the most fertile tracts of the northwest part of India that includes the present day states of Punjab, Rajasthan and north Gujarat.
Drained by seven rivers (Sapta Sindhu), this region was referred to as the cradle of Indian civilisation. This ancient civilisation of India appears to have had an extended period of development from 5,000 BC to 2,000 BC when a great period of drought seems to have put an end to it. Because of the drought, the Vedic people migrated eastwards and occupied the Gangetic valley region forming parts of the present day Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Bengal and Orissa. Many enterprising people migrated southward both by land and sea and colonised the west coast around Ratnagiri, Goa, coastal Karnataka and Kerala.
These people are even today called Saraswats and Goud Saraswats, a name reminiscent of their original homeland on the banks of the Vedic river Saraswati in north-west India.

Harappan migration ?

According to some historians the Indus civilisation did not perish suddenly. The later Harappan Phase survived in Saurashtra, Gujarat and north Maharashtra up to 1,200 BC.

The biodiversity rich forests, the abundant water resources, the productive estuaries and the sea, could have attracted the drought stricken Neolithic and Megalithic agri-pastorals from the Deccan, as well as the Harappans.

Sacred Forests

Forest clearance was inevitable for farming and yet, there was an overwhelming belief in the sacredness of the woods. Secondary species and heavily savannized tracts were interspersed with lofty evergreen patches, the menasukans or pepper forests, where the people tended to the wild pepper. The relics of such kans occur to this day in Uttara Kannada and Shimoga. They were important tracts of pre-colonial forest conservation in the Western Ghats. Myriad relics of such groves, exist even today all over the Western Ghats. They may be called Devrai in Maharashtra, Devarkadu in Kodagu and Kavu in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, these forests in pre-colonial landscape, served many functions like the conservation of biodiversity and watershed, moderation of climate and promoted varied wildlife.

A Sacred Forest in Goa

Hunting was subjected to many community regulations. The sacred forests ranged in size from a few hectares to few hundred hectares. The kans of Sorab taluk in Shimoga district, for instance, covered about 13,000 hectares or 10% of Sorab’s area.

Colonial Era

The British occupation of the Western Ghats, from the early 19th century altered forestry operation and traditional forest management gave way to state forestry. The forest working plans for the evergreen belt of the southern Western Ghats concentrated on the extraction of commercial deciduous timber like teak. As large areas of teak were harvested, adequate regeneration did not follow and the rising demand for teak and its depletion in nature compelled the foresters to launch massive vegetational changes in favour of teak monoculture.
The British began large scale forest exploitation and wholesale vegetational changes and transformation into commercial plantations of coffee, tea, wattle and eucalyptus.

Such commercialisation of the high altitude areas such as the Nilgiri plateau, Southern Tamil Nadu and the High Ranges in Kerala marginalised the small tribal groups engaged in hunting, gathering and shifting cultivation.

The state policies favoured the new immigrants who controlled natural resources, and extracted and traded them in the markets. The spurt in commercialisation of natural resources and commodity production also attracted an exodus of migrant labourers with overall serious ecological consequences on the region. The destruction of the forest cover of the Western Ghats has been the result of a nexus between unregulated exploitation by commercial interests, beginning with ship building, railways and the hydel projects in British times and going on to mining, plywood and polyfibre industries after Independence and equally indisciplined harvests by the progressively impoverished rural masses.

From the Edict of Shivaji

“The Armada of our kingdom requires durable hardwood for their hulls decks and masts.
Teak and other appropriate trees of our forests may be felled for this purpose after applying to His Majesty and obtaining the royal permission. If, any more be required, they may be purchased from neighbouring kingdoms.

The Mango and Jackfruit trees of our kingdom also provide suitable timber for naval purposes. But they should not be touched, for it is not as if these trees can be grown in a year or two. People plant them and bestow upon them long years of care, as they would on their own children.

If such trees were to be felled, would not the people be inconsolable? An edifice built upon anyone’s sorrow soon collapses, taking down with it the architect too. In fact the ruler has to bear the guilt of tyranny. Also absence of such trees causes irreparable damage. Hence under no circumstances are such degradations to be allowed.

Perchance, if a very old tree has ceased to bear fruits, then it may be taken with the consent of the owner after persuasion and payment of compensation. Coercion shall not, under any circumstances, be pardoned”.

- Courtesy WWF - INDIA, Newsletter- April 1997

Biodiversity

2008-07-31T05:16:00.000-07:00

An Area Under Constant Threat

The term biodiversity encompasses the variety of all life on the Earth. It is identified as the variability among living organisms and the ecological complexes of which they are part, including diversity within and between species and ecosystems.

Biodiversity manifests itself at three levels:
1. Species diversity which refers to the numbers and kinds of living organisms.
2. Genetic diversity which refers to the genetic variation within a population of species.
3. Ecosystem diversity which is the variety of habitats, biological communities and ecological process that occur in the biosphere.

Brahmagiri Forest, Coorg - Pic by Mohan Pai

Biological diversity affects us all. It has direct consumptive value in food, agriculture, medicine, industry. It also has aesthetic and recreational value. Biodiversity maintains ecological balance and continues evolutionary process. The indirect ecosystem services provided through biodiversity are photosynthesis, pollination, transpiration, chemical recycling, nutrient cycling, soil maintenance, climate regulation, air, water system management, waste treatment and pest control.

Biodiversity is not distributed equally among the world's 170 countries. A very small number of countries, lying wholly or partly within tropics, contain a high percentage of the world's species. These countries are known as megabiodiversity countries. Twelve countries have been identified as megabiodiversity countries. These are : India, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Mexico, Madagaskar, Zaire, Australia, China, Indonesia and Malaysia. Together, these countries contain as much as 60 to 70 percent of the world's species.
Tea Gardens of Munnar - Pic by Mohan Pai

India is one of the 12 megabiodiversity centres of the world. The country is divided into 10 biogeographic regions: Trans Himalayas, Himalayas, Indian desert, Semi-arid zone, Western Ghats, Deccan peninsula, Gangetic plains, North-East India, islands and coasts.

Fisher Women of Devbagh

In India we have 320 million hectares of land and 200 million hectares of exclusive economic zone in the sea, within which are distributed some 1,20,000 known and perhaps 4,00,000 as yet undescribed species of microbes, plants and animals.
Biogeographically, the hill chain of the Western Ghats constitutes the Malabar province of the Oriental realm running parallel to the west coast of India. Rising up from a relatively narrow strip of coast at its western borders, the hills reach up to a height of 2,695 m before they merge to the east with Deccan plateau at an altitude of 500-600 m. The average width of the mountain range is about 100 km. This bioregion is highly species rich and is under constant threat due to human pressure.
The rain forests of the Western Ghats are unique vegetation forma-tions as they exist in an environment where there is considerable seasonality in distribution of the rainfall. These forests are found in the areas where the rainfall is distributed from 4 to 10 months, as a consequence, there are 2 to 8 dry months in a year. Of this, most of the precipitation takes place during a 3 month period of June to August.

The orographic effect of these mountain ranges brings in considerable variation in precipitation. The total rainfall along the coast is in the region of 3,000 mm and it touches its maximum around 7,500 mm per annum in certain places on top of these ranges and there is abrupt fall in the rain on leeward side. The high altitudinal zone also gives rise to a kind of forest which has primarily Lauraceous vegetation.

The tropical rain forests of the Western Ghats have considerable diversity in vegetation types both with respect to their altitudinal locations and also because of edaphic and altitudinal variations. There is a school of thought that the parent rocks in these areas have given rise to such good soils which are rich in nutrients and have a very high moisture holding capacity which has given rise to these rainforests.

Global Biodiversity Hotspots in India

Hotspots are areas that are extremely rich in species, have high endemism and are under constant threat due to human pressure. Among the 18 Hotspots of the world, two have been identified in India; the Eastern Himalayas and the Western Ghats. These are particularly rich in floral wealth and endemism, not only in flowering plants but also in reptiles, amphibians, swallow-tailed butterflies and some mammals.

Of India��s 15,000 plant species with 5,000 endemics (33%), there are 4,050 plants with 1,600 endemics (40%) in a 17,000 sq. km strip of forest along the seaward side of the Western Ghats in Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Forest tracts up to 500 m in elevation, comprising one fifth of the entire forest expanse are mostly evergreen, while those in the 500-1500 m range are semi-evergreen. There are two major centres of diversity, the Agasthyamalai Hills and the Silent Valley/New Amarambalam Reserve basin. (Source : Teri, New Delhi)

Flora and Fauna
The area has an estimated 3,00,000 hectare (37%) under forest cover and is characterised by a rich diversity of flora and fauna.
* The region has about 4,500 species of flowering plants. Of these about 1,700 are endemic to the Western Ghats. Nearly a third are rare or threatened and several are believed to be extinct.
* Amphibians: Over 117 species belonging to 21 genera are recorded in the forests and coastal areas of this region, of which 76% are endemic to the region.
* Invertebrates: A large variety of insects including some of the spectacular butterflies and moths occur in the dense evergreen highland and lowland forests. It is estimated that India has over 1,400 species of which the Western Ghats harbour nearly 320 species including 37 endemics and 23 others shared with Sri Lanka. The area is host to a large variety of fresh water mollusca, some of which are specific to the region.

* Fish: The fish fauna of both fresh water montane and lowland river streams and water bodies as well as coastal lagoons and backwaters are very many and varied in this region. There is large commercial coastal fishery of finish and shell fish in this region.

* Reptiles: Dense forests of the region are the home of the King Cobra and Rock Python apart from other smaller reptiles. Many species of tortoises including the endemic cane turtle, and terrapin are also found in the Western Ghats. The marsh crocodile or mugger was once widely distributed in swamps and larger water bodies of the forested areas.

* Birds : About 508 species of birds occur in the Western Ghats (590 if sub-species are included). Among these about 16 species are endemic. Many endemic birds are exclusive to evergreen and Shola forests.

Flemingo

* Mammals: The forests of the area have large herbivores such as gaur, spotted deer, sambar, barking deer, elephant, etc. Carnivores are represented by tiger, leopard, jungle cat, leopard cat, fishing cat, Malabar civet, brown palm civet, small Indian civet, two species of mongoose and wild dog.
Several genera of mammals are endemic and representatives include slender lorris, the Lion-tailed macaque, 2 species of mongoose, 2 species of civet, Nilgiri langur, Nilgiri tahr, grizzled giant squirrel and the rusty spotted cat.

Biosphere Reserves in the Western Ghats.

The concept of a biosphere reserve emerged from the Man and Biosphere programme sponsored by the UNESCO during the early seventies. Prior to this, conservation efforts had a tendency to focus on a few animals like the tiger, while ignoring the overall diversity of living organisms. They also did not successfully reconcile the need for development with conservation. The Biosphere Reserve is an attempt to rectify these lacunae and make conservation more meaningful given the socio-economic realities of the region.

