Time and Mind

The Journal of Archaeology, Consciousness and Culture

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Conservation of resources by religious and social

prohibitions by Santal communities in South West
Bengal, India

Uday Kumar Sen & Ram Kumar Bhakat

To cite this article: Uday Kumar Sen & Ram Kumar Bhakat (2021) Conservation of resources
by religious and social prohibitions by Santal communities in South West Bengal, India, Time and
Mind, 14:1, 3-32, DOI: 10.1080/1751696X.2021.1865641

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/1751696X.2021.1865641

Published online: 07 Feb 2021.

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TIME AND MIND
2021, VOL. 14, NO. 1, 3–32
https://doi.org/10.1080/1751696X.2021.1865641

ARTICLE

Conservation of resources by religious and social

prohibitions by Santal communities in South West
Bengal, India
Uday Kumar Sen and Ram Kumar Bhakat
Ecology and Taxonomy Laboratory, Department of Botany and Forestry, Vidyasagar University,
Midnapore, India

ABSTRACT KEYWORDS
Sacred groves are generally considered as socio-culturally Biodiversity; conservation;
preserved patches of plants primarily managed by tribal ethnomedicine; ritual; sacred
groups. Such groves are usually believed to be as the abodes grove; West Bengal
of gods, goddesses, spirits or supernatural artefacts.
Generally, they are predominantly worshipped, managed
and protected by the tribal groups with religious zeal. Such
groves mainly serve as the benchmarks of less disturbed
vegetation. Taboos and social prohibitions shield the sacred
groves from the destruction caused by human activity.
Several relicts, endemic and endangered species have been
reported from sacred groves. Depending on such assump­
tion, this paper highlights the conservation and cultural
values of the Santal community surrounding the sacred
groves of Binpur II block under Jhargram District in West
Bengal. The study shows that, in addition to the conservation
of 191 species of angiosperms, these groves have certain
direct and indirect socio-economic impacts. Therefore, there
is an urgent need not only preserve the sacred forest but also
revive and reinvent some traditional form of plant
conservation.

Introduction
Sacred groves are tracts of richly diverse virgin forest. Such groves are protected
for centuries by local people for their cultural and religious beliefs and taboos
that the deities dwell here and protect the villagers from various calamities.
Each sacred grove carries its own stories, mythology, and myths that make up
the sacred grove’s integral portion. In terms of biodiversity, history, religious and
ethnic heritage, an inextricable link between modern society and the past exists
in sacred groves. Sacred groves are scattered throughout the world, and various
cultures identify them in various ways that encode different rules for their
protection (Khan, Khumbongmayum, and Tripathi 2008).

CONTACT Uday Kumar Sen uudaysen@gmail.com Ecology and Taxonomy Laboratory, Department of
Botany and Forestry, Vidyasagar University, Midnapore, West Bengal 721 102, India
© 2021 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group
4 U. K. SEN AND R. K. BHAKAT

Human beings, for various needs ranging from economy to the belief of
system, have been utilizing natural resources from time immemorial. Thus, they
have been slowly integrated and incorporated into the human social system by
various institutional procedures (Berkes, Folke, and Colding 2000). For survival,
the economically developed world, as well as some of the underdeveloped
economies, still depends on forests either their own or the world’s in different
ways and meanings (Seeland 1997). Natural resource conservation and sustain­
able management have become the central theme for almost all societies to
cope with shortages of timber or non-timber forest production and the impact
of pollution on the environment (Dent, Dubois, and Dalal-Clayton 2013).
Economic development in times of increasing environmental hazards tends to
create a dilemma in many societies which are bound to grow despite the often
narrow limitations of declining resource base (Seeland and Schmithüsen 2000).
There are communities who, in this changing scenario of unabated natural
resource exploitation, have devised ways of preserving these natural resources
through religious values such as sacred centres. These centres of religion are
termed sacred groves (Kellert, Farnham, and Farnham 2002). The sacred groves
are the patches of natural vegetation in and around indigenous dwelling
considered the abodes of ancestral deities or deities of the villages. The exis­
tence of these groves has been continuously documented in various kinds of
literature, from the exploratory stage of anthropological and environmental
studies to till date. Yet the point of view of the society is such that they are
just worship centres (Roy 1928, 1935; Elwin 1947; Sahay 1965; Vidyarthi and
Upadhyay 1980; Mullick 2011).
Sacred groves are forested landscapes which are protected by spiritual values
based on social norms. In many sacred groves, for example, there are commu­
nity rules against hunting or taking any resources from the fields. Sacred
ecosystems occur globally and are the ways of conserving bio-culture
(Mgumia and Oba 2003; Bhagwat and Rutte 2006; Anthwal et al. 2010;
Ormsby 2012; Ruelle, Kassam, and Asfaw 2018; Singh et al. 2019; Pradhan and
Ormsby 2020). Globally there are sacred landscapes, and they are the form of
biocultural conservation. India has the world’s largest concentration of sacred
groves (Ormsby and Bhagwat 2010), and these forests have more species in
abundance and diversity than the surrounding non-sacred forests or habitats
around them (Mgumia and Oba 2003; Ambinakudige and Satish 2008; Rath,
Banerjee, and John 2020). Certain plant species have been removed from out­
side but remain in the sacred groves (Khan, Khumbongmayum, and Tripathi
2008). In India, green forest patches are as diverse as the Indian populations.
India has a long and nobel history of nature, love, and that practice continues to
date, especially through the reverence of forest grove. Sacred groves may also
be described as segments of the landscape, containing trees and various
embodiments of life and land offerings, delimited and protected by human
social orders since it is recognized that holding them in a reasonably
 TIME AND MIND 5

undisturbed state represents an essential relationship with heaven and nature

(Gadgil and Guha 1995).
The International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources
(IUCN) treats sacred groves under sacred natural sites which may be clarified as
‘natural areas of special spiritual significance to the people and communities.
They include natural areas recognized as sacred by indigenous and traditional
people, as well as natural areas recognized by institutionalized religions or faiths
as places for worship and remembrance’ (IUCN 2005).

Indian scenario

In India as in other countries of the world, many communities have practised

various forms of nature worship. One such consequential tradition was the
providing a bulwark to forest patches designated as sacred groves devoted to
deities or ancestral spirits. While these groves were defined in different ways by
different writers, the natural or near-natural state of vegetation in the sacred
groves and the protection of these groves by local communities through social
taboos and prohibitions represented the spiritual and ecological ethos of those
communities.
Very early references to Indian Sacred Forests were made in Vedic texts from
1400 BC to 700 BC in which forests were relegated by their main uses, such as
Dravyavana (for production, forestry); Hastivana (for the conservation of ele­
phants); Mrigavana (for the amalgamation of wildlife conservation, hunting and
leisure activities); Pashuvan (for the conservation of deer and other animals);
and Tapovana (for meditation) (Rawat 1991; Vannucci 1996). These detailed
classifications betoken that restrictions on usage were imposed on the Indian
subcontinent’s archaic people, with a primary fixation on conservation of wild­
life. While references were made in those very antediluvian Hindu scriptures to
Mahavana, where Lord Shiva (a major Hindu deity) resided; Srivana, in a general
sense indicating ‘sacredness’; and Devavana, refers to the gods’ holy garden,
a forest of abundance where the presiding deities of the villages were installed.
Indeed, the tradition of sacred groves is very old and their bulwark remains
significant for many of the region’s traditional societies.
Studies on sacred groves came to prominence in 1980, but it might be traced
back to the late nineteenth century to mention the sacred grove. The available
literature on the sacred groves may be classified into assorted themes such as
earlier work on referring to the groves in the human landscape, the inclusion of
sacred grove institutions, ethnographic description, the functions of sacred
groves and the transmutation of socio-political factors in the institution of
sacred groves. The earlier studies on sacred groves reported the subsistence
of the groves that were found to be in the various components of the country.
Such were the works of forest scientists; British and Indian anthropologists.
6 U. K. SEN AND R. K. BHAKAT

Wingate (1888) noted that Kans (sacred groves) in the district of Uttar
Kannada of Karnataka, was of great economic and climatic consequence.
Brandis (1897) referred to the existence of sacred groves in the vicinity of
human habitation while studying the Indian forest. He was so impressed by
the network of groves covering the subcontinent that modelled on it he argued
for a system to reserve and preserve forests. Risley (1908) noted that wherever
we found sacred groves, the abode of equipollent indeterminate beings, repre­
sented by no symbols and of whose shape and function no one could give
a keen intellectual account, clothed with individual attributes, remained as
survivors of the impersonal stage of early religion. Roy (1928) defined ethno­
graphically in his research on the religion and customs of the Oran community
of Choto Nagpur belt that the community credence’s and rituals associated with
the sacred grove were referred to as Sarna in the local dialect. Grigson (1938)
and Elwin (1947), their study of Bastar communities, reported that these com­
munities had a sacred grove and related notional system.
In India, the exact number and area of sacred groves are unknown. Rao (1996)
alone recorded 13,720 of those groves. According to Gokhale et al. (1998), the
total area of sacred groves in India would be about 33,000 hectares which were
0.01% of the total area of the country. Malhotra et al. (2001) recorded 4,415
sacred groves covering 42,278 hectares, although this was possibly an under­
estimate of their total number and size. Sacred groves were found in different
types of forest habitats, including coastal mangrove forests. Today, India’s
sacred groves exist mainly as isolated patches of otherwise degraded forest
ecosystems, and most of these forests have been degraded to varying degrees
because of the rapid transformation of societal values that emasculated com­
munity determination to protect those (Swamy, Kumar, and Sundarapandian
2003). Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, West
Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu, Manipur and Odisha had registered
a maximum number of holy groves in descending order (Khiewtam and
Ramakrishnan 1989; Tripathi, Tiwari, and Barik 1995; Malhotra et al. 2001;
Jamir and Pandey 2003). The sacred groves were located in a variety of environ­
ments, ranging from resource-rich forested landscapes such as the Western
Ghats and northeast to highly resource-poor desert conditions in Western and
Central India (Ramakrishnan 1998; Sinha and Maikhuri 1998; Jamir and Pandey
2003).

