Abstract

In the hilly region of the Western Ghats in South India, the people have preserved Sacred Groves for almost 3000 years.  Their decision to preserve these patches of old growth evergreen forest is largely because these forests are fundamental to their livelihood.  They prevent soil erosion and species extinction, while also providing an abundance of resources, including clean water.  While sustainability was at the Sacred Groves origin, religion has been a driving force in its survival.  As Hinduism spread throughout India, the nature gods housed in the Sacred Groves were absorbed into the Hindu religion as various forms of Shiva, the nature god.  While the original Sacred Grove had no temples because the spirits were thought to reside in the trees, the trees were cut to build temples as those spirits were adopted into Hinduism. Later, stone temples were erected and dedicated to a deity who protected the remaining Grove.  In many ways, these temples share the same formal qualities of the preceding grove, but more interestingly, they share a sustainable quality and stand as prime examples of how a people have lived in harmony with nature for centuries. By employing the methods of academic literature review and field documentation, this research records the history of the Sacred Grove from its origin, three millennia ago, up to the surviving Groves and temples of today.  This time-tested knowledge of sustainable design is then applied towards the resource scarcity we face today.

 

Sacred Groves 

“The groves were God’s first temples. Ere man learned

To hew the shaft, and lay the architrave

            in the darkling wood,

Amidst the cool and silence, he knelt down.” 

                                                            (Bryant, 1848) (Sacred Groves Around the Earth)

The protection of Sacred Groves is a part of ancient human culture around the world and on every continent.[1]  In the Mediterranean, the Greek and Roman landscape were dotted with hundreds of sacred places, often including a grove of trees and a spring of water.  Within these, the environment was preserved in its natural state.  As Seneca in the 1^st Centry AD remarked “if you come upon a grove of old trees that have lifted up their crowns above the common height and shut out the light of the sky by the darkness of their interlacing boughs, you feel that there is a spirit in the place, so lofty is the wood, so lone the spot, so wondrous the thick unbroken shade.”[2] In Africa, the Migumu grove is held sacred.  In them, no trees may be cut down, no branches broken, no firewood gathered, no grass burnt, nor wild animals killed.  In Indonesia, the Banyan tree is considered sacred and springs are often found under mature trees.  The Indonesians believe that spirits reside within the trees and ensure the availability of clean water.  These few examples are few of the many outdoor sanctuaries considered humanities primal worship space.

In India, the Sacred Grove, as the indigenous people called it, are pre-vedic in origin, some claim up to 3500 years old.[3]  The Grove definitely came before Guatama Buddha who was born in a Sacred Grove named Lumbinicana, and who found enlightenment under a Pila tree. The cultural practice of preserving Sacred Groves is thought to begin with ancient hunter-gatherer people in Paleolithic times.  We know this because of the symbolism encountered in these worship spaces, which include such wild animals as tigers and snakes, hunter-gods and goddesses, and weapons such as tridents.  For example, in the Oudala Sacred Grove located just outside of Sirsi, the tiger god, Hulidevary, and energy goddess, Ashoka Davy, symbolized with a trident in hand, were both worshiped. 

When humans began to settle and agricultural societies formed, Sacred Groves were already apparent as respected places by hunters and gatherers and were protected from the slashing and burning used by shifting cultivators. Groves became isolated patches of the original forest, protecting the ecology within, and were integrated into agricultural culture with gods and deities that could ensure a good harvest or bring famine if angered.  Groves have since provided the place for ecological protection and religious worship.

 

Resource

The practice of preserving Sacred Groves evolved over 3 millennia as a way to circumvent the major problems with tropical agriculture. Sacred Groves in the Western Ghats play a particularly important role because the tropical rainforest is a notoriously fragile ecosystem. The rainforest is prone to severe erosion and loss of fertility from the heavy rains of up to 2350 millimeters in the north and 7450 millimeters in the south, which can lead to complete habitat destruction and an unsteady supply of water.

Most importantly, the Sacred Grove provides a water source. Whether it’s a river, stream, spring, lake, or pond, all Groves contain water.  It is as much a characteristic of the Sacred Grove as a grouping of trees.  Further, the Groves supply a year round steady supply of water because the plant roots and soil hold on to the water during wet periods and release it slowly during times of drought.  Often, the Grove’s water supply is the only source of water for a village, providing fresh water in regions where all other water is saline.

Originally, almost every village had a Sacred Grove because it provided much more than than a consistent and safe water supply. The Grove was key in maintaining equilibrium with the environment. The preserved use of these forests is part of a land use system that permitted biological resources to be used at a near maximal level, while keeping the risk of resource extermination low.  To this day the people of India continue to harvest an astonishing diversity of products from the forest and practice the most intensive yet sustainable form of agriculture humanity has so far.

