Prof. Dr. V.D.Vartak spent over four decades in the field of plant Taxonomy and Ethnobotany. His love for nature made him more interested in taxonomy of flowering plants. His Name was a byword in the botanical world and in nature lovers.

Prof. Vartak born in the former Princely State - Bhor in British India. He spent his early years, in scenic places of the Western Ghats, surrounded by historically famous forts - Rajgad and Torna. He was educated in Poona ( now Pune ). After graduation from the Fergusson College, young Vartak had a brief candidature in the National Cardet Corps (NCC) which prepared him for a rigorous career that he chose eventually for himself.

At that time, important things were happening in the academic world. The University of Pune was newly started. The Indian independence was nascent. Dr.S.P.Agharkar had retired from Calcutta University and settled in Pune. With some luminaries of that time like Dr.D.R.Gadgil, Principle G.R.Paranjpe, The Maharashtra Association for the cultivation of Science (MACS) was launched, forming nucleus of postgraduate training and research under the leadership of Dr.Agharkar.

With the formation of new University in Pune, M.Sc.Botany courses were started in 1949. Vartak was amongst the first batch of those, who were fortunate to study directly under Dr.Agharkar who was a disciple of Dr.Adolf Engler of Berlin. His lectures were a rare treat of his life-long experience in plant Taxonomy, delivered with flair of a Maestro, coupled with rich illustrations of evolutionary trends. The link between Dr. Agharkar and Vartak was consolidated when Vartak joined MACS and launched his career. The second grounding in the field of Botany gained by Vartak was influenced by his association with Dr.B.A.Razi, prof.Kolhatkar, prof.Haribhau Paranjpe,Dr.H.Godbole, Rev.Fr.Santapau and Dr.Deodikar whcich must have helped Vartak expand his bearing in the subject.

Vartaks independent work commenced on flora of hill forts of Maharashtra resulting in extensive collection and laid the foundation of his personal plant collection, which was one of the off-shoots of this activity. This culminated in publication of the Flora of Gomantak in 1966.

During the period 1965-70 Vartak's interest was on floristics. However subsequently there was a shift towards the areas of study of Sacred Groves coupled with Ethnobotany The net result of these activities was impressive, as can be gauged by his 117 scientific papers and over 100 publications in Marathi on topical themes. Of his lifelongactivity, his work on sacred groves earned a greater visibility and recognition, which very often eludes many a good workers in his less trodden field.

He did tremendous work in guiding students, giving lectures on various topics, interacting with society and nature lovers, popularizing the plant world ; right from identifying trees, regular field visits, conservation activities to guiding researchers and botanists. He was occupied in these activities, so close to his heart, for over four decades.

The Sacred Groves are reserved areas dedicated to a diety-God. They exists from ancient times and are unique as they represent anthropologically a tradition of the past created by tribal ancestry - much like Upnishdas. This is a cumulative contribution venerated by the tribals providing sustained values, with inherent strength that has helped their preservation for eons of time.

Dr.Vartak's work on Sacred Groves came to light first through the paper Groves Dedicated to the Gods which was published in the Illustrted weekly of India in 1973, jointly written with Dr. Madhav Gadgil. This was more of an informative nature, preliminary and exploratory in contents. Many of these statements were more decisively and confidently stated with substantial proofs in the future papers.

In the year 1974, Gadgil and Vartak found a thread of continued conservation in the paper Sacred Groves of of India - A plea for continued conservation. This paper illustrates two examples, evaluating their plea for conservation

In The Sacred Groves of Western Ghats in India, account of number of sacred groves enrich the reader with definite locations. The much cited paper Sacred Groves of Maharashtra : An Inventory is inclusive of floristic aspects. The deep forests, changing elevations, offering variations of flora of distinct composition and taxa in forest enclaves make the sacred groves stand out, having their own personality.

The Sacred groves which are protected on the religious grounds, depict interesting cultural aspects which is so pre dominant for its existence. This aspect is dealt with in Cultural Heritage of Sacred Groves.

One is introduced to the monstrously huge liana and a checklist of the remarkable lofty trees with measurements. Interestingly, the finding shows that the profuse growth of herbs and shrubs is found under magnificent trees. The ground under the lofty trees serve as unique nurseries of wild forest species. This account is taken with specific locations presented at the seminar on eco development of Western Ghats in Sacred Groves - sanctuary for lofty trees and Lianas.

