ABSTRACT

A sacred grove is a traditional multipurpose religious common shared by one or more villages and is managed by the communities and priests. For many generations they have been guarded according to strict but non-written regulations. India has well over 13,000 documented sacred groves. These sacred sites have provided an opportunity to maintain flora and fauna and habitats in near natural conditions. Since time immemorial the deities and the vegetation had equal importance and therefore many rare and endangered species have been protected in sacred groves, even though they have disappeared elsewhere. Sacred landscapes and sacred sites are facing enormous challenges in today's globalizing era. The synergies between people and nature have been disturbed due to processes of infrastructure development and market mechanisms leading to urbanization. It is a challenge for conservation researchers, thinkers, policy-makers and practitioners to help protect these sites for posterity, to protect the species therein and to relate local communities to them through the revival of cultural norms. The spiritual and cultural basis of sacred groves can be used for developing and implementing the long term biodiversity conservation programme for the Western Ghats region of India.