CHAPTER V

CASE STUDIES OF SACRED GROVES IN VILLAGES

In this chapt~r the sacred groves as studied in two of the dis-

tricts- rune and Kolhapur will be presented. Firstly the cases in each

the talukas Ambegaon and Junnar in ILJ i 11 be

~;·tatl·;>d " Th f?r1

studied in one village each where detailed documentation was don~ will

be provided. Apart from these the groves of the adjDining villc:U)f?S

where different complexities were observed will too be presented. It

tnay be stated that while Malin is the village in Ambegaon taluka which

was chosen is in more interior than village Nimgiri .in JunnBr tnluka

detailed study of the groves were done is slightly better con-

nected with the outside world. In the case of Kolhapur similarly while

Has.n e village was selected for detailed documentation of the sacred

groves in Radhanagri taluka, Anushkura village was chosen for the same

purposE.' in Sahuvadi taluka. Anushkura is comparatively more remote

between the two. Apart from these some of the groves in the adjoining

villages showing certain complexities too have been documented here.

BEsides these certain groyes along the trade leadir'g from

Kolhapur district to Sindhdurg and Ratnagiri districts too have been

featured. Due to the absence of such fUnctional trade routes from Pune

district to the Konkans (in the areas predominated by

~:::o 1 i. !:; ) groves could not be found in the adjDining

districts of Pune in the Konkans - Thane and Raigad districts.

129

CASES IN PUNE DISTRICT:

5.1.1. Ambegaen Taluka: Malin Village

IntrodLtction:

Malin 1S a medium sized village located in Ambegaon t:~"~luka 01'

Pune district. It is approachable by road from Ghodegaon, the ta.luka

heEd quarter. The village is situated in a hilly rEgion at an altitude

of about 2000 feet. The village has one gaothan (main settlement) and

seven hamlets within a radius of about 4 kms, namely, Chinc:hevadi,

JhanjrGvadi, Potevadi, Wundevadi, Pasarvadi, Lembhevadi and Koknevadi.

Each of the hamlets is more or less clan specific. The village

is basically along Bubra stream which meets the Shima river a

layout:

little

Qhead. While four of the hamlets are located on the slopes and on the

top of th~ mountains on either side of the Bubra stream, three of the

l",<~rnlpt~s and the gaothan are situated in the valley close to thE.'

c".t T'earn. Th e r(~ are about 120 households in the village. All t~ >~ C \.?p t

Harijan families belong to the Mahadeo Keli tribe.

Administratively, Malin falls under the jurisdiction of Adeode

f"o,,,.t n·f-fice and Dimba Police Station. It is part of the Group

Panchayat which also comprises of the adjoining village called Ambre.

The village has borders with Amba village to the north-west, villagef:.':.

Arnbre O1nd Konve to the west, Adeode to the south, Borghar on the

south-east ~nd Sukalbere village to the east.

1"181 in is considered to be one of the advanced villages of the

O1rea which h25 produced several educated persons and many of them are

now occupying distinguished positions in the governinent atiminis-tra-

ticn. ·rhOU~lh the houses in the village are of semi-pucca type with

brick walls~ tiled roofs and mud flooring, they are all

HDwever~ the village does not have tap water facility.

to, therefore collect water from the wells Dr from the

The people have

s,t re am" Du l"' i ny

:,.urnlner~ both thf~ spT'ing and the ('Jells get dT'ied 1.lp and people have to

long distances in search of water. The village roads are als,C) of

kuchcha type and h~avy vehicles cannot reach there during monsoon. The

two tiny grocery shops. It has a parlchayat office.

a T"'e two primary schools and a middle school run by ·th (.? Z ill a

(ZP). A high school too has come up about three

it is being run exclusively by the village through local c:ollec-

tions:~" A student's hostel is also being run by the village. The vil-

lage has five registered voluntary organizations namely, Gram Unnati

Sikshan Prasarak MandaI, Kalamjadevi Dudh Utpadak Sahakari Sansth;.l~

Visweswar Tarun MandaI and Anjani Mata Mahila MandaI. Apart from these

are two community halls in the village one is meant only for·

the Pote clan members and the other is for the entire village.

The Mahadpo Kelis have several clans or barbude as they

locally known. But at Malin there are only eleven of them namely

Lembhe~ Jhanjre, Pote~ Wunde, Kokne, Dangat, Dhadwad, ehimate, Hirnak,

Balc:him and Dams,e. The Lembhe, Jhanjre and Pote along \'Jith the

kush) HarijBn family are believed to have first settled in the village

and are presently numerically most preponderant. They also dominate in

the decision making process of the village. The seven Harijan i:amily

who are related to each other live at the gaothan itself.

Sacred Groves In The Village:

1. Masutia: Burial Sacred Groves: There are several sacred groves

at Malin. Different sacred groves are dedicated to different deities.

But the most numerous among all are the groves IDcated at the burial

~~o..~ q~ t)'J"

. . ~.$~" ~oJ..,' I

and are called 'Masutia ch8 van', In fact each of thE! clans

have their own separate masutia. The hamlets being almost clan specif-

ic, each clan has a separate masutia. Hence each hamlet has masL!tia

b (? Ion 9 i 1"1 g to the numerically dominant clan. The situation in the

village is like that even if a clan member of a particular clan dies

at a hamlet without the clan masutia, he or she is buried/cremated In

the masutia of her/his own clan even should it bE! located at another

hamlet. The Harijans too have their own masutia. The masutias are not

very large - ranging from .1 to .5 acres in size. All thE! masutias of

to

the HBrijans. This particular grove is extremely small and comprises

only 5-6 trees and a 'champa' flower tree. The undergrowth is

rat h e 1~ m iss i n g in the grove. In the masutias belonging

Kalis on the other hand are thick with vegetation - particularly the

und e r(l rotL,lth

conserving

and it is very difficult to enter into them. Hules of

the masutia are rather strict. No tree is allowed to be

felled or lopped except for the dried wood which is used for cremating

th e C:OJ~pse. Undershrubs may also be removed for burying the dead,

particularly during the monsoon when it rains heavily. t:ir'az ing of

cattle is strictly prohibited inside the masutias. Women after attain­

ing puberty too are not permitted. There is of course no definite rule

or SOCIal sanction against the breach of norms as people obS2rve the

l"'E'::;t:rBir-d:s out of f f.'! ar' O';ncJ vc->npratiorL Sc~bJ.er'<lrn L£~mbhc~ my pr'incipal

r (? ~:;;p on cl ~,! I"i t stated that there has been no serious infringement in the

The masutias are considered to be the abode of dead ancLstors and

each of the clans trace links to their own lands through th ~?se . The

cultivated lands of the people are usually close to t: h e i r' mas L.l t i. as.

.132

There i c .. .~ ~ however, one instance in the village where the Pote clan

members have shifted their masutia ~ bit further when they themselves

started living at the very place of their old masutia due to rapid

increase In family numbers. Nevertheless, except for the undergrowth

they did not remove the trees of the old masutia after shifting ther0.

2. Varsubai Sacred grove: Varsubai is the tutelary deity of Malin

village. The deity is placed inside a temple along with a sacred grove

which falls on the main village entrance close to the gaothan. I was

informed that earlier there was no temple of the deity and it was

placed under a simple leanto. The temple was built to it's present

size only about thirty years back. The temple has 14 acres of recorded

land of which only 3 acres are included in the temple-sacred grove.

The Varsubai sacred grove has only about twenty big trees surrounding

the temple and the rest all is covered with undergrol~th - herbs and

shrubs. The undergrowth is predominated by 'tan-tani' or rodhendron

and 'karbanda' - wild berries. Bamboo is the other dominant veget3tion

of the grove. The strictures against felling of trees though are

strict, lopping and pruning of tan-tani for preparing 'rab' or manure

is permitted for all except the Jhanjres since they are the priests

and custodians of the temple and it's property. There is no bar

against grazing the cattle either. It is believed that the deity

punishes anyone who dares violating the strictures. In fact about

fifteen ye8rs back when a man named Kajal Lembhe tried to fell a tree

from the grove, he got seriously injured by falling down from the

br2nches - apparently due to the wrath of the deity.

Varsubai is daily worshipped by the priests- the Jhanjre clan

members who come on turns and clean the temple in the morning and pays

133

obpi5",c;nce to the deity by burning incense sticks and by offering

'flowers. On every Tuesday people from the village and outside assemble

th," tempIp. and ask fOf' boons thJ~ol.l.gh 'kaul' OT' cjivlllation" Pf.'OP 1 e

have ";tr~ollg faith ill this system and offer coconuts or do anything the

promise while asking for boons. A case was related to me for convinc­

ing the powers of the deity. A villager called Dagru who was suffering

from paralysis for a long time got cured of it after he prayed to the

deity and fulfilled the VOl[.! takt?n by hi/no It i~; impDI~tant; to note that

VaT'subai deity of Malin village is a sister of the Varsubai

tutelary deity of the adjoining village Sukalbede. A wooden pole or

'kathi' as locally called and considered to be a replica of the Varsu­

bai deity of Malin is taken from the village to ~~ukalbede temple in a

procession dur'ing 'Val" - a particular ritual held e:mnually. Dther

sister' \/ar'subai deities of different neighbouring villages too are

tak~:n to Sukalbede at the time of Val'. This ritual indicates on the

one hand a symbolical subjl.lgation of SDme o'f the villa(~~?s to ceT'to.in

dominant Mahadeo Koli villages, on the other it also reflects a basis

0'( forming social and political ties between neighbouring

which might be effective in defending the rights of the Mahadeo Kolis

vis the outside world or even within the world of th f2 tribe.

perhaps this system did not permit overbear'in!,) dominance cd'

p<.:u~ticular villages as all the villages in the area are part

constellation centering around one deity or the other

The sacred grove 01 Varsubai at Malin also has other deities like

two ghosts or spirits who are regarded as bodyguards of

V2rsubai - these are placed outside the temple. There is also a photo-

graph of Lord Shiva inside the temple. Apart from these,

another deity called Kuber who is considered to be the brother of a

1. ::::4

legendary mythical Harijan hero of the village. Kuber is considered to

be a deity which 10tches wealth to the village.

There is a lot of controversy regarding the Varsubai sacred grove

and the 11 acre cultivable land or 'deo handa', Some of the villagers

led by the Pote clan members contested the right of the Jh an j l~es to

cultlvate the land or claim ownership of this land. The matter was

moved to the court and it is reported that the court in 1984 gave a

in favour of the Potes. But in spite of the ruling, the

could ensure hardly any change since the Jhanjres continued as custo-

di~ns of the temple and the 'deo handa', This more or less vindic:atps

the earlier position of the Potes~ but of course not as owners as tJley

to pose previously. By the virtue of this th E'Y r: on t> i nued to

cultivate the 'deo handa' to meet the needs of up keep of the ti·?mpl~;, •

They also continue to Clf'gani::::e a colJ.ectivf;! feast arll"lualJ.y for

~?ntir'(? village from their own expense. Being a part of the ciOIOini:Hlt

section of the village~ the Jhanjres thus continue to maintain

hold over the temple, it's offerings and the cultivable 1 ;:md.

thE'ir

Th('!y

in stalling a later move of the Potes tr.J bring the

temple under a trust.

About two years back the Soil Conservation Department

the village to pl~ovicle some cOlolnullity land IA)here it cDuld EponsDT' sCJUte

p I an t: a t i Drl of SO/Ti~? tr·ee!..::; • Hav i n~) -./ f.-ry littlp community land

the villagers thought of taking up the plantation through one of their

youth clubs Visweshwar Tarun MandaI, within the precincts of

Varsubai sacred grove. For this they even thought of removing the wild

and shrubs and planting flower and fruit trees. But thp E'ntire

programme was not very much to the liking of many of the villafjp.

But they could not directly oppose this and on their in~3 i st-·

13~5

a permISSIon was sought from the deity. However, it is r!:::·ported

that th (2 deity refused to state anything directly and it the

vi]. J. O1g e ,"S;, to seek permission of the Varsubai deity of Sukalbede vi 1-

lage (On~ man called Ramchandra Harku Jhanjre, who rGgularly gets into

t.rii>nc(-) Dr possessed by Varsubai deity, is stated to have passed the

of the deity). The villagers felt quite discouraged by th i~:;

and on the plea that it is quite time taking to go to Sukalbede temple

\'Jhich is quite far and at a very high altitude they have not gone

th£·!re Ol:,~ yet.

The VarsubBi deity is not only worshipped ev~ry Tuesday but is

also propitiated collectively by the village once a year (in December)

and ~ 'yatra' - fair, is organized within the sacred grove. The yatra

1S held for two days when almost all the migrant workers staying in

Bombay or Pune return home. Other friends and relatives from the far

and near villages too assemble at Malin. In order to meet the expenses

are collected from all the households and prof~ssional

rural theater groups are invited to render day and night long pertor-

During the yatra the herbs and shrubs of the sacred grove

are made to rest under the the

trees.The yatra is marked by a very important ritual invoJ. 'v'f.:S

carrying out the replica of Kalsubai deity located

s~cred grove near Koknevadi, on a palinquin - 'Palki', Ltp to the

temple. The palki is carried out on the <",;hou 1 d~? r!s of the

peopl~ b~lon9ing only from the Dangat, Balchim and Damse clan!::>. The

p~ople ~re not aware why only they are made to carry the same.

Apart from the yatras, two community feasts are also organized at

the Varsubai sacred grove. Both these feasts are connected with the

agricultural cycle. The feast called 'agor seat' marks the pre-sowing

is held just before the monsoon. Th£~ otl1er cE':remony

, d:i I'Ja.l sa.st' is organized after the crops are h a l' v est e d in

80th those ceremonies are mainly attended by the people of

the gaothan who have their agricultural lands close to Varsubai grove.

During the. agor sa at while the villagers collectively sacrifice a

{]oa"C '.' ~ sheep is sacrificed at the time of diwal saat. Many of the

villagers similarly celebrate the saats together

bours cultivating the fields close to each other. Not surprisingly

different hamlets celebrate the saats separately in small groups. The

people of Lembhevadi which is located about 3 kms away from the 980-

than for instance hold their saats at the Vaghdeo sacred grove.

, w. Munir Sacred grove: The Munir sacred grove is encountered just

":;5,, OIH! t"d::",r;; entry to the approach road of th(~ gaothan from th[~ main

road leading to Asane. The grove of Munir 15 in a depleted condition.

The land of this grove is recorded in the name of B Harijan family of

and it sold off almost all the trees there a few years back

receiving some money from the Soil Conservation D(· .. p a rtmen t to

take up plantation work. It is said that more than 200 mango and

cashew saplings were planted. But nothing survives today barring a

CDUp 1 f? of tht?rn.

is believed to have been a 'vir' - a hero belonging the

1'1 ah a T~ Harijan family. He i~ said to have carried out depredations

in far off places - evan at SUrat in Gujarat state. As the story goes,

Munir had stolen a Brahmin girl from Gujarat. But he was chased by the

relatives of the girl and was killed at a village called PatkBr,

distance away from Malin. On learning this the girl galloped back on a

hor<:::,e and committed 'sati' by throwing herself into the pyre of hE) r

1,"7 . ,-I J

lover~ just by the side of the Bubra stream within the jurisdiction of

Ambre village? (on the opposite bank of Munir sacred grove). The spot

of 'sati' is commemorated by the people regularly when they visit the

tutelary deity of Ambre village within the same sacred grove.

grove is better known as 'Satichi rahi'- sacred grove of Sati.

