Conservation and Cultural Dimensions of Sacred Groves in Paschim Medinipur District, West Bengal, India

Maintenance of Sacred groves are one of the unique traditional in-situ way of nature conservation in India by active people's participation. These are small patches of near virgin forests protected by ethnic communities on religious ground in the name of different deities. Named differently in different parts of India, these groves are mainly concentrated in backward classes areas and are managed by local communities for different purposes. Irrespective of their sizes and management, all groves are store houses of gene pool of many rare and ethno-medicinal plants, lofty trees which are not readily found elsewhere outside the groves. Present study carried out in 25 sacred groves of Paschim Medinipur District of West Bengal, India during the year 2007-09. 139 plant species are recorded from those groves including 114 Dicots and 25 Monocots belonging to the 90 and 21 genera under 43 and 8 families respectively. Among them trees are 40, shrubs 15, herbs 73, climber 9 and lianes 2. Out of 139 species, 93 have ethno medicinal value which represent almost 1/3rd of the total medicinal plants found in Paschim Medinipur DistrictFamily wise poaceae among Monocot individually contain maximum number (12) of species. Among Dicot family, Euphorbiaceae contain maximum number (10) of species. Dominant trees observed of are Shorea robusta, Terminalia tomentosa, Madhuca indica, Diospyros melanoxylon, Azadirachta indica, Haldinia cordifolia etc. The major ethnic communities protecting the groves are Santal, Mahato, Sing, Sardar, Mahali etc. Festival celebrated by local communities associated with SG is Sarul, Ashari, Maghi, Hul, Shikar utsav, jathal, Viyaja Dashami, and Pous Sankranti. Main deities worshipped are Marangburu, Gram thakur, Bhairab baba, Jaherburi, etc.