The village governance in the sacred grove

The village is generally governed by a hierarchy of village officials or the village

council, led by the Manjhi. The Santal headmen are often economically and
socially better off partially due to some economic advantages associated with
their office. They are He is the final arbitrators for all disputes. The headman is
used to hold considerable authority in the village and the villagers are bound to
 TIME AND MIND 7

obey his commands. Any individual can file their complaint to him against any
other individual in the village. In practice, he convenes village council meetings
as and when he or the community needs it. The decision is taken by the council
and not by the headman alone, though he may significantly influence the
opinion of the council. The headman must see that sanctity of the traditional
rules is maintained and justice is done to the community or individual. The
punishment decided by the council is often executed in terms of fines (Handia
or country made rice beer for the entire village and/or cash) imposed on the
family of the individual. His participation and opinion are very much desired.
The headman participates in all important village affairs, like birth, marriage,
funeral rites, etc. in any family of the village. It is a practice that the headman
would be attended first on any formal occasion, such as when salutations are
offered in a gathering or when rice-beer is served or when purification rites are
performed. The dates for festivals, village worships, marriages and communal
hunts are finalised by the headman after consulting other persons in the village.
The formal dances and the ceremonies involving the whole village started in the
house of either the headman or the head priest according to traditional rules.
Manjhi Haram (Headman) offers sacrifices to God at the Manjhi/Jaher/Garam
than (a worshipping place at the courtyard of Headman) on behalf of the whole
village and behalf of himself in scheduled occasions. At the time of marriage, he
should be given a rupee by the groom’s party. Special share is given to him from
the game hunted during collective hunting. The duties, obligations and privi­
leges of the headman, given above, are the traditional norms. He guides the
marriage parties, especially the bride and bride-groom at various ceremonial
rites. He is a kind of secular priest for marriage and festive rites and ceremonials.
Other heads of the Santal villages are the Paranik, Goret and Nayke. Goret
always accompanies the Nayke at the time of sacrifices at Jaher than and carries
with him the chickens for sacrifice and the rice for preparing the sacrificial meal.
The Manjhi is a ritual done in the month of Magh (mid-February) when Magh
Bonga is worshipped or Baha is performed. The Nayke is the village priest, who
offers sacrifices to the Bongas at Jaher than on behalf of the whole village. He is
the spiritual guide. He performs most of the rites and rituals and offers worship
to Bongas. He is in touch with the most important deities of the Santal com­
munity. As such, he observes necessary taboos connected with the duties he
performs. He offers sacrifices and eats the sacrificial meal prepared with the
head of a chicken or goats sacrificed to the specific deities on scheduled
occasions. The Nayke and his wife enjoy a sacred status in the community.
Nayke’s assistant used to be called Kudam Nayke who is used to perform special
sacrifices to the Sima-Bonga (spirits of the village boundary), with his blood. He
also sacrifices a fowl to Pargana Bonga (Pargana means a cluster of villages.
Pargana Bonga is accordingly the God of entire territory). There is yet to be
another priest called Dihuri or Deuri selected especially at the time of the annual
hunt for offering sacrifices to the Bongas of the forest for the safety and success
8 U. K. SEN AND R. K. BHAKAT

of the hunting party. Ojha is the naturopath-cum-magician, who is believed to

connect all gurus and Bongas to dispel bad spirits to get rid of diseases, death or
distress to the community. He is supposed to suggest/administer courses of
magical and medicinal treatments for certain ailments and maladies.

The social and political organization of the Santal tribe

The Santals are the second largest tribal group in India. The Santals have distinct
areas of concentration where they have built up a tradition of their own through
centuries. They are very conscious of their identity and heritage. Most of them
have retained their mother tongue, which is a great binding factor. Santal tribes
have formed a well-unit social organisation and politico-religious system. In
social levels, the clan is the most important. The clan is centred on a personal
ancestor, not a place or villages or territorial system. The eleven clans with their
totemic affiliations are given in the bracket: Baske (stale rice), Besra (the hawk),
Core (the lizard), Hansda (wild goose), Hembram (betel nut), Kisku (a species of
a white-breasted kite), Murandi (grass named merda), Murmu (nilgai or horn-
less animal), Pauri (pigeon), Soren (the constellation Pleiades) and Tudu
(wildfowl).
The Santals are also one of the oldest tribes in India. They are spread across
Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha and West Bengal. From time
immemorial they have cleared forests, tilled the land and produced food for
subsistence. They are also well-versed in the art of hunting and sericulture. The
Santal system of governance, known as Manjhi-Paragana, may be compared to
local self-governance. Panchayat is a common feature, with clusters of 10–20
villages forming mega panchayats. Dancing and singing as a group is an integral
part of Santal culture. Santals worship Marang Buru or Bonga as the supreme
deity. The weight of belief, however, falls on a court of spirits (Bongas), who are
believed to handle different aspects of the world and who must be placated
with prayers and offerings to ward off evil. A characteristic feature of the Santal
village is a sacred grove on the edge of the settlement, which is considered as
the home of spirits.

Material and methods

Study site

Binpur II (22.4550° N, 86.9974° E), a block under the ‘Jungal Mahal’ of Jhargram
district is situated about 19 km away from the northwest from Jhargram bus-
stand, in the district headquarter Jhargram, located in the southern part of West
Bengal, India. The geographical location of this district comes under the middle
tribal zone of India. On the north, it is bordered by the districts of Purulia and
Bankura and on the east, it is bordered by the river Kangsabati (from the western
 TIME AND MIND 9

Figure 1. (a) Map of India showing West Bengal state. (b) Jhargram District showing Binpur II
block. (c) Study area (Binpur II block).

border of West Midnapore district) and partly by the river Subarnarekha from
the western border of West Midnapore district. It has common borders with the
state of Odisha on the south and in the west with the Jharkhand state (Figure 1
(a–c)).
Jhargram district covers an area of 3037.64 km2 with a population of 1136548
according to the census in 2011. 96.52% of the total population was rural and
only 3.48% was urban population. 20.11% of the total population belonged to
scheduled castes and 29.37% belonged to scheduled tribes. Its population
growth rate over the decade 2001–2011 was 10.9%. The literacy rate was 72%
in 2011, where the male literacy rate was 81% and female at 64%. The sex ratio
was 979 females per 1000 males (Anon 2011).
10 U. K. SEN AND R. K. BHAKAT

The sacred groves

The studied sacred groves are situated outside village boundaries, ranging
from 0.22- to 1.02 ha and support few old trees, climbers, shrubs and herbs.
Each of the groves houses the variously named local folk deities. The deities
are aniconic, represented by stones smeared with vermillion lying under lofty
or sacred trees (generally Madhuca longifolia var. latifolia and Shorea robusta
trees). God/goddess is/are often presented with votive offerings of burnt clay
made brick-red idols of horses and elephants. They demand animal sacrifices
(cock, goat and pigeon) and are supposed to be very ferocious. They repre­
sent a 100–300 years old relict forest patch consisting of evergreen, decid­
uous and semi-deciduous plants. During the various rituals (Tables 2 and 3)
the Santal community gathers inside the groves and worship the deities
when sacred grove-based local fairs are organized for one day. Moreover,
the deity is also propitiated on every Tuesday and Saturday or any day
deemed auspicious by the local people (Tables 2 and 3). Since the groves
are the abodes of the deities, the entire area along with plants and other life
forms is considered sacred. Owing to this socio-cultural tag on the groves,
Santal people do not cut or disturb the grove flora, thus strictly adhering to
the taboos and ethics (Figure 2).

Field survey and data collection and analysis

The study was conducted from March 2014 to April 2019 throughout all the
seasons of the year. Participants were selected based on their traditional

Figure 2. A typical Santal’s sacred grove.