This

MI.U1 i I~ is ,'!c.JT'shipped by the people at the site o'f his commemora-

ticn by the people of all castes and creed coming from far and ne ar

',,/11 l·:O;;~le<."," I'lun i p is specially propitiated to provide pedress to the

pt::opIe fc';cing ('Ior'ldly cpisis, like divorce, court ca"H::S,~ Cll" litigations

linked to land and foP(?st, cl'iminal caSf?S 1 ikt? lOul'del' 'f ami 1 y

There j, S a mythical stoPy about Munir commonly

people. According to this, Munir used to frequently appear in

<;F~ined

c:)th£~T~

a Mahadeo koli called Jijabai Jrlanjr'e and

immense magical power such that if she ever stole clothes or

it:E'm~:; from shops the owners could by no means detect

th is. Th r'DUgr') such unfair means she accumulated a lot of wealth and

bE:CBmf:' rich in no time. But no body could inherit her wealth

had no heirs. In spite of her unlawful life, Jijabai was a very pious

person who used to take regular care of the Munir shrine. Aft:E.'T~' J'jpr

d ern i se the Harijans took over the mantle of priesthood and became

custodians of the same.

The Munir shrine like many of the others was full of

til 1 SGflH? time back. But a few years earli~r the priests Shivnath

Ankush and his nephew Chandrakant Ankush decided to sell off the grove

and construct a small temple there. This was not very much appreciated

by tr'le other custodians of the shrine, residing at '/1. ). ). a~J {-.' •

IgnDT"inrJ all opposition a temple was constructed at the place of the

138

old shrin2 about three years back. Taking into consideration of the

~,;I·;T~:i. ne the two custodians belonging to Malin village got

book printed and started charging Rs. 11/- from all thr? f.j.?vot+?~?"3

vi~~iting This raised a lot of controversy

against them was filed by a person belonging to Heure village after he

d i s·c: n v e r 1.2 [I that his estranged wife was being guided by

eloping with another person. The Police put them into the lock up for

not forming any registered Trust and illegally collecting donations.

It however, reported that the two were let off after two days

against a premium and the case was closed thereafter. But the

stopped collecting any money ever since.

priest.s

4. It is commonly believed that Munir had

an older brother called Kuber whose commemorate is placed next to the

t(~mple. Munir also had a younger brother called Harva Vir.

Harva Vir's commemorate is placed inside another sacred grove which is

right next to the gaothan • The grove is rather small and

mC'! asu re!':. just six 'Qunthas' in size. The grove of Herva. Vir too is

b;.:;.dly depleted and almost all the big trees except for a couple of

them h~ve been felled off. 80me clumps of bamboos have also been

The land being recorded in the names of the Harijans, all

sale proceeds were pocketed by them. The Mahadeo Kelis of the village

remained just mere spectators. Quite like the shrine of Munir, a small

temple has been constructed for Harva Vir at the place oi: the old

shrine. About six years back Pandurang Ankush, one of the Harijans of

village had pl~dged while praying to Harva Vir that he I •. !oui d

construct a temple should a son be born to hirn. After the birth of the

.1,39

child ht? sold of·F a ·feIL.1 trees o·f the <';)I'ove i.'~nd built a ~7..mal1 temple

5. Ranobai Sacred Grove: The Harijans had another sacred grove in

the village right next to the shrine of Harva Vir which w~s dedicated

to Hanobai ~ supposed to be the sister of Munir. But it ·fu 11 Y

disappeared. Since there was a cholera epidemic in the village several

years back and many people died of it, a good number of the villagers

1 ei' t the old settlement and came down to the gaothan which was thpn

e >: c lu s i V I? 1 Y inhabited by the Harijans. Due to this there was immense

on the land and the Ranobai grove was gradually

upon The gram panchayat office has now been in fact constructed

commemorate of Ranobai was located.

Ri.Hl0bai l~"· no longt?T' \L!Drshipped i.=.nd the stont~ slab comJnl?HlDr-ating her'

also lost now. The significant change in the res:.iriential patterTI

was perhaps not just due to cholera but 50 also due to change in the

land use pattern, after large tracts of land along th ~,

and terraces constructed for rice cultiv~tion~ tha.n

thirty years back. People found it convenient to come down close to

the river valley. Thus the disappearance of the Ranobai grove is not

jLl"".t due to greed but also due to chBnged political-economic and

cultural milieu. First of all the Harijans had changed their

to Buddhism within these years. Secondly the , H.=::r·ki. I-I;:~d 2:;U J. <'.l. ' in <:i.rH

lands which were then gifted to them by the British in lieu of the

services rendered by them to the government- particularly providing

forced labour or 'beggar' when officials went there for inspection and

alsD kf~eping a tab on the Mahadeo Kalis and in fc·r··m i nq a.bout their

mov emen ts !::; i nc e were involved in carrying out depredations

against outside merchants operating from Ambegaon, Junnar and Ghode-

gaan and rpsisting British intrusions. This all lost the meaning after

independence. The Mahadeo Kolis came upon such lands almost out of

vengeance without paying anything to the Harijans. Even very recently~

the Sarpanch, originally a resident of Ambre village has constructed a

farm house on the lands belonging to th~ Munir shrine,

payment.

without any

6. Kukermouli Sacred Grove: Kukermouli or a nlother goddess which

is particularly considered to be the clan deity of the Lembh~ clan

members, is located in a sacred grove located on the way to Pasarvadi

from the gaothan, next to the Kalamjai stream. This grove is

situated where the borders of Chinchevadi, WundevBdi and Pasarvadi

hamlets meet. Kul:ermouli shrine has no temple and only two big stones

smeared with vermilion are treated 35 the symbol of the deity and her

assistants. Kukermouli is not regularly worshipped as it has no priest

and the people in distress mainly pray to her for readdress. Agor sast

and diwal saat are~ however~ celebrated inside the grove by the

ers cultivating the lands close to the shrine.

farm-

The sacred grove of Kukermouli is full of old and big trees along

with thick foliage under them (though there is hardly any grass). The

plant species available there include sadre, kenai~

sld~ kudai, savar~ sayar, karbanda and many

houses a very high popUlation of monkeys and

other shrubs. The

snakes which are

chilar,

grove

forbid-

den to be killed inside it. It is believed that Kukermouli is a very

fiery spirit and tolerates no violation of the rules and strictures.

No one is permitted to enter the grove with their shoes on. Women too

are prohibited. Though grazing is permitted~ the cattle do not

141

it due to lack of grass. Dried wood is allowed to be gathercd e:<cept

fOl' tl. (2 lembhe clBn members. Felling of trees or coppicing too is

strictly prohibited. This rule is also applicable to the masutia of

the Lembhes which is attached to this grove. Violation of norms invite

big trouble for the offender. It was reported that about one y&ar back

Kusaba Ganguram Lembhe~ who cultivates on an adjoining plot

thE~ groy'e~ lopped SDffie cd' the trees and sold them, h),s;. J.£195 immE~cliat€~-·­

ly got swollen afterwards. He was then compelled to invite a Brahmin

priEst for divination and offer coconuts for appellation. H~ gradually

recovered afterwards.

7. f<alamjai Sacred Grove: Kalamjai is perhaps S.ffconc:!

important deity of the village. Like Varsubai deity it is also placed

a temple inside a sacred grove. This grove is located about 3

kms from the gaothan on the hill slope close to Koknevadi and Pasarva-

di. The grove is about 3 Beres in size and very thickly veg~tated" In

fi';;C t du£' to the tree growth the temple is not at all visiblE-! i'T'Dill

The Kalamjai temple i~ much bigger and better constructed

than the Varsubai temple. The deities located in the shrine apart from

are Vaghoba~ Shivd and Genesh. Besides these, there a

number of round stones smeared with vermilion, symbolizing as sentries

cd ~< a 1 i.'l.{!l j a i . in

wrestling competitions also hung at the main the

The Kalamjai deity 15 worshipped daily by the Kokne pujari ll . .Iho

,;~5id;?s at Koknevadi. Boons are, however, asked only on

Apart from regular worships, the deity is also propitiated during agor

add diwal saat mainly by farmers from Chinchevadi and Koknevadi

1.42

who cultivate on the nearby fields. During the annual ystra at Varsu-

b~i sacred grove an appellation is made and then Kalamjai is carried

on a 'palki' to the temple of Varsubai. The pal~i is carried only by

the people belonging to Koknevadi. Kalamjai and Vaghdeo are considered

to be complementary to each othdr and are regarded as forest deities.

Male folk of the entire village seek their blessings before proceeding

to the forest on the day of annual hunting ritual ceremony.

The vegetation in the Kalamjai sacred grove is much better prE-

than the Varsubai grove. The grove is full of big trees

\',1 it: h v£~ry

difficult because of this. The bamboo thic~ets mak8 it all the mor's

difficult to enter. Shekru or giant red 5quirrelg~ monkeys

and birds are plentiful in this grove. Occasionally panthers are a 1 ~;o

'fcl..{nd t ' , 'd 'Tt r'·e~,; :J.ril;;j lnsJ. e, 'IE:' strictures of this grove stT'ong.

Not only felling and lopping is prohibited, collection of dried wood

or fallen leaf litter is not permitted. Grazing too is restrict~d. The

I{oknevadi residents are also to 522 that not a drop of is

taken into the grove. The temple lamps are kindled with mustard

In fact the people of Koknevadi do not USG kerosene oil at their homes

No wonder that the thick vegetation at the grove tT"ap~:,

volume of ground water which results in a perennial flow of water in

the Kalsmja vsda OT" stream.

It is believed that the custodianship of the t&mple,

it's grove and 'deo handa' earlier used to vest with the Lembhes. But

a few generations back they handed it over tD the Koknes. Th~

landed property measuring 21 acres is now in the hands of the Koknes.

the Koknevadi people look upon Kalamjai as th e i roo' clan

deity rather than Varsubai as considered by most of the other '.Ii113g-

J43

(": r"~; " It i~ the Koknsyadi people who contribute for the upkeep

maintenance of the shrine. It has also been noticed that Kal5ubai~ as

~<;3.1 d,fllj ai is popularly called~ has now become the rallying point 'for

the people of Kokneyadi, Lembhevadi and Pasarvadi who are desiring to

form a separate mouza or revenue jurisdiction. Koknevadi and Pasarvadi

aggrieved that some of their cultivable land t,)i th

th0'deo handa' has been inundated due to construction of a mini irri-

I;jci tiona 1 dam - the water from which is mainly used by the of

th!2 command area staying at Chinchvadi, Potevadi and gL~Dtharln The

people from the hamlets also resent that most of the development funds

meant for the village are siphoned off by the people from the

situation has deteriorated so much that

these settlements has now ceased. Very recently people from Pasarvadi

expressed their displeasure by refusing to render free labour for the

construction of a high school in the village. They also declined to

participate in the cultural programmes during the yatra or lend

In u ,~ i cal :i r1 5 t rum e n t 5 t C) the villa get \40 yea T'S b a c k •

theil'

8. Vaghdeo Sacred Grove: There is a very small sacred grove meas-

uring about .1 acre which 15 dedicated to Vaghdeo (tiger god)~

to Lembhevadi. The grove has a 'fet.! big tl"'Qe~; and ~:;oml! bc'.mboo thich?ts

along with thick undergrowth. The grove is located at the edge of the

highest ree'f of 1'1cdin villag('? pro'lidinid an overviet') o'f th !? en t i /'e

village and the valley in the yonder. Militarily this Must have b iii! en

very strategically located which permitted surveillance of the entir'e

area. The existence of this grove surprisingly is not known by all the

villagers particularly from the gaothan. Importantly this grove also

serves as a rallying point for the people of Pasarvadi, Lembheyadi and

144

as the agor Baat and diwal Baat are jointly celebrated by

them over there. The gaothan also of course makes a symbolical partic-

i P <~ t i Dii in it ~s the Jhanjre priests from the gaothan send a fowl to

be sacrificed for the occasion.

9. Amba Eer Sacred Grove: At Malin there is a sacred grove

c ated to Pomba eer or Vir - a hero who is believed to have qained

P l'OIn i nunc: (.? du (:' to his valour when fighting the enemy. The grove is

the slope of Amba eer hill, on the opposite side of the

valley where the gaothan is located. There is no human habitation in

thG immediate surroundings and only the farmers go there regularly for

cultivation. The grove is rather small, measuring about ac r·~?s ..

ThDugh it does not have many big trees, there are a number of bamboo

thickets which can be seen from a distance. There is no temple at the

shrlne ~nd the deity is placed under a peepul tree.

r:\rnb d. Eer is worshipped on every Friday. Fowls are sacrificed by

every household at the shrine in the month of Chaitra, to mark the

beginning of new year. Though grazing is permitted within the groVf? ,

women ~re not allowed to enter. No tree can be lopped or felled. Even

<:1'-'i ed leaves are not allowed to be collected. Even the

are the priests of the shrine cannot take anything from it.

Amba eer is considered to be a very ferocious deity who neGds to

be mandatorily propitiated before and after the kharif cultivation by

farmers cultivating in the adjoining fields. If not done, the

<Co.p i J'1. t 0 f the grove severely punishes the guilty. When

Jhanjre, the priest of the shrine failed to pray the eer before culti-

vatiDn about two years back, one day while tilling the soil suddenly a

snake 2ntwined his neck from nowhere. He realized his folly and begged

l4~f

forgiveness of the spirit and made some penance. 'fhe eer is also

known for his powers to protect the property of the farmers

particularly the agricultural implements. The 'farmers therefore feel

quite secured to leave behind their implements on their fields for the

night, which is quite a relief as otherwise this would mean their

carrying them down a distance of about 1.5 kms and fetching them back

the next day. It is said that the spirit acts upon th2 thieves psyc-

hologically in such a way that they become compelled to return the

implements on their own.

10. Cheroba sacred Grove: Cheruba is believed to be a ghost which

is propitiated mainly when cattle or men fall sick. The cheroba has a

small grove of about .01 acre in size and is located near Potevadi

hamlet. Previously there was no tree close to the shrine, but Kushuba

Lembhe had planted around twenty trees about five years back. However,

Maruti Podu Lembhe who cultivates on the land adjoining the shrine

removed few of them as he thought they infringed upon his land.

Cherobs shrine also did not have any temple earli~r~ but a sRlall one

has been constructed only about SiH years back.

11. Durgabai sacred Grove: Close to Jhanjrevadi on the way to the

adjoining village called Amba, a deity of DurgabBi is placed inside a

small sacred grove. The Durga deity there is considered to be a repli-

ca of the main Durgabai located at Hatvij village about 7 from

Jhanjrevadi. The Durgabai of Hatvij is in fact located in B fortress

like sacred grove and is frequented by both Mahadeo Koli and Msratha

devotees froln far flung places since it is considered to be very

powerful. The time a yatra is held at Hatvij, s small ritual is also

146

organized at the Durgabai shrine of Jhanjrevsdi. Besides, the Jhanjre­

vedi people celebrate agar sast and diwal seat at this shrine.

