15.5.4. Threats to the Sacred Groves

♤ The threats vary from one region to the other and even from one grove to the other. But the common threats identified are:

♤ Disappearance of the traditional belief systems, which were fundamental to the concept of sacred groves. These systems and their rituals are now considered mere superstition.

♤ Sacred groves in many parts of our country have been destroyed due to rapid urbanization and developmental interventions such as roads, railways tracks, dams including commercial forestry. Encroachment has led to the shrinkage of some of the largest groves in the country.

♤ Many groves are suffering due to ‘Sanskritisation’ or the transformation of the primitive forms of nature worship into formal temple worship.

♤ Invasion by exotic weeds such as Eupatorium odoratum, Lantana camara and Prosopis juliflora is a serious threat to some groves.

♤ Pressures due to increasing livestock and fuelwood collection.