Lion-tailed Macaque

Biosphere Reserve is an international designation term made by the UNESCO for representative parts of natural and cultural landscapes extending over large areas of terrestrial or coastal/marine ecosystems or a combination thereof.
The network includes significant examples of biomes throughout the world. The Biosphere Reserve finally aims at conserving and use of resources for the well-being of people locally, nationally and internationally. So far about 360 Biosphere Reserves have been established in about 90 countries.
In 1978, an advisory group of the Indian National Man and Biosphere programme identified 12 sites ranging from Nanda Devi in the Himalayas to the Gulf of Mannar in the Bay of Bengal, representing the diverse biogeographic provinces in the country. Of this the project proposal for the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve was first prepared in 1980, but it took six years for the reserve to be officially established.

Covering an area of 5,500 sq. km in the states of Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, the Nilgiri Biosphere reserve has been designed to encompass extremities of habitat. From 100m above MSL in the Nilambur plains, it goes up the vertical slopes of New Amarambalam to the rugged heights of Makurti peak (2,554 m) and drops in the east to 250 m in the Coimbatore plains. The western slopes get over 5,000 mm of precipitation annually while the sheltered eastern valleys receive less than 500 mm. Corresponding to their altitudinal and climatic gradients, the natural vegetation changes from tropical wet evergreen forest along the western slopes to montane stunted Shola forest amidst the grassy down on the upper plateau and on the east, progressively drier deciduous forests ending in thorny scrub. This setting is home for a variety of animals - the Lion-tailed macaque in the evergreen forests, the Nilgiri tahr in the grassy downs, the black buck in the dry scrub and the tiger and the elephant throughout the region.

Paniya Tribal Woman, Wyanad, Kerala - Pic by Mohan Pai

To the north, the Biosphere Reserve begins in the Nagarhole National Park of Karnataka and the adjoining Wayanad sanctuary of Kerala. The moist deciduous forests and teak plantations of Nagarhole harbours abundant population of gaur, spotted deer, sambar and wild pig which support a sizeable number of carnivores such as tiger and leopard. Nagarhole is perhaps the best place in south India for sighting these large cats. The forest cover along the Kabini river has been reduced due to the construction of an irrigation dam. It was along the banks of this river that elephants were regularly captured for nearly a century by the Khedda method until 1971. Even today an evening ride on coracle along the riverbanks during the dry months may be rewarded with the sight of over a hundred elephants.

South of the Kabini, the dry deciduous forests of the Bandipur National Park were declared as a Project Tiger area in 1973. Contiguous with Bandipur lie Madumalai sanctuary of Tamil Nadu and portion of the Wayanad sanctuary in Kerala. The natural vegetation of this tract is moist deciduous forest. The fauna is similar to that of Nagarhole with elephants in large numbers.

East of Madumalai, the vegetation over the Sigur plateau and the Moyar river valley lying in the rain shadow of the Nilgiri massif, becomes drier. Thorny plants such as Acacia dominate. In addition to the fauna of the deciduous forests, striped hyena, jackal and four-horned antelope are seen here. The black buck has disappeared from the Sigur plateau but a viable population of 300 to 500 is still found in the Moyar valley. They can be easily seen in the evening along the foreshore of the Bhavani reservoir.The Moyar valley is the junction of two great hill chains of the peninsular India - The Eastern Ghats and the Western Ghats. A portion of Talamalai-Satyamangalam plateau has been included in the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve as representative of the Eastern Ghats.

Over the eastern slopes of the Nilgiris, the forest cover extends southwards as a narrow belt into Balampatty and Siruvani hills. The Siruvani reservoir on the Kerala side provides water to Coimbatore city. A good stretch of evergreen vegetation covers the higher reaches of Siruvani hills. Adjoining these hills to the north-west, the Attappady valley is mostly under cultivation. The large tribal population here has been practising shifting cultivation for a long time. As a result, the forest covers over the surrounding hills have largely degraded. A well preserved stretch of evergreen forest with Dipterocarpus, Mesua and Palaquium is seen west of the Attappady Reserve, extending into the Silent Valley, New Amarambalam and through a narrow corridor into Nilambur.
The endangered Lion-tailed macaque of the Silent Valley fame is highly adapted to such evergreen habitats. The controversy regarding the proposed dam across Kanthipuzha in the Silent Valley was laid to rest with the entire area being declared as a National Park in 1986. But the Government of Kerala has proposed Pathrakkadavu Hydro Electric Project in the Kunthi river, once again threatening the Silent Valley.

Tribal Hut, Wyanad, Kerala - Pic by Mohan Pai

Perhaps the largest pristine evergreen forest in peninsular India is the New Amarambalam Reserve, which has escaped the axe simply because its steep terrain is inaccessible. This is home to Chalamekans, the only genuine hunter-gatherers in the peninsula. The upper Nilgiri plateau has been altered by human activities into one vast stretch of cultivated land and settlements around Udhagamandalam (Ooty).
Both slopes and valleys here grow tea, coffee, cinchona, fruits and vegetables such as potato. Extensive plantation of Blue gum (Eucalyptus), Wattle (Acacia) and Pine have also been raised. These have resulted in enormous loss of top soil. To tap the potential for generating hydro-electric power, a series of dams have been constructed across the Bhavani river and its tributaries.
A major portion of the upper plateau has been excluded from the Biospere Reserve. Only the western and the southern ridges, which retain some natural Shola and grass land vegetation along with monoculture plantations have been included. A sanctuary has been declared to protect the Nilgiri tahr.

Shivaji's Forts

2008-07-30T19:47:00.000-07:00

SHIVAJI'S FORTS

Geography has always played a decisive role in the history of a region. The geographical character and features dominated by the Sahyadri range prevented any real subjugation by alien powers of the Indian subcontinent south of the Tapti river, in the sense that northern India was; the geopolitical influence of these mountain ranges and their rugged and difficult terrain was immense.

The Deccan plateau is a landscape characterised by flat top summits, terraced flanks and precipitous slopes. These flat topped natural scarps rising above lower slopes which were then thickly wooded and surrounded by broken and uneven terrain were difficult to ascend. In many of these hills a sheer precipice of black basalt over 500 to 600 ft high ran almost all around making them natural strongholds.

The word ‘Fort’ originates from the French word ‘Fortis’ meaning strength. Even in Indian languages, they are called ‘Durg’ which is derived from the Sanskrit Word ‘Durgamam’ meaning inaccessible.

Bahamanis of Gulbarga who ruled for about 200 years were some of the first fort builders in the Sahyadris. Amongst local families Silahars of Panhala and Bhojraja in particular built many southern forts - Vishalgad, Vasota, Ragnya, Bhudargad and others. The Bahamani rule disintegrated by the middle of the 16th century and for a number of years chaos and anarchy prevailed. Out of this troubled times rose Shivaji who during his comparatively short span of life dominated the entire landscape of the northern Sahyadris and established his kingdom encompassing the entire mountainous region.

There are over 300 forts spread all over the northern Sahyadris from Salher in the north to the fort of Terekhol on the border of Goa. The forts and pinnacles of the northern Sahyadris are the sentinels that have witnessed a turbulent past and present us with a rich, romantic diversity of site, function, history, architectural style and cultural heritage. Here every peak seems to possess a fort and reverberate with its past of valour, daring, treachery and fluctuating fortunes.

Chhatrapati Shivaji - a painting

From 1294 AD the region was ruled by a succession of Mohammedan dynasties. This difficult terrain of the Sahyadris suited very well for Shivaji’s guerilla techniques, and enabled him to outsmart the mighty Generals of Aurangazeb and Bijapur. The ramparts and bastions of these forts depict the drama of the Sahyadris as well as Shivaji’s skills in harnessing these natural forces for his cause. He fought the might of the Mogul Empire in the north and that of Bijapur kingdom in the south and finally achieved a stunning victory and became the founder of the Maratha Empire. Shivaji himself in a letter to the Mogul Officials (Kutute Shivaji - copy of the manuscript is in the State Archives, Mumbai) brings out the importance of the rugged terrain and the fact that it is a difficult region for the Moguls to conquer.

The letter is reproduced below:
“Far-sighted men know that during the last three years, famous Generals and experienced officials have been coming from the Emperor to this region. The Emperor had ordered them to capture my forts and territory. In their despatches to the Emperor they write that the territory and the forts would be captured soon. Even if imagination were a horse it would be impossible for it to move in these parts. It is extremely difficult for this region to be conquered. They do not know this. They are not ashamed of sending false reports to the Emperor. My country does not consist of places like Kalyani and Bidar, which are situated in plains and could be captured by assaults. It is full of hill ranges. There are sixty forts in this region. Some of them are situated on the sea coast. Afzal Khan came with a strong army, but he was rendered helpless and destroyed.“After Afzal Khan’s death, the Amir-ul-umara, Shaista Khan, marched into my land, full of high hills and deep gorges. For three years he exerted himself to the utmost. He wrote to the Emperor that he would conquer my territory in a short time. The end of such a false attitude was only to be expected. He was disgraced and had to go away.
“It is my duty to guard my homeland. To maintain your prestige you send false reports to the Emperor. But I am blessed with divine favour. An invader of these lands, whosoever he may be, has never succeeded.”

Shivaji was a fort builder par excellence. It is said that he conquered 130 forts, built 111 and at the time of his death in 1680 possessed some 240 forts.
Among the many forts associated with Shivaji’s exploits the following are some of the prominent forts:

Shivneri :

This was a Nizam Shahi fort situated about 3 km from Junnar in the Malsej Ghat region. This is the birth place of Shivaji - he was born on February 19,1630 (some sources give the year of his birth as 1627).

Torna & Rajgad :

Both these forts are situated in the Bhuleshwar range. Torna was Shivaji’s first conquest in 1646 when he was only 16 years of age. Around the same year he also captured the fort of Morumbdev (later called Rajgad), 40 km southwest of Pune which served as the capital of Shivaji for 25 years before he moved it to Raigad.

Raigad :

Raigad stands separated by a ravine from the main range, to the west of the point where the Bhuleshwar range starts. It was here that Shivaji was crowned as king on June 6, 1674. It was a safe residence as the natural defences offered by way of ramparts and bastions were further strengthened by vertical scarps.
It commanded an excellent view and it enabled Shivaji to easily control Javli-Mahad area, right up to the sea. Raigad was the capital of the Maratha empire and he died in this fort on April 4, 1680.

