Chikigarh Sacred Grove

See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.
net/publication/280696743
Existing status of Chilkigarh Sacred Grove in Midnapore, West Bengal
Article · January 2015
CITATIONS READS
0 324
1 author:
Saumyasree Pathak
Botanical Survey of India
12 PUBLICATIONS 1 CITATION
SEE PROFILE
Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:
FLORA OF INDIA View project
All content following this page was uploaded by Saumyasree Pathak on 05 August 2015.
The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

Existing status of Chilkigarh Sacred Grove in Midnapore, West Bengal
S. Kar 1, S. Pathak 2* and P. Singh 3
Right through the history of Protected Areas the agricultural fields and spice gardens (Induchoodan,
common thread is the focus on providing for life now 1996). In North Eastern India, the sacred groves are
and into the future (Lopoukhine, 2008). Since found in Assam, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh,
ancient to the recent epoch conservation of nature Manipur and Sikkim (Dash, 2005). In West Bengal
harbouring the natural resources has played a vital the sacred groves are typically found in the south
phase in the lives of various aboriginal communities western districts, where the tribal population is major
dispersed all over the world. Indigenous knowledge and industrial expansion has not yet expanded
of local plants, animals, their habitat preferences, adequately to obliterate indigenous cultural traditions
distribution, life histories and demographic features, (Deb and Malhotra, 2007). Over 670 sacred grooves
is socially transmitted from one individual to another are reported from Bankura, Birbhum, Midnapur,
within and across generations (Gadgil et al. 1998). Purulia and Jalpaiguri districts (Deb et al., 1997),
Adoration of nature and its worship has been a key which are generally less than an acre and are not
force in formatting human viewpoint towards worn for harvest of any biomass. Bamboo groves are
environmental and ecological conservation. mostly found in Jalpaiguri and Coochbihar districts.
Traditional maintenance ethics of these people
steadfastly or circuitously protected forest patches by The present study deals with the Chilkigarh sacred
dedicating them to local deities or connecting the grove (latitude 22°15' – 22°0' N and longitude 86°45'
land part to some local histories. Consequently, such – 87°0' E) popularly known as Chilkigarh (named
forest areas form the sacred groves. These are after its adjacent village on the western side), is
relatively small to large portions of customarily and situated in the Jamboni police station, 12 km from
conventionally secluded, nearly virgin forests Jhargram of West Midnapore district in West Bengal.
managed by the local people’s participation and It occupies 58 acres and composed of relict forest
conserved by mans spiritual beliefs, faith and patch in its near-climax stage along the east
habitual rituals that jog through several generations catchment zone of the Dulung river. The landmass is
(Malhotra, et al., 2001). These are imperative considered sacred as it harbours the historically
repositories of unscathed floral and faunal diversity eminent temple of Kanak Durga (the golden deity)
conserved by a sustainable approach. Indigenous and the Raj Palace. The whole area is maintained
cultural practices and folk beliefs that have distinct and managed by the temple trust. This sacred forest
conservation consequences have been tagged as is known to exist long before the Nawab (King)
ethnoforestry (Pandey, 1998). period of Bengal and is said that the Bargees (the
raiders) used to take refuge inside the dense forest
Indian sacred groves have pre-vedic origin which are during the day-time, thus concealing themselves in
associated with indigenous or tribal communities who ambush to strike after nightfall. According to
mostly believe in divinity of nature and natural historical evidences during the days of yore, the
resources, therefore distinctly different from icon forest belonged to the royal family of Dhalbhum
oriented main stream religions. Grove biodiversity is estate of the Junglemahal province. The king kept
often highlighted because of the prevalence of the forest intact for defense purpose. The thick
endemic and rare threatened members in grove biota green cover acted as a shield against enemy invasion
(Sukumaran and Raj, 2007). According to Gadgil et to the Chilkigarh village-based palace. It is reported
al., (1998) the scientific study of sacred groves and that there is no taboo whatsoever associated with the
sacred trees of India was initiated by Gadgil and sacred grove or its flora, although the forest harbours
Vartak starting from 1975 up to 1981; later Gadgil a large number of socio-religious species, in jagged
himself pioneered the view that sacred groves and contrast with the caste-based other sacred groves of
sacred trees belong to a variety of cultural practices Kora and Santal tribes of the same village. In view of
which helped Indian society to maintain an the fact that the sacred grove is maintained by the
ecologically steady state with wild living resources. majority Hindu society, social order and doctrine do
In India, there are about 13,720 sacred groves. The not play any part. During the annual Durga Puja
maximum numbers of sacred groves are enumerated Festival, people from every hue throng the sacred
from Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, premises, offering pujas and seeking blessings of the
Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. It is presiding deity. People’s perception about the grove
worth mentioning that the Kodavas of Karnataka is that it helps people socialize and fostering
maintained over 1000 sacred groves in Kodagu alone
(Bhaskar et al. 2000; Malhotra et al. 2001). In 1,2,3
Botanical Survey of India, CGO- Complex, Salt lake
Karnataka and Kerala, groves are supposed to City, Kolkata, West Bengal, India
provide nutrient rich water to the adjacent *
spathak.bsi@gmail.com (corresponding author)
ZOO’s PRINT, Volume XXX, Number 4 April 2015 15

