The cheetah is the real “spotted big cat” and the “tear lines” running down its cheeks could well be a sign that it’s weeping over the rosetted leopard getting this figurative fame.
Now, loftier beings have assumed the “spot” light but it’s Divyabhanusinh, author of the magnificent The Story Of India’s Cheetahs (Marg), who can claim some credit for the first official moves to bring the cheetah back to India. Replete with stunning paintings, amazing facts and anecdotes about the politics of conservation, this monumental book traces the animal’s presence on the subcontinent through the centuries—from prehistoric cave paintings to its glory days as the star of Mughal hunting parties to the switch to becoming the hunted, right up to the twists and turns of its return.
Having studied the powerful beast since 1984, Divyabhanusinh, the scion of the former princely state of Mansa in present-day Gujarat, first published a learned tome on the cheetah in 1995. He presented his findings at a 2009 conference to the then Union minister for environment, forests and climate change (as the ministry is now known), convincing Jairam Ramesh that the “cheetah was an integral part of Indian history and that its name had a Sanskrit origin, ‘chitraka’.”
'The Story of India's Cheetahs' by Divyabhanusinh. Marg Publications. 324 pages. ₹2,800.
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