Simhagad :

This fort called Kondana was Shivaji’s biggest achievement in his early career, which he captured by peaceful means in 1647 which later came to be known as Simhagad. Simhagad is located in the Bhuleshwar range, 26 km south of Pune. It was later surrendered to the Moguls and again recaptured in 1670 after a bitter struggle. The assault was led by the valiant Maratha warrior Tanaji Malusare. The fort was stoutly defended by Udai Bhan, the Rajput commandant of the Moguls. Both the leaders fought a duel which resulted in their death. The loss of brave Tanaji saddened Shivaji and he is said to have cried in anguish “I have won a fort but lost the lion”.

Purandhar :

Purandhar fort, at the end of the range which runs southeast from Simhagad is a strong fort that witnessed many a great battles in the Maratha history. The veteran general Jai Singh was sent by the Mogul emperor Aurangzeb to recapture the forts and territory occupied by Shivaji and leaving him no alternative but to surrender to the Moguls. Having arrived in Pune, Jai Singh marched towards the fort of Purandhar and the siege of Purandhar began on 30 March, 1665. There were fierce attacks by the Moguls and equally fierce defence put up by the Marathas. Although the Moguls were poised to capture Purandhar, but at the express request of Shivaji, the fort was allowed to be surrendered and the garrison permitted to evacuate the stronghold. There were 7,000, men and women, in the fort of Purandhar; of these, 4,000 were fighting men defending the fort. The siege of Purandhar is one of the most memorable sieges in Indian history.

Pratapgad :

The hill station of Mahabaleshwar marks the start of the Shambhu-Mahadeo range of the Koyna region. On the west of the ridge is located the historically important fort of Pratapgad (1,438 m). This fort is one of Shivaji’s most brilliant defense structures built by him in 1656 with some clever manipulation of the terrain.

Pratapgad

Militarily it was an important fort as it controlled the Ambavani and Pir passes and was one of the strongest forts due to its vertical scarps. This grim fortress with its towers and battlements surrounded by high, basalt walls pierced with loopholes from whichonce sprouted Jingals - muskets fixed on swivel - still stands as an impregnable monument. The fort was once the scene of a dramatic act of double treachery. Shivaji met his opponent, Afzal Khan, the powerful Bijapur General, in a supposedly unarmed truce. They both embraced each other in a show of cordiality. Afzal Khan whipped out a hidden dagger and stabbed the foe, but the wily Maratha had taken the wise precaution of wearing a shirt of mail and concealed in his left hand a set of imitation tiger claws. He killed Afzal Khan with this weapon. A small monument and tower marks the scene of this vicious encounter at Pratapgad.

Panhala & Vishalgad:

Panhala range branches off from the main Sahyadris south of Warna valley. The range starts with the fort of Vishalgad, which is a historic fort captured by Shivaji in 1659 and is well protected by scarps, walls and bastions.
The range then goes eastwards to Panhala fort, which was captured by Shivaji in November 1659. Both Vishalgad and Panhala have been witness to deeds of valour and epic defense.
Since March 1660 Shivaji had been pinned down at Panhala for over four months in a tight siege by Siddi Jauhar of Bijapur. Shivaji decided to escape and taking advantage of the rainy season and dark nights, on 13th July 1660, slipped out of Panhala and made straight for the fort of Vishalgad, 64 km away. Shivaji’s outnumbered bodyguards were overtaken by the Bijapur forces at Pawan Khind (Ghod Khind) some eight miles short of safe Maratha territory. The epic defense of his Mavle escort enabled Shivaji to avoid capture but at the cost of his valiant leiutenant Baji Prabu’s life.

Memorial to Baji Prabhu at Panhala fort

Shivaji once again attacked Panhala and recaptured it in 1673. South of the Panhala range in the Amboli region has the southern most forts of Bhudargad, Pargad and Rangnya which was captured by Shivaji in 1657.

Salher & Mulher :

These two forts in the Selbari range running west to east dominate the landscape south of Mosam river. Salher is the highest hill fort (above 5,000 ft) in the Sahyadris and marked the northern most point of Shivaji’s kingdom which he laid siege to it and captured in 1671. Mulher is an ancient fort built in the 14th century and is also known as Mayurgad. The famous battle of Salher took place in early 1672. The Moguls had laid siege to the fort of Salher. Its capture had become a point of prestige for the Moguls. But Shivaji was determined to force the Moguls to raise the siege. In the ensuing battle Maratha forces defeated the Mogul forces led by their General Bahadur Khan and the entire equipment and booty was captured by the Marathas.
Apart from Salher and Mulher, this range of hills had nearly ten forts - Chandwad, Indrani, Kanchan Manchan, Dhodap, Ahivant, Achalagiri, Hanumantgad, Markand and Saptashringi.

Mulher Fort

Tryambak Range :

Harihar fort (1,120 m) is in the Tryambak range north of Igatpuri and is built on a triangular rock. Kalsubai, the highest peak of the northern Sahyadris at 1,646 m lies in this range branching off in the easterly direction. The range has the highest and difficult hill forts of Kulang, Alang and Madangad. Further northeast is the Patta fort (1,370 m) and on the main crest of the Sahyadris running southeast is Ratangad (1,296 m).

Budhargad near Kolhapur

The Sea-Forts :

There are a number of sea forts situated along the long Konkan coast which played an important role in the history of the Sahyadris. As the Konkan coast came increasingly under his possession, Shivaji started building a number of coastal fortresses in order to strengthen his modest navy and keep in check the Siddis of Janjira, the Portugese and other powers. He laid the foundation of the fort of Sindhudurg near Malvan on December 5, 1664 which became his naval base. He also built several other sea-forts such asPadmadurg, Vijaydurg, Jaigad and Devgad. Coastal Fort at Ratnagiri

Murud-Janjira fort which is situated 2 km into the sea from Murud, was constructed in the 11th century and was considered impregnable and witnessed many a battles. It was occupied by the Siddis during Shivaji’s time and even Shivaji was unable to effectively blockade this formidable fort.

End of an Era

After the last Maratha war and signing the treaty of 1818, the British controlled most of the Northern Sahyadri region and started establishing the British rule. Most of the forts were systematically dismantled by them for political reasons. They dynamited rocky stairs, fort walls, ramparts and approach routes to many impregnable forts to make them unusable. The damage done by these charges can be seen even today.
The techniques of war had also undergone a sea-change. The development of long range powerful artillery warfare effectively put an end to the value of these forts as defense strongholds and they did not play any further role in the history of the region.

Geopolitical Profile

2008-07-30T04:32:00.000-07:00

Girdling Six States

The Western Ghats range extends from river Tapti in Maharashtra in the north to Kanyakumari in the south, approximately 1,600 km in length and passes through six states of the Indian Union covering an area of about 1,59,000 sq. kms. The states girdled by the Sahyadri range are : 1. Gujarat 2. Maharashtra 3. Goa 4. Karnataka 5. Kerala 6. Tamil Nadu

Area & Talukas of the Western Ghats Region as per Hill Area Development Programme (Planning Commission - 2001):

Area Coverage:

1. Maharashtra : 58,400 Sq. km 2. Karnataka 44,300 Sq. km.

3. Tamil Nadu 28,200 Sq. km. 4. Kerala 28,100 Sq. km. 5. Goa 1,073 Sq. km.

Total 1,60,000 Sq. km.

Gujarat

The great river Tapti, flowing in a deep trench from the east cuts through Surat and the eastern country is mountainous. This is the northern extension of the Western Ghats and further south, the Ghats are forested and the small district of the Dangs is in this area.

Saputara

The west flowing rivers which originate in the Western Ghats are: Purna, Auranga and Par.
Three districts of Gujarat are in the Western Ghats ecoregion : 1. The Dangs 2. Surat 3. Valsad

Maharashtra

The Western Ghats range begins at the Kundaibari Pass (2106N��74011��E) in Dhule district of Maharashtra and runs almost continuously 720 km north-south, the foothills reaching to within 6.4 km of the Arabian Sea. Elevations increase northward to the peaks of Kalsubai (1,646 m) and Salher (1,567 m).
There are a few passes through which roads and railroads link the coast with the interior. The eastern slopes of the ghat descend gently into the Deccan Plateau and are sculptured by the wide, mature valleys of the Krishna, Bhima and Godavari rivers.

Malsej Ghat

To the west is the narrow Konkan coastal lowland, which reaches its widest extent near Mumbai. Numerous minor hills of the Ghat range dominate the relief.
Two major east-flowing rivers originate in the Western Ghats section of Maharashtra - the Godavari arising in Nasik district and the Krishna which begins at an altitude of 1,360 m near Mahabaleshwar.
There are many small, swift west-flowing rivers, most of them less than 80 km long. They are : Ulhas, Surya, Vaitarana, Damanagang, Tansa, Vashist, Savitri and Shastri.
Twelve districts of Maharashtra are in the Western Ghats ecoregion: 1. Nasik 2. Thane 3. Dhule 4. Nandurbar 5. Pune 6.Sindhudurg 7. Raigad 8. Satara 9. Ratnagiri 10. Sangli 11.Kolhapur 12. Ahmednagar*

Sahyadris at Mahabaleshwar

GOA

Goa is the smallest state in the Western Ghats region with a coast-line of just about 100 km which extends 64 km inland and is dominated by the Ghats on its eastern part which rise to 1,034 m (3,392 ft) at Sonsagar.

Low-elevation Sahyadris at Goa

The hills give way in the west to an undulating area dissected by rivers and the coastal plain itself consists of beaches fringed with coconut palms. Goa��s two largest west flowing rivers are Mandovi and Zuari.
There are several minor streams which are : The Tiracol, Chapora, Sal, Galgibag and Talpona. The whole of Goa is included in the Western Ghats ecoregion.

Karnataka

Karnataka is situated on a tableland where the Western Ghats and the Eastern Ghats converge into B R Hills and the Nilgiri Hills complex.
Although the Ghats run parallel to the coast for a length of about 267 km, the width of the coastal lowland varies.

The Ghats dip into the sea and form islands at Karwar

It is about 80 km wide near Mangalore but practically non-existent in the north near Karwar where the range dips into the sea with peaks emerging as picturesque islands. A series of cross-sections drawn from west to east across the Ghats, generally exhibit, a narrow coastal plain followed to the east by small and short plateaus at different altitudes, then suddenly rising up to great heights. Then follows the east and east-north sloping plateau.
Among the tallest peaks are Mulainagiri (1,923 m), Bababudan or Chandradrona Parvata (1,894 m) and the Kudremukh (1,892 m) all in Chickamagalur district and Tadianamol Betta (1,745 m) and the Pushpagiri (1,713 m) in Kodagu district. There are a dozen peaks which rise above the heights of 1,500 m.

Bedthi River Valley, Uttara Kannada

The coastal region consists of two broad physical units - the plains and the Ghats. The coastal plains represent a narrow stretch of esturine and marine landscape. The abrupt rise at the eastern flanks forms the Ghats. The northern part of the Ghats are of lower elevation (450-600 m) as compared to the southern parts (900-1500 m).