 TIME AND MIND 11

knowledge. The interviews were carried out on traditional use(s) of plants

among the villagers. Individuals who were locally recognized as knowledgeable
on plant uses were identified with the assistance of the village elders. The
selection of the questionnaire was described in a systematic way and
Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) method. The questionnaire was conducted
in the local dialect of Bengali language. Due to the dynamic nature of ethno­
botanical information, this study included plants mentioned by three or more
informants to increase the reliability of the obtained data (Martin 2004).
In the systematic enumeration of the taxa, species with their family along
with the vernacular name, angiosperm type, habit, life-span, flowering and
fruiting time and importance and plant part(s) were used (Table 4). All the
species were categorized alphabetically. After knowing the specific use(s) of
the plants, informers were taken to the field to identify the plants based on
vernacular names. Photographs of the plant habit and reproductive structures
were taken and common plants were collected for herbarium preparation.
Herbariums were deposited in the herbarium section, Department of Botany,
Vidyasagar University. Rare or endangered plants were kept untouched.
Collected plants were compared with the literature and identified with the
help of standard keys to the specimens (Prain 1903; Pakrashi and
Mukhopadhya 2004; Paria 2005; Anon 2010).

Results and discussions

Demographic characteristics and knowledge of informants on ritual and
medicinal plants

The current survey was conducted with 217 informants who cited specific plant
use(s), particularly for traditional remedy preparation. Of the informants, 98
(45.16%) were male respondents, and 119 (54.84%) were female. This distribu­
tion was not uncommon in Indian ethnobotanical investigations as a result of
the role of women in the domestic sense, where most plant resources were
managed; in particular, food and medicinal plants (Sen and Bhakat 2020). It also
indicated that women had proven to be the key upholders of customs related to
domestic life in the ongoing investigation. Most of them (82, i.e. 37.79% of all
informants) were skilled herbalists; 31 (14.29%) were unemployed; 46 (21.20%)
were housewives; 43 (19.82%) were farmers; 6 (2.76%) served as teachers and
only 9 (4.15%) operated in government sectors. Informants’ ages ranged from
20 to 80 years. Depending on the age group, 68 (31.34%) informants (age
51–60 years) were slightly higher than 57 (26.27%, 41–50 years), 40 (18.43%,
≤61 years), 35 (16.13%, 31–40 years) and 17 (7.83%, respectively). As for educa­
tional qualifications, only 17 (7.83%) were illiterate; 87 (30.09%) had only pri­
mary school education; 63 (29.03%) secondary school education; 36 (16.59%)
12 U. K. SEN AND R. K. BHAKAT

Table 1. Demographic characteristics of informants.

Factors Categories Number of the informants Percentage (%)
Sex Male 98 45.16
Female 119 54.84
Profession Government employee 9 4.15
Teacher 6 2.76
Farmer 43 19.82
Housewife 46 21.20
Unemployed 31 14.29
Professional herbalist 82 37.79
Age ≤30 17 7.83
31–40 35 16.13
41–50 57 26.27
51–60 68 31.34
≥61 40 18.43
Education Illiterate 17 7.83
Primary 87 40.09
Secondary 63 29.03
Higher Secondary 36 16.59
University/Technical degree 14 6.45

high school education and only 14 (6.45%) had a university degree (Table 1;
Figure 3).

Ritual practices in the sacred groves

All the festivals, feasts or celebrations have been originated for most of the
collective rituals. The extent or degree of elaborations of the ritual differs
depending upon the levels of importance of the deities or gods (Tables 2 and 3).

Figure 3. Demographic characteristics of informants.

Table 2. Santal community-based sacred groves and their respective deities (A-Aniconic, I–Iconic), worshipping, animal sacrifice (C-Cock, G-Goat, P-Pigeon),
landowners (F-Forest, P-Public), shape (Re.-Rectangular, Ro.-Round, Sq.-Square, Tr.-Triangular), area, age, celebrated festival (s), fair (s), and status of protection (FP-
Fairly Protected, WP-Well Protected).
Approx. Age
Sl. Name of the sacred Iconic/ Time of Animal area (approx Status of
No. groves Deity Aniconic worshipping sacrifice Landowners Shape (ha) in years) Celebrated festival (s) Fair (s) protection
1. Baguasole Jaher Jaher A Sankranti of Asarh, C,G,P P Sq. 0.22 100–150 Salui,Asaria,Makar Parab Makar mela FP
Than Phalgun and 1st (1day/1st
Magh Magh)
2. Biridanga Jaher Jaher A Sankranti of Asarh, C P Sq. 0.35 200–250 Baha Parab,Janthal,Mah - FP
Than Pous and More,Makar Parab,Salai
Phalgun
3. Chakadoba Jaher Jaher A Sankranti of Asarh, C,G P Re. 0.85 200–250 Asharia,Baha Parab,Janthal, - WP
Than Phalgun and 1st Makar Parab,
Magh Sarhul, Shorai
4. Chandabila Jaher Jaher A Sankranti of Asarh, C,G P Re. 0.65 200–250 Baha Parab,Janthal,Mah - FP
Than Phalgun and 1st More,Makar Parab,Salai
Magh
5. Chirugora Jaher Jaher A Sankranti of C,G P Re. 0.40 200–250 Janthal,Mah-More,Salui, - FP
Than Baisakh, Asarh, Sitala
Phalgun and
1stMagh
nd
6. Kamarbandi Jaher Jaher A 2 Magh C P Tr. 0.22 250–300 Baha Parab,Janthal,Mah - FP
Than More, Makar Parab,Salai
7. Kuldiha Jaher Than Jaher A Sankranti of Asarh, C,G P Re. 0.45 100–150 Asaria,Makar Parab,Salui - FP
Phalgun and 4th
Magh
8. Malabati Jaher A Sankranti of Asarh, C,G,P F Sq. 1.02 100–150 Asharia,Janthal,Mah More, Makar mela WP
Mongalmoyee Phalgun and 1st Makar Parab,Salai (1 day/4th
Than Magh magh)
9. Neguria Jaher Than Jaher A Sankranti of Asarh, C P Sq. 0.26 100–150 Asaria,Makar Parab,Salui - FP
Phalgun and 3rd
Magh
TIME AND MIND

10. Rupagagra Gagrasini A 1st Magh C,G F Sq. 0.35 100–150 Asharia,Got Puja,Janthal, Makar mela FP
Gagrasini Than Mah More,Makar Parab, (1 day/1st
Salai,Shorai Magh)
13

(Continued)
 14
U. K. SEN AND R. K. BHAKAT

Table 2. (Continued).
Approx. Age
Sl. Name of the sacred Iconic/ Time of Animal area (approx Status of
No. groves Deity Aniconic worshipping sacrifice Landowners Shape (ha) in years) Celebrated festival (s) Fair (s) protection
11. Shamsundarpur Jaher A 1st Magh C P Ro. 0.40 150–200 Makar Parab,Salui Puja - FP
Jaher Than
12. Tang Bhedua Garam A Sankranti of Asarh, C F Re. 0.34 150–200 Asarh Sankranti,Janthal,Gote, - FP
Garam Than Kartick, Magh Makar Parab,Phalgun
and Phalgun Sankranti,Yuigni
Table 3. Festival and worship in and around of the sacred groves by Santal community.
Sl. Name of the festival/
No. Month/Time Worship Place of worship Essential articles Purposes
1. Baisakh (Apr.-May) Mak More Maro and at the village Bhog, cloths, cocks, flowers, fruits, goats, incense To propitiate the presiding deities of the
shrines stick, rice beer, sweets, vermilion etc. village and epidemic.
2. Jaistha (May-Jun.) Uli-Kanthar At the village shrine Cocks, flowers, fruits, rice beer, vermilion etc. To offer the seasonal fruits to village deities.
3. Ashar (Jun.-Jul.) Arok Sim, Janthal At the village shrines Cocks, flowers, rice beer, seasonal fruits, vermilion etc. Prayer to the village deities before sowing
paddy.
4. Bhadra (Aug.-Sep.) Karam At the open courtyard vermilion, flowers, two cocks, rice beer, goat etc. To express the contra- Brahminical feelings.
5. Ashwin (Sep.-Oct.) Nal Sankranti At the courtyard Reeds with forest produces, incense stick, china rose, For the good crops. To production the
fruits, vermilion, cocks, rice beer etc. controlling deity of snakes.
6. Kartick (Oct.-Nov.) Shorai Open field or the village Cocks, flower, fruits, rice beer, sundried rice, vermilion Acknowledgement to the protecting deities of
New moon day shrine etc. the cattle and ancestral spirits.
7. Poush Sankranti Sakrat At Jaherthan Bhog, flowers, fruits, incense stick, makar cake, resine, Post-harvesting ceremony for protection from
(Middle of Jan.) and Maro vermilion etc. the scourge of epidemic.
8. Magh (Middle of Jan.) First or Garam, Magh Sim Baram than, Maro, Bhog, clothes, cocks, flowers, fruits, incense stick, Post winter harvest festival to propitiate the
any auspicious day Jaherthan makar, resin, rice beer, vermilion etc. village tutelary deities.
9. Phalgun (Feb.-Mar.) Baha parab, Salai, At the village shrines Cocks, flowers of Shorea and Madhuca plant, new To offer the newly grown leaves before use.
and after Holi. Sarhul leaves, rice beer, vermilion etc.
10. Chaitra (Mar.-Apr.)/1st or 3rd Baha parab, Dishom At the village shrines Cocks, flowers, incense stick, rice beer, Shorea and Offering of the new leaves and flowers before
Saturday Seudra, Sarhul Madhuca leaves, sweets etc. use.
TIME AND MIND
15
16 U. K. SEN AND R. K. BHAKAT

Preliminary preparations
The holy spot or sacred shrine is cleansed with broomsticks of dust or dirt and
plastered with cow-dung paste. All these are performed by women.

