The Sacred Groves: In the Districts of Jhargram, Paschim Medinipur, Bankura, Purulia

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The book "The Sacred Groves in the District of Jhargram, Paschim Medinipur, Bankura and Purulia" is based on a comprehensive survey conducted on the various sacred groves spread over the four districts of South-West Bengal by the Research Wing of the Forest Directorate. Sacred groves are forest fragments of varying sizes, which are community-protected on a customary regime. These 'relic' patches of natural vegetation, dedicated to the local deity and revered and protected by local communities in accordance with their social customs and beliefs, is quite valuable to a Forester or to an Ethno-botanist, provide an insight into the vegetation scenario existed in the past.

This study revealed the existence of one hundred and eighty-two odd sacred groves in these districts. Many of these grove are now showing sings of gradual deterioration, perhaps due to the changing outlooks and priorities in the present day society. While Sacred Groves such as Chilkigarh (Kanakdurga Temple) in Jhargram are well protected on a sizeable area, intrusion of exotic trees such as Acacia, Eucalyptus and weeds like Eupatorium, Lantana etc. affect the sancity of many other Groves and is a disturbing trend. Contrary to popular belief that the sacred groves are protected by tribal communities like Santal, Munda, Lodha, Sabar etc. since their life and customs center around Mother Nature, we come across Sacred Groves maintained by the non-tribal communities like Mahato, Kurmi, Deuri, Gosai, Besra, etc. and even by the Muslim community too. It is interesting to see the level of 'sanskritzatoin' even in the sacred groves depicted by the presence of idols which were not there earlier.

I sincerely hope that this study would evince such interest on the readers that they would spread the noble message on the necessity of protecting our rich biodiversity as well as cultural heritage for the posterity.

Community based conservation and management strategies of biological resources are the important elements of the UNESCO's Man and Biosphere (MAB) programme. Sacred Groves are one of the finest instances of traditional conservation practices through customary regime without the intervention of legislation. World today is increasingly exploring such instances of decentralized, community based conservation (CBC) approaches. In this backdrop, an attempt has been made to study the Sacred Groves (SGs) spread across the four districts of South West Bengal viz. Jhargram, Paschim Medinipur, Bankura and Purulia where the tribal and non-tribal communities live in harmony.

Sacred Groves are basically relic vegetation in an area protected through customary regime. It provides an insight into the prevalence of vegetation that had existed then. Sacred Groves in India claim great antiquity, stretching to pre-historic times, and prior to the Vedic age. Our forefathers had assimilated environmental ethos and incorporated it into their value system. Though a large number of plant species from the wild are valued for varied reasons, say, food or medicine, sacredness attached to the species is perhaps more recent, which may be attributed to the post-Vedic Hindu ritualism. Thus, the already existing sacred grove concept of the original pre-Vedic inhabitants of India was merely extended by the Vedic migrants down to the species level (Ramkrishnan, 1996).

This study had commenced in 2016 when the Research Wing was asked to conduct the study. A Committee comprising of the then APCCF, R&M, (J. T. Mathew IFS) as Chairman, CCF, R&D (Sri Rajesh Kumar, IFS), CF, Research (Sri S. K. Moley IFS), DFO, Silviculture -South (Sri G Santosha IFS), Research Officer, West Bengal Biodiversity Board (Dr. Anirban Roy) was formed to frame the methodology of the study as well as to provide needful guidance. Following the scrutiny of the prospective proposals, the Committee zeroed in on the EARTH (Environmental Academy for Research and Technological Harmony) which completed its. preliminary survey during the financial year and made their presentation before the Committee. An Interim Report was thereby submitted to the Forest Department for further funding. The task had successfully been accomplished and later scrutinized, compiled and edited by 2019.

The survey resulted in documentation of 284 Sacred Groves that are in these four districts. Detailed study of 177 Sacred Groves above one bigha was made as per the Committee's suggestions. Sacred groves having area less than one bigha (107) have however been enlisted in the Annexure. General information on Sacred Groves such as the associated deity, floral diversity; taboos, rituals and festivals have been collected. We can see that most of the socially valued species in the SG are also ecologically significant species. These groves are also the repositories of wild germplasm.

On a sociological point of view, we can observe an increasing trend of sanskritisation by which the tribal and subaltern traditions have come into the fold of Hindu system of worship. Offerings of miniature terracotta horses and elephants are more of non-tribal influence. The Sacred Groves in general show a Sal-miscellaneous trees vegetation mix in contrast with the near-pure Sal forests in the vicinity. Evidently, it may be assumed that these miscellaneous trees from the surrounding forests might have vanished as a result of firewood collection or grazing. Predominance of Sal in the sacred groves in the villages, away from the forests are telling evidence that these areas were once dense Sal forests a predicament we face today as result of degradation and fragmentation during the post-independence era.