The Durgabai shrine has no temple and the deity comprising of a

few round stones are placed under a leanto. There are not many trees

in the grove either. Apart from some herbs and shrubs there are a few

b arntioo thickets in the grove. Though there is no bar against graz-

ing 5 women are not permitted inside.

12. Mariai Sacred Grove: Every Mahadeo Koli village invariably has

a boundary deity called Mariai or Muktabai - a Sanskritized name of

it. This deity is also said to be a deity of the MaMers

This deity is believed tu ward off deadly epidemics like small pox and

pli:HJuf2. ThE' deitie~.; are usually symbolized by a few round stones

t,,1i th vermilion and placed under the clump of

Invariably the Mariai of one village is placed a few yards inside the

bDuridal"Y o"f the adjoining village placed to its west.

during the pre-sowing ceremony the entire village assembles to share a

common feast or a potluck. The Harijans are invariably thm pujaris of

1'1ariai. When the epidemic strikes the region, the Harijans carry

miniature wooden cart on their shoulders along with a replica of the

deity placed on it~ from one end of the village to the other Singing

psalms all th~ way. The cart along with the deity and 'naibo:dh'

like coconut, incense sticks etc ar0 handed over to the

the next village. They in turn again hand over to thE!

Harijans of the following village. The process continues till the sea

the cart and offerings are thrown away. In case of Malin, the

cart continues it's movement only till Bhimashanker where it is thrown

from the hill top. There is also a peculiarity with Malin thnt

147

it's Mariai is placed along with the Mariai of Ambre inside the border

of Adeode since both the villages share a common border with Adeode.

Apart from the sacred groves at Malin there are a number of trees

which are supposed to harbour malevolent spirits. Such trees are never

lopped or felled, Besides these~ almost every household has one or two

trees placed on their agricultural fields. t r'c es

cC'rl",;icierE'cJ to be the abode of their departed ancestors. TheE~[~

are also usually not touched.

It will be wrong to conclude that all the deities at Malin ha',.'e

accompanying sacred groves. The village has a Maruti temple located at

the gBothan which has no sacred grove though it has a 'df:D handa'.

th :.? i'C i~; a . Paduka' ·Foot engf'Clvin(] on a round block

r.·:,tDne symbolizing the Visweswar or Shanker deity of Bajpai

1 DC \? t f-?d t'Jn the bank of Bubra stream. Instead of going

people paid obeisance to the replica to save the trouble of going all

that far. But now since the temple at Bajpai has been submerged by an

irrigation project the people have decided to construct a tf:!mp J. (~ of

~3h an k l'? r at the place of the replica. This place too is devoid of any

5.1.2 The Groves With Complexities In Ambegaon Taluka:

1. Ahupe Village: The sacred groves usually reflect the soc. i a I

organization of the communities managing them. This is not app<.,rE.'nt

just by observing the state of vegetation but also the arrangement of

deities inside and the custodianship/ownership syst~ms linked to

the !)f'Oves. This beCOffiQS manife<':5t very easily from the case t.J"f Ahupe

which rather weathered a storm centering it's principal sacred grDve.

148

r'thupe. is a village of moderate size with about

located at the ~xtreme north western part of Ambegaon taluka In Pune

district. Except for twelve Harijan households the vil18ge j~ entirely

inhabit~d by the Mahadeo Kolis. The Lokhandes and Asawles are numeri-

c ;::;J. ly the most dominant clans in the village. The Kudekars and Kedes

with two households each are two Mahadeo Koli clans found f3::-:clusi'it?ly

at Ahupe village.

Originally when Ahupe was located about 2 kms away from the pres-

ent site it used to be called Kapartalla and was then predominated by

Muslims. The Harijans were also present at that time. The Muslims were

cJ ~c.-r'd ~,-. m-~1·r1Iy b" i~·1(·' As·;;.>'<!l~ c:l;~n rn"rnbC>l~s. The ASdl<.iles carnre rnair,ly ., "'":. • <,"", . .t,.,;} <... j'.1 _ .... ' <= ...,. '" ,e

from GhodDgaon~ their, original village. The Langhes~

Vud e k a. T";;; followed the Asawles. The Kedes are supposed to be the de-

scendants of Muslims whom the Asawles had adopted. Because of this as

a mF.; rk D·f respect to the original settlers the villa.ge fl a. t i Ish i P

(headmanship) was rotated every ten years between the Asawles and the

I<edes" But ever since Patilship was accorded a statutory status th (·2

Kedes became the hereditary Patils.

Ahupe has at least five major sacred groves apart from the burial

The Bhairoba sacred grove is the biggest among aJ.J.. It

about Bcres in size covered by about 200 big trees and

her·b'.'::. and shrubs. The grove is situated on a ridge which divides tlA!O

\I..lat!?l~shed·::.:. micro catchments. The GhDd river also originat0s fr·Din

this grove. The other sacred groves in the village are dedicat~d to

Maruti, Vandeo, Kalamjai snd Khetoba. Though all the clans worship the

different deities on different occBsiDns~ members of only a few clans

were assigned permanent priesthood. While the priest of Kalamjai is a

priest of Khetoba happens to be a Kudekar. By vi r·tuf::' CJf

149

being the first settling clan, the Kedes have been assigned the pries­

thood of Vanden - the tutelary deity of the village. The Kedes are

also the priests of Maruti deity.

The Bhairoba sacred grove has been a seat of con t ro v Eo T~~:;.y for'

quite a long time. Being the most numerous clan and also tor having

settled first in the village, the priesthood should hav~ normally gone

to thG Asawles or the Lokhandes. But as if due to a compromise it has

always gone to a clan member from outside the village. First it went

to the Gales and then to the Wundes. When both the families died off

i t: was passed to the Langhes who continue to be the priests

TI'l:i~:; c:ornpT'omise haE been basically struck keeping in v i I? t.J 0 'f the

'f r'u it::,. and oi!l!erings the temple receives apart th[, valuable

timber reserve of the grove.

The act of political-economic equi 1 ibT-'ium among the

different clans which permeates into the realms of religion is fUrther

as one takes note of the clan totems or the 'devaks'. j..oJh i 1 f~

almost all the clans have their devaks repres~nted by the 'tak' in the

different shrines of the village, the Asawles are conspicuously not

lf1 any of them. The Asawles do not seem to derive any

s.ol ilCf.' from the village deities and rather are found to fall back to

their village. Besides, the Kedes being considered the i T'

half brothers, th0 devaks of the latter are supposed to fulfill

desi r'G'?: .• The lack of devaks also in a sense reflect their powerless-

ness through the realms of religion and their failure to make

tions over the villago resources through realms of th~? sam!? Th i ~'"

most apparent a few years back when the Bhairoba sacred grove

was clandestinely being sold off to some outside Muslim contractors.

Environmentalists from Pune and Bombay and representatives of a 1 Deal

150

NGD were trying to pass off the entire blame on the K&de Patil and

some local leaders. To some extent their allegations may hold good,

but a deeper probe into the matter revealed that it is the Asawles who

were at the roots of the entire episode. It is their lack of religious

sanctity over the village commons which the Kedes enjoy (although the

Kedes could survive due to the mercy of the Asawles when an infant of

the Muslims found abandoned by the Asawles was adopted by them out of

pity) always creates a sense of insecurity and also anger in the minds

of the Asawles. It is the statutory Patilship and positivist orienta­

tion of state laws which have made the Langhe priests owners of the

Bhairoba sacred grove depriving the moral claims of others resulted

into a negative reaction on the part of the Asawles along with certain

other disgruntled element of the village. It must be realized that the

priests associated with different deities were entrusted to look after

the groves and collect the fruits and lopped wood only for own con­

sumption and upkeep of shrines. They were thus only custodians of the

shrines, the groves and the 'deo handas'. But the revenue department

went on to accord them with proprietary right disregarding the local

law of the people. The Langhe priests, who thus gained legal posses-

sion over the sacred grove of Bhairoba by default, however, could not

touch any part of the grove fearing reprisals from the community. In

fact the villagers did not initially react to it when the rights were

conferred upon the Langhe priests, fearing that otherwise it will be

acquired by the state. Later, when the social equilibrium got 5ignifi-

cantly disturbed with the int~rference of the local NGD (it had blast­

ed off some large stones within the grove to widen a bridle path so as

to be able to drive a power driller through it to dig tube wells in

the village) and the area being declared as a Wildlife Sanctuary, the

151

Langhes could be bribed to submission and accede to the sale of the

grov~.

2. Doni Village: Doni is a Mahadeo Koli village in Ambegaon taluka

located close to Asane. The village has one gaothan called Kaparvadi

and two hamlets, namely, Sarkenchevadi and Masalmar. These three

settlements reveal an important social dynamics in response to shift

in political status and changing territorial affinities.

while Kaparvadi was a part of Tirpad group gram panchayat,

Previously

Sarkenche-

vadi and Masalmar were part of Nahved group gram panchayat. The divi-

sion in terms of political jurisdiction had then manifested in the

matter of control over the sacred groves and the associated shrines.

Earlier the hamlets in order to prove their distinct identity brought

away the Maruti deity from the Vandeo sacred grove located close to

Kaparvadi (these two hamlets have been formed only in the recent years

and Kaparvadi was earlier opposed to their formations). They also

felled a few trees from the Vaghdeo grove to construct the Maruti

temple close to their settlements. This was done with total disregard

of the sentiments of Kaparvadi. The residents of the hamlets were also

opposed to the exclusive control of the village Patil and priest of

Vanden deity (Jhapachema - a resident of Kaparvadil, over the Vandeo

sacred grove (about 15 acres in size) and the dec handa. They wanted

to form a trust for this purposo. But sensing this the priest r~in-

forced the religiosity of the grove by increasing the number of days

of worship of the deities located in the grove. However, as there was

a fissiparous force operating at Doni on the one hand, there was also

an opposite current flowing in the village. Since most of the develop­

ment funds used to be siphoned off by Nahved and Tirpad villages, the

three settlem~nts of Doni struck a compromise and decided to form a

152

single gram panchayat. In 1994 the village formed a single revenue

jurisdiction and a single gram panchayat. This totally altered the

political equations in the village and the pressure on the priests has

been shelved at least momentarily.

3. The Case Of Menumbervadi: The case of Menumbervadi offers quite

an interesting dimension of village dynamics. Menumbervadi was

hamlet of Asane village (adjoining Malin) in Ambegaon taluka. It has

41 households and a population of 375. The residents of the settlement

after coming to know about the government policy to form a separate

mouza and panchayat for settlements with more than 300 popUlation (as

stated earlier) filed an application. On the basis of it Menumbervadi

became a separate village in 1986. It is, however 1 yet to get a sepa-

rate panchayat. On attaining this, the people declared Kalamjai deity

its gaon devi er tutelary deity. Apart from Kalamjai there is a

deity of Vandee along with a small sacred grove. Though this grove is

recorded in the name of an individual called D.R. Gawale~ the commun-

ity rules for its preservation is strictly adhered to. Although the

grove attached to it is much smaller than the Vandeo grove of Asane

village (proper), the vegetal growth is certainly is much better

preserved and cannot be easily penetrated. This deity has been now

declared as the male tutelary deity of Menumbervadi.

In spite of indicating all the traits of self assertion, Me-

numbervadi do not appear to have b8en able to DverCDrne the charms of

the NGOs. The people appe8r to be very fond of 8himsshanker project

which has dug a drinking water well~ rendered financial assistance to

construct field terraces and sponsored tree plantation as part of

watershed development programme. It is also running an anganwadi

153

center in the village. The people now intend to take financial assiS"~"""

tance from this NGO to clear off the herbs and shrubs of the Kalamjai

grove and plant new ornamental species like goldmohar, ashok, Guru and

euc~lyptus. The concerned NGD in fact seems to have motivated them to

cia so.

4. The Case Of Borghar: Borghar is a Mahadeo Kali village in Ambe-

gaDn taluka Df Pune. At Borghar the problem of ownership and custa-

dianship with regard to the sacred grove and 'deo handa' had surfaced

a few years back. About 13-14 years earlier a large

Dimba irrigation project had inundated a large area of the village.

This included 46 acre land of the Bhairoba deity - the tutelary deity

of the village as well. For this the government had agreed to pay Rs • .;;.c

as compensation. But it refused to pay the amount to the

priest and insisted the villagers to form a trust to wham it COLlI d

hand over the same. The Jangles who were the priests formed a trust

comprising of members of his clan and other close relatives. But the

Barnies who form the dominant faction of the village contested this and

moved the matter to the court. But even before any decision could be

passed leaders of the opposing factions are reported to have struck a

compromise and the matter got hushed up. In the process the Jangl es

1'1;;:'·,.'8 -i'ormed <'.; rH?ti.l Tr'ust comprising e~<cl'_tsively of close 1'amily members

nncj the cOirlpensation t~las entirely divided among themselves denying an

~qual share to every household of the village.

At Borghar too like Malin some of it's hamlets (among the

hamlets) are trying to form a separate political and revenue jurisdic-

tion - a new mouza. This fissiperous tendency is manifest most strong-

Iy among the people of three adjoining hamlets namely as, Ghodel..'adi,

154

Kaluvadi and Umbervadi. All the three hamlets are located at a much

higher altitude than the gaothan which is situated at the valley. The

people of these three hamlets get together to celebrate the agor saat

and diwal saat and hold collective feasts twice a year. Apart from

this the three hamlets have also collected money from all the

holds to construct a bigger temple for Kalubai deity which is

house-

located

inside big sacred grove situated at Kaluvadi. Shramdan or tree

labuur was also extended by the people of these three hamlets in order

to complete the temple.

The Kalubai sacred grove is about 6 acres in size and is full of

very large peepul trees with hanging roots - which are as thick as

stems of ordinary trees. Quite like Malin where the strictures are

much stronger in the sacred groves close to the hamlets which are

trying to become independent entities, at Borghar too the same thing

could be noticed. In the Kalubai sacred grove taking kerosene oil is

strictly forbidden. Grazing too is never permitted. It 15 not because

of public sanctions that the people follow the rules strictly but

rather because of the aura the deity creates in the minds of the local

people. It is believed that once when people from an adjoining village

had removed some bamboos from the grove~ blood started oozing out of

the shoots. Again when 50me people from the gaothan removed some roots

of the peepal trees, the bull pulling the loaded cart died on the way.

It is also said that about two years back when some people collected

twigs from the grove to prepare 'rab', stones started raining inter-

mittently on the roofs on the houses adjoining the grove for two

month5~ but no body could be seen throwing the stones.

155

Since the last five years the three hamlets, Kaluvadi, Ghodevadi

and UmbE.'rvacii have started prgi~nizing an annual 'yatra' (l<!here dramas

enacted along with a fair) inside the sacred grove of ~<a 1 u v ad i .