The major east-flowing river is Kaveri with the east-flowing tributaries which include Hemavati, Laxmantirtha, Kabini and Suvarnavati. The swift west-flowing streams are : Kali, Gangavali (Bedthi), Aganashini, Sharavathy, Kollur-Chakra-Gangoli, Sita, Mulki, Gurupur and Netravathi.

Eleven districts of Karnataka are in the Western Ghats ecoregion :1. Belgaum 2. Uttara Kannada 3. Shimoga 4. Udupi 5. Dakshina Kannada 6. Chickmagalur 7. Hassan 8. Kodagu 9. Chamrajnagar 10. Mysore 11. Dharwad*

Kerala

Kerala is a narrow strip of land on the south west coast of the Indian subcontinent bounded by the Western Ghats on the east.

Mattupetty Dam, Kerala

There are three geographical regions:
1.The Highlands consisting of a number of peaks with heights varying from an average height of 900 m to well over 1,800 m. Anaimudi peak - 2,695 m (8,842 ft), the highest point of peninsular India, crowns the Western Ghats.
2. The Midlands made up of hills and valleys.
3. The lowlands or the coastal areas which are made up of the river deltas, backwaters and the Arabian Sea.
Over forty four rivers cut across Kerala; it is said to be land of rivers and backwaters. These rivers are quite small and more or less filled by the monsoon water. Among the rivers that flow into the Arabian Sea, the more important are the Bharatpuzha, Chalakudi, Periyar and Pamba.

All the fourteen districts of Kerala are included in the Western Ghats ecoregion : 1. Kasargod 2. Kannur 3. Kozhikode 4. Malappuram 5. Wayanad 6. Palghat 7. Thrissur 8. Ernakulam 9. Pathanamthitta 10. Idukki 11. Kottayam 12. Allapuza 13. Kollam 14. Thiruvananthpuram.

Tamil Nadu

The Western Ghats, after a run of 1,600 km through six states of the Indian union, end in Tamil Nadu just 20 km short of Kanyakumari. The Eastern and the Western Ghats meet in Tamil Nadu and run along the whole length of the western boundary of the state at a distance of 80 to 160 km from the Arabian Sea.
The Ghats are a steep rugged mass with an average height of 1,220 m rising to 2,637 m at the highest point - Dodabetta near Ooty. The Nilgiris and Anaimalai are the group of hills with the maximum height followed by the Palnis. The Palghat gap and Shencottah gap are the only two breaks into the long chain of ghats that border Tamil Nadu.

Tea Gardens in the Nilgiris

The main rivers which arise in the Western Ghats and flow east in Tamil Nadu are the Kaveri, Tambraparni and Vaigai.

Nine districts of Tamil Nadu are covered in the Western Ghats ecoregion :
1. Nilgiris 2. Coimbatore. 3. Theni 4. Dindigul 5. Virudunagar 6. Tirunelveli 7. Erode* 8. Madurai* 9. Kanyakumari

* The report of the Working Group on Hill Area Development Programme for the Tenth Five Year Plan (2002-2007), Govt. Of India, Planning Commission, June, 2001 considers Ahmednagar (Maharashtra), Dharwad (Karnataka), Erode and Madurai (Tamil Nadu) as districts of the Western Ghats region.

Topography

2008-07-29T22:18:00.000-07:00

Topography

The Great Escarpment

Hanuman & Shiva Shrines at Kundaibari Pass - the Western Ghats begin here.

The Western Ghats form an almost unbroken rampart on the fringe of western peninsula parallel to the west coast for about 1600 km and often hardly 40 km from the Arabian Sea.

They start immediately south of the Tapti river, the northern most point being the Kundaibari pass (21006��N, 74011��E) near Brahmavel in Dhule district of Maharashtra ending near Kanya-kumari (80��N) barely 20 km from the sea in Tamil Nadu. They cover an area of approximately 1,59,000 sq. km with an average elevation of 900-1500 m. ASL, obstructing the monsoon winds from the south west and the orographic effect is considerable. Although the average heights of the Ghats is less than1500 m. ASL, in the southern reaches it rises 2000 m and to exceptionally higher peaks of 2,500 m and above.
Along its entire length, the Western Ghats range has only one total discontinuity, the Palghat Gap in Kerala where for more than 30 km there is a gap which has a floor height of less than 100 m ASL. This discontinuity is perhaps of tectonic origin through which a river may have flowed in ancient times. The peninsular plateau is highest in the south and west and slopes eastward, the eastern edge forming the broken up Eastern Ghats. The Eastern and the Western Ghats meet along the Moyar Gorge with the Billigirirangana Hills along the north-eastern side and the the Nilgiris in the south-west.
Based on the topography and geology, the Western Ghat region is divided into three distinct subregions:

Northern Western Ghats (Tapti river to Goa)

This region consists of the most homogeneous part of the Western Ghats, hugging the coast for almost 600 km. It corresponds to the western edge of the vast plateau formed by massive horizontal outflow of volcanic lava which cooled to form dark grey basalt.

The layer of lava often interlaced with non-volcanic debris - View from Arthur��s Seat, Mahabaleshwar

The scarp of the Ghats in this region presents a magnificent profile of over 1,000 m of successive volcanic layers, which on erosion have produced a typical trappean landscape, forming a formidable well-dissected wall looking over the narrow west coast plains, buton the eastern side descending in steps one below the other. It is in this region that the full significance of the term ��ghats�� (steps of a stair-case) becomes clear. The layers of lava are quite often interlaced with non-volcanic debris. Sometimes these form intertrappean deposits holding plant and animal fossils. The elevation is generally between 700 and 1,000 m, but some of the pinnacles attain greater heights; the tallest are the Kalsubai (1,646 m) near Igatpuri, Salher (1,567 m) 90 km north of Nasik and the famous Mahabaleshwar (1,438 m).

Mangi & Tungi - The Twin Peaks in the Selbari Range

The escarpment is not a simple erosional feature; some geologists believe that it marks the location of a broad zone of en echelon deep-seated faults. Landsat imagery shows a large density of faults striking NW-SW along the trend of this escarpment roughly parallel to the coast, in which 33 hot springs have been noted and which have been interpreted as indicative of a fault.

Terraced flanks - the ��Ghats or steps��, Maharashtra

The coastal zone here called Konkan, is a narrow strip about 50-60 km wide. It is made up of a series of more or less high hills, some of them like Matheran (700 m) almost reaching the height of the plateau and bears testimony of regressive erosion.

Central Western Ghats (Goa to Nilgiris)

The basaltic outpourings cease to the north of Goa. The Middle Western Ghats run from a little south of 160N latitude up to Nilgiri Hills. Towards the south, the Ghats consist of complex formation of pre-cambrian rocks. In the central Western Ghats, the rocks are predominantly of Dharwar system (among the oldest in India) and Peninsular gneisses.
The Western scarp is considerably dissected by headward erosion of the west flowing streams. The elevation generally range between 600 to 1000 m up to 13030��N. The Ghats lose their graded appearance and form a steep barrier whose height becomes more irregular. They rise suddenly at Kodachadri (1343 m)and fall to about 600 m at Agumbe.

The ��Iron mountains��- Kudremukh range

From Kudremukh (1,892 m) up to Palghat Gap, the edge of the plateau is very often higher than 1,000 m. and the peaks become more numerous and higher - Pushpagiri (1,713 m) in the North Kodagu, Tadianamol Betta (1,745 m), Banasuram (2,060 m), Vavul Mala (2,339 m) at the edge of the Wayanad plateau.

Towards 11030��N, the Western Ghats composed of hard Charnokites, rise abruptly in the Nilgiri horst where they join the Eastern Ghats. The Nilgiri mountains constitute an elevated plateau dominated by two of its highest peaks, the Dodabetta (2,637 m) and Makurti (2,554 m) overlooking Palghat Gap from a height of more than 2,000 m.

On the Mysore plateau, whose average elevation range from 700 to 900 m we find reliefs formed by tectonic events such as spectacular horseshoe of the Bababudan hills which extends from Hebbe through Kemmanagundi and Attigudi to Mulainagiri (1,923 m) which is the highest peak in Karnataka.

Brahmagiris near Iruppu, Kodagu

The other tallest peak is Bababudangiri (Chandradrona Parvata 1,894 m). The width of the coastal zone is also more variable here than in Maharashtra. It is about 40 km wide at the latitude of Goa and then suddenly narrows near Karwar where the Ghats dip into the sea with peaks emerging as picturesque islands.

The Ghats dip into the sea near Karwar

This advance of the relief is carved by deep valleys of the Kalinadi, Gangavali and Sharavathy. The last drops from a height of 250 m creating the famous Jog falls.

To the south of 140 N, the coastal zone now called South Kanara, widens once more to about 80 km. The coastal region after Kodagu known as Malabar is not more than 30 km wide up to the latitude of Kozikode. From here it widens out to about 60 km till the Palghat Gap. The coastal hills in the entire region, particularly to the north of Mangalore are mostly tabular relief hardened by iron oxides. These reliefs are practically bare and present a characteristic landscape.

Charmadi Ghats, Karnataka

Southern Western Ghats (South of the Palghat Gap)

The Western Ghats are separated from the main Sahyadri Range by the Palghat Gap which is about 30 km wide and they appear abruptly as the Anaimalai-Palni block whose high plateau attain a height of 2,695 m in the Anaimudi peak, the highest point in south India. The Nelliampathis

This block is a composite range ismade up of the Nelliampathy plateau (drained by Chalakudi) to the west, the Anaimalai plateau (largely converted into tea plantations and distinctly elevated to the east) in the centre and the Palni horst overlooking the peneplain of Tamil Nadu from a height of almost 2,000 m.

Anaimudi - the highest peak in the south 2,695 m(8,843 ft). Bill Aitken called it ��Black Moby Dick�� - the Great Whale

To the south of this west-east oriented block, the Ghats display further changes. Here they form an elevated plateau slanting towards the west - the Periyar plateau, thus named after its most important river. The eastern part of this plateau forms Elamalai range, better known as Cardamom Hills because of its plantations. This central range attains its peak at Devar Malai (1,922 m) and terminates in the east by sheer cliff 1,000 m high. From this, the SW-NE oriented Varushanad massif is detached and continued by the Andipathi, which together with Palni hills embraces the Kambam Valley.

South of Devar Malai, at about 90N, the Ghats are once again interrupted by narrow Shencottah Pass (alt. 160 m). From here they continue as a narrow ridge with steep slopes to the west as well as to the east, until about 20 km before Kanyakumari. This last bit is very rugged and its highest peak is the Agasthyamalai (1,869 m). Three regions may be distinguished here; Agasthyamalai proper, Mahendragiri to the south and the Tirunelveli hills on the eastern slopes. The coastal zone (30-50 km wide) constituting Travancore is made up of convex shape hills with rounded summits. Here we do not find the tabular reliefs of South Kanara and Konkan since their formation at this latitude is probably more difficult due to short, dry season.