solidarity among them. It is an example of local flora and fauna including the bionetwork performance
ownership and autonomy. The sacred grove serves as has been completely vanished. Again, with the loss
a rallying point when local people need community of maintenance of the grove, the condition becomes
help and solidarity (Bhakat et al., 2007). vulnerable and susceptible due to various factors that
affects regeneration, nutrient cycling and moisture
Floristic surveys of this region done by (Kamilya & preservation, infringement for some other purposes.
Paria, 1994) revealed a total of 388 species of
angiosperms covering 295 genera belonging to 89 Conclusion
families. Assemblage of deciduous, semideciduous Groves are perchance the initial democratic approach
and evergreen species makes the vegetation a by the rustic people to defend the nature from over
diverse type with several co-dominant species. The exploitation. The tradition again revoked interest
assortment of the vegetation as well as flora of the today though with inclusively different perspectives.
grove is enriched by a number of climbers, woody The present need is to make people aware
climbers, parasites, epiphytes, ground orchids and concerning its importance, involve people in its
some rare cryptogams like Helminthostachys, conservation and management and exploring its
Ophioglossum and Selaginella. Furthermore, the potential in livelihood improvement.
grove houses 105 species of medicinal plants which
account nearly 36% of the total 288 medicinal plants References
of the undivided Midnapore district. The forest Bhakat, R.K. (2007). People’s Initiative Revives a
seems to be the last shelter of once plentiful but Sacred Grove, www.ecoinsee.org.
currently vanishing medicinal species like Crataeva
nurvala, Gymnema sylvestre, Holarrhena Bhaskar, V., D. Nandini, H.B. Shivaprakash and
antidysenterica, Rauvolfia serpentina, R. tetraphylla, M. Anjappa (2000). Tree Diversity and
Strychnos nux-vomica and Tylophora asthmatica. Regeneration Status in Devarakadu Sacred Groves of
Kodagu District, Karnataka. My Forest, 36(2): 105 –
Current Threats 120.
Presently, the grove is under assorted stresses which
are primarily human induced. These include Dash, S.S. (2005). Kavi Sacred Grove of North
fragmentation, reduction in area, degradation, alien Sikkim. Current Science, 89(3):427 – 428.
species invasion, over grazing, extraction of resource.
Moreover, changes in communal structure, resource Deb, D. and K.C. Malhotra (1970).
administration also affect simultaneously. Interface between biodiversity and tribal cultural
heritage: a preliminary study, Journal of Human
Fragmentation is one of the chief factors causing Ecology, 8:157 – 163.
isolation of the grove areas. Furthermore, it stalked
from population pressure, biomass and agricultural Deb, D. (2007). Sacred Grove of West Bengal: A
requirement. Over exposure of the interior of the Model of Community Forest Management, 1 – 45,
grove resulted in the utilization of the resources http://www.scribd.com/doc/6281522/Sacred-
hidden in the core areas. Dry deciduous and light Groves-of-West-Bengal.
loving members invade different areas, thus changing
the floral composition along with the microclimate to Gadgil, M., B. Saraswati, R.S. Negi and M.D.S.
a great extent. These modified facilitate Chandran (1998). Lifestyle and Ecology eds
establishment of the invasive species within the Baidyanath Saraswati. New Delhi.
grove area and leaving the endemic members on the
threshold of extermination. Area shrinkage and Induchoodan, N.C. (1996). Ecological Studies on
transformation in microclimate affect the faunal the Sacred Groves of Kerala. (Ph.D. Thesis) Salim Ali
members, as large to medium sized animals cannot Centre of Ecology and Environmental Sciences,
stay in a small fragment, thus smaller ones which can Pondicherry University.
accommodate face shortage of food, resources,
shelter, which eventually putting constraints on the Kamilya, P. and N. Paria, (1994). Chilkigarh
customary cycle of existence. Modification in the (Midnapore) – a vegetational pocket. Journal of
social constitution plays a vital function in plodding National Botanical Society, 48:41 – 68.
declination of grove system. These nature centric
worship places in many areas have already been Lopoukhine, N. (2008). Secretariat of the
replaced by temples or by solid structures in the Convention on Biological Diversity. Protected Areas in
name of modernization. Once the deity has been Today’s World: Their Values and Benefits for the
shifted to the temple, the adjacent places become Welfare of the Planet. Technical Series no. 36: 1 –3.
irrelevant to the people, hence instantly occupied for
other usage. Consequently, the restricted shelter for