This also can be construed as a strategic drive for self assertion

through religio-cultural means. The donations for organizing the yatra

is raised only from households of the three dissenting hamlets. The

at Kaluvadi 15, however, of a much lower scale than the yatra

organized by the village as a whole at the Kal Bhairav grove next to

t h p g", D thiS n .

one of the three dissenting hamlets has

structed a small temple of Vandeo separately about three years back.

ThE.' people of this hamlet CElebrate the Diwal saat a post

C~?l'emony together at the temple. The temple, however, has no sacred

attached to it. Ghodeyadi has also started organizing 2. yatra

all by itself since the last couple of years. This also probably is an

indication of self assertion of the hamlets within the corl £; tell at ion

the dissenting hamlets. The trend of seeking separate

is perhaps rooted to the process of mobilization and con-

trol over resources rather than being a merely religio-cultural man i-

·festation. This becomes quite apparent from the utter disdain and

contempt with which the people of the gaothan refer to the yatras of

thf.' h;"rnlet~;;.

import an t

there is no shrine of Mariai on the borders. Instead there is a temple

of Muktabai within the village. Muktabai is of course the Sanskritized

Version of Mariai. Muktabai enjoys almost the same status as Kalbhair-

BY - tutelary deity of the village. During the annual 'jatra' a palin-

quin <:<:,1'ryin9 a replica of Kalbhairav is brought to the temp I e o'f

156

Muktabai which is located about two furlongs away from the gaothan on

the side of the approach road • There is no sacred grove at the site

of the temple. Some of the people at Borghar believe that the borders

of the village has changed quite some time back as the settlers came

down from the hills and transgressed into the borders o·r Ambegaon. But

t!·,p position of the old shrine of Mariai/Muktabai has not changed

{rJ i th time. We thus find wherever there has been some unusual OCCUT'--

renee with the borders the shrine of Mariai has changed into temples

without preservation of the sacred grove. This has happened in the

case of Nimgiri and also Taleran. At Taleran the boundary with the

adjoining village called Pargaon got a bit changed during the British

It is believed that the buffalo calf which was taken to the

border between the boundary of the villages by the people of Taleran

during Agor saat, it fled away into the border of Pargaon after cross­

ing a small stream. The calf was then caught well inside the boundary

and sacrificed on the spot. The temple of Muktabai was subsequently

constructed on the spot. This marked a shift in the village boundary

8$ well. Quite a big part of the fertile land along the

got transferred to Taleran.

s:.tream thus

5. The Case Of Pokhri Village: In case of Pokhri village also a

similar change as above was observed. About hundred years back,

British converted the old trade route into a pucca

,'Dad be t\l)eerl Ghodegaon and Bh imashank eT' it CDnst rue ted a PWD bung a.l 0(1)

(50 as to supervise the construction work and also for administration)

near Pangri village about 2 kms from the old Pokhri village. Almost at

thr-: ssme time a lot of people in Pangri died of cholera epidemic and

thu"~ c: ,iused acute shortage o·f labour. It is then that. almof5t the

157

erltire pDpulation of Pokhri migr'a-ced to l:.an,Qri village and the area of

both the villages got clubbed to form a single village <called Pokhri

cmly) • But under the changed situation the role of Mariai as border

deity was no longer nee~ed. But it is then as a symbol of unification

the two villages ( being shared by both the villages) it gained a

importance and it was subsequently made the gaoo devi of the

village. A small temple was then constructed at the spot, but there is

no sacroed grove now. Only a single tree can be seen in temple.

Importantly, the old temples of original Pokhri village can be still

found though in dilapid8ted conditions and the sacred groves attached

to them have not been felled.

5.1.3 Junnar Taluka: Nimgiri Village:

Introduction:

Nimgiri9 a fairly large village exclusively inhabited by Mahadeo

~;:ol. is and a few Mahar families is located in an interior place of

Junn~r taluka in Pune district. A fair weather road from Junnar is the

only means of communication with the outside world. Daily buses

Junnar/Pune pass through it. Nimgiri formerly used to f 13011 em the

'rajpath' -highway for people travelling on horses or bullock cart,,;

between the Konkan coasts (mainly Kalyan and Vassain) and the Deccans.

In fact Shivaji is believed to havs traversed this way while looting

the tre~sury of Kalyan.

Nimgiri village comprises of one gaothan and t~n hamlets, namely~

Ranchari~ Asawlevadi, Koknevadi, Sutarthika~ ~:::handichivadi ,

r:::h e I' a k v ad i , Talmachivadi, t'°'ah a rv ad a and Kheti·.,.,adi. There are 225

households altogether in the village. The village is geographically

15f=J

divided into two watersheds. While the ten settlements are situated in

the Kuker 'khora' or Kukreswar river catchment, one big hamlet called

T a I In ;2. chi '" ad i is located in the Talersn khor'a - Taleran river cate\-;-

mOl.lr"It;;:in (,!hich divides the tl'JO ca.tchments is very high and

looks like a -fort from a distance. The Nimgiri village in olden

is be:·lieved to have been located close to the top of this

lrlOU\'l t '-~ in, hidden behind the forests. This was very important since a

and l'-lusl i m

invaders in the valley close to Nimgiri village. Fights- \L)ith the

and British too are reported to have occurred at the ver'y

same place. The village also witnessed a lot of troop movement in the

vicinity.

Nimgiri is qu5te a developed village by local sta.ndards. A middle

school and a high school was started there about 30 years back and a

lot of people have attained higher education. Many of them are now

S!i:' rv i ng in government offices in Pune and Bombay. Right now the

lage has one high school, one middle school, two primary schools and

centers. Nimgiri has a Post Office. It al<30 ~1as an

office of the group gram Panchayat. There are two grocery shops in the

village. The entire village is electrified. But it doE'S not have

water facility or any drain~ge stem. Population wise majority of

tap

the

people are Mahadeo Kolis. There are, however a few household of Mahars

and Sutars (low artisan caste). Among the Mahadeo Kolis, majority of

the people belong to the Sable clan.

Sacred Groves In The Village:

The y i 1. I i:'\ 9 e has p r i ,n c i pal 1 y n i n e sac: l' f~ d g l' a 1) £~ f;; d e d i c: ate d t D d i f-

deities. These deities are Kalsubai, Maruti, Mhadubsi, Nimba--

bai~ vsghdeo, Vandeo, Kedroba, Marjibua, Sairi cha dec or Mahardeo and

- ,~

159

Kalamjai. apart from these each of the hamlets have "masutias' or

burial sacred groves. Altogether there are ten masutias in the vil-

l~ge.

1. Kalsubai sacred Grove: The kalsubai deity is located in a sacred

grove close to the base of the Nimgiri hill or killa fort. The

temple of the deity was earlier very small in size. It has been recon-

structed about twenty years back through collective effort and free

labour. But even then the temple is comparatively of a moderate size

and built. The land of the shrine is recorded in the name of a person

belonging to the Sable clan. There are also two priests attached to

the temple. While one of them is a Sable, the belongs to Bhalenge

clan.

The grove of kalsubai is of only 3 acres in size. Though it has

quite a few big trees Bnd good undergrowth, it is not free of outside

interference. There is no restriction against grazing within the

grove. Though trees are not allowed to be felled or branches to be

lopped, there is no bar against collecting dried wood and leaf litter.

The priest does a regular puja of the deity every morning and holds a

special puja on Tuesdays for devotees desiring to seeking boons.

Kalsubai is considered to be very powerful and particularly helpful

for curing the problems of women - especially for barren women. It is

thus linked to a fertility cult. kalsubai is also worshipped ars a

tutelary deity of the village. According to 50me of the villagers she

became more powerful ever since the people shifted from the site of

the old village to the present gaothan.

2. Maruti Sacred Grove; The sacred grove dedicated to the Maruti

deity is located right next to the Kalsubai sacred grove. It is about

160

No Co ~O/ tt().,P Of M¥./'r" JM?J/'h/ [i.J. . J"-. e y--e. cI 6, i"'"() -{' €A

,

I&::. c-( ~ 1i1 t;" /rf"Q'" JI,·I/~ '< ~

()