The vegetation types are characterised by low level tropical evergreens turn to Shola grasslands on the cool wind swept slopes of the higher ranges. Primary or secondary moist deciduous forests cover the lower western hills. Moist deciduous forests are also common on the eastern slopes in the rain shadow area. Dry deciduous and even scrub vegetation characterises the eastern slopes where the humidity is low and the winds are high.

The Imperial Gazetteer of India - 1907 gives a very vivid description of the region which is reproduced below:

Western Ghats - a range of mountains about 1,000 miles(1,600 km) in length, forming the western boundary of the Deccan and the watershed between rivers of peninsular India. The Sanskrit name is ��Sahyadri��.

The range, which will be treated here with reference to its course through Bombay, Mysore and Coorg and Madras, may be said to begin at the Kundaibari pass in the south western corner of the Khandesh district of Bombay Presidency, though the hills that run eastward from the pass to Chimtana and overlook the lower Tapti valley, belong to the same system. From Kundaibari (21006��N, 740 11��E) the chain runs southward with an average elevation which seldom exceeds 4,000 ft., in a line roughly parallel with the coast, from which its distance varies from 20 to 65 miles. For about 100 miles up to a point near Trimbak, its direction is somewhat west of south; and it is flanked on the west by the thickly wooded and unhealthy tableland of Peint, Mokhada and Jawhar (1500 ft) which forms a steep barrier between the Konkan lowlands and the plateau of the Deccan (about 2000 ft). South of Trimbak the scarp of the western face is more abrupt; and for 40 miles, as far as the Malsej pass, the trend is south-by-east changing to south-by-west from Malsej to Khandala and Vagjai (60 miles), and again to south by east from here until the chain passes out of the Bombay Presidency into Mysore near Gersoppa ( 14010��N, 74050��E).

On the eastern side the Ghats throw out many spurs or lateral ranges that run from west to east, and divide from one another the valleys of the Godavari, Bhima and Kistna river systems. The chief of these cross ranges are Satmalas, between the Tapti and Godavari valleys; the two ranges that break off from the main chain near Harishchandragarh and run south eastwards into the Nizam��s Dominions, enclosing the triangular plateau on which Ahamad-nagar stands, and which is the watershed between the Godavari and the Bhima; and the Mahadeo range, that runs eastward and southward from Kamalgarh and passes into the barren uplands of Atpadi and Jath, forming the watershed between the Bhima and the Kistna systems. North of the latitude of Goa the Bombay part of therange consists of Eocene trap and basalt, often capped with laterite, while farther south are found such older rocks as gneiss and transitional sandstones.
The flat-topped hills, often crowned with bare wall like masses of basalt, or laterite are clothed on their lower slopes with jungles of teak and bamboo in the north; with jambul (eugenia jambolana), ain (Terminalia tomentosa) and nana (Lagerstroemia parviflora) in the centre; and with teak, blackwood, and bamboo in the south.

On the main range and its spurs stand a hundred forts, many of which are famous in Maratha history. From north to south, the most notable points in the range are the Kundaibari pass a very ancient trade route between Broach and the Deccan; the twin forts of Salher and Mulher guarding the Babhulna pass; Trimbak at the source of holy river Godavari; the Thal pass by which the Bombay-Agra road and the northern branch of the Great Indian Peninsula Railway ascends the Ghats; the Pimpri pass, a very old trade route south between Nasik and Kalyan or Sopara, guarded by the twin forts of Alang and Kulang; Kalsubai (5427 ft), the highest peak in the range; Harishchandragarh (4691 ft); the Nana pass, a very old route between Junnar and Konkan; Shivner, the fort of Junnar; Bhimashankar, at the source of the Bhima; Chakan, an old Musalman stronghold; the Bhor or Khandala pass, by which the Bombay-Poona road and the southern branch of the Great Indian Peninsula Railway enters the Deccan, and on or near which are the caves of Kondane, Karli, Bhadja and Bedsa; the caves of Nasdur and Karsambla below the forts of Sinhagarh and Purandhar in the spurs south of Poona; the forts of Raigarh in the Konkan and of Pratapgarh between the new Fitzgerald ghat road and the old Par pass; the hill station of Mahabaleshwar (4717 ft) at the source of the Kistna; the fort and town of Satara; the Kumbharli pass leading to the old towns of Patan and Karad; the Amba pass, through which runs the road from Ratnagiri to Kolhapur; the forts of Vishalgarh and Panhala; the Phonda pass, through which runs the road from Deogarh to Nipani; the Amboli and the Ram pass, through which run two made roads from Vengurla to Belgaum; Castle Rock, below which passes the Railway from Marmagao to Dharwar; The Arabail pass on the road from Karwar to Dharwar; the Devimane pass on the road from Kumta to Hubli, and the Gersoppa Falls on the river Sharavati.

On leaving the Bombay Presidency, the Western Ghats bound the State of Mysore on the west, separating it from the Madras district of South Kanara, and run from Chandragutti (2,794 ft) in the north-west to Pushpagiri on the Subramanya hill (5,626 ft) in the north Coorg and continue through Coorg into Madras.

In the west of the Sagar taluk, from Govardhangiri to Devakonda, they approach within ten miles of the coast. From there they trend south-eastwards, culminating in Kudremukh (6,215 ft) in the southwest of Kadur district, which marks the watershed between Kistna and Cauvery systems. They then bend east and south to Coorg, receding to 45 miles from the sea. Here to numerous chains and groups of lofty hills branch off from the Ghats eastwards, forming the complex series of mountain heights south of Nagar in the west of Kadur district. Gneiss and hornblende schists are the prevailing rocks in this section, capped in many places by laterite, with some bosses of granite. The summits of the hills are mostly bare, but the sides are clothed with magnificent evergreen forests. Ghat roads to the coast have been made through the following passes: Gersoppa, Kollur, Hosangadi, and Agumbe in Shimoga district; Bundh in Kadur district, Manjarabad and Bisale in Hassan district.

In the Madras Presidency, the Western Ghats continue in the same general direction, running southwards at a distance of from 50 to 100 miles from the sea until they terminate at Cape Comorin, the southern most extremity of India. Soon after emerging from Coorg they are joined by the range of the Eastern Ghats, which sweeps down from the other side of the peninsula; and at the point of junction they rise up into the high plateau of the Nilgiris, on which stand the hill stations of Ootacamund (7,000 ft), the summer capital of the Madras Government, Coonoor, Wellington, and Kotagiri and whose loftiest peaks are Dodabetta (8,760 ft) and Makurti (over 8,000 ft).
Immediately south of this plateau the range, which now runs between the districts of Malabar and Coimbatore, is interrupted by the remarkable Palghat Gap, the only break in the whole of its length. This is about 16 miles wide, and is scarcely more than 1,000 ft above the level of the sea. The Madras Railway runs through it, and it thus forms the chief line of communication between the two sides of this part of the peninsula.

South of this gap the Ghats rise abruptly again to even more than their former height. At this point they are known by the local name Anaimalais, or ��elephant hills��, and the minor ranges they here throw off to the west and east are called respectively the Nelliam-pathis and the Palni Hills. On the latter is situated the sanatorium of Kodaikanal. Thereafter, as they run down to Cape Comorin between the Madras Presidency and the native state of Travancore, they resume their former name.

North of the Nilgiri plateau the eastern flank of the range merges somewhat gradually into the high plateau of Mysore but its western slopes rise suddenly and boldly from the low coast south of the Palghat Gap both the eastern and western slopes are steep and rugged . The range here consists throughout of gneisses of various kinds, flanked in Malabar by picturesque terraces of laterite which shelve gradually down towards the coast. In elevation it varies from 3,000 to 8,000 ft above the sea, and the Anaimudi peak (8,839 ft) in Travancore is the highest point in the range and in southern India. The scenery of the Western Ghats is always picturesque and frequently magnificent, the heavy evergreen forest with which the slopes are often covered aiding greatly to their beauty. Large games of all sorts abounds, from elephants, bisons and tigers to the Nilgiri ibex, which is found nowhere else in India.

Before the days of roads and railways the Ghats rendered communication between the west and east coasts of the Madras Presidency a matter of great difficulty; and the result has been that the people of the strip land which lies between them and the sea differ widely in appearance, language, customs, and laws of inheritance from those in the eastern part of the Presidency. On the range itself, moreover, are found several primitive tribes, among whom may be mentioned the well known Todas of the Nilgiris, the Kurumbas of the same plateau, and the Kadars of Anaimalais. Communications across this part of the range have, however, been greatly improved of late years. Besides the Madras Railway already referred to, the line from Tinnevelly to Quilon now links up the two opposite shores of the peninsula, and the range is also traversed by numerous ghat roads. The most important of these latter are the Charmadi ghat from Mangalore in South Kanara to Mudgiri in Mysore; The Sampaji ghat between Mangalore and Mercara, the capital of Coorg; the roads from Cannanore and Tellichery, which lead to the Mysore plateau through the Perumbadi and Peria passes; and the two routes from Calicut to the Niligiri plateau up the Karkur and Vayittiri-Gudalur ghats.

NOTABLE PEAKS IN THE WESTERN GHATS

Name of the peak & location Height(m) (ft)

1. Anaimudi 2,695 (m) 8,839(ft) Anaimalai Hills, Kerala
2. Dodabetta 2,637 (m) 8,649 (ft) Nilgiri Hills, Tamil Nadu
3. Makurti 2,554 (m) 8,377 (ft) Nilgiri Hills, Tamil Nadu
4. Vembadi Shola 2,506 (m) 8,220 (ft) Kodaikanal Hills, Tamil Nadu
5. Vahul Mala (Camel��s Hump) 2,339 (m) 7,672 (ft) Southern Sahyadris, Kerala
6. Banasuram 2,060 (m) 6,757 (ft) Southern Sahyadris, Kerala
7. Kottai Malai 2,019 (m) 6,622 (ft) Varushanad Hills, Keral-Tamil Nadu
8. Mulainagiri 1,923 (m) 6,307 (ft) Bababudan Hills, Karnataka 9. Devar Malai 1,922 (m) 6,304 (ft) Kerala
10. Badabudangir (Chandradrona Parvata) 1,894 (m) 6,212 (ft) Karnataka
11. Kudremukh 1,892 (m) 6,206 (ft) Central Sahyadris, Karnataka
12. Agasthyamalai 1,869 (m) 6,130 (ft) Kerala-Tamil Nadu
13. Tadianamol Betta 1,745 (m) 5,724 (ft) Kodagu, Karnataka
14. Pushpagiri 1,713 (m) 5,619 (ft) Kodagu, Karnataka
15. Mahendra Giri 1,654 (m) 5,425 (ft) Kerala-Tamil Nadu
16. Kalsubai 1,646 (m) 5,399 (ft) Northern Sahyadris, Maharashtra
17. Salher 1,567 (m) 5,140 (ft) Northern Sahyadris, Maharashtra
18. Ballalrayan Durga 1,504 (m) 4,933 (ft) Central Sahyadris, Karnataka 19. Gopalaswamy Betta 1,454 (m) 4,769 (ft) Karnataka - Tamil Nadu
20. Pratapgad 1,438 (m) 4,717 (ft) Central Sahyadris, Maharashtra
21. Kodachadri 1,343 (m) 4,405 (ft) Karnataka
22. Andipatti Hills 1,301 (m) 4,267 (ft)Tamil Nadu
23. Sadura Giri 1,271 (m) 4,169 (ft) Varushanad Hills, Tamil Nadu

The Spiritual Mystique

2008-07-29T20:38:00.000-07:00

ABODE OF GODS

Ishwara Shrine atop Mulainagiri, the highest peak in Karnataka

There are a number of references to the Sahyadris in the ancient epics of Ramayana and Mahabharata as well as in some of the Puranas. In Ramayana they are described as ��majestic, great mountain with its many brightly coloured peaks, its brightly flowering woods, and forest tracts of sandalwood��. Both Ramyana and Mahabharata belong to the post Vedic period.
However, the Rig Veda, the most ancient text available, does not feature this mountain range as possibly during that time the peninsular part of India was a dense forest and remained largely inaccessible and unknown to the Vedic people.