Vartak and colleagues go deeper into studying the botanical details of the sacred groves in the Note on magnificent Tinospora sinensis (Lour) Merrill in Sacred Groves of Pune District. In the year 1983, Vartak had recorded composition of the flora and vegetation of Sacred Groves from 12 areas. This enumerates specific endangered species from Sacred Groves in - Observations on Rare, Imperfectly known and Endemic Plants in the Sacred Groves of Western Maharashtra.

Due to the all interesting findings and potential of the Sacred Groves, Vartak used to fondly call Sacred Groves as Treasure Troves. A well studied account of specific plant materials used in folk medicines, with its localities and uses is given in the Sacred Groves of Tribal Areas along the Western Ghats : Treasure Trove of Medicinal Plants. The tribals and rural communities contribute to the conservation of the vegetation around, specifically on religious grounds. Extension of such traditional management with the present methods of conservation are recommended in Sacred Groves for in situ conservation. Next two papers take up specific studies of the Panshet Water Catchment Area and Sinhagad Hills giving details of the botanical specimens, flora study and also Ethnobotanical aspect.

Ethnobotany is the study of how people of a particular region make use of local plants for their needs of food, medicine, shelter, religious ceremony etc. While studying and recording Sacred Groves in its multifarious dimensions, Vartak was enlightened about human dependence on medicinal plants and old knowledge of its uses by economically lower strata. The World Health Organisation in 1980 announced that 80% of the world's people depend on 'plant based' system of medicine and in India, middle classes and poor have no exceptions. Vartak marks the beginning of his writings on Ethnobotany, as a natural offshoot of his involvement in the Scared Groves.

Studies in Enthobotany - A new Vista in Botanical Sciences by Vartak and Gadgil was published at a time when the Ethnobatany was being made a well recognized subject in the European and North American Universities. The first paper in the section on Ethnobotany has duly emphasized the need for bringing botanical sciences - the Ethnobotany in the fold of curriculum of Indian Universities.

Vartak was honoured with a special "J.W.HARSHBERGER" Gold Medal Award in Ethnobotany in the year 1999. To honour him, there are two plants named after him such as :

1) Parmotrema vartakii Hale (Lichen)
2) Azadirachta indica A. Juss sub-species vartakii (Neem)

An exhaustive account of some wild edible plants is given in the Observation on Wild Edible Plants from Hilly Regions of Maharashtra & Goa : Resume and future prospects. This is a great study and compilation of florostic work, their occurrence , abundance, flowering and fruiting time etc. Based on this information/data, a paper on "Food of Tribals in Western Ghats of India : An Ethnobotanical Perspective " was published by Korean Journal of Food Sciences (2003).

Naturally like food, the medicinal plants have been studied and 46 such species with their local/botanical names, part used and its uses are given in paper Enumeration of Medicinal Plants from Karnala Tribal Area, Kolaba District, Maharashtra State.

Vartak was extremely attracted by one single tree from palm family which is Bherli Maad (Caryota urens Linn) (He has written a book on palm world). A tree of multiple uses for the tribals is the main theme of Ethnobotanical and Floristic studies n Bherli-Maad (Caryota urens Linn) from Western India.

A particular study on the folk medicine in Southwestern part of Kolhapur District is detailed in the observations on Wild Plants used in folk medicine in the rural areas of the Kolhaour District.

Specific botanical examples appear in the rest of papers on Shemul,Neem and Alu, marking at the end of the Ethnobotany section.

The book thus contains choice articles, giving simple but apt observation of nature, writings and notes, representative of emerging focus on Sacred Groves and Ethnobotany, which are rare collections of pioneering work.

The Part-II of the book contains the papers presented by experts in the field at the National Seminar in Pune on this subject held in March'2002. Dr.Hema Sane and Dr.Vinaya Ghate (Convener of this seminar) should be credited, for having so successfully perpetuated the memory of Vartak, by their own contributions to these fields. Their deep involvement in the subject is evident from their unending journey of search, which they so naturally continued on the paths traced by the footprints of Vartak.

All participants at this seminar had the rare opportunity to visit Sacred Groves of the Pune District located along the hill ranges bordering the lake Mulshi. Once you step into the Sacred Groves, the experience of ambience is amazing. The impact of tall trees, climbers, the secluded and untouched plants, their richness is felt all at one place untapped. As if the diety is watching the well-being of the in-dwellers. The silence is broken by bird song of the grove. In this Sacred Grove which the participant visited , therewas 200 year old Gnetum ula, one of the rarest species with stem of over a foot in diameter.

I am sure, this reading will motivate in the Ethnobotany and the natural wealth Sacred Groves provide. This will soon be followed by in roads made by newer developments in Biotechnology, Bioprospecting and Genomics, which will further explore the rich potential, made known by this work.

- S.S.Ranade.

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