When resources were extracted from the Grove it was done with extreme caution. Some practices included using only wooden utensils for taking out bark and hands for removing leaves, buds and twigs. When removing roots, the community only took old roots, not mother or tender roots.  Bamboo rootlets were only extracted during the month of Ashada, when they were tender and when removing them sprouts will multiply.

A study of the Sacred Groves by Gadgil and Vartak helped to prove that the Groves belong to a variety of cultural practices that help Indian Society maintain an ecologically steady state with wild living resources.[4]  This way of living stands in stark contrast to the common western approach to preserving nature where it is untouched by humans.  But according to Marglin and Mishra, “The network of Sacred Groves in such countries as India has since time immemorial been the locus and symbol of a way of life in which humans are embedded in nature and in which the highest levels of biological diversity are found where humans interact with nature.”[5] 

It is no surprise then, that Sacred Groves have become valuable gene banks for the restoration of natural ecosystems around them. In one hectare of the Kallabbe Sacred Grove, 83% of the trees are endemic, whereas in the forest surrounding it, only 15% are.[6] In Groves, there can be up to 400 trees per hectare, while in the surrounding area it is only 40. Up to 50 species of trees can be found in one hectare, while the surrounding area is significantly lower.  The trees themselves rise over 30 meters in height, which in combination with their density can lower the temperature within the grove more than 10 degrees.[7] 

Spices, which this region is known the world over for, were found within Sacred Groves, and later cultivated close to them, benefiting from the perennial supply of water and favorable microclimatic conditions.  Medicinal plants and trees also benefit from this favorable environment.  Like all of the resources found in Sacred Groves, communities will protect these medicinal plants, but also harvest them carefully for use.

With such a supply of resources, it is no wonder these groves are considered Sacred.  As defined by J.D. Hughes and M.D.S Chandran, Sacred Groves “are segments of the landscape, containing trees and other forms of life and geographical features, that are delimited and protected by human societies because it is believed that to keep them in a relatively undisturbed state is an expression of important relationship to the divine or to nature.” 5 Due to changes in resource use and religion, such practices of preserving sacred groves have become largely extinct throughout India and the world, but the Sacred Groves of the Western Ghats are particularly well preserved; considered the 18th most biodiverse hot spot on earth. The central part of the Western Ghats in Karnataka have hundreds of surviving groves and in particular the area around Sirsi has been the focus of this research.

Religion 

Originally the fierce untamed gods of ancient peninsular India were thought to dwell in the shadow of a big tree, or within the trees themselves, loving the open air.  They would not have dwelled in the secluded atmosphere of temples and so indigenous religions had none.

But as early as the third century BC, the Mauryan king Asoka sent an emissary to Banavasi to spread Buddhism.  Banavasi soon became the capital of a powerful dynasty of kings, the Kadambas, who gave land grants to Brahmins and spread Brahminic Hinduism throughout the land. It was during this period that local cults relating to sacred groves were absorbed into Hinduism.  Scores of gods and spirits of Groves, both benevolent and malignant were identified with Shiva and his various incarnations.  Their new identities were followed by the Sanskritization of their names and the construction of temple within the Groves and often of their wood.[8]

Today we see remnants of those older indigenous religions still present in these Hindu temples.  Animal deities such as the serpent Naga, tiger Hulidevary, and stones who represent Lord Shiva are clearly those of hunter-gatherer groups and are among the few survivals of that early period. 

In the Rameshwar Temple located beside a “dark forest” in Karkolli village, just outside of Sirsi, Lord Shiva is represented by a oblong stone.  His stone shrine leans with the years it probably carries, while the new wooden structure that surrounds it was built less than a decade ago. The “dark forest” is likely to have been part of Sacred Grove, but now the temple stands out in the open with only a few trees providing shade.

Lord Shiva was originally a nature god, formless and represented by lingam stones or termite mounds.  He retained his earlier attributes when inducted into Brahminical Hinduism.  Now represented with entangled hair, this perhaps represents the primal forest.  The snake coiled around his neck and trident in his hand link him with the wilderness and indigenous people.  His weapon of fire may be associated with the slash and burn method of agriculture and his bull Nundi further associates him with agriculturalists.8

The Gods of the Groves, now associated with Hinduism, were “saved” from the barbarians of the woods and temples or small shrines were built to house them.  The thinking was that these temples would appease the gods who continued to protect the forest surrounding them.  The first temples were built of wood cut from trees inside the Groves.  Later, the wooden structure, which evoked a similar architectural environment to the Groves, was preserved in stone temples such as the Madhukeshwara Temple at Banavasi.  Here, the stone columns resemble a tree trunk, with dendritic stonework reaching to the ceiling and root buttresses holding up the walls. 