Madhukeshwara Temple, Banvasi, Karnataka

Kishkindha Kanda and Yuddha Kanda in Ramayana and Ashvamedha Parva and Udyog Parva in Mahabharata have references to the majestic and lofty mountain ranges on the west coast. There are two names that feature for the Western Ghats - Sahya and Malaya. The name Sahya was probably applied to the northern segment of the mountain range in Maharashtra and Karnataka, and Malaya to the southern segment in Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

The Legend of Parashurama

The legend of Parashurama is a popular story in the Hindu Mythology with different regional versions. According to one version, Parashurama, the axe-wielding avatar of Vishnu is the son of Sage Jamadagni and Renuka. Jamadagni is killed by despotic Kshatriyas because he refuses to part with ��Kamadhenu��, his wish-fullfilling divine cow. In revenge, Parashurama traverses the earth twenty-one times and wipes out all the Kshatriyas.
Parashurama, struck by remorse tried to expiate his sins by performing yagnyas during which he gifted away all his lands to the Brahmins with no land left even to build a hermitage for himself. Varuna, God of the seas came to his aid and offered him to gain from the sea as much land he could span in one throw of his axe. Parashurama stood at Pethe Parashuram (near Chiplun, Maharashtra) and threw his axe as far as Kanyakumari. The sea retreated and the coastal tracts of Konkan, Kanara and Kerala were thus generated.
Parashurama populated his new lands with Brahmins as well as new plants such as the coconut, the banana and the jackfruit which now thrive throughout the region.

This legend is probably based on the lowering of sea level which resulted in the emergence of the coastal strip which is now referred to as Konkan and Malabar. There are very few shrines to Lord Parashurama - apart from Pethe Parashuram in Konkan, there is one shrine in Goa at Painguinim and two in Kerala at Payanur and Thiruvallom.

From the earliest times, the mountains have been considered the abode of Gods and revered and worshipped. There are hundreds of shrines and temples built atop the hills and innumerable caves and monuments dedicated to the divine all over the Western Ghats. Skanda Purana has a whole section called Sahyadri Kanda that provides description of over a hundred Tirthas (holy places in the vicinity of rivers) and eighty Kshetras (places of pilgrimage) in the Sahyadri range.

Vidyashankara Temple, Shringeri, Karnataka

The Tirtha phenomenon is a unique by-product of Indian culture. Rivers, mountains, shrines and holy spots on the banks of rivers have been sanctified by tradition and association and visit to these places has been considered for centuries as a paramount duty of a Hindu.

Some of the important tirthas are located at the source of different rivers. Tryambakeshwar is located at the source of Godavari near Nasik and contains one of the twelve ancient and sacred Jyotirlingas in India.
The legend of sage Gautama who resided near Tryambak on the Brahmagiri hill is narrated in Brahmapurana and Naradapurana. Ramayana features Panchavati on the banks of Godavari near Nasik where Shri Rama stayed along with Sita and Lakshaman.

Bhimashankar Temple, Maharashtra

River Bhima rises 40 km north of Khandala and at the source of this river is situated another of the twelve famous Jyotirlingas of Bhimashankar. Bhima is referred to in the Mahabharata, Matsya Purana, Brahma Purana and Vamana Purana. Most of the famous Ashta Vinayaka temples of Maharashtra are located in the Sahyadris - Lenyadri, Siddhatek, Pali, Theur, Morgaon, etc.
River Krishna rises near Mahabaleshwar along with four other rivers - Vena, Kakudmati, Savitri and Gayatri. The Shiva (Mahabaleshwara) temple is about 5 kms from the main bazar of Mahabaleshwar hill station. There are legends associated with this spot in Mahabaleshwar Mahatmya.

Pandharpur situated 40 miles west of Sholapur on the banks of river Bhima also known as Chandra-bhaga is the foremost pilgrimage centre of Maharashtra that houses the famous shrine of Vithoba.
Alandi is situated on the banks of Indrayani river 12 miles north of Pune and has the Samadhi and shrine of the famous Maharashtra saint Jnaneshwar. On the mountain at Jejuri, high up the Karha valley is the temple of Khandoba.
Kolhapur is situated near the banks of river Panchaganga and is known for the ancient temple of Goddess Mahalakshmi.

Mahalakshmi Temple, Kolhapur

Goa has many ancient Hindu temples spread over at the foot of the Sahyadris. South of Goa there is Sringeri on the left bank of river Tungabhadra where Sri Shankaracharya established his chief monastery.

Saptakoteshwar Temple, Narve, Goa

Baba Budan or Dattatreya Pitha, a laterite cave, considered holy by both Muslims and Hindus is in the Bababudan range. The legend says that the Muslim saint Baba Budan came and settled down here and brought coffee seeds with him from Persia. This was the beginning of coffee crop in India. Close to Chickamagalur, on the tallest peak in the Western Ghats of Karnataka - Mulaianagiri (1,923 m.) is a beautiful Shiva shrine.

Nageshwar Temple, Saputara, Gujarat

At the foothill of the Western Ghats at Belur and Halebid near Hassan are the Temples of Channakeshava and Hoysaleshwara with finely executed carved sculptures. These were built during the 12th century and are the finest examples of Hoysala architecture.
North of Udupi, near the base of the Kodachadri hills is the famous temple of Goddess Mookambika at Kollur. Udupi in Dakshina Kannada is famous for Krishna temple founded by Sri Madhavacharya, the great Dvaita philosopher and teacher. Kukke Subramanya temple at the base of the Kumara Parvata is in Dakshina Kannada.

Mukambika Temple, Kollur, Karnatak

River Kaveri rises on the Brahmagiri hill in Kodagu (12035�� N and 75031�� E) its source is a small pond and there is a shrine to Goddess Kaveri. The place is known as Talakaveri. There are several legends about Kaveri which are mainly recorded in the Agneya and Skanda Puranas.

Kukke Subramanya Temple, Karnataka

Sabrimala the famous abode of Lord Ayyappa is situated in thick forested area of the Western Ghats in the upper region of river Pamba in Kerala. The legend says that it was here that lord Rama while searching for Sita met Sabari, an ardent devotee and blessed her. The famous ancient temple of Lord Krishna is situated in Guruvayur, about 30 km from Trichur.
Kaladi, eight miles east of Alwaye, on the banks of river Periyar is the birth place of Jagatguru Sri Shankaracharya.

River Tambraparni arises in the Agasthyamalai hills. After a few kms from its source downstream, it reaches the Papanasam tirtha which is considered a very sacred place. The importance of the tirtha is described in the Shiva Purana and in the Kurma Purana and it is also mentioned in the Mahabharata and Ramayana. There is a temple of Subramanya at Palni hills on a rocky hill about 450 ft high.

Carved figurine, Belur Temple

Buddhist Caves in the Western Ghats

The most famous Buddhist monument in the Sahyadris are the Buddhist caves at Ajanta and Ellora near Aurangabad in Maharashtra.
The 34 caves at Ellora and 29 caves at Ajanta remained shrouded in obscurity till one John Smith, a British Army officer, accidentally stumbled upon them while hunting tigers in 1819. These caves were built as secluded retreats for the Buddhist monks around 2nd century B.C.

Ajanta Fresco

The Kailasa temple in Cave 16 at Ellora is an architectural marvel, the entire structure having been carved out of a monolith, the process having taken over a century to finish. The gateway, pavilion, assembly hall sanctum and tower, all hewn out of a single rock. What is amazing about it, is the fact that unlike other temple structures which are built base upward, the architect involved here, started carving from the very top and the sides. Gigantic though, it remains one of the most delicate and intricate ancient works of art.
Junnar, where the hill fort of Shivneri is situated was an old Buddhist centre and it still has several cells and chapels and believed to be as old as 3rd century B.C.

The other important Buddhist caves are at the Bhore or Khandala pass at Karla, Bhaje and Bedse. The Buddhist cave at Karla is considered to be the largest and the most complete Chaitya cave in India and is also the best preserved. The caves of Bhaje and Bedse are also nearby and are believed to be as old as 2nd century B.C.

The Gandhar-Pali caves are located near Mahad junction on Mumbai-Goa highway in the Sahyadris. There are 28 caves in all which date back to the 2nd or 3rd century A.D. Chaityas, Viharas, wall sculptures, images of Buddha can be seen in these caves.

��Golden Buddha��, Namdroling Monastery, Bylakuppe, Kodagu

Jain Pilgrimage Centres

Ellora : Of the 34 caves that are carved, 5 of the caves to the north are Jain caves.
Shravanabelagola : This famous Jain pilgrimage centre is located 51 km south east of Hassan. The Gomateshwara statue 58 ft high is carved out of a mountain and said to be one of the tallest monolithic sculptures. It was carved out in 981 A.D. and consecrated in 983 A.D. There are several Jain bastis and monasteries in Shravanabelagola. There are 14 shrines on Chandragiri hill and Chandragupta Maurya, the Mauryan Emperor after renouncing his kingdom settled on this hill, along with his Guru Bhagwan Bhadra Bahu Swami. The great emperor is buried here.

