Maruti Chitampalli: Forest mystery

Maruti Chitampalli’s forest wisdom seems to ripen with his age. At 84, the gentle giant of conservation, respected as much for his years of service to the Forest Department of Maharashtra as for his fiction and non-fiction books about the forest, compelled me with his stories of a life spent in the forest observing its trees, birds, streams, tigers and variety of flora and fauna.

An accomplished Sanskrit scholar, Chitampalli translated into Marathi the Mriga Pakshi Shastra, (The Science of Animals and Birds), a 13th century Sanskrit collection of observations on mammals and birds written by the Jain poet and naturalist Hamsadeva. Chitampalli has drawn inspiration and insight about nature from this work, the Upanishads and other Sanskrit texts. The passages he referenced from past works echoed words he used to describe his own reflections on topics such as biodiversity, stewardship and forest management.

With a twinkle in his eyes, Chitampalli sounded more like a sadhu than a retired Deputy Director of Forests when he conveyed that spending prolonged time in the forest changes your awareness; the forest reveals its mysteries and prescribes lessons for living. He also spoke affectionately about the generations of tigers he has observed over time — cubs he watched mature to become mothers with their own cubs — and expressed pride in protecting and respecting these and all forest families as if they were his own.