The SGs of tribal origin are distinguished by the absence of idols as well as its its tribal nomenclature such as Jaher Than, Kudraburi etc. (Santali name of sacred groves) and the deity as Maranburu that are represented by specific Sal trees. We must sit back to contemplate what we have done to the forests when we see sacred groves in which tribal people offer puja to exotic trees such as Acacia, Eucalyptus etc due to absence of their preferred Saltrees.

This book intends to provide comprehensive information on sacred groves to the policy makers, the Civil Society groups, researchers, foresters, botanists and other stakeholders to help in decision making. Every Sacred Grove has been GPS tagged to ensure access to these Sacred Groves to whosoever interested in paying a visit to these places. Besides strategies for conservation of Sacred Groves on institutional and silvicultural lines expressed in this book, readers can inform the undersigned on the possible ways of conserving such heritage sites. It is also to be admitted that a few errors might have possibly crept in that, the esteemed readers are requested to bring it to the notice of the undersigned or the Research Wing. The vegetation listing is however not exhaustive and the animal listing was not included since surveyors could get only general information from village elders. There were no direct sightings; the investigators were rather informed that sacred groves in general, harbor common smaller wildlife such as snakes (cobra, rat snake, bronze-backed tree snake etc.), mongooses, common civet, squirrels and other rodents. An annotated bird check list of the sacred groves could have been a lot more useful and we leave it to the readers to explore further. However, we hope that this book would, to an extent, satisfy the inquisitive mind of the common man.

Sacred Groves are patches of natural vegetation, ranging from a few trees to group of trees to forests of several bigha acres/ hectares, dedicated to a local folk deity or tree spirits and protected by local communities on definite religious beliefs. A Sacred Grove could be either a Traditional one where the village deity resides and is represented by an elementary symbol or a tree itself or be a Temple Grove which encompasses a temple and is thereby conserved. Sacred Groves are sometimes found around the burial grounds and crematoria also. These are comprised of native vegetation, traditionally protected by the local communities (Ramachandran & Mohanan, 1991). It forms an 'informal" network of nature reserves protected under a customary regime, playing an important role in conservation of various components of biodiversity and even providing various ecological services including carbon sequestration. The concept of sacred groves is very old and had existed since the time of Rig-Veda (an ancient Indian sacred collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns), when tree worship was quite popular and universal. Buddha's enlightenment was also in the company of a banyan tree (Negi, 2005).

To a Forester or an ecologist, it represents the remaining vestigial natural vegetation of a locality which gives insight into the natural vegetation of an area that had once existed and how it had changed over the years. The sacred groves are multifaceted social institutions and symbolize the dynamic social forces linked with access and control over resource. Sacred groves often preserve diverse gene pool of many forest species having socio-religious attachment and medicinal values, rare, endemic and endangered species(RET species) of flora and often smaller fauna such as insects, birds, reptiles, small mammals etc. It used to play a crucial role in boosting the village economy since snakes and mongooses decimated the rat population. It has effects on microclimate of the village besides aiding in water conservation

Several plant species such as Shorea robusta, Ficus religosa, Ocimum sanctum, Eleocarpus sp. Aegle marmelos, Saraca asoka, Anthrocephalus chinesis, Bassia latifolia etc. have been considered sacred and are being conserved by different ethnic groups since time immemorial, in the area under study. Most of the people associated with management of SGs are unaware of its ecological benefits and feel that wherever the deity resides, the place in itself would become sacred and the trees would in there be protected. Felling of the trees and hunting inside the groves is strictly prohibited, even climbing on the trees is said to be avenged by the deity.

According to Malhotra et al, 2001 there are 670 Sacred Groves in West Bengal. But many more are yet to be recorded as per their observation. No record of district wise list of sacred groves is available from government or any other publications. However some ecological studies on selected SGs such as the Kanakdurga SG are available in various publications (Dandapat & Mishra, 2014 and 2015; Basu, 2009; Konar, 2010). The West Bengal Biodiversity Board is said to have conducted survey on the SGs of Birbhum, undivided Bardhaman and Purba Medinipur.

This study has covered the district of Purulia, Bankura, Jhargram and Paschim Medinipur. Thus jointly, whole of the lateritic S. W. Bengal (Rarh region) has been covered. The district of Purulia, Jhargram and Bankura has large Population of various tribal groups and has evolved district cultural traditions with more emphasis on protecting natural resources such as forests. West Medinipur has more of a mixed population with a largely multi racial/multi cultural legacy-the very reason for the lack of protection of the Sacred Grooves there.

This book is an attempt to document the Sacred Groves spread across the four major districts of South West Bengal viz. Purulia, Bankura, Jhargram and West Midnapur. It is intended to create awareness among the general public as well asthe policy makerson these heritage sites to appreciatethe biological, ecological and cultural milieu that prevailed in the past. This book can be easily accessed by sending a demand draft in favour of "Divisional Forest Officer, Silviculture (South) Division" to the address given below.