Gomateshwara, Shravanbelagola

Karkala : Is another Jain pilgrimage centre in the Western Ghats. From the centre of the town rises 300 ft high Gomata Betta, crowned with 41.5 ft monolith of Bahubali. The statue was consecrated in 1,432 A.D.
Moodabidri : The Savira Khamba Basadi is the most well-known of the 18 Jain Temples here. There is also the 17th century Chowta Palace, the intricately carved residence of the Jain Royal family.
Kumbhojgiri : This centre is 35 km away from Kolhapur. There are around 24 temples dedicated to Jain Tirthankars within the complex, sacred to both Digambara and Swetambara sects.

Christian Pilgrimage Centres

St. Thomas, the apostle is believed to have travelled by the spice route on a boat and landed in Muziris (Cranganore) in 52 A.D. He converted India��s first Chiristians and built a church at Palayur. The Palayur is the oldest of the seven-and-half churches founded by St. Thomas, and is the oldest church in India.
Malayattoor, on the banks of the Periyar is a popular pilgrim centre for the Christians of Kerala as they believe that it was blessed by the presence of St. Thomas the apostle. About 10 kms from Vagamon is Kurusimala, a pilgrim centre for Christians, that recreates Christ��s final journey - the Way of the Cross - in a series of picture tableaux.

'Bom Jesus', Old Goa

Old Goa is famous for the Shrine of St. Franacis Xavier "Bom Jesus" where his entombed body has been kept.

Aurangazeb��s Tomb

North-East of Mumbai in the Western Ghats is a small hill station of Khuldabad, site of the tombs of Aurangzeb, last of the great Mogul Emperors and his son Azam Sham.
Aurangzeb chose Rauza on Khuldabad��s outskirts as his resting place where he wanted to be buried. Aurangzeb chose this simple town for the most feared of the Mogul emperors saved money for this simple structure through the sale of skullcaps that he stitched and copies of the Koran he personally wrote.

Geological History

2008-07-29T18:52:00.000-07:00

Geological History

Millions of years ago

The Western Ghat hill ranges, in terms of geological age, are much older than the Himalayas. The Geological history of the Western Ghats goes back to the time when the earth’s crust was being formed and makes a fascinating reading.
A nineteenth century Austrian geologist Edward Suess named it the Gondwana. Although the early events of Gondwanaland are lost in the haze of a distant past, many details are being put together to form a plausible explanation of what might have taken place.

The Gonds are a tribe that lives in the present day state of Madhya Pradesh. The area gave the world the first evidence that India was a part of a supercontinent later called Gondwana. The fossil plant Glossopteris was found here. Suess based his deductions on the fossil plant Glossopteris which is found throughout India, South America, Southern Africa, Australia and Antarctica.
Continents have been coming together and breaking apart again for the whole history of the earth. Before Gondwana, Pangaea(meaning 'all lands') made up of Gondwana in the south and Laurasia in the north. Laurasia (made up of North America, Europe and Asia) broke away from Pangaea at about 200 to 150 million years ago (m.y.a.) and the remaining part of Pangaea became Gondwana made up of continents that are now Australia, India, South America, Africa and Antarctica. During the Carboniferous and Permian period (300 - 260 m.y.a) much of Gondwana was covered by ice. During those times we have little evidence of animals actually living there. Once the ice melted in the late Permian (240 m.y.a.) and the Triassic (225 m.y.a.), animals were able to colonise most of Gondwana which stayed warm until 40 m.y.a., when part of it now known as Antarctica froze over again. The break up of Gondwana began during the time that dinosaurs were the dominant land animals (in the Cretaceous - 120 m.y.a.), but it was such a slow process that they were unlikely to be affected by it.

To understand land forms it is necessary to know about the earth’s composition. Deep within the earth at a depth range of 100 to 350 km from the surface, lies a viscous layer of the earth, the asthenosphere, which has fluid-like properties. Above this layer rests the rigid lithosphere which includes the crust. The lithosphere is ‘floating’ on the asthenosphere. The lithosphere is not a continuous shell, but is divided in plates(like a jigsaw puzzle). It comprises of seven major and several minor distinct plates. The plates are in constant motion relative to each other and this motion is the cause of most of the phenomena in the earth’s crust. At some places they are moving away from each other. Usually one plate bends down the other at such boundaries and the process is called subduction. The interior of the plate is stable and the edges are usually the site of intense deformation. Thus Plate Tectonics is a near-complete theory that explains most of the phenomena occurring in the earth’s crust. In fact it is one theory that has changed people’s perception of all the disciplines of Earth Science. The theory of Plate Tectonics did not emerge overnight. It evolved gradually since the beginning of the 20th century as many hypothesis were laid down. The important ones are Continental Drift, Apparent Wandering and Sea-floor Spreading.

Continents break up and move apart at about the same speed that one’s finger nails grow - about 6 cms per year. A large chunk from Gondwana broke loose from its moorings in the Antarctica. This chunk fractured to form S. America and Africa to its west and Australia to its east. The central portion kept moving northwards. About 70 m.y.a. Madagascar is said to have separated leaving the Indian Plate to continue its migration in a north-easterly direction. This part became a temporary island before becoming part of the Indian subcontinent. In the beginning there is a stable “shield” area called the Deccan Plateau that occupies the triangular peninsula area of India(and which includes Sri Lanka). Most geologists regard this area as having formed a part of Gondwanaland.

As it moved up in this drift of about 10,000 km from approx. 30 degrees south latitude, the Indian Plate passed over a deep seated volcanic hot-spot in the region of today’s Reunion islands. The heat beneath generated basaltic magma which rose into lithosphere causing an uplift by crustal arching. It also tilted the Indian Plate in the easterly direction. The major rivers of the peninsular India would later flow eastward because of this tilt. A northerly tilt is also postulated to explain the expanse of older and deeper rocks in the Southern Western Ghats.

When the peninsular shield bumped into the Asian landmass around 45 m.y.a. after having undergone many uplifts and modi-fications, the Indian Plate lifted up the Asian Plate by subduction to form the elevated Tibetan plateau. The eastern portion of the Tethys sea caught up between the two moving landmasses was obliterated and its sediments raised up to form the Himalayas. These mountains not only define the subcontinent and separate it from the adjacent landmass; they also form the second major land form region of South Asia. The mountains that are formed are of the folded type, usually consisting of alternating ridges and valleys, all parallel to one another (though some complexity inevitably results) and generally trending in long bands parallel to the colliding areas.

The Deccan Volcanic Episode

The Deccan Volcanic Episode occurred in the late Cretaceous to the early Tertiary - the KT boundary - a period of turbulence, upheavals and extinctions. Lava from huge fissures flowed over the Deccan region. Most of the basalt erupted between 60-65 m.y.a. Recent palaeo-magnetic and isotopic age data seem to indicate the possibility that the magma outbursts giving rise to the vast extent of lava flows was of short duration of about 2 million years around 65 m.y.a. The absence of a typical cone and crater in the vast spread of basaltic rock points to a series of fissures out of which the confined magma poured out in sheet after sheet. Birbal Sahni, the renowned palaeo-botanist called it “this terrible drama of fire and thunder”.

The extinction of nearly 90% of the fauna and flora at the Cretaceous - Tirtiary boundary is a remarkable fact. A whole range of large reptiles (Dinosaurs) and ammonites became extinct at the end of Cretaceous. The magnitude and suddenness of the volcanic activity at that period, it is believed, created an abrupt change in environment, causing the extinction of plant and animal species. View from Arthur's Seat, Mahabaleshwar - 1,000 m of successive basaltic layers

The Deccan basalts may have played a role in the extinction of the dinosaurs - gases released by the eruption may have changed global climate and led to the demise of the dinosaurs. Raiyoli in Central Gujarat is said to be one of the three largest dinosaur sites in the world.

The Deccan Plateau ranks as the world’s fourth largest (volumetrically) subcontinental outpouring of plateau basalt lavas extruded at unstable margins during active tectonic plate movements. The Deccan Traps occupying one-sixth of Indian landmass, consists of more than 2000 meters deep flat lying basalt lava flows and covers an area of over 5,00,000 sq. km. in west-central India. Estimates of the original area covered by the lava flows are as high as 1.5 million sq. km.
The volume of the basalt is estimated to be 5,12,000 cubic km. Trapp is a Swedish term for a terraced plateau (Ghats - steps or terraces). The term “Deccan Trap” was first used by Col. W. H. Sykes and the term “Trap” is used in the lithological sense of the rock basalt.

Formation of the Western Ghats

The Western Ghats are not true mountains but rather faulted edge of an upraised plateau. There is a contrast between the deep ravines and canyons along the scarp facing the Arabian Sea and the flat topped spurs intersected by mature valleys to the east. These are mountains of denudation rather than deformation.

As mentioned earlier the Peninsular India split from Gondwanaland about 150 m.y.a. and started moving north. The northward drift which lasted about 100 million years finally ended with the peninsula colliding with the Asian mainland 45 m.y.a. Major geological transformations took place as the peninsula moved northwards and drifted over the present day Reunion islands - localised volcanic centre in the earth’s lithosphere 200-300 km across, which has remained active for several million years.

It moved up in this drift and the heat beneath generated basaltic magma which rose into lithosphere causing an uplift by crustal arching. It was this event which happened some 120-130 m.y.a. that resulted in the uplift of the Western Ghats and tilted the Indian Plate in easterly direction. Subsequently, there were a series of volcanic eruptions until around 65 m.y.a. giving rise to the extensive Deccan Traps. These volcanic episodes to a large extent moulded the Northern Western Ghats.

Since the Western Ghats are a result of a domal uplift, the underlying rocks are ancient - around 2000 million year old. The oldest of these rocks are found in the Nilgiris and the High Ranges of the southern Western Ghats.
The uplifted crust of the earth bears a central axial region of weakness coinciding with the track of upliftment. Peninsular India broke along its line of weakness and the western segment drifted westward into the sea(a process known as faulting), giving rise to the present day hill chain of the Western Ghats and the west coast. The exposed face of the eastern unsubmerged plate was lifted up to form the scarp of the Western Ghats. This happened during the Eocene (between 45 and 65 m.y.a.), even before India became part of the Asian mainland. By the time the peninsular India ended its northward drift and collided with the Asian mainland, the Western Ghats were very much in place.
At this time the marked eastward tilt permanently changed the pattern of drainage. The western faulting led to ‘river capture’ and diversion of easterly drainage to the west in many instances. The river Sharavathy and Kali in Karnataka are classical examples of westerly diversion of drainage due to uplift and faulting. The Shara-vathy with its spectacular waterfalls and deep gorges has receded about 28 km due to headward erosion. The Western Ghats thus represent tectonically active region with high rates of uplift, high summit altitudes, steep slopes, deep gorges and large potential for erosion and correspondingly high sedimentation yields.