Sanctification
Beginning from the previous night, both body and mind are purified. All sorts of
prohibitions are observed, including avoiding sexual activity, abstraining from
cutting off relaxing food, rice-beer or alcoholic drinks. During the day of wor­
ship, the Santals rigidly observe the customs. The priests or performers stay on
fast and don’t even take water. After bathing in the pond, most performers
purify their bodies and wear new or washed cloths or wet napkins. They pour
water at the holy place for their sacred success to cleanse the area.

Offerings
Offerings are made done right at the outset. They consist of seasonal fruits,
flowers, betel leaves, betel nuts, etc. The offerings have some significance, as,
among the Santals, Sal (Shorea robusta) or Mahua (Madhuca longifolia) leaves to
the village deities in Baha/Saharul or Salai Puja because they cannot use these
without offering to the protecting deities. The offerings of Makar (a mixture of
seasonal fruits, milk, sweet, pulses etc.), Kshirbhog (a gruel of rice with sugar and
milk) are also added.

Invocation
This is a crucial aspect of the ceremony. The deities or spirits are invoked as
vermilion adorns the holy spot. The officer is expected to draw a sacrificial altar. It
is rendered by putting powdered rice in a circular form, shifting the hand only in the
anti-clockwise direction, which signifies the earth’s anti-movement around the sun.

Sacrificial offerings
This too is one of the ritual’s most significant elements. The cocks, pigs, and
pigeons are typically and primarily sacrificial animals. First, the officer sprinkles
water on the sacrificial animal and places vermilion on its forehead, ears, and
legs. This symbolizes the deities or spirits set the animals apart. He makes it
partake of rice grains, which is nothing but the recognition of deities or spirits as
a symbol.

Penultimate phase
Once the heads of the sacrificing animals are given, the blood is combined with
a portion of sundried rice, and the wind-pipe of the cock is inserted with the
specially brewed rice-beer for final oblation.
 TIME AND MIND 17

The final phase

The priest of the village or the head of the family prays in his dialect to the deity
or spirit with enchants. Then, the village priest eats the head of the sacrificed
animals leaving the remaining portion as consecrated food. Several Brahmnical
practices have been integrated into some of those tribes’ ritual patterns. These
are the uses of sandal paste, earthen lamp, incense stick burning and resin
burning, bell ringing, holy water offering, flowers distribution, vermilion and
consecrated food materials to the participating villages.

Animal sacrifice
The typical aspect of sacred groves is the practice of sacrifice during the worship
of living animals. In each year or some cases every week, different animals of
avian groups (cock, goat and pigeon, etc.) are sacrificed by human beings to the
deities as the component of folk culture. People sometimes make a replica of
the promised offer instead of killing the reprehensible animals virtually. For
starters, the horse and elephant votive offerings are made of burnt clay and left
outdoors to go back to the mud from which they emanated. It is interesting to
note that only domestic animals taken as burden-beasts are usually offered as
votive offerings.

Landowner, shape, area and age of the sacred groves

Landowners and age data were gathered through conversations with residents,
priests, and elders, and local village folk, to understand the institutional man­
agement of local significance used to preserve their sacred groves. Among the
12 sacred groves in all, 9 are owned by the local public and the rest 3 by the
forest department.

Status of protection
Sacred groves emerge as places of cultivation during the hunter-gatherer period.
They are religious spaces within the trees, for the worship of nature. And they’re
surrounded by rigid religious codes, taboos and standards of morality. Sacred
groves prevent people from falling trees or from collecting any type of forest that
grows from the field. Such socio-cultural and religious values have taken a long
way to preserve the sacred groves and thereby preserve biodiversity. The sacred
groves are very important from a biodiversity perspective. Within the report, two
sacred groves are found well protected and 10 fairly protected. The shapes of the
sacred groves and their dimensions are distinctive. Depending on their number of
descendants, the different types of groves are rectangular (5), square (5), round (1)
and triangle (1).
18 U. K. SEN AND R. K. BHAKAT

Different plant taxa

In the present study, a total of 191 species belonging to 175 genera distributed
over 69 families were recorded from the sacred groves. The nine well-
represented families (≥5 species) were Fabaceae 23 (12.04%), Poaceae 14
(7.33%), Apocynaceae 9 (4.71%), Rubiaceae 9 (4.71%), Asteraceae 8 (4.19%),
Malvaceae 7 (3.66%), Combretaceae 6 (3.14%), Cyperaceae 6 (3.14%) and
Lamiaceae 6 (3.14%) respectively. Acanthaceae, Cucurbitaceae, Dioscoreaceae
and Phyllanthaceae comprised 5 (2.62%) species each. Four families contained 4
(2.09%), three families 3 (1.57%) and nine families covered 2 (1.04%) species.
Another 40 families each carried only a single species (Table 4). Similar types of
distribution of dominant families have been found in sacred groves in India
were highlighted by Gnanasekaran, Nehru, and Narasimhan (2012), Sen and
Bhakat (2019) etc.
The seven dominant plant families encompassed more than 41% genera with
descending numbers (>5 species) were Fabaceae 19 (10.86%), Poaceae 14 (8%),
Apocynaceae 9 (5.14%), Rubiaceae 9 (5.14%), Asteraceae 8 (4.57%), Malvaceae 7
(4%) and Lamiaceae 6 (3.43%) (Table 4).
The well-represented genera were Dioscorea (5 species), Terminalia (5 spe­
cies), Senna (4 species), Diospyros (3 species), Cyperus (2 species) and Mimosa (2
species) respectively. Another 170 species belong to a single genus (Table 4).

Species diversity in different growth form

The present floristic study of the sacred groves shows that it harboured a total of
191 plant species [dicots 156 (81.68%) and monocots 35 (18.32%)] belonging to
genera 175 [dicots 145 (82.86%) and monocots 30 (17.14%)] of 69 families
[dicots 57 (82.60%) and monocots 12 (17.40%)]. Among these, 61 (31.94%) of
the reported species were herbs. Other reported species were shrubs 25
(13.09%), trees 60 (31.41%) and climbers 45 (23.56%) respectively. Amongst
the total dicots 156 (81.68%) and monocots 35 (18.32%), herbs, shrubs, trees
and climbers represented 37, 24, 58, 37 and 24, 1, 2, 8 species, respectively,
representing 19.37%, 12.57%, 30.37%, 19.37% and 12.57%, 0.52%, 1.05%, 4.19%
of the total species (Tables 4 and 5; Figure 4).
Major four herbaceous families (≥6 species) were Poaceae 13 (21.31%),
Asteraceae 7 (11.48%), Cyperaceae 6 (9.84%) and Fabaceae 6 (9.84%) held
above 52% of the total herb population. The six major less-woody shrub families
(≥2 species) were Fabaceae 4 (16%), Acanthaceae 3 (12%), Apocynaceae 2 (8%),
Cactaceae 2 (8%), Malvaceae 2 (8%) and Phyllanthaceae 2 (8%) represented
above 60% of the total shrubs population. Fabaceae 7 (11.67%), Rubiaceae 6
(10%), Combretaceae 5 (8.34%), Malvaceae 4 (6.67%) and Moraceae 4 (6.67%)
were the five diversified families (≥4 species) which contained above 43% of the
total tree population. The five most speciose families (≥4 species) in descending
Table 4. Enumeration of angiosperms in Santal community based sacred groves.
Sl. Vernacular Angiosperm Life- Fl. & Fr.
No. Scientific name Family Name type Habit Span Time Importance (s) and Part(s) used
1. Abrus precatorius L. Fabaceae Kunch D C P Aug.-Mar. I:Se;M:Se;Or:Se;Sa:Se
2. Acalypha indica L. Euphorbiaceae Muktajhuri D H A All M:W
3. Achyranthes aspera L. Amaranthaceae Apang D H A Sep.-Feb. D:W;M:W;Sa:W
4. Adina cordifolia (Roxb.) Brandis Rubiaceae Karam D T P Jun.-Dec. Fo:Le;Sa:W;Ti:St
5. Aegle marmelos (L.) Corrêa Rutaceae Bel D T P May-Jul. D:Fr;E:Fr,Le;M:Fr,Le;Sa:Fr,Le,W
6. Ageratum conyzoides L. Asteraceae Dochunti D H A Nov.-Mar. M:Le,Ro
7. Ailanthus excelsa Roxb. Simaroubaceae Gokul D T P Jan.-Jun. Ti:St
8. Alangium salviifolium (L.f.) Wangerin Cornaceae Ankar D T P Mar.-Jul. E:Fr;M:Fr,Le,Rb,Sb,Se;Ti:St
9. Albizia odoratissima (L.f.) Benth. Fabaceae Sajna Sirish D T P Apr.-Mar. G:Sb;Ta:Fr,Sb,Se;Ti:St
10. Alstonia scholaris (L.) R. Br. Apocynaceae Chhatim D T P Nov.-Aug. M:La,Le,Ro,Sb;Sa:W;Ti:St
11. Ampelocissus latifolia (Roxb.) Planch. Vitaceae Kumarlata D C P Jun.- Sep. M:Le,Ro
12. Andrographis paniculata (Burm.f.) Nees Acanthaceae Kalmegh D H A Sep.-Apr. M:Le,Ro,W
13. Annona squamosa L. Annonaceae Ata D T P Mar.-Sep. E: Fr;I:Le,Se;M:Fr,Le,Ro
14. Antidesma ghaesembilla Gaertn. Phyllanthaceae Amari D T P Apr.-Dec. E:Fr,Le;Oi:Se
15. Antigonon leptopus Hook. & Arn. Polygonaceae Anantalata D C A Aug.-Jan. E:Tu;M:Or,Tu
16. Argemone mexicana L. Papaveraceae Sialkanta D H A Dec.-Apr. M:Fr,Ro
17. Aristolochia indica L. Aristolochiaceae Isarmul D C A Jul.-Jan. M:Le,Ro,Se
18. Artabotrys hexapetalus (L.f.) Bhandari Annonaceae Kanthali D C P Apr.-Oct. M:Le,Fl;Oi:Fl
Champa
19. Asparagus racemosus Willd. Asparagaceae Satamuli M C P Aug.-Dec. M:Le,Tu
20. Azadirachta indica A.Juss. Meliaceae Neem D T P Mar.-Jul. E:Le;I:Fr,Le,Sb,Se;M:Fr,Le,Sb,Se,St;Sa:W;Ta:Sb;Ti:
St
21. Azanza lampas (Cav.) Alef. Malvaceae Bankapash D S A Sep.-Dec. Fi:St;M:W
22. Bambusa bambos (L.) Voss Poaceae Kantabansh M T P Fo:Le,St;Sa:St;Ti:St
23. Barleria strigosa Willd. Acanthaceae Bisalyakarani D S P Sep.-Apr. M:Le,Ro,Sb
24. Benincasa hispida (Thunb.) Cogn. Cucurbitaceae Chalkumra D C A Sep.-Jan. E:Fr;M:Fr,Se
25. Blumea virens DC. Asteraceae Kukshima D H A Oct.-Jan. M:Le,Ro,W
26. Boerhavia diffusa L. Nyctaginaceae Punarnaba D H A Jun.-Dec. M:Le,Ro,W
27. Bombax ceiba L. Malvaceae Shimul D T P Jan.-May. Fo:Le;Oi:Se;Ti:St
28. Borassus flabellifer L. Arecaceae Tal M T P Mar.-Oct. E:Fr;M:Fr; Sa:Le;Ti:St
TIME AND MIND