:.. '.5 o

til'

~~~ t ~

-;\f k.i..J ~ ""II Co .

~+~

~ '''~f!Io(-11 }<..l( k u. f(, '.,~Y"

. .':'

tlt!e;. acres in size. The grove 15 very thick with v (;:9 eta t i on . Besides

S9'y'eral big trees, the grove is filled with a thick growth of herbs

and shrubs which certainly comes on the way of the roaming cattle to

gr6ze. But some of the cattle do still manage to enter into it. There

is no temple of the Maruti Dr Hanuman deity. A stone engraving of the

monkey god smeared with vermilion can be found in the shrine. Next to

the Maruti deity, a few round stones symbolizing 'Vetal' or the k i n(;J

of ghost!::; can also be seen. The Maruti grove is also used as a

burial/cremating ground by the people. A number of

commemorates are to be seen within the grove. Both the Kalsubai and

the Maruti sacred groves comprise of vegetation similar to that of the

surrounding "for"ests. They also shelter a lot of birds, monkeys and

snakes. Foxes and hyenas also are occasionally found resting in them.

The land of the Maruti sacred grove is recorded in the name of

1'1ogh Cl tlab 1 f' and thus legally he is the ot.!neJ~ • But as per the local

cus"l:;om he is not. A couple of yeal's back 1'1ogh a !t!BS trying to sell o"f "f

sOlne of the t l~E~ es in thp I} r'ov f: • But when the villagers ca.me to learn

about this deal, they intervened and assE'l'ted that morally the grove

is owned by the entire community Bnd tha.t Mogha has no right to sell

it.

Kedroba Devi Sacred Grove: At Nimgiri there

is dedicated to Kedroba devi who is considered to be

sister of Kalsubai. The grove is located right next to Ranc::hoT'v ad i

(hamlet) • It is a very small grove, measuring only about .1 in

size. The strictures in the grove do not appear to be very strong and

therE is ~ lot of interference in it. The women are allowed tD enter"

it and so can one enter it without removing the shoes. The grove is

161

recorded in the name of a person belonging to Sable clan. Kalsubai is

propitiated mainly whpn the cattle fall sick or do not milch. (~gor

saat and diwal too are celebrated there.

The name of Nimgiri village is der'ived

from the nam2 of Nimbabai deity. It is believed by many that earlieT~

the gaothan was located at the base of Nimgiri hiJ.l~ I\.ji mb ab a i

t<J a ~s C 0 IV::; i ci p r €~ d tab t, the t L! tel a r" y d e i t y 0 f the villa g e. N i mba t. ,,~i d e i t Y

with it's sacred grove is located on the top of the Nimgiri hill. The

is only bf about 2 acres in size. There is no big tree in it

and i o: ~~ca.fltily covered I'lith herbs and :.;;hJ~ubs. Very 'fet.! people visit

r,.:;hrj ne as the deity is not regularly worshipped. It if::;. mainly

frequented by the shepherds who take the cattle there for grazing or

by those who go there for collecting grass and fuel wood. While pray-

ing they offer coconuts to the deity.

Vendee Sacred Grove: There is almost no Mahadeo Keli villagE'

which does not have the deity of Vanden - forest god. The Vandeo deity

Df Nilfrgiri is located on the top of a hill called Dandya which is

about 2000 feet tligh. The shrine does not have a temple as a few round

stones are placed in the open within the grove. The grove is located

.... .j.. c;, I,· ~ pl~ce where the border of Nimgiri meets the borders of tt'!O ad-'

Joining villages - Deole and Ajnawle. In fact these two villages also

claim ')andC?D ~s their deity. The Vandeo being so far and at such

that very few people visit it. The people of 'T"alm3chivadi

Co'f N i mg i r i ) , -fi nd ita bit closer to visit it

~-;Drnp.t imC's u People from other adjOining villages like Hidvi, Lh"d r'a,

Ti':deran too visit it sometimes. PE~ople from S,l'v' arn ["

162

in Thane district also are found to visit the shpine Dec a----

s i Dn <=>11y"

Vandeo is worshipped as it i~ believ~d to help people in warding

of animals dwelling in the -forests. It is also propitiated to

unsure safety to the cattle who ar~ grazed in the forests. The \/andeo

gro'v' e is found to have plenty of big trees and thick under'

People have very few restrictions in it, but since it falls

II.) i th in the jurisdiction of the forest department, they are scared to

the rules. The contpol of the forest department also pedlaps

neutralizes the scope of conflicting interest of the adjoining vii lag-

t:rS.

and almost all the adjoining villages of it are having

'parJuka' or fQot marks engraved on stone slabs as replica 01 Vandeo.

NJ.rngirj ha~:: p;:~duka at t'<JO pI acp~~ -- one at the gaothan and the other

close to one of the hamlets. There are only 3-4 'champa' flower

at the gaothan close to the paduka. The other pBduaka or pratik

close to Ranchorvadi, one of the hamlets and it has a small sacred

grove. This land was traditionally under the custodianship of Kalupam

Patil, Punaji Sable, Sakaram Sable, Dhondu Dagru Sable and Kalu Kasu

Sable since they belong to the first settling clan of the village.

About nine years back a conflict arose as the revenue department did

not accede ownership to all the members as demanded by the people but

recorded it in favour of Dhonduram Sable the lineage elder. Feeling

aggJ'ieved by this Kalu Kasu and Sakaram subsequently encroached upon

the grove and started cultivating on this land after felling of some

1 i -:~ W .. J

6. Mahar van: The Harijans had a fairly large sacred grove close

to their hamlet called Mahar vada. This grove was dedicated to Marji-

bUB an old 5aint~ and Sairicha dea. These deities are still

worshipped every Thursday although all the Mahars of the village have

been converted to Buddhism. Except for a few trees, there is no sign

of the sacred grove of Marjibua right now. The grove land is recorded

in the name of Sakaram Salv~ and Balaji Bhalerao Salve - since this

land was given on inam to their ancestors by the British. Balaji who

stays in Bombay is said to take little interest in his property at

Nimgiri. He is believed to have given the land on lease to one Raju

Laxman Bhalera0 9 a Harijsn of the village. It is also said that the

Harijans st2rt~d taking less interest in the worship of their tradi-

tional deities since their conversion to Buddhism. often said

that waning of such religious sentiments led to the weakening of

strictures attached to the Mahar van. It is perhaps mainly due to this

that the Harijans sold away the trees of the grove or used them for

self consulnption. During my field visit itself I witnessed Raju Laxman

Bhaler~o~ the custodi~n of the grove selling off a mango tree to the

Patil of the village who rUI1S a hostel for school students.

There is 8nother belief that the economic pursuit of the Harijans

has radically changed in the present times and the felling of the

grove has much to do with this. In the past when the old trade route

to Konkan passed through Nilngiri and the present highway did not eHist

through Malsej ghat and also the nearby irrigation reservoir was not

there~ the traders and messengers used to move on horses, mules,

donkeys and bullock carts. They used to rest under the Mahar van at

Nimgiri while on transit. In fact there used to be a deity called

Chauri to whom the trav~llers used to pay obeisance and donate some

164

The Har·i jans us·ed to be t.he custodian of Chauri \Llho shB.rec! thE:

tGmple offerings among themselves. The Harijans also rendered assis­

tance to the travellers by providing them with food and water (the old

tub meant for the animals can still be seen at the site of the

Mahar van close to Mahar vada). The temple of Chauri is now in a vel'y

dilapidated condition and the village panchayat is planning to con-

struct a new temple there.

7. Mhadobai sacred Grove: At the khind or mountain p as·s (l.iI.., i eh

connects Kuker khora with Taleran khora the temple of Mhi'.ldubai IS

located. The temple has a scared grove associated to it. The grove is

pretty small (about .2 acres in size) and has very little vegetation.

In fact there is not a single tree in front of the temple. Only on the

the templG there area B few big trees along with [;;canty

The temple of Mhadubai is also quite small and built of

and daub. Tulsiram Sable of Talmachivadi is the priest of the

family. He or his son walks 6 kme every morning to wash the temple and

burn incense sticks in front of the deity (but it is reported that he

often skips this role of his). Incidentally such kinds of temples are

located at every khind in the adjoining areas.

Mhadubai deity has some 'dec handa' or cultivable land. There is

a conflict between the priest and majority of the villagers since the

·Fonner· cultivates the land and reaps the haJ'vest all alone and does

not offer a proper feast to the village according to the local

'vahi vat-··

dar' - a custodian of the tempJe and it's property and not the owner,

al thoUl}h th~? L:;;nd ma.y h,,1ve be~?n T'ec::orded in his name.

165

The villagers are reported to have formed a trust in the name of

the deity on their own, comprising of thirteen board memb~rs. !lJh i 1 e

four of them belong to Talmachivadi, four are from Khandichivadi and

from the gaothan. The trust is reported to have moved th f2

cC)urt ccmtes·ting the proprietary right over the temple 1 and ('.lh i eh

Tulsiram Sable is enjoying at present. It is stated that one of the

al"·lc:estDT~S o·f Tu.lsir~8rn l'J8'';:; appointed as t11E' pujari o·f the temple ancj

it's land by the British on the ground that his agric:ultural land was

close by and that he would be in a better position to take carE' of the

;:lnd land. The villagers feel that this custodianship

cannot be considered hereditary and hence this being contested in the

court. The defendBnts are, however, arguing that the 'sanad' - govern-

irl(?nt order of 20.11" 1861 indic<.=l."tes that the land ('Jas recorded in

·ra'v'our of Mhadubai deity only through it's vahivatdar CLIS",tod i an.

This clearly shows that not only the lands but also the temple was in

Be tUi:ll possession of the applicant by succession.

P 1~ inc i p i~ 1. respondent - Kishanram sable, it is an undisputable ·fact

the 8ritish has awarded the c:ustodianship of the J. and to onf~

person called Kachere. Since Kachere had no son~ the custodianship was

transferred to his daughter who subsequently got married to Tulsiram's

Earlier the villagers had never contested this but they took

up the matter after TuJ.siram stopped holding the customs!')'

fea~:;t at his expense~ as is expected from the custod i ans o·f 'deo

hBnda'. In fact one of the main charges levied by the viI 1 a9 (~, T":"

a9a1I"1<:.:;t; him in 1:.he court if':; that he is not doing proper ·puja-arc:I·1a' -

lLiors.h J. p.

166

8. Kalamjai Sacred Grove: There is a sacred grove of about 1

in size next to A58Wl&v~di which is dedicated to Kalamjai deity.

of a cherra or ghost is also placed right next to her'.

acr@

The

The

deity and the spirit, each are worshipped every Tuesday. This grove is

,'ff a I bad shape as lots of cattle and goats enter into it at any

time of the day. There is, however, a taboo against felling of

Bnd women too ar0 not permittGd to enter it. Kalamjai is propitiated

to prGvent loss of agricultural implements. Apart from reg u 1 a 1""' I'! 0 r--

ship, both agor saat and diwal saat are also celebrated by the people

of ASBwlevadi at this shrine.

9. Vaghoba Sacred Grove: There is a big sacred grove dedicated to

The deity of Vaghoba is placed just at the entrance the sacred

groye. The Vaghoba grove which is placed right next to the settlernf'nt

is undoubtedly the largest sacred grove of the village and is about 10

in size. besidES it has 11 acres of 'deo handa'. P r~e y' i ousl Y'

Vaghoba had no temple and the deity was placed under a l1-}anto. But

four years back a small temple was constructed through collec-

ti'v'f~ ~Nclusively of the people of Talmac:hivadi. Inside the

templE' there is a small stone image of Vaghdeo. Out side thE' temple

two foot marks symboli2ing the paw marks of panthers are placed. There

a popular myth in the village associated with Vaghdeo. It

that a Mahadeo Keli woman had given birth to two progenies. One was a

human chi 1 cJ an cj thE' 0 the r I'! <> s:' B pan the I~ C Lt b. The fat h e ,~ 0 f the 5 e tl.lO

a man called Wajoli. In fact all the Mahadeo Koli residents c'f

Nimgiri are supposed to be desc~ndBnts of Wajoli. It is believed ont!'

the mother of the progenies had gone a bit far for 1,'jOl~k

167

leaving them behind the cub started crying very loudly. The woman got

e>~trf.'lnely annoyed by this and beat up the cub very severely. Feeling

extremely sad by this the cub left the place. Before it's leaving the

moth~r asked him to leav~ his foot impressions behind on a stone slab.

It is this very slab which is yet to be seen in front of the temple.

the t~mple of Vaghoba is quite new, the shrine as such

looks ancient. There is a custom to put a wooden post by the

pf:'oplc on the side of the deity after every hundred years. There are

;~~uch posts in the temple indicating the shrine to be over'

hundred years old. But it is quite unlikely to be so ",.inCE'

there was no calender available to the people. Besides their notion of

time was quite different from the western system which even we pur--·

:,"&1\,2,:; have piL:k!?c} up quitE' late. HOI')f?Ver, the place ""t i 11

pr~tty old as one finds signs of ancient human habitation within the

There are relics of old houses and courtyards in it.

TherR is also a 'Shanker pind' - a phallus symbolizing Lord ShivB neMt

to the old ruins indicating that this might have been the old tutelary

clej.ty. The old 'thergas' or stone commemorates also provides some

indication of this habitation.

The Vaghdeo grove is quite thick with vegetation. Though ·f e 11 i ng

trees is no permitted, lopping of branches and twigs are allol'led

for preparing 'rab' for fertilizing the soil or even as fuel wood. The

i';' r'c)'': e is full of myrobalan trees, mangoes and 'raiwad'. Myrobalan is

one of the most important sources of earning cash for the villagers in

t!·1 e area. But everybody is not permitted to collect roy rob a 1 ans

th~ sacr~d grove. Every y~ar an auction is called in which Dnly the

residents of Talmachivadi are allowed to bid. Money collected

is used towards the upkeep and maintenance of the The

168

temple was constructed four years back mainly through th~ funds gener-

ated this way. Tulsiram Sable~ however i was assigned to maintain the

;:lecount,s. The temple has neither any trust nor any puJari 01"' pri€:';;.;t

turn~:; ·for every household goes to the temple in the morning in

cleaning it and burning incense sticks before the image. The boons are

every Sunday. Besides the agor saat and diwal saat also

celebrated by the people of the hamlet. An annual 'yatra' for two days

too is held inside the grove. The yatra at Talmachivadi is reported to

b~ celebrat~d with much more gaiety than that of the yatra held at the

Shanker temple by the village as a whole. Vaghoba is supposed to have

a brother deity at Nikdale village near Bhimashanker. Many people from

Nikdale make it a point to be at Talmachivadi during the yatra and the

f)£'Dple i'rom this'. h""H"ilf.~t !:.;.iffiilarly reciprocate dUf'ing the ;;:~f"lnual yatra

at Nikdale.

ILl i th

It i<:o; 1"'E'pcn-·tt'?cl that there j.5 a very E'(?1~i.DLlS conflict at Nimgir'i

r~gard to the Vaghdeo grove and it's 'dec handa'. The rune ses-

siuns court has also been moved to settle the issue. The v j. J. 1 <~g e r!'::·

:in the Kuker khora were claiming priesthood and ol,me,~ship

ri(;Jhtf:~ Dver the Vaghoba shrine. But a few Y8ars back Deoji f3h i ',,' J'Bm

Sable of Talmachivadi contested their rights and with the support of

r~sidents of the hamlet he moved the court demanding that

a ·roT'esa i d laid land and ·forests is part of the village cDlOmons.

thE.'

But

eyen as th~ case is sub-judice the people of Talmachivadi are reported

to have physically stalled the claimants from collecting myrobalans

or cultivating on 'dec handa'. The 'deo handa' is now being cultivated

in batches of twenty residents from Talmachivadi every year in tu TT1~5.

ThE" auction c]'F the mYTobc;;1an j.~. als(.J deliberately limited only to the

residents of the hamlet. It is interesting that while the Talmachivadi

169

people are on the one hand fighting against Tulsiram Sable over Mhadu-

hal grove and land, they are also drawing his support to fight against

the I\Hlngiri village (proper) over the Vaghdeo prDp(n~tYn Incidentally

from Junnar called Dixit is handling both thl? cases

relating Tulsiram Sable, in one of which he is B plaintiff and in the

utl'·I£~r· he J.~; the bai). iff.

The)"'1? is a deeper factor underlying the opposition of the Tal-

machivadi people against Nimgiri. First of all they feel sanguine that

in the olden days th0 hamlet was an independent village. It was only

durin[) the British rule that they have been clubbed with the

jurisdiction of Nimgiri village. Apart from this the people oi: the

ha.mll,=t are aggrieved that much of the development funds for the vi 1-

are diverted away by the gaothan people. Even otherwise for all

purposes Talmachivadi is better connected to the outside

v.lorld through the adjoining village called Taleran which is located

ri r:­ot=::" 1-_1 kms down hill. For making any small purchases or for catching

bus people go to Taleran rath~r than going to Nimgiri. For quite

time Talmachivadi is also demanding to form a separate mOUZB, citing

the government order of 1958 which stipulates that a settlement {'.Ii th

mDre than 300 population can form a separate revenue j U l' i sd i c t ion

(mouza) and also form a separate panchayat. The hanllet is also demand-

ing a separate Post Office for itself. A separate and elabDrate annual

