BHOPAL, INDIA, February 7, 2015 (Daily Pioneer): Sacred Groves are patches of natural or near-natural vegetation, dedicated by local communities to their ancestral spirits or deities. Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya or The National Museum of Humankind is located here on 200 acres of land and is intended to “depict the story of humankind in time and space.” It contains, for example, exhibits of tribal habitat, coastal village, himalayan village, etc. Its website, http://igrms.com/vs.html, seems neglected with significant sections not functioning.
This current project’s objective is to bring the tradition of Sacred Groves into the cities. Sacred Groves are planted and protected by local communities and tribes usually through customary taboos and sanction with ancestral and ecological implications.
The Museum studied and documented the traditions and ritual for sacred groves in various communities and developed sacred groves with the help of the related communities and tribes. The installed sacred groves in Manav Sangrahalaya are: (Kava) Kerala, (Maw-Bukhar) Meghalaya, (Umanglai) Manipur, (Oran) Rajasthan, (Rajbanshi) West Bengal, (Sarna) Chhattisgarh, (Kovil Kadu) Tamil Nadu, (Devarai) Maharashtra etc.
In course of time, the industrialisation and globalisation affected biodiversity and natural resources to great extent. In a view of the adverse effects of biodiversity degradation, ecologist, environmentalists etc has made conservation of biodiversity as on issue of global significance. Earlier, there were many traditional conservation practices of indigenous communities which contributed to the conservation and protection of biodiversity — such practices were named as sacred groves.
The program was inaugurated by Dr Ram Prasad (former Principle Chief Conservator of Forests and former VC, Barkatullah University) at lake side of IGRMS at 11.00 am. The local residents of various communities carried out various ritualistic activities at the sacred groves.