29. Brachypterum scandens (Roxb.) Miq. Fabaceae Panlata D C P Jul.-Jan. M:Ro,Sb,Se;Ta:Fr,Sb

30. Breynia vitis-idaea (Burm.f.) C.E.C.Fisch. Phyllanthaceae Gurchauli D S P Apr.-Dec. M:Fr,Le
31. Bridelia tomentosa Blume Phyllanthaceae Kasai D T P Mar.-Dec. M:Fr,Le;Ta:Sb;Ti:St
19

(Continued)
 20

Table 4. (Continued).
Sl. Vernacular Angiosperm Life- Fl. & Fr.
No. Scientific name Family Name type Habit Span Time Importance (s) and Part(s) used
32. Burmannia coelestis D.Don Burmanniaceae - M H A May.-Aug. M:W
33. Calotropis gigantea (L.) W.T.Aiton Apocynaceae Akanda D S P Mar.-Feb. Fi:Sb,Se;M:Fl,La,Le,Rb,Ro;Sa:W
34. Cannabis sativa L. Cannabaceae Ganja D H A Oct.-Feb. M:Fl,Le,St
35. Capparis zeylanica L. Capparaceae Rohini D C P Mar.-Oct. M:Le,Ro,Se,St;Or:W
36. Cardiospermum halicacabum L. Sapindaceae Shibjhul D C A Jul.-Dec. M:Le,Ro,Se;Sa:W
37. Careya arborea Roxb. Lecythidaceae Bhat D T P Jan.-Apr. M:Fr,Le,Sb,Se;Ti:St
38. Carissa carandas L. Apocynaceae Karamcha D C P Mar.-Jul. M:Fr,Ro
39. Casearia graveolens Dalzell Salicaceae Kokra D T P Jan.-Mar. M:La,Le,St
40. Cassia fistula L. Fabaceae Bandarlathi D T P Feb.-Dec. M:Fr,Se;Or:Fl;Ta:Fr,Sb,Se;Sa:W
U. K. SEN AND R. K. BHAKAT

41. Catunaregam spinosa (Thunb.) Tirveng. Rubiaceae Madan D T P Apr.-Oct. M:Fr,Sb

42. Cayaponia laciniosa (L.) C.Jeffrey Cucurbitaceae Mala D C A Jun.-Jan. M:Fr
43. Cayratia pedata (Lam.) Gagnep. Vitaceae Goyalelata D C P Aug.-Feb. M:Le,Ro
44. Cenchrus pedicellatus (Trin.) Morrone Poaceae M H P Oct.-Dec. Fo:Le
45. Centella asiatica (L.) Urb. Apiaceae Thankuni D H A Jul.-Jan. M:Le,Ro
46. Cereus hexagonus (L.) Mill. Cactaceae Manasa D S P Jun.-Jul. M:St
47. Chromolaena odorata (L.) R.M.King & H.Rob. Asteraceae Bhabri D H A Mar.-Sep. I:Le,St;M:W
48. Cissampelos pareira L. Menispermaceae Akanadi D C P Jul.-Jan. M:Le,Ro
49. Cissus quinquangularis Chiov. Vitaceae Harjora D C P Jul.-Jan. M:Le,St
50. Cleistanthus collinus (Roxb.) Benth. ex Hook.f. Phyllanthaceae Parashi D T P Apr.-Sep. I:Fr,Le,Sb;M:Fr,Le,Ro,Sb;Ti:St
51. Cleome viscosa L. Cleomaceae Hurhura D H A Sep.-Apr. M:Le,Ro,Se
52. Clerodendrum indicum (L.) Kuntze Lamiaceae Bamunhati D S P Sep.-Dec. M:La,Le,Ro
53. Coccinia grandis (L.) Voigt Cucurbitaceae Telakucha D C P Mar.-Dec. E:Fr,Le;M:Fr,Le,Ro
54. Combretum decandrum Jacq. Combretaceae Atang D C P Nov.-May D:Rb,Sb;M:Fl,Rb,Sb;Ta:Fr,Sb;Ti:St
55. Commelina paludosa Blume Commelinaceae Kanshira M H A Jul.-Oct. Fo:Le;M:W
56. Cordia dichotoma G.Forst. Boraginaceae Bahubara D T P Feb.-Apr. Fo:Le;M:Fr,Le, Se;Ti:St
57. Crateva magna (Lour.) DC. Capparaceae Barun D T P Mar.-Jul. M:Le,Ro,Sb;Or:Fl,W;Sa:Fl;Ti:St
58. Crotalaria pallida Aiton Fabaceae Banatasi D S A Aug.-Jan. M:Le,Se,St
59. Croton bonplandianus Baill. Euphorbiaceae Churchuri D H P All M:La,Le
60. Cucumis melo L. Cucurbitaceae Dhundul D C A Jul.-Feb. E:Fr;M:Fr
61. Curculigo orchioides Gaertn. Hypoxidaceae Talmuli M H P Aug.-Oct. M:Ro
62. Curcuma longa L. Zingiberaceae Halud M H P Sep.-Oct. E:Rh;M:Rh;Sa:Rh
63. Cuscuta reflexa Roxb. Convolvulaceae Swarnalata D C P Oct.-Feb. M:W
64. Cyanthillium cinereum (L.) H.Rob. Asteraceae Kukursonka D H A Aug.-Mar. M:W;Sa:W
(Continued)
Table 4. (Continued).
Sl. Vernacular Angiosperm Life- Fl. & Fr.
No. Scientific name Family Name type Habit Span Time Importance (s) and Part(s) used
65. Cynodon dactylon (L.)Pers. Poaceae Durbaghas M H P All Fo:Le;M:Rh,W;Sa:Le,W
66. Cyperus brevifolius (Rottb.) Hassk. Cyperaceae - M H P May-Oct. Fo:Le
67. Cyperus rotundus L. Cyperaceae Mutha M H P Sep.-Dec. Fo:Le;M:Ro,Tu
68. Cyperus squarrosus L. Cyperaceae - M H P Aug.-Nov. Fo:Le
69. Dalbergia volubilis Roxb. Fabaceae Latmurga D C P Aug.-Jan. M:Le,Ro
70. Datura metel L. Solanaceae Dhutura D S P Aug.-May M:Le,Ro,Se;Sa:Fl
71. Debia ovatifolia (Cav.) Neupane & N.Wikstr. Rubiaceae Khetpapra D H A Sep.-Nov. M:Le,W
72. Dendrophthoe falcata (L.f.) Ettingsh. Loranthaceae Banda D S A Nov.-Mar. M:W
73. Desmostachya bipinnata (L.) Stapf Poaceae Kush M H P Jun.-Oct. Fo:Le;Sa:Le
74. Dicliptera chinensis (L.) Juss. Acanthaceae Laljhanti D S P Oct.-Feb. M:W
75. Dioscorea belophylla (Prain) Voigt ex Haines Dioscoreaceae Kanta alu M C P Sep.-Mar E:Rh;M:Rh
76. Dioscorea bulbifera L. Dioscoreaceae Khamalu M C P Aug.-Dec. E:Rh;M:Rh
77. Dioscorea glabra Roxb. Dioscoreaceae Khamalu M C P Sep.-Mar. E:Rh;M:Rh
78. Dioscorea pentaphylla L. Dioscoreaceae Chiruralu M C P Sep.- Feb. E:Rh;M:Rh
79. Dioscorea pubera Blume Dioscoreaceae Kukur alu M C P Oct.-Jan. E:Rh;M:Rh
80. Diospyros melanoxylon var. tupru (Buch.-Ham.) Ebenaceae Kend D T P Apr.-Jun. E:Fr,Le;Fo:Le;M:Fr,Sb;Oi:Se;Ta:Sb;Ti:St
V.Singh
81. Diospyros melanoxylon Roxb. Ebenaceae Kendu D T P Apr.-Jul. E:Fr,Le;Fo:Le;M:Fr,Sb;Oi:Se; Sa:W;Ta:Sb;Ti:St
82. Diospyros montana Roxb. Ebenaceae Haldi D T P Apr.-Jan. E:Fr,Le;Fo:Le;M:Fr,Sb;Oi:Se;Ta:Sb;Ti:St
83. Echinops echinatus Roxb. Asteraceae Kantaalu D H A Jan.-Jun. M:W
84. Eleusine indica (L.) Gaertn. Poaceae - M H P Aug.-Nov. Fo:Le,St
85. Elytrophorus spicatus (Willd.) A.Camus Poaceae - M H P Nov.-Jan Fo:Le
86. Eragrostis japonica (Thunb.) Trin. Poaceae Phulghas M H P Aug.-Nov. Fo:Le
87. Evolvulus nummularius (L.) L. Convolvulaceae Ankra D H A All M:W
88. Ficus benghalensis L. Moraceae Bat D T P Mar.-Sep. E:Fr;Fi:Ro;Fo:Le;M:Fr,La,Le,Ro,Sb,Se;Or:W;Sa:Le,
W;Ti:St
89. Ficus racemosa L. Moraceae Jaggya Dumur D T P Mar.-Aug. M:La,Le,Sb;Sa:Le,W
90. Ficus religiosa L. Moraceae Aswathha D T P Jun.-Aug. E:Fr;Fi:Ro;Fo:Le;M:Fr,La,Le,Ro,Sb,Se;Sa:Le,W;Ti:
St;Or:W
91. Fimbristylis dichotoma (L.) Vahl Cyperaceae - M H P Aug.-Oct. Fo:Le
TIME AND MIND