yatra organized by them ~lso rather reinforces their stake through

l'<:? 1 i {} i O··-CLi I tu r- a]. t-;:mbod i In!?n ts"

10. Masutia- Burial groves: Quite like Malin village Nimgiri too has a

numbf:'r of burial groves or masutias as locally known. every

170

hamlet of the village has one ffiBsutia ~ttached to it. The masutias in

the village appear to be very small in size and not easily noticeable.

Nimgiri hB~,; <l fel" terHple~:o and shr'ines l.,hich do not have

gT~f.:lVes. The ~::hanker temple is the best illl.!stT'atiofl o"f thesp. Shankf~r

to be the tutelary deity of the village. The Shanker

temple used to be previously located near the site of the old gaothan

to the Nimgiri hills. It was shifted to the present site a i' et.)

years back when the old temple got badly damaged due to landslide. It

was shifted there since there were a few big trees and a water source.

This plot of land belongs to a widow called Bhimabai. Bhimabai is now

strongly opposed to the dominant section of the 'v'iJ.lagf~

to acquirrn other adjoining fields of hers i:1rH.1 con s t T"'\JC t a

bigger temple and plant some trees. Bhimabai was compelled to move the

court when her pleadings to the village elders went unheard. The court

a ruling in her favour and r~strained any farther encroachments

on her land. But though the villagers have now dropped the idea of a

bigger temple, they still hold the annual yatra o"f the village on her

plots of land after the harvest is over.

On the periph0ry of the gaothan right behind the Zilla Parishad

middle s,chocd. a replica of Vandeo or 'pl~atik' (foot print engraved on

a round block of stone) along with an image of Lord Hanuman and a few

TheT'(~ 1· <:­-=> no sacred grove attached to

this shrine. The place does not have any temple either. During all the

major rituals of the village, the deities are brought on palinquins

and propitiated there. According to the people of Nimgiri temple

has been constructed there since only the replicas are there and all

the deities are placed in temples at their respective places. The

17:1.

replicas have been place for the sake of the devotees who ·f inc! it

difficult to travel all that distance.

At Nimgiri the deity of Mariai has no sacred grove and instead a

temple of the same is placed about half a furlong inside the

boundary of the adjoining village called Deole. This temple was con­

structed a few years back. Surprisingly there is another Mariai deity

:i.l""l the village which is kept inside the house of a Mahar family. It

is said that this deity was previously placed close to the Mahar van.

It was so when the border of Nimgiri with Deole started just after the

Mahar van. But the boundary equations have changed with dOI'JnlL)ard

of Nimgiri gaothan (it transgressed into the tco'rri tOT"'y of

the adjoining village).

11. Sac red lndiyidual Trees: Almost all the Mahadeo Kalis have

some trees on their agricultural fields which are considered as sacred

and abodes of various spirits~ both benevolent and malevolent. Some

of them may even be the ancestral spirits. The v ar- i DU~". indj. vidual

sacred trees of Kishan Sable, my principal respondent are as:

1. A veer or eer is located on a peepul tree.

2. A Nawa dec resides on a behada tree.

3. A mouli stays on a payar and nirguri tree.

4. Maujibua is located on his field and is deified in the shape of

~: stone.

5. Kanad eer stays on a toran a t h C.J I' n y t I' e e •

6. Vaghya stays on a toran.

7. Vandeo is located on a sadra tree

172

5.1.4 The Groves With Complexity In Junnar Taluka:

1 • Taleran Village: Taleran is a Mahadeo Koli villag~ adjoining

Nimgiri and located within Junnar talu[:a. Tal~ran has a very large

sacred grove which is dedicated to Kalubai or Kalimata. The deity is

placed in a temple within the sacred grove. Next to the Kalubai temple

there 15 also a small shrine of Kalamjai. The total land recorded

name of the deity is 73 acres. Of thiS, total area of the sacred

grove amounts to just 15 acres. O"F the rest 42 acres is and

grazing land and 16 acres is 'deo handa' land for cultivation.

Kalubai of Taleran is considered to be a very fiery and powerful

deity. People from very far flung areas visit it to ask for boons. But

the largest number of devotees assemble there at the time of annual

'jatra' in February-March. The jatra is celebrated to commemorate the

return of the deity frolR a month long 'hunt'. Exactly a month before

the jatra, the deity is sent off ritually for the hunt. Some curd and

cooked rice is packed in a banana leaf and taken outside the temple

and th2 grove in B procession of 15-20 people and put inside a hole on

the ground next to some shrubs Cat the same place every year}

covered with e~rth and some big stones. During the hunt all worships

are stopped and no body is allowed to go to the temple. Though the

'naibadh' rice and curd is taken outside the grove, it is still

placed within the precincts of the temple land. On the day of the

'jatra' the naibadh is brought back in a procession of about 30-35

people and unpacked inside the temple. If it is found to have turned

black, people consider this as an evil omen and think that bad days

are ahead. If it is found in a good shape, good days are expected for

the coming year. The naibadh is then shared among all the devotees.

173

After a 'kathi' or 2 wooden post with red flag Brriv~s in a procession

from Bagalvadi - the adjoining village, and after the deity is propi-

tiat0d~ goats and fowls numbering about 250-300 in all are sacrificed

and people from different villages and families sit in separate groups

within the sacred grove and consume the food after coking. At least

3000-4000 people throng inside the grove during the occasion. It is

important to note that all the wood required to cook is mandatorily

collected from the grove only. The ground of the grove is also severe-

ly trampled by the visitors who spend there at least 10-12 hours at

str~tch. Earlier when the celebration used to comlnence at night the

grove W6S occupied by devotees for even a longer period.

Apart from the ritual significance it can also be construed that

tho 'jatra' provides an opportunity to the Mahadeo Kalis from the

districts of Nashik, AhJnednagar, Thane and Pune to assemble annually

and reinforce their sense of common identity_ This is particularly

v0ry iJnportant since the Mahadeo Kelis do not have any political party

of their own unlike many of the tribal societies through which they

could have generated ethnic solidarity. The occasion also reinforces

community bonds as newly weds pay their obeisance during the 'jatra'.

The Kalubai sacred grove has certain complex problems mainly

centering it's ownership status. A document of 1911 indicates that the

grove was then in the possession of Hari Viswanath Joshi - a Brahmin

mon0yl~nder based at Junnar. In fact almost one third of entir~

village was owned by him during that time. In 1952 after the abolition

of Zamindari system the land was transferred in the names of three

clan members - Karval, Gore and Sutar as they are consid2red to be tf1e

first settlers in the village and were thus custodians of the village

r~sources.

174

ThouGlh thG dec handa land has been now submerged under a small

reservoir, th0 temple accrues a lot of income due to regular inflow of

jealousy for the village elders vis B vis the priests and they do not

c:H? ern to be very appreciative of the fact that all the income be en-

Joyed by the Gores, \,,110 BT£:> the pT~if'sts!,. They triE!d to registE'r

trust in the name of Kalubai but it was opposed tooth and nail by the

and a few others. In between the Maharashtra Private Fen--est

Acquisition Act was passed in 1975~ all private forests measuring more

them 12.5 hectors were acquired by the forest department. It l' .. -.::> re-

ported that taking advantage of this the Gore priests took the initia-

tiv~ of handing over the grove to the government. Since then the

became declared as a reserved forest. This helped them to thw~rt off

th~ deSIgns of the village elders as a temple trust cannot be fOT--med

over a land belonging to the government. On the other hand the priests

could continue to exercise their control over the temple based on th~

moral authority as stipulated by the customary laws of the community.

government on the other hand did not dare to invite wrath of the

tribals by taking over the management of the temple or by demolishing

j, t • It did not even dare to touch a single tree of the grove. Since

'i;h(~ governlnent take over of the land, the priests have also stopped

holding the annual collective feast which they had to earlier do as

the custodian of the temple lands. The village leaders have,

still formed a trust in the name of the temple and though not

tared they collect donations from the public for organizing an annual

in which theater troops are invited for a very heavy

like Rs. 50,000/- for one day. But still the funds raised by the trust

175

are not fully accountable and they are not authenticated by any chart-

ed accDuntant either.

The entire situation has created a lot of confusion and bitter-

ness in the minds of the people. The village elders point out that

some pla!ltations were raised in the sacred grove~ trenches dug around

and cactuses were planted along the periphery by the social forestry

department about a year before the take over by the territorial wing

of the forest department. Social forestry plantations are all under-

taken in Maharashtra on non-forest ~nd community/privat~ lands and

hence the claims of the forest department are absolut~ly wrong. The

villagers on the other hand have not tried to fight out the 1975 Act

and have rather tried to tackle the situation through unofficial means

lik~ contacting the politiCians, ministers and high gDvernm~nt offi­

cials. Similar problems emanating out of government takeover has been

reported in some other adjoining villages like Sitevadi and Kolevadi

villages. In those villages too the implications of the Private Forest

AcquiSition Act was not understood and the Act has gone unchallenged

as yet.

K.V. Karva1 7 my principal respondent from Taleran village states

that such take over of the temples and sacred groves has affected

their proper care and maintenance. Extension of the temples too is not

possible as a consequence. Presently no electric line can also be

taken to the temple since this would violate the stipulation of the

1980 Forest Conservation Act. This also COJoes on the way of sNploiting

the bamboo reserves Wllich would have generated some income for recon-

structing the temple. Selling the bamboos would have in nO way damaged

th~ grove Ginc~ it quickly regenerates if the shoots are not removed

176

even otherwise the bamboos automatically wilt during its

ing.

2. l<e\l)ade Vi 11 age: At Kewade village the Kalamjai deity along with

the sacred grove got submerged under an irrigational reservoir. Conse-

quently the deity was removed to a higher place close to one of the

hamlets called Amvadi. A small temple has been also constructed to

the deity about a year back. Some acacia and eucalyptus trees

were also planted surrounding the temple. But most of them have wilted

away. Some of the villagers of the opinion that it has happened so as

the original deity of Kalamjai could not be removed from the

S pot (~ v e n b y s i >~ P ,,1 i r ~c~ 0 of b u 1 1 Cl C k s. T j"H? r P. p 1 i c a 0 "f t; h e c:J (" i t Y ~,.I h :i chi s

At the a higher

pl<,ce a"rtf''' its temple got submerged by the dam. The new place is

extremely rocky and no tree can grow there. Peopl~ have now planned to

construct a temple th~re but without a grove.

Ajnawle Village: At village Ajnawle which is close

the original Mariai had to be removed as it got inundated by the same

irrigation project as Kewade. It has beGn now shifted to a place on

thE" edge of the reservoir. But there is no possibility of raising

sacred grove there since it is extremely rocky.

5.1.S. Cases Where NGOs Have Intervened:

1. Sakeri Village: At Sakeri village in Ambegaon taluka in Pune

d i ~" t r" i r; t there are two major sacred grove. While one 15 dedicated to

177

c.t e 'v' i , the other is dedicated to Vanden. rJ E' '.,I i

to be a very powerful deity and devotees come to it "far

i'lung place~". Tathouri in Marathi in fact means,

words Tathouri devi fulfills the wishes of the devotees very quickly.

This Tathouri devi is the tutelary deity of village.

Besides it is also the clan deity of the Mahadeo Kalis residing in the

adjoining villages. Tathouri devi is also considered to be 2 sister of

Kalamjai deity of Bhimashanker. It goes out of the village every three

years to i:1 place called Wada in Khed taluka~ to be cleansed by a bell

Kalamjai deity and Tathouri devi meets

called Taleghar and proceeds to Wada through

-c .1-"" \,

a number crf

They return via another route. This mobility also helps in

strengthening affinity among the Mahadeo Kolis of the region.

The Tathouri devi grove is located on the middle level slope on a

hill. It IS commonly said that the devi used to be previously locatE!d

on the hill top. An old woman - a staunch devotee of Tathouri devi who

us~d to visit the temple every day, is believed to have drawn the pity

of the deity. In order to lesson her trDubles, the deity one day asked

the lady to return to the village without looking back and she \[,1ould

follow her. But on the way the devotee could not restrain her curiosi-

ty turned back to see the deity. The deity gEtting

stuck to that place it self - the middle of the slope.

Tathuu,""i. devi. sacred grove is about 25 acres in size comprising

big trees and heavy undergrowth. Bamboo , however, appears to be

the most dominant species. A lot of animals, par"ticularly, monkeys,

~;n a k (? r,; , birds and hyenas are found to take in it.

Cutting or felling of trees is strictly prohibited, but collection of

dr"ir?d leaves and wood is permitted. There is also no restrictions

1.78

against grazing inside the grove. But lack of grass and thol'ns and

bushes generally keep the cattle away_

About two years back Bhimashanker Project an NGO operating in the

area undertook a beautification programme of the grove by Rlaking paved

Joe al

raising cemented plinths around the trees etc.

~ good number of herbs, shrubs and small tr~es. In

this

order

it

to

the work it is reported to have paid Rs, 22,000/- to the

(25% tht'.:n thfi! pr'evail ing market

,,;.::.Iue) • Th(o? villagers also invited their kins from the a[ljoininlJ

Ii i ] 1 ag es for one day to contribute free labour. They were of coursE'

given a feast on the day as is usually done in the 'parkai' system of

The cleaning and beautification drive wa5~ however~ resented by a

section of the popUlation. Kanti Bhagat of Kondval village criticised

t.hc,t this would damage and disturb the minor deities of the or'ovE'

1>,1 tl i c: h are strewn allover. He viewed that should there have been

nE'0d for this the people would have done it free of cost. Every year

they~ in'fact, repair the approach road to the grove on their own. They

also built the temple entirely through local coJ lecticJns. ThE'

Sakeri people too had no way to turn down the NOD overtures since they

being assisted by the same through a number of sch €~me~5. People

the adjoining villages could not refuse the invitation directly

le~st the concerned NGO stop the welfar~ programmes in their villages.

It is surprising that the concerned NGD tried to take up a work

for which it eouJd operate onJy as a financial conduit. It ignored the

fact that there was another sacred grove (across the hill of Tathouri

cJ e vi grove) dedicated to Vandeo. This grove is equally large. But it

was takGn over by the British government and declared as a part of the

179

reserved forest. This grove was very well preserved till recently. At

present th~ oustees of a local dam in the village have resettled close

to the grove. They are reported to have started pilfering the

·Prom this grove. Without having any strict social sanctions since the

take over and government's ambivalence over a people's

institution has now started showing the effects. The local NGO i roO

impervious to all these.

Bhimashanker Project has taken up such beautification of

the ~;acr2d CrT'oves ;.{t a telL! other vil1"'g'"'.=.- 8,<:::. ".1'.'1] .• 1·' A' • " <> r. _ ~" •. 1,::e ,. '"{UPf? ano Me-

numb ri' r v i::d i in Ambegaon taluka. At Ahupe while the NGO had tak~n the

initiativ(;> to save the Bhairoba sacred grove from the hands of con-

and village leaders~ it has taken up the work in the veT'y

same grove 1 failing to realise the long term implications of the same.

At Menumbervadi the NGO had dug som~ trenches c~round

sacl';"d gl'DV{O' i~r1d planted SOine saplings. Du(O' to lack of initiative on

the p~rt of the villagers ~nd want of care they have all wilted alLJay.

Simil,,,T'ly at ~:::(Jndve ~ next to Malin, the NGD had dug trenches and

cactuses all around a sacred grove with heavy vegetation and

the SOCIal forestry department which too had r;;;imilar

LElly the NGO undermined the social fencing component attached to the

2. Dhamni Village In Raigad District:

Wh i 1 e to locate the sacred groves alDng the mountain

from the Deccans to the Konkans in the Mahadeo Koli

case of NBO intervention came to my notice at Dhamni village of Karjat

taluka in Raigad district.

is a multi ethnic village with the Mahadeo Koli~ Thc~kkar'

and Maratha people inhabiting it, The village has six hamlets namely,

eh <~ud h u. T~ '; c;cI :i. , Jadav vadi7 J c~mbu 1 v c!d i and "

BhallE'chivadi"

Each cd th (~ hamlt~t~:; has at lea3t one Ina5utia OT' bUY-·ial/cT'E'.natino

