The ‘Sacred Grove festival’ commenced today at Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya which will continue till tommorrow. The chief guest of the inaugural function was Dr Ram Prasad (Former Principle Chief Conservator of Forests and former VC, Barkatullah University).
Prof. KC Malhotra (Senior Anthropologist) explained the importance of sacred groves in our society since ancient times and told the history of sacred groves in Manav Sangrahalaya. In the inaugural session of ‘Sacred Groves Festival’ a book ‘Conservation Bio-diversity and sustainable development in Kondhpungar village’ published by Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya has been launched. The book has been written jointly by Prof. KC Malhotra and Shri Singur Hontal. Shri Arun Kiro, Assistant Curator, IGRMS proposed vote of thanks. Shri Sudhir Shrivastava (Officer in-charge Horticulture Section, IGRMS) coordinated programme. Shri Himanshu Mishra (Senior Scientist, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai) explained the bio-diversity of sacred groves and  
This was followed by visit and reutilization to Sacred Groves in the Sangrahalaya viz Kauv (Kerala), Kovikadu (Tamilnadu), Oran (Rajasthan) and Devrai (Maharashtra).
Kauv, sacred groves are present in numerous in the length and breadth of Kerala. These sacred Groves perform a unique role of bio-diversity management system in Kerala. There are many myths, legends and faiths, associated with the sacred groves. The members of local Malayali community performed ritualistic activities at Kauv in Sangrahalaya campus under leadership of Mr. M.V. Nair.
Nature worship is an ancient Indian tradition and sacred groves of Tamilnadu represent one. Many groves have temples within them. The people from local Tamil community carried out sacred groves ritualistic ceremony followed by distribution of prasada (Curd rice, Payasam and Sweet-rice).
Every village of Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg districts of Maharashtra have at-least one sacred grove in the village. The ‘Devrai’ sacred groves are maintained by local community people. They consider the sacred grove land as holy and any harm to the groves is considered a sin. People from above said districts came to IGRMS and carried out ritualistic activities and distributed prasada.
Orans are sacred forests of Rajasthan, attached to Santhris (temples) of the Bishnoi community. In Orans, cutting any tree or hunting wild animals is strictly prohibited, as per Bishnoi Principles. In the leadership of Dr Aman, a team of Bishnoi community people were at IGRMS and carried our ritualistic activities related to sacred grove of Rajasthan present in Sangrahalaya.  

Date: April 7, 2015