92. Flacourtia indica (Burm. f.) Merr. Salicaceae Bainchi D S P Sep.-May E:Fr;M: Fr,La,Le,Ro,Sb,Se
93. Fuirena ciliaris (L.) Roxb. Cyperaceae - M H P Sep.-Jan. Fo:Le
94. Glinus lotoides L. Molluginaceae Gima D H A Feb.-Apr. M:W
(Continued)
21
 22

Table 4. (Continued).
Sl. Vernacular Angiosperm Life- Fl. & Fr.
No. Scientific name Family Name type Habit Span Time Importance (s) and Part(s) used
95. Gliricidia sepium (Jacq.) Steud. Fabaceae - D T P Feb.-May M:W
96. Gloriosa superba L. Colchicaceae Ulat-Chandal M C P Jul.-Sep. M:Rh
97. Gnaphalium polycaulon Pers. Asteraceae Balraksha D H A Feb.-Apr. M:Le
98. Grona triflora (L.) H.Ohashi & K.Ohashi Fabaceae Ghumisusni D H P Jul.-Feb. M:Le,Ro
99. Guilandina bonduc L. Fabaceae Natakaranj D C P Aug.-Apr. M:Le,Ro,Se
100. Gymnema sylvestre (Retz.) R.Br. ex Sm. Apocynaceae Gurmar D C P Apr.-Mar. M:Le,St
101. Hemarthria compressa (L.f.) R.Br. Poaceae - M H P Jul.-Oct. Fo:Le
102. Hemidesmus indicus (L.) R.Br. Apocynaceae Anantamul D C P Aug.-Jan. M:Ro
103. Hibiscus vitifolius L. Malvaceae Bala D S A Oct.-Feb. M:Ro
U. K. SEN AND R. K. BHAKAT

104. Holarrhena pubescens Wall. ex G.Don Apocynaceae Kurchi D T P Apr.-Feb. M:Le,Ro,Sb,Se;Oi:Fl

105. Holoptelea integrifolia (Roxb.) Planch. Ulmaceae Challa D T P Jan.-Jun. M:Le,Sb;Ti:St
106. Hypericum japonicum Thunb. Hypericaceae Pikarichar D H A Feb.-Apr. M:W
107. Ichnocarpus frutescens (L.) W.T.Aiton Apocynaceae Shyamalata D C P Sep.-Mar. M:Le,Ro
108. Indigofera linnaei Ali Fabaceae Nil D H A Aug.-Nov. D:Se;M:Le,Ro,W
109. Ipomoea mauritiana Jacq. Convolvulaceae Bhuikumra D C P Aug.-Dec. M:Ro
110. Isachne globosa (Thunb.) Kuntze Poaceae - M H P Sep.-Feb. Fo:Le
111. Jatropha gossypiifolia L. Euphorbiaceae Lalbharenda D S P Apr.-Aug. M:La,Le,Se;Oi:Se
112. Justicia adhatoda L. Acanthaceae Basak D S P Jul.-Jan. M:Le,Ro
113. Kleinhovia hospita L. Malvaceae Boyal D T P Sep.-Dec. M:Le,Sb;Ti:St
114. Kydia calycina Roxb. Malvaceae Bonkopas D T P Sep.-Apr. M:G,Le,Sb
115. Lagerstroemia parviflora Roxb. Lythraceae Shida D T P Apr.-Jan. M:Fr,Le,Ro,Sb,Se;Ti:St;Fi:Sb
116. Lannea coromandelica (Houtt.) Merr. Anacardiaceae Jial D T P Feb.-Jun. Ti:St
117. Lantana camara L. Verbenaceae Chotra D S P Nov.-Feb. I:Fr,Le,Sb;M:W;Or:W
118. Leersia hexandra Sw. Poaceae - M H A Sep.-Dec. Fo:Le
119. Leonotis nepetifolia (L.) R.Br. Lamiaceae Bhutbhairabi D H A Apr.-Jul. M:Fl,Le,Ro
120. Litsea glutinosa (Lour.) C.B. Rob. Lauraceae Leda D T P Apr.-Sep. M:La,Sb;Ti:St
121. Madhuca longifolia var. latifolia (Roxb.) A.Chev. Sapotaceae Mohua D T P Mar.-Jul. D:Sb;E:Fl,Fr;Ta:Sb;Ti:St
122. Mallotus nudiflorus (L.) Kulju & Welzen Euphorbiaceae Ghundie D T P Nov.-Apr. M:Fr,Rb,Sb
123. Mangifera indica L. Anacardiaceae Aam D T P Feb.- Jun. E:Fr;G:Sb;Sa:Le;Ti:St
124. Mesosphaerum suaveolens (L.) Kuntze Lamiaceae Sbntulsi D H A Sep.-Jan. M:Fl,Le,Ro
125. Meyna spinosa Roxb. ex Link Rubiaceae Moinakanta D S P Apr.-Dec. M:Fr,Le,Ro
126. Mikania micrantha Kunth Asteraceae Taralata D C A Sep.-Feb. M:W
127. Mimosa pudica L. Fabaceae LajjaSbti D H P Jul.-Nov. M:Le,Ro
(Continued)
Table 4. (Continued).
Sl. Vernacular Angiosperm Life- Fl. & Fr.
No. Scientific name Family Name type Habit Span Time Importance (s) and Part(s) used
128. Mimosa rubicaulis Lam. Fabaceae Kunchikata D S P Oct.-Feb. M:Le,Ro
129. Mitragyna parvifolia (Roxb.) Korth. Rubiaceae Kelikadam D T P May-Apr. Ti:St;Fo:Le
130. Morinda citrifolia L. Rubiaceae Anch D T P Feb.-May M:Fr,Le,Sb;E:Fr;Fo:Le
131. Mucuna pruriens (L.) DC. Fabaceae Alkusi D C A Sep.-May M:Fr,Le,Ro,Se
132. Neolamarckia cadamSb (Roxb.) Bosser Rubiaceae Kadam D T P Jul.-Nov. M:Le,Sb;Ti:St;Sa:W
133. Ocimum americanum L. Lamiaceae Sbntulshi D H P All M:Le,Ro,Se;Sa:Le,W
134. Oplismenus compositus (L.) P.Beauv. Poaceae - M H P Sep.-Dec. Fo:Le
135. Opuntia stricta (Haw.) Haw. Cactaceae Phani-mansa D S P Apr.-Aug. M:St
136. Oxalis corniculata L. Oxalidaceae Amrul D H A All M:Le,W
137. Paederia foetida L. Rubiaceae Gendhal D C P Sep.-Dec. M:Le,Ro
138. Phanera vahlii (Wight & Arn.) Benth. Fabaceae Latakanchan D C P Apr.-Feb. M:Le,Ro,Sb,Se;Ta:Fr,Sb
139. Phoenix acaulis Roxb. Arecaceae Sbnkhejur M S P Feb.-Jun. E:Fr;M:Fr
140. Phyllanthus lanceolarius (Roxb.) Müll.Arg. Phyllanthaceae Kechchua D S A Mar.-Dec. M:Fr,Le
141. PlumSbgo zeylanica L. Plumbaginaceae Swetchita D H A Sep.-Feb. M:La,Ro,Sb
142. Premna mollissima Roth Lamiaceae Dauli D T P May-Jul. M:Le,Sb,St;Ti:St
143. Pterocarpus marsupium Roxb. Fabaceae Piyasal D T P Oct.-Jan. M:G,Le,Sb;Ta:Sb;Ti:St
144. Pterospermum acerifolium (L.) Willd. Malvaceae Muchkunda D T P Jan.-Aug. E:Fl;M:Fl,Le,Sb;Sa:W;Ti:St
145. Pupalia lappacea (L.) Juss. Amaranthaceae Nagdamani D H P Sep.-Jan. E:Fr;M:Le,Fr
146. Putranjiva roxburghii Wall. Putranjivaceae PutrajiSb D T P Mar.-Oct. M:Fr,Le,Se;Ti:St
147. Rauvolfia serpentina (L.) Benth. ex Kurz Apocynaceae Sarpagandha D S P Mar.-Dec. M:Le,Ro,W
148. Rhynchospora wightiana (Nees) Steud. Cyperaceae Nirbish M H P Aug.-Oct. Fo:Le
149. Sacciolepis indica (L.) Chase Poaceae - M H P Aug.-Nov. Fo:Le
150. Schleichera oleosa (Lour.) Oken Sapindaceae Kusum D T P Mar.-Jul. E:Fr;M:Fr;Oi:Se;Ti:St
151. Scoparia dulcis L. Plantaginaceae Mithapata D H A May-Dec. M:Le,Sb,Se,W
152. Semecarpus anacardium L.f. Anacardiaceae Bhela D T P Jul.-Dec. D:Fr;E:Fr
153. Senna alata (L.) Roxb. Fabaceae Dadmari D S A Aug.-Nov. M:Le,Se
154. Senna occidentalis (L.) Link Fabaceae Kalkasunda D S P Aug.-Dec. M:Le,Ro,Sb
155. Senna siamea (Lam.) H.S.Irwin & Sbrneby Fabaceae Minjiri D T P Sep.-Dec. M:Sb;Ta:Fr,Sb;Ti:St
156. Senna tora (L.) Roxb. Fabaceae Chakunda D H A Sep.-Dec. I:Fr,Le;M:Le,Se
157. Setaria viridis (L.) P.Beauv. Poaceae - M H P Jul.-Oct. Fo:Le
TIME AND MIND