grove. A rapid survey of the village indicates that not all bodies of

one hamlet is buried/cremated in the sacred grove of the same hamlet.

They are usually taken to the masutia where the bodies of that partic-

ular clan is disposed off. All the hamlets are found to have locality

deities. But sacr0d groves are not attached to all of them. Deities of

Ch i 11 t ""nan i and Mariai which are located at Bhalechivadi

beneath a clump of trees. There is a Cherra at Mechkarvadi and it has

no grove. Almost every vBdi has a Vaghdeo deity located in the vicini-

ty but groves are not attached to any of them.

the deity is placed near a forest which is but not consid-

er~d to b~ a sacred grove. There is only one Atrun tree standing r1 PX t

to it which is never touched • The agor sa at and diwal saat are cel-

ebr8ted there collectively by the people of Chaudhurvadi. The Dhangars

1'1 e c h k a r v a d i have a separate sacred grove dedicated to Kalamjai.

Th i 5 9 r'ov e is locat~d up on the hill within thE:' for'est.

Incidentally the grove has never been felled by the forest department.

At Dhamni the Somjai deity which is the tutelary deity is located

inside a sacred grove (within its temple). The Somjai temple was vel~y

earlier. But it has been expanded three years bacl:. Academy Of

Development E.\cience~~, a local NOD operating in Raigad district is

reported to have donated some money for this apart from providing some

saplIngs of medicinal plants to be sown in the sacred grove. Ass i s--

181

to,nc:e \'laS 81r,;0 given tot<Jards r<lising a baHlboD fence all ",.round the

But during the study it was observed that except l' 0 1"' f e\.J

plants all the rest have been browsed off or destroyed by the cattle.

The f2nce too was gon~. It is curieus that ADS had donated any money

for the plantation as it symbolises a self regulatory institution of

the c[:rnlmunity. ThE' people irl fact donated <; sum of Hs: .. 14~OOO/-·· \!.!hich

earned by excavating a pond in the village financed by the pan-

c::hay<,t under the Jawahar Rojgar scheme. If the people had

fOT' th~ plants, they would have planted them on their own. It

also appears that the NGO overlooked the fact that the undergrowth of

the is removed every year during the annual yatra to provide

to the people for resting and participating in thE'! t::E,lG:,bra---

t ion'!.,.

to be unaware about th~ int~rn21 cJ Y 1"1 ami c s; c< 1; thf,!

v :l 1 1 -3. (] f' V-J i 1 i 1 e ~? n d (0 ,-H' D U 1"' i II gin tot h P ,;s c h f2 m (? ltd i d n rJ t k n m'J t h ;~ t the r e

was a conflict between the hamlets ov~r the control of the temple and

thco\ Due to this government took over the prop2rty under its

c: eon t r'u 1. Because of such a dispute the PQople were very unhappy that

ADS involved only ChucJhurvadi for implementing the project. It is said

thmt becRuse of this some people from other hamlets deliberately let

their cattle into the grove.

The Acadomy Of DevelopmQnt Sciences had also taken up 8. horticul-

tur-'c' p,-·ugr;:l.fnrnrJ under its Deo rahi schem~ or Sacred grove scheme in

\! . .Ih:i. c:h

dedicate them to the ancestral spirits which are supposed to dwell on

trees on the different agricultural plots. But this scheme also proved

to be a failure and most of the planted trees have died away. This is

rather surprising since a similar horticultural scheme taken up by

182

another NGO called Bharstiya Agro Industries FDUnd&tion on the adjoin-

ing plots have met with full success. The villagers reported that

timely distribution of insecticides and quick replacement of dead

saplings by BAIF have provided better results. It appears from this

e~perience that proper material support and timely intervention by one

of the NGOs has contributed far more positively than the spiritual

appeal m8de by the oth8r.

5.1.6. Exceptional Deities Of The Sacred Groves:

The sacred groves among the Mahadeo Kolis are not ulways dedicat-

ed to tho common powerful deities which are usually \~orshipped by the

high caste Hindu Maharashtrians. In some cases they are also dedicated

to minor deities like the ghosts or even magicians. At village Amba,

adjoining Malinl the sacred grove of the gaothan is dedicated to

Garudi or a gypsy magician. It l·~ .~ said the garudis used to visit the

every year. Once a garudi who had gone there to perform died

at the' village itself. The memorial stone of the garudi was placed in

the grove and worshipped ever since as a tutelary deity which added

sanctity to the grove.

Th~ Garudi deity is believed to possess special powers of divina-

tion and it can correctly name the thieves or culprits and specify the

place where the stolen objects can be located. A cDuple of years back

when a goat of Amba village was stolen~ the Garudi deity correctly

named the thieves from Nikdale village near Bhimashanker and the

latter were compelled to return it. The people even otherwise pray to

G~rudi before carrying out any major activity in the forest.

during snake bites people first pray to Garudi. Any acrobat visiting

the village first prays tD Garudi before conducting a show. The annual

183

yatra of the village too is held in the Garudi sacr~d grove. At that

time a palinquin carrying the replica of Vetal 1S brought to it from

the sacred grove of the hamlet at Amba village.

At Kewade village adjoining Nimgiri in Junnar taluka~ Vetal is

the tutelary deity. But the Vetal - king of the ghosts does not have a

sacred grove. Instead it is supposed to dwell on a single tree. There

is no temple at the site~ but a platform has been raised recently at

the trunk of the tree.

5.1.7. Myths Related to Sacred Groves:

There are many myths related to the sacred groves ln the

es. But it was not possible to record them through the rapid

villag-

surveys.

But onQ of the most striking cases which CQuid be recorded is the one

li~ked to Ajnawle village in Junnar taluka. Many of the Marath~s of

Aen village in Akela taluka of Ahmednagar district and Singate village

of Junnar taluka in Pune district who consider the Bhairoba deity of

Ajnawle - principally a Mahadeo Keli village, as their kul dec or clan

deity. There is a popular myth connected to this deity among the

people which goes like this: Many generations back a Maratha person

had promised while asking for a boon from Bhairoba that should he get

a child he would deliver it to his services. But when he really was

blessed with a daughter, hE forgot to fulfill his promise. The deity

got quite annoyed by this and just before a few days of her wedding

sh~ was dr~wn away to the grove of Bhairoba at Ajnawle. The parents

then got their second daughter married to the groom and followed their

first daughter to the grove. But on reaching there the daughter again

fled away and disappeared into the AJnawle hills. Her dress and ban-

1B4

91es were later found there by the people. Since then she became known

as Demibai and has been worshipped by the people.

People of Ajnawle also belieye that about hundred years back

Bhairoba had fled away from Ajnawle hill to Bhairavgad hill. One man

from Ajnawle called Bhaguramji Lande after getting into trance ~ould

learn the exact whereabouts of Bhairoba. Then he along with a few

others went to Bhairavgad hill to fetch the deity and there they found

a stone image of his along with a trident. Subsequently they all

prayed the deity and brought the image along with th0 trident back to

Ajnawle. On returning Bhaguramji again tell into trance and pierced

the trident into a coconut and placed a dhoti (loin cloth) over it.

Nextly he kindled ~ fire to the dhoti. Surprisingly the dhoti did not

catch fire and ever since the deity has been worshipped in the vil­

lag0.

Thoro is another story that once thieves were approBching to

steal from the house of a rich man in Ajnawle at night. But while

getting near the village boundary and close to the Bhairoba grove the

thieves suddenly could see nothing ahead of them although eV0ry thing

was visible behind them. They could realise that this w~s due to the

wrath 01 Bhairoba and they begged apology from the deity and abandoned

their mi~sion. Since then there has been no theft at Ajnawle.

5.2. CASES IN KOLHAPUR DISTRICT

5.2.1. Radhanagri Taluka:Hasne Village:

Hasne is a village of moderate size with 137 house holds which is

located in Radhanagri taluka of Kolhapur district. It is in fact

sltuated right by the side of the highway leading fron; Kolhapur to Goa

185

via Phondaghat. The Dajipur Wildlife Sanctuary is located just 4 kms

from the village.

Introduction:

Hasne is a moderately advanced village because of it's location

neNt to "the highway. Though the village roads are of kuchcha type, all

:I. tE houses are electrified. It does not have tap water system

peop.1 (? co} :I (0C t water from the wells and from a small 1'.1 V f:> T' f 1 oll.li ng

thrOUl;jh the village. There is one tea stall cum general store in

villaql? There is one middle school and two primary schools for the

children. An anganwadi center is 8150 run by the district

ticn. Hasne falls under the jurisdiction of Radhanagri Police Station.

Post Office is at Dajipur. The nearpst f~rj.mBry Hf!.::l th

Centel~ .I'; a.1~,;Ci located <.::t DC!jipur. It hi~~; a p;:mchayat: CJ"f it~~ CllL.1n.

Hasne basically comprises of thre~ ethnic:

rla.m(?ly~ the Kunbis or Kunbi-Marathas? Harijans and Nomadic Dhangars.

three hamlEts of Hasne apart from the gaothan \,!h ich are:

H a r i j .:. n .... i:1 d i ~ D han id a r' y a d a and Sat i c h a In a 1. 1-1 as n e i 5 C C:)I'"l 5 ide red to b e a

"1' i rs:,t

the village. They were followed by the Gawares who

a settlement about two krus away from the present gaothan.

ThG Bhonsles of Wardha village in Konkan area came and settled in the

village after killing the Gawares.

Sacred Groves Of The Village:

L Gangoba Sacred Grove: Almost all the settlements have a

j. f1 the village. The biggest and the most important

close to the gaothan. This grove is dedicated to Gangoba~ th P.

186

tutelary deity of the village. Gangoba placed within an old temple

lnside the grove. The Gangoba templ8 accommodates a number of other

deities apart from Gangoba. The main component of this is the symbolic

representation of 'Sara Panch' - small round stones repr~senting the

five families of the higher castes controlling the village administra-

tion twelve servant families called 'Balutedar', Besides these

there are twenty one stone images which belonged to the Buddhists who

used to inhabit the place in the olden days. Th~se apart, there IS

stone replica of Ughwai deity, which is considered to be the most

powerful deity of the area and is also the tutelary deity of the

adjoining village called Dajipur.

Next to the temple of Gangoba there is a temple of Paunai which

is relatively much smaller in size and also appears to be in 0 dilapi-

dated condition. Ap~rt from the deity of P~unai there are the

of Vithlai~ Ravalnath, 8harade and Kalka dsvi. There are also a number

of minor deities which are considered to be lieutenants of Paunai. It

IS said that Pauna devi has great powers and the word Pauna Itself has

several connotations in Marathi. One is that Deo Paula devi has

fulfilled one's desires. The second interpretation is that it is the

deity of wind - 'pawan'. The third interpretation of Pauna is also to

feel happiness, or derive pleasure out of any object. Apart from these

Pauna in Marathi also means guests. In fact one really finds that

Pauna devi is the goddess of guests as it is customary for the married

women to pray to paunai when they visit their husbands along with

their husbands. They pray to the deity and make some offerings to the

deity while visiting their natal villages. It is therefore apparent

that the third and fourth connotations have some bearings. The pres-

ents brought to the village is certainly B matter of joy for all. The

187

~,,~~04.yi R,fJ-4J. "~'",,

~~y,C),: (~; (.se\C y,J... ~",ovt.)

;x ~ j;f'lwV

\.I : \ cl 'It: ~ f\. ~ t::" <r<" ':I

,[

# P~14. /.:. '"

b n<""h Sit y \t&..~ .

{.

gifts received by the village through the Pauns devi is in fact shared

by all according to the proportions set by the traditions lIke 50: 25:

1. Some of the gifts are also given to the Harijans Qiso as a part of

their share. In fact the whole organization of the village seems to be

centered around the principle of gift sharing.

Hasne village was basically settled by three brothers of Wardha

village (after displacement of the Gawares) of Sindhdurg district.

These Sawant brothers are considered to be the ancestors of all the

Kunbi families of ttle gaothan. The three sub-hamlets of the gaothan

ar~ formed according to the line of descent of the thre8 brothers. It

J~ said that the village used to receive one silver rupee from the

Kolhapur king every year and it was shared by the three lineages. The

b!'other who helped th~ king with village administration received 50

paise. The other two brothers who took care of the temple management

and local ritual arrangements got twenty five paise each. During the

annual collective hunt as well similar percentage of the share was

retained. While one brother received two parts, the other brothers

received one part each and the remaining was given to the Guravs and

Harijans • In the recent years the sharing of the temple offerings has

become a matter of serious contention since the strength of the two

lesser lineages have gained numerical preponderance (since the elites

are more in number among third group who have fared better in life and

~re mostly working in Bombay, Pune or Kolhapur) and they have started

challenging the old tradition and the social hierarchy. The matter was

even drawn to the courts and since then the number two family which

had gained more, hays started boycotting the

collective celebrations.

188

village meetings and

Apart from the Gango and Pauna temple there is another temple of

Lin(JDba inside the Gangoba sacr~d grove. The Lingoba temple has been

about five years back through local donations and sh r"am

1. abour"". Though [<)oman ;;~rE'! permi tted inside th;::! Gr.mgo and

Pauna temples they are strictly prohibited from entering the Lingoba

tf:-mplE. Even people who have eaten non-vegetarian food within three

I"?arlier are not allowed to enter into the temple.

thc::<ugh shoE'S are allowed to be worn near the other temples thE"!y

not permitted near the Lingoba temple.

There is a small platform near the entrance of the grove which i~

considered to be a commemorate of Sati devi. Only the women are "fOLlnd

worshipping this shrine. The story behind this shrine of Gati devi is

that Gangoba had once ordered the village to construct B temple for it

on~ night. When the temple was about to be completEd~

I"');.~i":; rcquir""ed to tie a bamboo pol(":. In the grove al~;o only one c:limbi"?Y--"

was left which could be used for the purpose. The villagers then ask~d

gurav or the priest to fetch it. When the guray climbed the t J'e e

to lop it off the climber suddenly turned into a snake and bit him to

death. This whole incidence also was dreamt by the wife of the gurav

II"Jhn I<!as" then on visit to Paunavadi at Phondaghat. immedia.tely

H"f t e J'!'! a rcJ <;;:" .left for Hasne village in the morning. But on the

she encountered a few of the villagers who were on teo

inform her. On being confirmed about her dream the woman illHlH?diately

- self immolation. But while dying she pleaded with

that no person in th~ village should ever die of snake

This incidence is believed to have occurred seven generations back and

ever since no body' in the village has died elf <_;n~I:""a bl·t n rV(~n nr - ~~, '"" _ '"..".:..": i ~:<p""1 ~ 1" "<i' " I

8ny une is bitten by a snake, the person is brought to the temple and

189

in

fact strongly believed that if the patient is taken to a doctor he

will invite the wrath of Gangoba and die instantly.

fir ar't f r'orll the temples and the shrines there are a numb (,? r o'f

minor deities and ghosts rQpresented by stones smeared with V E' r'CfI iii on

strewn allover the grove, mainly around the temples. All the deities

of the grove are propitiated by the pujari (guray) every morning_ But

the general population goes to the temple only once a week, mainly to

in the month of November after 30 days of Diweli. The yatra

begins when Vasudev Kanggle, a Harijsn of the village, gets into

trance and runs from the Gangoba sacred grove to the ThaI sacred grove

to the Harijans) and returns back five minutf.'~;.

After this the 'mukut' or replica 01 Gangoba is carried on a palinquin

to the Lingoba temple for five times and brought back. On th~ night of

t h (? Y fi t l' a the palinquin is kept at the house of the gurav In thf?

and psalms are continuously sung till the day break. During

the yatra, cultural programmes arG also organized inside the grove. In

fact a small concrete stage has been constructed within the grove for

'I:: h i ~; pur p 0 s e. The ate l' t r 0 U pes a f' t? i.=d~; () 'i n v i t: e top e P 'f en' f(I 'f 0 r qui tea

amount. Contributions are collected from every hOU5&hold

this purpose. Relatives and friends also ~isit to enjoy the 'fun

frolic. In fact such yatras are organized in all the adjoining vil1ag-

es on different dates so that people from different vill;c~ges can

participate in each other's programmes.

T!H? sac T'(:d (] rove HH? T'f:? fOI'e b f?C:Ollles a pI ae e 'for' mL~SS (!JC)b iii z at i on

'-, .~ Q \... the grass roots through religio-cultural media. They

significant political roles which becomes particularly manifest during

190

the Shimga or Holi festival. During the Shimga a 'mad' tree or a mango

