{"id":334527,"date":"2025-12-08T09:03:50","date_gmt":"2025-12-08T09:03:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/aerospace\/ancient-literature-suggests-indias-savannas-are-much-older-than-previously-thought\/"},"modified":"2025-12-08T09:03:50","modified_gmt":"2025-12-08T09:03:50","slug":"ancient-literature-suggests-indias-savannas-are-much-older-than-previously-thought","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=334527","title":{"rendered":"Ancient Literature Suggests India’s Savannas Are Much Older Than Previously Thought"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Plant species mentioned in texts from the past 800 years hint the wooded grasslands of western India have been there since ancient times, pushing back on the narrative that they are remnants of long-gone forests<\/h2>\n
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Sara Hashemi<\/a><\/p>\n

– Daily Correspondent<\/span><\/p>\n

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A savanna in western Maharashtra, India
\n Ashish Nerlekar<\/span>
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Centuries of texts composed in Marathi, a language primarily spoken in the western Indian state of Maharashtra, challenge a long-held narrative about the tropical savannas there.<\/p>\n

A new study adds to growing evidence that, instead of being leftovers of cut-down forests, the grasslands with scattered trees have been there since at least the 13th century C.E. The findings, which were published last week in the journal\u00a0People and Nature<\/em><\/a>, could lead to better conservation strategies to protect the region\u2019s ecosystems.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe confusion that [the savannas] are not ancient is resulting in their mismanagement today,\u201d Ashish Nerlekar<\/a>, a study co-author and plant biologist at Michigan State University, tells\u00a0Smithsonian<\/em> magazine. For example, people are planting trees in the region under the assumption that it was once a forest. \u201cThey inadvertently damage all the grasses, which are a storehouse for diversity,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

A conversation over coffee sparked the idea for the new research, according to a statement<\/a>. Digvijay Patil<\/a>, a study co-author and archaeologist at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, mentioned to Nerlekar that he sometimes stumbled upon references to odd shrubs and trees when looking at old Sanskrit and Marathi writings from western India. But Nerlekar realized these were real plants that live in India’s savannas.<\/p>\n

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Quick fact: Lots of ground to cover<\/h4>\n

Savannas and grasslands make up about 10 percent<\/a> of India and nearly 40 percent<\/a> of the land on Earth.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

So, the researchers pored over ancient folk songs, biographies, poems and myths in the Marathi language written from the 1200s to the 1900s. That yielded 28 excerpts that could be linked to the savannas in western Maharashtra. Using botanical and ecological knowledge, the team coded mentioned species as savanna indicators, forest indicators, generalists that resided in both areas or human-introduced plants.<\/p>\n

For instance, in the L\u012b\u1e37\u0101caritra<\/em>, a biography of the religious figure Cakradhara compiled around 1278\u2009C.E., Cakradhara spots a\u00a0hivara\u00a0tree\u2014a plant native to Asian savannas\u2014with tumors on the trunk. \u201cPointing at the tree, Cakradhara told his principal disciple, Bha\u1e6dob\u0101sa, that, since the tree had not escaped the cycle of births, it was still suffering,\u201d the ancient text reads in English, according to the study. \u00a0<\/p>\n

In all, the analyzed literature referenced 62 plant species, and savanna species outnumbered those from forests. Wild plants comprised 44 identified species, 27 of which are characteristic of savannas. Generalists made up 14 of the plant types, while only 3 were forest indicators.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe study is a very creative and interdisciplinary effort to understand the past ecology of a region through its vernacular literature,\u201d says\u00a0Jayashree Ratnam<\/a>, an ecosystems ecologist at the National Center for Biological Sciences in India, in an email to\u00a0Smithsonian <\/em>magazine. Ratnam, who was not involved in the work, explains that official records in English from the colonial era onward represent only one set of views on the vegetation at a given time.<\/p>\n

\u201cUsing vernacular literature, as in this paper, thus both extends the historical timeline on such information, and also widens the perspective to include Indigenous views of the landscape, which were often fundamentally different from those of colonial foresters,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n

The study authors say that conservationists and policymakers should incorporate the new findings when developing strategies to preserve India\u2019s environment. Previously, Nerlekar found that one square meter in an Indian tropical savanna can house, on average, 12 species of native grasses and wildflowers. But planting trees in savanna regions can lead to a decline in those species, according to the study published in 2023 in the Journal of Ecology<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Introducing new trees can also harm carbon sequestration<\/a> in the savannas. While forests are well-known carbon sinks, savannas can store carbon dioxide, too, by stashing it in the grasses\u2019 extensive root systems. \u201cWe don\u2019t appreciate their role in carbon sequestration,\u201d Nerlekar says.<\/p>\n

He adds that one of the most exciting aspects of his work is that people appreciate these landscapes as sacred natural sites.\u00a0\u201cWe can convince people that, \u2018See, you value these trees and the open landscapes for cultural reasons. Ecologists and conservation biologists also value this landscape for biodiversity and other reasons,\u2019\u201d he says. \u201cHow about we join hands and fight this battle together?\u201d<\/p>\n

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