Malhotra, K.C., Y. Gokhale and K. Das (2001a). Pandey, D.N. (1998). Communities, Knowledge and
Sacred Groves of India: An annotated bibliography. Biodiversity: Theoretical Orientation of Ethnoforestry.
New Delhi. Bhopal.
Malhotra, K.C., Y. Ghokhale, S. Chatterjee and S. Sukumaran, S. and A.D.S. Raj (2007). Rare,
Srivastava (2001b). Cultural and Ecological Endemic, Threatened (RET) Trees and Lianas In The
Dimensions of Sacred Groves in India, INSA, New Sacred Groves of Kanyakumari District. Indian
Delhi. Forester 133: 1254 – 1266.
Zoological Society of London Symposium on Health and

disease in translocated wild animals on 14 and 15 May
2015
Organised by Tony Sainsbury (ZSL), Katherine Walsh (Natural

England), Ian Carter (Natural England), John Ewen (ZSL) and Matt
Hartley (RSPB).
Celebrating 25 years of the Zoological Society of London/Natural England

Partnership in health surveillance for the Species Recovery Programme
Over the last 50 years, an increasing number of wild animal translocations have been
undertaken for conservation purposes. Wild animal translocations alter host-parasite
encounters in the destination environment because each translocated animal
represents a biological package of the host and their parasites. Research and
observational studies show that changes in host-parasite relations affect the risk of
epidemic disease outbreaks in natural ecosystems. Stressors acting on wild animals
during transport, or during captive rearing, influence the pathogenicity of commensal
parasites through immune-suppression. In addition, non-infectious hazards, such as
toxins, have detrimental effects on translocated populations post release. Difficulties
in predicting the risks from disease stem from our poor understanding of the identity,
number, distribution and pathogenicity of parasites, and inadequate knowledge of the
degree of exposure to non-infectious hazards. Making decisions about disease risk
management where there is poor knowledge often requires risk evaluation by experts
to help inform decision makers in a transparent and defendable way.
This two-day symposium will review the impact of disease on species restoration
through translocation, and consider lessons learned to guide effective planning and
implementation of future translocation projects. Health management of conservation
interventions will be discussed, including methods of disease-risk analysis, evaluation
of disease management alternatives, use of molecular tools to unravel disease risks,
mitigation of diseases and methods for post-release health monitoring.
Booking and enquiries:

Please contact:
Jennifer Howes
ZSL Scientific Events
Zoological Society of London,
Regent’s Park (Outer Circle)
London NW1 4RY, UK.
E: jennifer.howes@zsl.org; T: +44 (0)20 7449 6227;
F: +44 (0)20 7449 6411
http://www.zsl.org/science/whats-on
View publication stats

Chikigarh Sacred Grove

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Chikigarh Sacred Grove

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Chikigarh Sacred Grove

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

Existing status of Chilkigarh Sacred Grove in Midnapore, West Bengal

Article · January 2015

FLORA OF INDIA View project

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

ZOO’s PRINT, Volume XXX, Number 4 April 2015 15

ZOO’s PRINT, Volume XXX, Number 4 April 2015 16

Zoological Society of London Symposium on Health and

Organised by Tony Sainsbury (ZSL), Katherine Walsh (Natural

Celebrating 25 years of the Zoological Society of London/Natural England

Booking and enquiries:

ZOO’s PRINT, Volume XXX, Number 4 April 2015 17

View publication stats

You might also like