158. Shorea robusta C.F.Gaertn. Dipterocarpaceae Sal D T P Mar.-Jun. G:Sb;Oi:Se;Sa:W;Ti:St

159. Sida rhombifolia L. Malvaceae Lalberela D H P Sep.-Dec. M:Le,Ro,St
160. Smilax zeylanica L. Smilacaceae Kumarika M C P Jun.-Dec. M:Ro
(Continued)
23
Table 4. (Continued).
24

Sl. Vernacular Angiosperm Life- Fl. & Fr.

No. Scientific name Family Name type Habit Span Time Importance (s) and Part(s) used
161. Solanum americanum Mill. Solanaceae Kakmachi D H A Oct.-Apr. M:Fr,Le,Ro,Se
162. Stephania japonica (Thunb.) Miers Menispermaceae Rajpata D C P Jul.-Dec. M:Le,Ro
163. Stereospermum chelonoides (L.f.) DC. Bignoniaceae Parul D T P Aug.-Feb. M:Fl,Fr,Le,Sb;Or:W;Ti:St
164. Streblus asper Lour. Moraceae Saora D T P Feb.-Jun. E:Fr;Fo:Le;M:Fr,La,Le,Ro,Sb,Se;Or:W;Sa:Le,Ro,Sb,
W;Ti:St
165. Strobilanthes hirta (Vahl) Blume Acanthaceae Mushakani D H A Mar.-Aug. M:Fr,W
166. Strychnos nux-vomica L. Loganiaceae Kuchila D T P Mar.-Jan. I:Fr,Se;M:Fr,Le,Rb,Se;Ti:St
167. Syzygium cumini (L.) Skeels Myrtaceae Kalojam D T P Mar.-Jul. D:Fr;E:Fr;Fo:Le;M:Fr,Rb,Sb,Se;Sa:W;Ta:Sb;Ti:St
168. Tamarindus indica L. Fabaceae Tentul D T P Apr.-Jan. D:Sb;E:Fr,Se;Fo:Le;M:Fl,Le,Ro,Se;Oi:Se;Sa:W
169. Tamilnadia uliginosa (Retz.) Tirveng. & Sastre Rubiaceae Piralu D T P Apr.-Oct. M:Fl,Fr,Le,Sb;Or:Fl,W
U. K. SEN AND R. K. BHAKAT

170. Tephrosia purpurea (L.) Pers. Fabaceae Bannil D H P Sep.-Dec. D:Se;M:Le,Ro

171. Terminalia anogeissiana Gere & Boatwr. Combretaceae Dhaw D T P Aug.-Jan. G:Sb;M:Fr,Le,Sb;Ti:St;Fo:Le
172. Terminalia elliptica Willd. Combretaceae Asan D T P Apr.-Feb. Fo:Le;M:Fr,Le,Sb;Ta:Fr,Sb;Ti:St
173. Terminalia arjuna (Roxb. ex DC.) Wight & Arn. Combretaceae Arjun D T P Apr.-Feb. Fo:Le;M:Fr,Le,Sb;Sa:W;Ta:Fr,Sb;Ti:St
174. Terminalia bellirica (Gaertn.) Roxb. Combretaceae Bahera D T P Apr.-Feb. Fo:Le;M:Fr,Le,Sb;Sa:W;Ta:Fr,Sb;Ti:St
175. Terminalia chebula Retz. Combretaceae Haritaki D T P Apr.-Mar Fo:Le;M:Fr,Le,Sb;Sa:W;Ta:Fr,Sb;Ti:St
176. Tiliacora acuminata (Lam.) Miers Menispermaceae Teliakora D C P Nov.-May M:Le,Ro
177. Tinospora sinensis (Lour.) Merr. Menispermaceae Gulancha D C P Feb.-Jun. M:W;Sa:W
178. Tragus mongolorum Ohwi Poaceae - M H P Aug.-Oct. Fo:Le
179. Trianthema portulacastrum L. Aizoaceae Sapunne D H A Apr.-Oct. M:W
180. Tribulus terrestris L. Zygophyllaceae Gokhru D C A Feb.-Sep. M:Fr,Le,Ro,Se
181. Trichosanthes tricuspidata Lour. Cucurbitaceae Makal D C A Apr.-Sep. M:Fr,Ro
182. Vachellia nilotica (L.) P.J.H.Hurter & Mabb. Fabaceae Babla D T P Jun.-Sep. G:St;M:Ro,Sb;Ta:Fr,Sb;Ti:St
183. Vallaris solanacea (Roth) Kuntze Apocynaceae Haparmali D C P Apr.-Jan. M:La,Le,Ro
184. Vanda tessellata (Roxb.) Hook. ex G.Don Orchidaceae Rasna M H P Apr.-Jul. M:Fl,Le;Or:Fl,W
185. Ventilago denticulata Willd. Rhamnaceae Raktapita D C P Nov.-Mar. D:Rb,Sb;M:Fr,Rb,Sb;Ti:St
186. Viscum cruciatum Sieber ex Boiss. Santalaceae Banda D S P Jan.-Jun. I:W;M:W
187. Vitex negundo L. Lamiaceae Nisinda D T P Mar.-Jun. I:Le,St;M:Fl,Fr,Le,Rb,Ro,Sb,Se
188. Xanthium strumarium L. Asteraceae Okra D H A Sep.-Apr. M:Fr,Le,Ro,Se
189. Xenostegia tridentata (L.) D.F.Austin & Staples Convolvulaceae Sirka D C A Aug.-Dec. M:W
190. Ziziphus oenopolia (L.) Mill. Rhamnaceae Siakul D C P Apr.-Dec. E:Fr;Fo:Le;M:Fr,Ro,Sb,St;Oi:Se;Ta:Sb;Ti:St
191. Zornia gibbosa Span. Fabaceae Nelam D H A Aug.-Nov. M:W
Abbreviation:
Angiosperm type: D-Dicot, M-Monocot
Habit: C-Climber, H-Herb, S-Shrub, T-Tree
Life-Span: A- Annual, P-Perennial
Flowering and Fruiting time: Jan.-January, Feb.-February, Mar.-March, Apr.-April, Jun.-June, Jul.-July, Aug.-August, Sep.-September, Oct.-October, Nov.-November, Dec.-December, All- All season
Importance (s) and Part(s) used:
Ba- Stem Bark, D- Dye, E- Edible, Fi- Fiber, Fl- Flower, Fo- Fodder, Fr- Fruit, G-Gum, I–Insecticidal, La- Latex, Le- Leaf, M- Medicinal, Oi- Oil, Or- Ornamental, Rb- Root Bark, Rh- Rhizome, Ro- Root,
Sa- Sacred, Se-Seed, St- Stem, Ta- Tannin, Ti- Timber, Tu- Tuber, W- Whole plant.
 TIME AND MIND 25

Table 5. Total angiosperm taxa.