The uplift of the western part of the Indian peninsula had several repercussions. It explains the orientation of the big rivers of the plateau towards the east; it started a chain of very violent regressive erosion on the steep and abrupt western slopes, thus fashioning the Western Ghats into the state that we find them today, chiseled into steps following the basaltic beds(in the Trapp) and carved by deep valleys sometimes capturing some of the rivers of the plateau such as Sharavathy or cleaved by vertical cliffs as found towards Agumbe (Karnataka). The seaward progression of the edge of the continental plateau as compared to the ancient continental edge is perhaps the outcome of this erosion.

Northern Sahyadris, Selbari Range

The northern half of the Ghats from Tapti valley down to Goa is formed of horizontal beds of massive Deccan Trapp. The resistant character of the Trapp has accentuated the relief and the Ghats appear in the form of a steeply-cut wall facing the Arabian Sea. The scarp of the Ghats in this region presents a magnificent vertical profile of over 1000 m of successive layers. The view from ‘Arthur’s Seat’ just outside Mahabaleshwar is very impressive.

South of Goa, the horizontal bedded traps give place to steeply dipping gneisses and schists. In this section the Ghats lose their abrupt and precipitous character. The average height falls down to less than 2000 ft. The westerly flowing rivers in this section have effected breaches in the wall by cutting deep gorges and canyons. Waterfalls are common at the head of the rejuvenated rivers. The watershed separating the easterly and westerly drainage, which hitherto had followed more or less the crest line of the Ghats is pushed by nearly a hundred miles inland as near Hubli by Gangavali. The scarp again swings back to the coast south of Honnavar. It also gains in height forming the important peaks of Kodachadri 1343 m. and Kudremukh 1892 m. The Ghat scarp recedes again east of Mangalore where the Netravathi has extended its valley by headward erosion.

Bedthi River Gorge, Uttara Kannada

In Kodagu and south Mysore the Ghats expose Charnokites. Some of the highest peaks in the Ghats are to be found in this Charnokitic region. In the Nilgiris the average elevation is over 6000 ft., the highest point Dodabetta being 2637 m.(8,650 ft.) high. This aspect of the Western Ghats, which hitherto showed scarp-like face only to the west, changes south of Mysore. The hill masses, although continuous with the Ghats, appear more like tableland - lifted abruptly to elevations of over 2,440 m.(8000 ft.), presenting steep sided precipices on all sides.

Bababudangiri Range, Karnataka.

The continuity of the Western Ghats is lost south of Nilgiris, where there is remarkable gap called the ‘Palghat Gap’ separating the Nilgiri massif from equally high and precipitous massif of Anaimalai to the south. The gap is about twenty miles wide and at its highest point 300 m. above sea level.
South of the Palghat Gap are the complex group of hills forming the Anaimalai, Palni, the Varushanad, and Cardamom Hills mainly of Charnokites. The rivers follow straight courses and the drainage pattern is rectilinear. As we proceed south, in Kerala, the Ghats recede inland leaving a fertile coastal plain.

Whither the Sahyadris ?

2008-07-28T22:08:00.000-07:00

The Western Ghats

Annaimudi Peak, Eravikulam, Kerala

It has been said that the interaction between man and nature is largely moulded by the interrelationship of man and man within the human society.
Ecology is the science of the relationships between organisms and their environment.

��The science of living beings in general, and especially of the human individual, has not made such a great progress. It still remains in the descriptive state. Man is an indivisible whole of extreme complexity. No simple representation of him can be obtained. There is no method of comprehending simultaneously in his entirety, his parts and his relations with the outer world.��
��We are beginning to realise the weakness of our civilisation. Many want to shake off the dogmas imposed upon them by modern society - those who are bold enough to understand the necessity, not only mental, political and social changes, but the overthrow of industrial civilisation and of the advent of another conception of human progress�� - Man, the Unknown - Dr. Alexis Carrel.

Whither the Sahyadris ?

ECOLOGICAL SURVIVAL OF

THE WESTERN GHATS

��We cannot have ecological movement designed to prevent violence against nature, unless the principle of non-violence becomes central to the ethics of human culture�� - Mahatma Gandhi

The Sahyadris - also known as the Western Ghats comprise fragile but vital ecosystems of the Indian subcontinent. Rare, moist deciduous forest type, sub-temperate montane wet grasslands and shola forests, high species endemism, uniqueness of lowland evergreen forest in a monsoonal climate and biogeographical significance of this isolated area between the African and Indo-Malaysian blocks make the Western Ghats a very important biological resource. In fact the Western Ghats like the South American rainforests form the ��girdle�� of the earth and help maintain global ecological balance.

The Western Ghats also harbour a large diversity of human cultures - in the less than 20,000 sq. km. of Kerala Western Ghats there are more than 38 distinct tribal communities. This region, which is globally recognised as a ��hotspot�� area of great conservation concern is under constant threat due to many anthropogenic factors. And the tide of ecodegradation is sweeping over the entire tract destroying most of the biodiversity.

The hill ranges form an almost unbroken rampart on the fringe of the western peninsula parallel to the west coast of India for about 1600 km. They start immediately south of the Tapti river, the northern most point being, the Kundaibari Pass (21006��N, 74011��E) in Dhule district of Maharashtra and ending near Kanyakumari (80N) barely 20 km from the sea in Tamil Nadu. The entire range encompasses six States - Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

Malsej Ghats, Maharashtra

The Western Ghats cover an area of approximately 1,59,000 sq.km with an average elevation of 900-1500 m. ASL. Rising up from a relatively narrow coastal strip(average width: 40 km), the hills reach up to a height of 2,695 m.(8,843 ft.) at Anaimudi Peak in Kerala before they merge to the east with the Deccan plateau at an altitude of 500-600 m. The average width of the mountain range is about 100 km.

The Living Fulcrum

The hill ranges force the moisture laden monsoon winds coming off the Arabian Sea to rise and receive in consequence heavy precipitation of 2,000 mm or more annually. The rainfall exceeds 7,500 mm per annum in some places on the western windward side (Agumbe, Karnataka). To the lee of the Ghats is the region of rain shadow and the eastern slopes of the Ghats where the rainfall decreases rapidly and are much drier than the western face.

The rainfall is heavier to the south and extends over 8-10 months a year; it is lower and restricted to 4 months of the south-west monsoon in the central and northern parts of the Western Ghats. These marked differences in the geomorphology, rainfall, water regimes and temperatures have given rise to several types of plants and animal species which makes the region one of the richest biodiversity spots or the Living Fulcrum.

Water...Water...

Cheeyapara Waterfalls, Kerala

The Western Ghats are remarkable headwaters and the main watershed for the southern peninsula serving six states; sustained by the heavy seasonal rainfall from the south-west monsoon, from which all the major and many smaller rivers of the southern peninsula originate and flow east or west emptying into the coastal waters. All the river runoff in the southern parts of India is controlled by these hills and thus agriculture in the states of Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu is crucially regulated by the Western Ghats. The real merit of the Western Ghats forests in terms of their watershed value is incalculable and ought to concern everybody. These forests once destroyed are gone forever. No amount of scientific knowledge or investment in afforestation can get us back our rivers.

Vanishing Forests

The biggest ecological damage inflicted upon the Western Ghats is deforestation. Tragically for the country and the region, most of the forest cover in the Western Ghats has disappeared.

Ecologically fragile monsoon forests

The forest cover in the Western Ghats seems to have declined between 1972 and 1985 at a rate paralleling that for India as a whole, which implies a loss of over 2.4% annually.
The decline of the primary forest : the amount remaining seems to be no more than 8,000 sq. kms.
All but isolated pockets of original forest have been opened up allowing a takeover by deciduous species and bamboo among other forms of ��degenerate�� vegetation.
A study which estimated changes (2002) in the forest cover between 1973 and 1993 in the southern parts of the Western Ghats using satellite data reveals a loss of 25.6 percent forest cover in that period.

Reduction in forest cover and habitat fragmentation has had a very adverse effect on the wildlife of this area. Many species have become highly endangered almost on the verge of extinction - Lion-tailed macaque, Nilgiri langur and Nilgiri tahr.

Nilgiri Tahr, Eravikulam

Path to Economic Development

After independence, India launched itself on the path of modernisation and economic development and nearly six decades of this endeavour has yielded many impressive gains. But as the years have rolled by, there are more and more signs that some grave errors have been committed in the choice of path to development. For this path has led to large scale misuse of the natural resources imposing on the country, huge costs in the form of flood damage, siltation and reduction of life of river valley projects, shortages of fuel and fodder for the rural population and of raw material base for industries.

The hill areas of the Western Ghats have paid a heavy price for the planned development that has led to a considerable degree of intensification of the use of its resources; but without adequate attention to long term sustainability of this resource use pattern.

Its forest wealth is depleted, its reservoirs silting up, its horticulture plagued by outbreaks of new diseases; polluting the environment and bringing little benefits to the local population. The fragile ecosystems of the Ghats have tended to collapse under the assaults of exploitative development of the last few decades.

Tea Gardens at Munnar

Indirectly, the Western Ghats influence the well-being of the entire peninsula through modulating climate, river water flow, ground water recharge, adding fertility to river valley and delta soils, providing a wide range of natural produce for the really impoverished population.

Kamakshi Temple in the Sahyadris, Goa.

�� Save The Western Ghats ��

��Save the Western Ghats�� is an anguished cry that is heard throughout the southern peninsula, now for several decades. There are sporadic voices of protest from environmentalists and conservationists against the shortsighted developmental activities in this ecologically very fragile region. There have been gatherings and awareness marches in the past. But environmental activism, at best, is fire fighting by a handful of pressure groups or individuals.
The fact remains that half-hearted conservation attempts by the Governments and various agencies amount only to patchy efforts and the rate of deforestation has accelerated in recent years with a steady environmental decline of the whole region. The threat has all the more increased with the combined pressure of urbanisation, industries, mining, deforestation, submergence by dams, introduction of railways, large scale encroachments, poaching etc. The fragmentation of these forests form a major threat to species conservation, and lack of green cover will not only turn the area into barren hills but could result in the devastating cycle of floods and droughts in the downstream areas.
Unless the Governments, International Agencies and the people of the region wake up to the harsh realities, and take some drastic steps for the conservation of the region, this rich, lush, highly resourceful region will be lost forever with very unpleasant and adverse effects on the liveable environment of the subcontinent.

In the hills of the Western Ghats, we confront our future. These mountains influence rainfall, regulate run-off of water into downhill drainage channels and are the most important features of the landscape. Through rivers, the hills control the fate of the valleys and plains. The hills are by themselves rich and at the same time very fragile. Unfortunately they continue to suffer drastic degradation due to human pressure. They need priority attention and careful nursing. These mountains in their remote fastness still shelter the last remnants of our biological and human cultural diversity. Most of our unique representative ecosystems, the last of our endangered plants and animals, our least modified cultures, all find protection in the inaccessibility of these mountains. Soliga Tribal Minstrel, B. R. Hills, Karnataka