The association of water and the Sacred Grove is represented in Hindu Temples in many forms.  In the Vishnu temple located in Sonda, a town north east of Sirsi, there is a temple tank where devotees take a ritual bath before entering. Puja is a water ritual performed in every temple, where the priest places water in the hands of a devotee to pour on their heads.  Puja spouts are often found within temples and washing the temple and deities is common practice.  This strong association between water and the temple is one that must have originated in the Sacred Grove.

Resembling tree cover that would block out most daylight and only allow filtered light through branches, the mandapam, or main hall, of Hindu temples has only a few openings for light on either side.  In the garbhagraha, or main sanctum, a single flame illuminates the deities face with no other light source. The cool semidarkness found within temples evokes the same secluded atmosphere found within Sacred Groves.

While around the world, the Groves declined because of dominating religions such as Christianity, Hinduism adopted nature into its religion, allowing for the belief that the Grove belonged to the deities and therefore complete destruction would be sacrilegious.  This was especially so in the Western Ghats, where the groves were so strongly integrated into the peoples livelihood that it would not only be sacrilegious, it would be suicidal.  This is why colonial rule and its forest policies were a much greater threat than Hinduism.

 

Resistance

During the 19^th century, under colonial rule, land use in the Western Ghats ceased to be the same.  Under the Indian Forest act of 1878, and justified as a conservation effort, man was excluded from the forest, for the Department of Forestry seized all the forests in India under their control. In the north half of the Western Ghats, in the state of Uttara Kannada, this meant that 90% of the land was now under the governments control. [9]   Essentially, the Forest Department became the landlord of all Sacred Groves, and those who had protected and used them for millennia were now banned out of their way of life. 

The use of the Sacred Groves as a worship place, was never acknowledged officially, however, their ecological and economic importance was.  The Government of Bombay highlighted the watershed value of the Sacred Groves in 1923. “Throughout the area, both in Sirsi and Siddapur, there are few tanks and few deep wells and the people depend much on springs…Heavy evergreen forests hold up several feet of monsoon rain,,, If an evergreen forest is felled in the dry season the flow of water from any spring it feeds increases rapidly through no rainwater may have fallen for some months.”[10]  But even with such a vital role for the people of this land, the Sacred Groves were handed over to those who saw the most economic value in them.

A destructive contract system was introduced where reserved forests were leased to companies producing plywood, paper, matches, backing cases and other hydroelectric or mining projects.  Further, it was not uncommon for a Sacred Grove to be clear cut and converted into a monoculture plantation of eucalyptus.  The ponds associated with the Groves were quickly silted up and the fishes poisoned.[11]

After exchanges with the British bureaucracy over the revenue generating potential of spice gardens, the government of Bombay granted spice gardeners up to 9 acres of forest for each acre of garden for the harvesting of leaf manure.  Thus it was decided that to make 1 acre of yield profitable, 9 acres of forest was found to be necessary.  A lesson these people had learned millennia ago, but by this time, it was too late. The decline of the Sacred Groves went from 6 percent of the total land area to .3% today: a total loss of 94.9%.11

Even after independence, the Forest Department continued to employ the same methods that they had inherited from the British.  In 1952, a working plan for sandalwood was prepared in for Sirsi and Siddapur.  The plan included many trees found in Sacred Groves.  In 1966, a forest working plan included over 4000 hectares of Sacred Groves for timber exploitation around Sirsi.  Another working plan developed by the Forest Department, included select felling of 672 hectares of the Sacred Groves of 10 villages.  The plans were described as “improvement felling,” regarding the magnificent old trees as “over mature.”10

The first case of forest resistance in the district of Sirsi occurred in 1886 and continued in the 1920’s and 30’s on behalf of the ancestral rights of forest use. In 1983, the state government was planning to clear cut a large section of forest around Sirsi and replace it with a monoculture teak plantation.  The villagers were enraged saying “if we apply our axes to the forest, we are applying our axes to our culture,” and “everything we need comes out of the forest.” “Inspired by Chipko, the tree hugging movement in the Himalayas, the villagers of Sirsi began the Appiko movement (Appiko being the local word for embrace).  They physically marched into the threatened goddess Grove of Salkani, and embraced the trees to halt the forest department from felling.  The activists had the loggers make an oath on the Salkani goddess that they would not destroy the trees.[12]  Here, the Sacred Grove became a rallying point in the movements for local rights.