Species
Group Families Genera Herbs Shrubs Trees Climbers Total
Dicots 57 145 37 24 58 37 156
Monocots 12 30 24 1 2 8 35
Total 69 175 61 25 60 45 191

manner included Fabaceae 6 (13.34%), Apocynaceae 5 (11.12%), Cucurbitaceae

5 (11.12%), Dioscoreaceae 5 (11.12%) and Menispermaceae 4 (8.89%) and
showed above 55% of the total liana population (Table 4).

Life span
In the sacred grove, 50 (26.18%) annual plants would go through their life cycle
in one growing season. There were 141 (73.82%) perennial plants that could
survive most unfavourable conditions and would stay alive for more than 2
years (Table 4).

Plant part(s) used for NTFPs and ethnomedicine

These groves support 48 timber-yielding plant species and a good number of

NTFPs (Non-Timber Forest Products), of which, 34 species bear edible parts, 5
species produce fibre, 40 species have fodder value, 7 species yield gum, 10
species produce the dye, 10 species have insecticidal properties, 162 species
have medicinal properties, 12 species yield oil, 11 species have ornamental
value, 20 species are tannin-yielding and 33 species have sacred value (Table 4).
The local people of the groves recognized the plant species by the various
vernacular names and suggested of the medicinal uses of these plants(s') part(s).
Of the various plant part(s) used for the treatment of ailments, the leaves were
being used maximum represented by 84.82%, followed by fruit (50.79%), stem
bark (42.41%), root (36.65%), stem (35.60%), whole plant (35.60%), seed
(26.18%), flower (12.04%), rhizome (7.85%), latex (7.33%), root bark (5.24%)
and tuber (2.09%) respectively (Table 4). Most of the ethnomedicinal plants
are common among the different sacred groves and the way of using the
medicinal plants is quite similar among the Santal communities of the sacred
groves with several taboos. All over the world tribal communities, maximum of
herbal medicine is prepared by using leaves (Prabhu et al. 2014; Yabesh, Prabhu,
and Vijayakumar 2014). The reason why the leaves were used most that they are
collected very easily than underground parts, flowers and fruits, etc., and in
a scientific point of view, leaves are active in photosynthesis and production of
metabolites (Ghorbani 2005; Giday, Asfaw, and Woldu 2009).
26 U. K. SEN AND R. K. BHAKAT

Figure 4. Diversity of different taxa.

Common taboos and beliefs associated with the groves

Taboos are the unwritten, orally transmitted socio-traditional roles that govern
human behaviour, the breach of which can bring illness to individuals or
a group. According to the villagers, all must follow these taboos. These include
the following:

(1) Tree felling and plant uprooting are strictly prohibited but occasional
clearing is performed during or before the observation of such rituals.
(2) Footwear shall be removed at the deity leading entry.
(3) Females are not permitted to enter the holy groves at any given time.
(4) Selection of part(s) of the plant or any whole plant is strictly forbidden. It
is forbidden to hunt or kill any kind of animal within the premises of the
sacred grove.
(5) This is even illegal to gather firewood or even dry firewood. The villagers
also claimed that non-observance of this prohibition contributed to
a child’s death by lightning in the sacred groves.
(6) In the sacred groves, farming is strictly prohibited, as it is a collective
property and a sacred place and abode of deities worshipped by them.
(7) The devotees stop eating onion, garlic, egg and meat a day before
worshipping.
(8) Everything consisted of leather is prohibited in the grove.
(9) Though in the sacred grove sometimes few animals are seen grazing;
however, no one from the village guides their animals to graze in the
 TIME AND MIND 27

sacred grove. Any disturbance to the sacred grove is believed to be

causing livestock farm crop failure and disease.
(10) No one from other villages is permitted to conduct their ritual in the
sacred grove as Jaher or Garam than is considered a common village
property and village deity abode.

Threats
Although several sacred groves have still been well-preserved, many have been
destroyed and other anthropogenic activities are now threatening them. In
many places, the conventional ‘social barrier’ established by local conservation
ethics has weakened (Bhagwat and Rutte 2006). Currently, sacred groves are
vulnerable and as a result of the ever-increasing human population has no
major auspice from rapid urbanization and resource overexploitation. The
risks vary from area to area and more specifically from field to grove. Key
challenges include the extinction of traditional values, rapid urbanization,
development, trade forestry, invasion, invasive weed incursion, fuel-wood enter­
tainment and economic growth (Jonathan 2008). Many countries and local
communities lost their licit ownership of sacred groves to the regime that was
used to eradicate the groves in some way (Bhagwat and Rutte 2006).
Changes in cultural and religious traditions have also influenced the defence
of sacred groves. It was postulated that sacred groves derived from societies
that gathered hunters, and thus from animistic credences. In most places in
India, traditional folk deities have been, and continue to be, replaced by Hindu
deities (Bhagwat and Rutte 2006).
Today, the conventional certification structures that were central to the idea
of sacred grove protection are considered mere superstitions. Now the beha­
viours are kenned to very few, more of the older generation. With the recent
emergence of modernisation, urbanization and the transmutation of people’s
desires, traditional values are slowly vanishing. Consequently, no fear leads to
the management of sacred groves in violating cultural norms and taboos.
Conflicts between the sacred grove managers led to the destruction of sacred
groves when policy decisions were taken against sacred grove practices to
support other minority parts of the village society. The poor, mourning society
was indulgent in rituals that ruined the grove (FAO 1990).

Suggestions and recommendations

(1) Fencing is very necessary for physical protection. Construction of com­

pound wall or barbed wire fencing should be done around sacred groves
to prevent anti-social activities by non-believers.
(2) Planting with endemic species in the degraded parts of the groves.
Effective environmental awareness classes should be held for local
28 U. K. SEN AND R. K. BHAKAT

people. Problems related to the ownership of land should be solved by

the government immediately.
(3) The encroachment of sacred grove land by neighbouring private parties
must be prevented.
(4) The water reservoir is to be used to facilitate water availability for planting
activities and control of soil erosion.
(5) Prevention of biomass and soil removal from the sacred groves is
essential.
(6) The positions of roads and electric supplies that passes through groves
should be shifted.
(7) Local people, sacred grove committees, etc., should work together for
effective management.
(8) The destruction of plants as a result of development activities should be
prevented, and exotic weeds removed.
(9) The government should provide financial support for the protection of
the grove. The appropriate measure should be taken to raise awareness
amongst students to identify the importance of a sacred grove.

Conclusion
Sacred groves have certain traditional socio-cultural purposes. Social gatherings
are held in the grove during worshipping and associated rituals. All sacred
groves are endangered in various ways. They are under the control of the village
commission. Management authorities have sole responsibility for performing
worships and rituals. They miss the surrounding vegetation. Due to modern
education, the loss of religious values associated with the sacred groves, the
deterioration of the common family, people are forgetting their heritage and
their faith. They are also facing the challenges of increasing population and
developmental activities. Biodiversity restoration and habitat preservation have
paramount importance for the survival of the human race itself. In that endea­
vour, sacred groves play a pivotal role. But, if they are allowed to be degraded or
destroyed, those benefits may soon be lost. Therefore, protection of the sacred
grove must take precedence over other less important objectives. Drawing up
specific strategies which are to be adopted for their effective conservation is too
difficult. However, some of the common approaches should be implemented to
suit the requirements of sacred grove management with necessary
modifications.
The tribal people in India today still hold the sacred groves with the knowl­
edge of nature. It should be noted that ethnic tribals like the Santals are
focusing on the origins of traditional beliefs and modernity challenge. Sacred
grove bounded belief systems are unique semantic means for societies to
prevent intra-group conflicts. Ultimately, the present research provides an
example of socio-cultural influences of sacred groves with religious practices.
 TIME AND MIND 29

The study explores the traditional beliefs that protect the common property
land and also explores the opposite view of the sacred grove that also shields
them from evil spirits and gave them happiness with a blessing.

Acknowledgments
Special thanks to all informants who generously shared their knowledge about rituals and
traditional uses of plants. We are grateful for the proper field identification of plant species by
Dr G. G. Maity, ex-Professor of Kalyani University and S. Ghosh, Teacher of Digri Sanatorium
High School, for manuscript preparation.

Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors
Uday Kumar Sen is an ethnobotanist who was awarded a Doctoral degree by The Botany and
Forestry Department, Vidyasagar University, West Bengal, India. Currently, he is continuing his
research work at the same University.
Ram Kumar Bhakat, an ethnobotanist, is the Assistant Professor of The Department of Botany
and Forestry, Vidyasagar University, West Bengal, India.

ORCID
Uday Kumar Sen http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1901-3069
Ram Kumar Bhakat http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5248-9229

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