A small forest area that holds ecological, historical, cultural, religious and spiritual value, and is protected by the local community, can be understood as a ‘Sacred Grove’. The term ‘sacred’ signifies the importance of these groves as they protect different species despite depletion of forest areas around them. The prohibition to collect or remove any resources from these sacred groves conserve plants, parasites, animals, herbs, and even maintain the water and soil compositions (Khan et al, 2008). As a result, these sites serve as living records of geographical and ecological past, making them invaluable spaces for scientific research. Moreover, the herbs found in these areas contribute to traditional and modern medical practices (Kent, 2013; Kandari et al, 2014). Studies such as that of Chandran and Hughes (1997) highlight that not only did the village community protect these groves from outsiders, they also did not permit grazing of domestic animals or hunting within these areas (p.417). This contributed to protecting these groves in their natural untainted state. One can thus understand a sacred grove as a peaceful confluence of human beliefs and sentiments, and nature.
A sacred grove is a repository of culture and religious believes and thereby records the evolution of human civilisation. Across cultures and geographies, these groves are associated with local deities, usually nature gods. Scholarly studies on sacred groves across regions indicate that over a period of time, Nature and Local Gods were substituted with mainstream figures of worship which led to emergence of man-made structures within the otherwise organic spaces. In Greece and Rome, for example, Bowe (2009) and Carroll (2018) inform us that sacred groves were specifically designed as “places where mortals worshipped and communicated with the divine” (Carroll, p.15). Sharma and Kumar (2020) refer to studies that classify sacred groves into three types “based on location and belief”, which include “traditional sacred groves, sacred groves near temples and sacred groves near cremation or burial sites”. While the definitional understanding of sacred grove may vary across countries, cultures and communities, what most scholars agree upon is that their presence is gradually declining.
Factors such as climate change, colonial exploitation, government policies, and human settlement, impact spatial claim over sacred groves, thereby placing these groves under constant threat. Once a home to the tribals or the indigenous people, timber was intensively exploited during colonial rule in India. Land was used for harvesting cash crops and grazing, non-native species were implanted for export, and infrastructural projects were introduced within these areas. Campbell’s (2005) case study on Ghana shows the introduction of neem and mango by the British and Portuguese, who brought it from India to be used for firewood and fruits, altering the local ecosystem (p.154). Similarly, Chandran and Hughes (1997) observe that business ventures, during the colonial and post-colonial period, exploited these forests in South India for “timber, fuel, leaf manure, bamboo and pepper. . . at a commercial level” (p.422). Kumar’s (2013) research focussing on the village communities near these sacred groves, emphasises lapses in government policies and its implementation towards conservation of sacred groves. His article documents the Bhondsi village in Haryana, where the people are dependent on forest authorities for maintaining these groves. His study shows that sections of land from these sacred groves in Bhondsi were often gifted to government officials and private parties, who would often treat the sites as a nature retreat rather than sacred ecological spaces. This decline of the sacred groves due to multiple factors, some of which mentioned above, makes it all the more necessary that histories of these groves are studied and documented.
Beyond ecological characteristics, it is imperative to record cultural practices, oral myths, folklores and community beliefs associated with sacred groves across geographies. Such documentation will not only prevent these groves from being lost narratives but will also enable us to identify pertaining causes and issues of its decline. Further, this will encourage one to recognise and acknowledge traditional conservation practices that can aid in safeguarding both the sacred groves and the surrounding forest areas. Sacred groves are deeply rooted in tradition and cultural systems including ritualistic practices, religion, medicine, lifestyle practices and literature (Agarwal, 2016). While scientific research on sacred groves has been given much importance, a more holistic understanding of these groves discussing traditional knowledge represented in artistic works needs scholarly attention.
This project aims to bring the discussion around the sacred groves to the mainstream debates of eco criticism to emphasise the contribution and significance of Sacred Groves in preserving and promoting sustainable way of life that is in harmony with surroundings by documenting community knowledge associated with it, culturally mapping the groves across cultures and literatures, and critically engaging with the idea of sacred groves and its representations from a literary perspective. We invite contributions that explore sacred groves as represented in novels, shorts stories, folklore, oral narratives, cinema, and any other literary form.
Topics for submissions include, but are not limited to:
1. Sacred groves as cultural archives
2. Mythology, folklore and oral traditions of sacred groves
3. Ecological relevance of sacred groves
4. Sacred groves in post-colonial context
5. Traditional knowledge, medicine and community involvement in sacred groves
6. Human-Nature interaction and conflict at sacred groves
7. Governance, conservation and management of sacred groves
8. Religion, rituals and practices associated with sacred groves
Authors are invited to submit unpublished original abstracts, that is not under consideration elsewhere. All submission will undergo a blind peer-review process. The book proposal will be submitted to Oxford University Press (OUP) for consideration.
1. All abstracts should be submitted as an MS Word file, following the file naming format: FIRSTAUTHORLASTNAME_Abstract
2. Structure of the document should follow the order: Title, Author Name and Affiliation, Abstract, Keywords, Bio-note.
3. All abstracts must be submitted to: [email protected] with the subject: Abstract Submission: FIRST AUTHOR LAST NAME
Agarwal, Mala. “Conserving Water & Biodiversity: Traditions of Sacred Groves in India.” European Journal of Sustainable Development, vol. 5, no. 4, 2016, pp. 129-140. DOI: 10.14207/ejsd.2016.v5n4p129.
Bowe, Patrick. “The Sacred Groves of Ancient Greece.” Studies in the History of Gardens & Designed Landscapes, vol. 29, no. 4, 2009, pp. 235-245. DOI: 10.1080/14601170802260252
Campbell, Michael O’ Neal. “Sacred Groves for Forest Conservation in Ghana’s Coastal Savannas: Assessing Ecological and Social Dimensions.” Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography, vol. 26, no. 2, 2005, pp. 151-169.
Carroll, Maureen. “The Sacred Places of the Immortal Ones: Ancient Greek and Roman Sacred Groves”. A History of Groves, edited by Jan Woudstra and Colin Roth, Routledge, 2018, pp. 13-29.
Chandran, M.D. Subhash and J. Donald Hughes. “The Sacred Groves of South India: Ecology, Traditional Communities and Religious Change.” Social Compass, vol. 44, no. 3, 1997, pp. 413-427. Web. http://scp.sagepub.com/content/44/3/413. DOI:10.1177/003776897044003008.
Kandari et al. “Conservation and Management of Sacred Groves, Myths and Beliefs of Tribal Communities: A Case Study from North India. Environmental Systems Research, vol. 3, no. 16, 2014, pp.1-10. DOI: 10.1186/s40068-014-0016-8
Kent, Eliza F. Sacred Groves and Local Gods: Religion and Environmentalism in South India. Oxford University Press, 2013.
Khan, M.L. Ashalata Devi Khumbongmayum and R.S. Tripathi. “The Sacred Groves and Their Significance in Conserving Biodiversity: An Overview.” International Journal of Ecology and Environmental Sciences, vol. 34, no. 3, 2008, pp. 277-291.
Kumar, Dilip P.J. “Village Communities and their Common Property Forests.” Economic and Political Weekly,vol. 48, no. 35, 2013, pp. 33-36. JSTOR: https://www.jstor.org/stable/23528752.
Sharma, Sakshi and Rajesh Kumar. “Sacred Groves of India: Repositories of a Rich Heritage and Tools for Biodiversity Conservation.” Journal of Forestry Research, vol 32, 2021, pp. 899-916. DOI: 10.1007/s11676-020-01183-x.
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