For the Grove of Salkani, association with this movement will likely help it survive over the years.  Many modern Groves of European decent have survived because of their association with a movement or event, or because of their dedication to early settlers or noted leaders.  Golden Gate Park in San Francisco one such modern grove that will likely survive because of its link to the AIDS movement.  It was dedicated to those lost to AIDS and living with HIV in 1996 as the AIDS National Memorial Grove.  Muir Woods, just north of San Francisco is another example, where a redwood grove has been dedicated to the great conservationist, John Muir.

While even today the Indian Forest Department controls over 80% of the total land area within the district of Sirsi, the Groves have survived over the millennia because of their contribution to resources, religion and resistance.

 

Conclusion

Today we face the global challenge of resource scarcity.  After oil, water is considered the most important resource with the largest threat.  With such large quantities of deforestation it is no surprise that water has lost it’s natural habitat and is now polluted and inaccessible to many.  The fact that water is the basis for life everywhere, only makes the situation more concerning. As the Sacred Groves have demonstrated with spice gardens, it is sometimes necessary for there to be nearly ten times as much reserved lands in order to cultivate effectively and sustainably.  This may be applied differently in the Western context where in order to live healthily and happily, ten times as much reserved land is required.

Even more important today than ever before, the positive ecological functions associated with the Sacred Groves and Temples found in the Western Ghats, such as preventing soil erosion and species extinction, and providing scores of resources, including clean water, are prime examples of a sustainable way of life.  While it may be impossible to imitate the wide range of positive functions the Grove and surviving temples provide, they still stand as evidence that the relationship of human beings to nature is more effective when intertwined, instead of separated.  If humanity can learn from such examples and find a way to rely once again on the environment in a way that fortifies instead of sedates, humanity will continue to thrive on this earth.

 

Bibliography 

1)    Saraswati, Baidyanath. “Sacred Groves and Sacred Trees of Uttara Kannada.” Life-style and Ecology. New Delhi: Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, 1998. 85-136. Print.

2)    Chapple, Christopher Key, and Mary Evelyn. Tucker. “”Sacred Grove” and Ecology.” Hinduism and Ecology: the Intersection of Earth, Sky, and Water. Cambridge, MA: Distributed by Harvard UP for the Center for the Study of World Religions, Harvard Divinity School, 2000. 291-316. Print. Hughes, Donald J. “Sacred Groves and Conservation: The Comparative History of Traditional Reserves in the Mediterranean Area and in South India.” Environment and History. By Subash Chandran M.D. Vol. 6. 2000. 169-86. Print.

3)    Ramakrishnan, P. S., K. G. Saxena, and U. M. Chandrashekara. “Sacred Groves Around the Earth: An Overview.” Conserving the Sacred: for Biodiversity Management. Enfield, NH: Science, 1998. 69-85. Print.

4)    Grove, Richard, Vinita Damodaran, and Satpal Sangwan. “Shifting Cultivation, Sacred Groves and Conflicts in Colonial Forest Policy in the Western Ghats.” Nature and the Orient: the Environmental History of South and Southeast Asia. Delhi: Oxford UP, 1998. 674-705. Print.

5)    Gujar, Bhoju R., and Ann Grodzins Gold. “Malaji’s Hill; Divine Sanction, Community Action [Jahazpur, India].” Context : Built, Living, and Natural 3.1 (2006): 33-42. Print.

6)    Mahabaleshwarkar, Supriya Goturkar, and Mukul Mahabaleshwarkar. “Aspiring for Resurgence- A Case Study of the Sacred Grove of Ajeevali.” Methods & Approaches 4.1 (2007): 31-40. Print.

7)    Appiko. Dir. Neil Pike. Rainforest Information Centre, 2007. DVD.

8)    Kent, Eliza F. “Sacred Groves and Local Gods: Religion and Environmentalism in South India.” Worldviews 13 (2009): 1-39. Print.

9)    Waghchaure, Chandrakant K., Pundarikakshudu Tetali, Venkat R. Gunale, Noshir H. Anitia, and Tannaz J. Birdi. “Sacred Groves of Parinche Valley of Pune District of Maharashtra, India and Their Importance.” Anthropology & Medicine 13.1 (2006): 55-76. Print.

10) Chandran, M.D. Subash, and J. Donald Hughes. “The Sacred Groves of South India: Ecology, Traditional Communities and Religious Change.” Social Compass 44.3 (1997): 413-27. Print.

11) Croker, Alan. “Temple Architecture in South India.” Fabrications. 1993. 108-23. Print.

 

 

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