Abstract
Traditional and indigenous communities in India are of the religious belief that medicinal groves and plants are sacred in nature. Sacred groves (SGs) are patches of trees on forest land that are protected communally with religious zeal and connotations. These forest areas have been protected since ages by traditional societies and indigenous communities with their socio-cultural and religious practices. Sacred groves as a rule are treated piously. Sacred trees are prohibited from cutting and not axed except when wood is needed for the religious purposes like construction and repair of temple buildings or in cases like worshiping, death ceremonies and temple rituals. Thus, SGs carry direct and everlasting pious status and assist in maintaining social fabric of the society. From the present study it is concluded that, religious identification of medicinal plants and practices have influenced the folklore towards a sense of selfless services in the name the Gods. However, during the course of modernization, mechanization and globalization in the recent past has transformed and weakened both cultural and biological integrity. Changes in social belief, modernization and erosion of cultural practices are some of the major factors contributing towards degradation of the ancient institutional heritage which need to be looked into. The present study is, therefore intended to propose management and conservation as an alternative strategy towards the sustainability of forests around human settlements and also an attempt to explore the role of SGs in conservation and management of different ecosystem services.
Highlights
Traditional and indigenous communities in in Chamoli district of Uttarakhand state (India) are of the religious belief that medicinal groves and plants are sacred in nature
Taboos for plant and animal conservation From the current study it was found that, in Chamoli district of Uttarakhand state (India), people believed that when a village rural girl gets married, the married couple has to plant a seedling of a tree in bride’s house
This practice has been popular and planting a tree seedling has been taken up by non-government organizations (NGOs) as an important movement (Maiti Andolan) which includes list of taboos that slowly intensified, spreading to nearby areas of the region. This is a new and novel approach for biodiversity conservation in the hilly region through plantation, where the occurrence of land slide and natural hazards are more frequent. Another example of such conservation is the alpine plants Saussurea obvallata and Delphinium vestitum locally called Dongar and Loshkar; which have been protected through local customs and beliefs by linking these plants with local deity and not allowing any one from the village or outside to pluck the flowers except the village priest during specific day and time only (Meenakshi et al 2011)
Summary
Traditional and indigenous communities in India are of the religious belief that medicinal groves and plants are sacred in nature. Sacred groves (SGs) are patches of trees on forest land that are protected communally with religious zeal and connotations. These forest areas have been protected since ages by traditional societies and indigenous communities with their socio-cultural and religious practices. India is classified under one of the low forest cover countries and account for 23.8% of total geographical area of the country (FSI Forest Survey of India 2005). In India, different religions having different traditions, beliefs, and rituals are associated with conservation of biodiversity and forests. There are many studies entitled to further quantify this ethics, which leads to biodiversity conservation and sustainable ecosystem (Pal and Mukhopadhyay 2011)
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