One of the few sanctuaries now left to them are the ceremonial steps, or " ghats" , at riverside temples.

现在留给它们为数不多的其中一处避难地就是河边寺庙的仪式台阶，或称“河坛”。

I knew the sacred waters had to be my first stop, so I dropped my bags off at a hotel and jumped into a car to head towards the ghats.

我知道圣河必须是我的第一站，所以我把行李放在一家酒店，跳进一辆车，向高止山脉驶去。

When Sailen Manna died, 2,000 people followed his body to the Keoratala burning ghat in Kolkata, on the banks of the Hooghly river that flows out of the Ganges.

他去世后，两千人簇拥着他的遗体，陪伴他从加尔各答顺着恒河支流胡格利（Hooghly）河畔，送他到Keoratala陵园。

This is our way of telling a story of the Western Ghats: through plants and through their ecosystems and the various ways in which they interact with players in their habitats.

透过植物和它们的生态系统，以及它们和栖息地的主角们多样化的互动方式。

And so I set out to create a book, supported by the National Geographic Society, on the weirdest, wackiest plants we could find in one of the most biodiverse regions in the world: India's very own Western Ghats.

于是在国家地理学会的支持下，我开始写一本书，记录我们能在世界上生物多样性最丰富的地区 —— 印度自己的西高止山脉 —— 找到的最奇特、最古怪的植物。