tree is felled from the grove and is pulled out in it's entirety to be

vertically at the 'Chauhata'- meeting ground of the village.

But be f ewe this tree is brought out before c on v e r' tin g it intD a

the village elders pray to Gangoba and takes it's permission

two Harijans (the village elders) get into trance and In

sess~d state relate all the good and bad things which have

in the village during previous one year. The guilty are pointed out

d.nd thE' rEmedi£':s ordel~ed" The -f'elling (")f the rncmgo or mad trc'E.' has.

another significance due to the fact that there is a government ban

ag<iinst felling such trees without permission and this is not takerl.

But the goVe1"njnf~nt c:.l~:;o Dn it's, pal~t :If::; not knc*,n t.o ha.\1f~ penalized

any body for such contravention of the law. In fact I was told that In

some of the adjoining villages where the right trees are not available

E'l c'!n in such cases the government has not taken a.rly pun i t i ,/12

measures. This may be construed as a symbolic assertion of the commun-

ity vis a vis the state.

but

th i ~5 is done so within the Gangoba sacred groYe. to thE'

]. c.:c:: al people this symbolizes the confluence of religion and pDlitic:~,

lL!h i c:h The

thu~; the symbol of both sacred and profane of thE'

V.Lll;;'qe folk. Besidss J the grove being used even for burial

also links the people with their past. The village Chauhata where the

rn,=rin ktlam is T'aiserJ also has a number c)f tr~?es. Though 110t c:onsidel'ed

a 'ban' - sacred grove, the trees there are never felled. The Chauhata

191

is the pIece where the informal village panchayat meets to discuss

about the important problems confronting the vil18ge. The pulling down

of the old kham and erDcting another new one at the Chauh~ta alsD is

indicative of collective renewal- eternal return of the people.

The vegetal growth of the Gangoba sacred grovo is very good as it

is not only full of big trees, but it has lots of herbs, shrubs and

climbers as the undergrowth. There is no restriction against grazing

inside the grove~ but cattle is usually not taken there. Felling and

lopping of trees is, however strictly prohibited. But wood from the

grove may be used for the renovation for any other purpose of the

temples.

There is a small sacred grove of about .25

sere in size locsted at a distance of two furlongs from the Gangoba

sacred grove, which is called 'Goulds ban', The grove is located by

the side of a small river and has about twenty big and medium trees.

It has almost no undergrowth. Though there is no such restriction

against felling of the trees, no body has Gver done so. This grove

basically provide shed to the cattle which is grazed around. In the

noon after t&king bath in the stream they ar~ usually fOUlld to rest

under this sacred grove. No wonder that all the sheph2rds, young and

old collect money and organize a collective feast at the grove once a

year. Though this ceremony is organized by the shepherds! the entire

village participates in this. The grove is recorded in the name of th2

gurav who is also the priest of the Ganooba deity.

3. ThaI Sacred Grove: The Harijans of Hasne have a separate sacred

grove which is dedicated to the Nirankari dec - the new sanskritized

name for ThaI deo. This deity is considered to be thG God of creation.

192

The 9 I'O V' (.? is quite small and is about .5 acre in sizG. There 1· o· .=> no

templ€· in the grove and a small round stone is considered to be the

symbol of ThaI dec. Women are not permitted inside the grove. ('>J~?aring

inside the grove is also not permitted. Though grazing i~, not.

felling Dr lopping of trees is strictly prohibit2d since

the wood is needed for cremating the bodies.

4. Paudoba Sacred Grove: Close to the Dhan9ar~8di there is a small

sacred grove of about .25 acre in size. Gangoba is supposed tD hi'.\'<'e

halted there first before proceeding to the gBothan while coming

l<umbhaonE~ village from where the first settling clan of the vi 11 a9&:'

h?d lnigrated. The (::J,·o'·/e ha!"::. no temple. Only a 'Pdudoba' Of' foot j. rn-

on i.', ~;lc~[} of E,tone i"~ plact!d in~:.ide thr;., ~~rovp. IhIs is cons,>id-

ered to be a replica of Gangoba. There are no big trees in this grove,

but the undergrowth is very heavy which makes it impregnable. No body

touches the grove as even collecting leaf litter is not allowed. Women

too are prohibited.

The Dhangr.sr·o:;. claim that 'Paudoba" deity is Pi-:C lus:.i ';lely t h ~ i r'~; •

They make this assertion on the basis of a myth according to which one

day when a Dhangar was carrying a bundle of grass on his head suddenly

there appeal·oed a heavy £~tone in it. . He thf?1"1 kept "1::1"1 i ,.:;. st.one uncj ,? T~ a

·t r't:: (,r . Pd't P j"' ~~DlHe day~: c:~ ci.il f 1/.' ~1 5 bOPrl to h i l::' COlA•1 . But the COlA) did not

91ve any milk at home after this. Subsequent.ly the Dhangar discovered

thp c: 0 I'! aut. 0 mat i c: a :I. ]. Y 5 I·) E· d 5 it' s rn i ]. k Co nth e t. 0 P C"I -r thf2 hpavy

stone which he had found earlier. Seeing this he got very wild and hit

the stone with his BNE' and surprisingly blood stcrted oozing Dut oi'

it:. Sincf~ t.hen thl? Dhangar kept his CO\<) ti(?d bi.:;.ck a.t hO(l1e. But imrne-

c:! i c;t: ely after this the gurav of the village slso discovered thdt

of his cows too was similarly milking on the top of the heavy stone.

1.93

T·h2 gu r;.:;. v then shared this incidence with all th<·2 viII agt?ps

from Gangoba whether the stone was good or bad. Si.nc:E' th<?!

deity -;-".aid it to tH? got1d they bf'ought it i:1t<.Iay ·fY'oln the ~;pot. But: the

Dhangars di.d not like this and made a replica of the stone and kept it

inside the grove. The Dhangars celebrate agor sa at and diwal saat at

this. grDve.

5. K&jrichi rahi: There is a small grove called Kajrichi rahl about

2 kms away from the Hasne gaothan, close to the border of Salap v:i.l-

Lor1g tim!? back a set.t.lement u~;ecj to be th~:T'e~ but the P\O":!op1 f:'

were displaced due to the construction of Radhanagri reservoir during

the time of Sahu Chhatrapati, the last king of Kolhapur.

does not have any temple or deity. There are a few old th e r·e ~

incJicc(ting it to be a place of long veneration. It is said the

ered by trees. People strongly believe that should anyone

it, great harm will befall upon them. People

not able to say why is the shpine called Kajrichi rahi.

The undergrowth of Kajrichi rahi is rather poor. The h erl1s Hnd

shrubs of the grove are regularly lopped for preparing '1'ab' or ·f CJ t'

them as fuel wood. There is no restriction against in

grove. Wearing shoes inside it is also not prohibited. Women too

can enter it. The shrine 15 not regularly worshipped and does not have

young a1'0 aware of this grove. The people who have agricultural plcd::~;

it are mostly interested in its upkeep and they hold a feast

after sacrificing a goat during the agor saat.

194

6. Saticha Mal: About 4 kms from the gaothan on the way to Radhana-

SJr]. IS a small hamlet comprising of ten households which

de Saticha mal. There was no habitation for a long time at the

p.l.ac:e r.:.incp the earlier settlement had disappeared. ElLl.t aftf:.'r the

L i1 >: m i b 2. i dam was constructed in 1948, a number of displaced ·f am iIi os

and settled down there. But legally the land around the settl~-·

ID(·?nt except for the homesteads are all under the jurisdiction of

forest department. Just close to the hamlet there is a small !:::.hrine

known as 6Bticha mal. It is said that in the olden days there used to

be a 'kasal'" - bell metal worker who used to live there along with his

wife. The old couple were the only survivors of an epidemic which had

earlier wiped out the entire village which was located there. After a

when the kasar died, his wife committed , ,- ... ~;a (. 1 .. ~;ir,C:f? th\~ri the

spot became venerated for the people.

About 60 years back a man called Datturaoji Patil or Harugle of

Konnouli village who had settled at Hasne became a devotee of Sati and

worshipping the shrine which then comprispd of just two stones smeared

with vermilion. He even started getting possessed by the Sati. People

also began to consult him for solving their problems. Datturaoji was

even Eome t i me~; invited to Gangoba temple at Hasne fOT~ divination.

Later another person from Mandrevadi called Dhaka Jagtap b ec arne

disciple cli' his and started living with him at S<-:;ticha fHc;l.

Datturaoji died in 1984 the priesthood of Sati was passed on to Dhondu

t r·(-.' f.'S·

Braund the shrine after assuming priesthood. The plants have now grown

tall and the place now looks like any sacred grove from a dis-

tance. In fact the Ssti is now considered to be the tutelary deity of

and the Kham is posted there during 'fami Jy

are asked from the d~ity on every Tuesday, During Diwsli

married daughters return home offer coconuts at Saticha m&l. AgoI' sa at

and diwal saat are held there during the pre-sowing and post-harvest

Saticha mal has a special Significance considering the fact

th (~ h"Wllet has not been given a revenue status a "f t e r s eve I' <~ 1

pet j, t i on~; to the government. The forest land has not been deregular-

even after 47 years of occupation of this land by the di~;;pl2.ced

There is rath~r a constant pressure on them from the

C I n'J ;'. r ,t, ,'n (,' f1 t t, 0 ',) '" ,-- ;::, t t'" "~ I~ ", 1 j , ' > t I h b 'l i' l' _1" ,- h - - ",_ " _ L, '" a 11 C on {l.iJ11 c ,1 ' '1 e y ;.3. vee (,~ n c u, :. I v,';;':' 1 r1(J 211

Saticha mal in this conteNt possibly them tn

sta~2 2 moral claim on the land. The grove is situated on the lijnd of

the forest department. Because of the religious aura attached it

possibly the department has not been able to do anything. In fact even

Inent tantamount to violation of the stipulated laws. Thus the grove in

~ way seems to have assisted the people to consolidate thej,r cl<~im

over the lands which arc adjoining it.

7. Akhirkar-Ka-Deo or Pauneswar Grove:

devi to b(;>

the traders travelling the old trade routes on foot Dr bullock carts

can be probably guessed from the Akhirkar Ka den or Paunoswar a

shrine which has rec~ntly eome up in the forests close to Batiella mal.

The shrine of Akhirkar is located on the kuchcha road which leads from

to Nanevada village~ about 3 kms in~;icle the

This shrine has come into prominence only about 20-30 years

back. Ther8 are two storiGs about the em8rgence of this shrine. Ac-

cordinQ to one version Akhirkar was a road labourer. One day all the

labourers working on the road went to have their 1 urich

forests close to a spring leaving their implements behind. On

i n1] to th~ surpris~ of the labourers all their implements were "Found

missing. When they could not be located even after a thorough

of the labourers named Akhirkar picked up a stone in anguish and

placod it below a 'jamun' tree and vowed that should the implements be

found he would always worship it as a deity. Astonishingly the

ments surfaced at their own places immediately thereafter Akhirkar's

s· ton Iii! b G(j ;;;.n to be worshipped by all. According to the other story,

failec1 to hunt any game consequently for two years during the

~nnual ritual hunting ceremony. On the third year before entering the

Akhirkar placed a stone under a jamun tree and vowed that he

would worship the stone as a deity for ever should a game be hunted.

,... -;:.)lnce the hunt proved successful, the shrine is now worshipped

larly. People state that since the deity fulfilled their desires it is

now called Pauneswar. But there is something more important than this

cannot be discounted. The villagers from Nanevada and P a tg aDJ')

have now started using much more frequently ever since the old

t:J 0 t:. ~', u b rn E' r' ~:J f.,' c:J U 1'-, t:J E:.' r' <1.1') i, r' r- i ~~ a t; i [) I') a 1 T~ e ~" {;' r v 0 i r" r·, 0 rei m po r tan t; 1 y i. t i ,.;.

the traders who use this shortcut to reach the markets of Radhanagri

The forest here is very thick and full 01 ,<,I i. J. cJ

like wild buffaloes and panthers. Apart from these the lonely furrows

c arT~y the risks of bipedal predators. The deity in such \<,Ii lderness

a source of reassurance. No wonder it is Inf.')stly the

traders who pay their obeisance to the deity while passing this way.

:1.97

Oth0rs also are occasionally found to go there to ask for boons or to

fulfill the vows once their wishes are fulfilled. They take bell metal

bells with them to hang around the jamun tree. Fowls ar·e also sacri·-

ficed on such occasions as per the pledge and a feast is enjoyed by

all. ImportantlYi this grove in the recent years has come to be known

as Pauneswar or a deity who fulfills the wishes Df the guests.

9. Mirgai: Haene village has no deity of Mariai or Mirgai as found

among the Mahadeo Koli areas or in some of the other Kunbi villages of

the area. There is no other border deity as well. However~ an annual

Mirgai ceremony does take place in the village. During the ceremony B

Harijan person gets into trance or possessed and goes from door to

collect prasad or offerings - coconut and flowers and then goes to

Ughwai temple which is located at the border of Hasne and Dajipur.

After reaching there he throws away all the offerings in a stream.

Mirgai ceremony is held just after the first monsoon rains in the

early part of June. It is locally believed that after the first rain

all the pollutions which had accumulated over the previous year is all

away to augur a bright period ahead. A collective feast which

1S organized on the occasion marks the happin~ss with

cleansing of the village.

the spiritual

10. Ling Kund: There is a small sacred pool next to a stream 11000·-

ing near the Paudoba sacred grove. Naunath deb or the major Hindu Gods

and Goddesses are believed to have taken bath in this pool. Bhagvsti

river is also considered to have originated from this pool.

198

5.2.2. The Groves With Complexities In Radhanagri Taluka

1. Savarde Village: Savarde is a moderately big village located 1n

taluka of KolhBpur district. It has only

di'·/ided in one gaothan and four hamlets namelYf BagBlvadi~ Hid(?\'iHii,

Vadichivadi and Hallichivadi.

Savarde is located at one end of the Waki ghol or Waki c: a tc::hrlH2nt

Dudhg,3onga river originates. The terrain of :is

generally undulating being at the base of surrounding hills.

MaT·atha~s. But it is''. <.d.so bp1.ievf~d that b€~fDr'e thG: Kunbis had

settled the village~ the area was inhabited by the DI'1 20ng <3.1'5

pa~:;:.toral nomads. The Dhangars have now shifted to the higher

and some of them have even migrated to the hills and forests of North

A few of the Dhangars have also s~ttled at the adjoining

village called Basundi. Some of the Dhangars of Savarde have now

svttled at Kondusi village near Patgaon in Gargeti taluka of Kolhapur

This migration of the Dhangars is considered to be an out-

of the penetration of the Kunbis from the Konkans who were even

encouraged to do 50 by the rulers of Kolhapur. A few of the groves ·-.·1-

""" Savarde symbolically reveal the process of Kunbi domination"

th(?T'f? is al~-5o DfH? papticul ar gro'i(~' l.n the '.I ill ,30 (j e \I.J hie h

r~veals the military and strategic importance. There is

one forest-sacred pool combination in the village. We shall

describ~ them here.

all the settlements of Savarde have a number of deities

at least one sacred grove each on the adjoining lands. Bagalvi~di

and equal number of shrines which a rEi" cornrncm 1 y

They namely as, Paudobamun, and

'thargas'- stone commemorates placed in the masutia Dr burial

of them has small sacred groves. The Pudobamun IS considered tu

bf! a replica of Kalamma deity whose temple is located in the

to the village. The replica is just a flat stone slab ("Ii th

i rnp r'i n t:;:; c'f t(L!O f e i,?t . The q T'OV f? is of only al'Jout .2 ;.'l.C: T' (? S in :;; i;:.~ 2' n

Thuugl·'1 the r'e a T'12 not rn2;ny big treE'S:, in i t therE> are plenty 01: ~'l £1 r'b::}

; ,1· .1- \..-., particularly that of . karbaneja'. FE'll in9 2.nd loppil1(j

of trees in the grove ~re prohibited but grazing is allowed. Shoes 2r0

not permitted within the grove, but there is no restriction

t.he to women. This grove symbolically marks the

control of the Kunbis of the village.

to Bagalvadi there is another shrine with a sacred grove:

is czdled Janjimahal. In rnBny «Ji.'l.ys the Janjimahal is a uniqLle

thing. The shrine basically comprises of a dilapidated temple ~~ich is

fully covered by trees, shrubs and climbers. In fact a few trees are

-rDund to be growing right from the top of the old structure of thE!

t~mple and therefore it is hardly visible from Dutside. It IS commonly

believed by the local people that Shivaji Mahraj had taken shelter and

made necessary preparations there prior to attacking Shayasta Khan in

It is said that there are similar shrines the ~djoj,l'ljng

VIllages like Jhalkevadi near Nanevada and Berachavada at Bhairigarh.

It is said thBt the Maratha army used to hide in such sh r i n (~~;; and

carry out guerrilla warfare.

The reigning deity of Janjimahal is Ambadevi~ the same

family deity of the kings of Kolhapur. It is said that Sahu Chhatrapa-

ti had donated or gifted 10 acres of cultivable land on inam in

name uf Aruba devi to a Langad family as the custodian and priest Df

The Kalamma Devi sacred grove symbolically reveals kind of

domination e~erted by the Kunbis over the Dhangars whom they displaced

from the village. Inside the reserved forest adjDining

lage, at the higher reaches a temple qf Kalamma davi is located.

'1i1-

This

place is called Jin or Veranda. Though inside the forest, a sacred

grove of Kalamma devi exists surrounding the temple. The grove can be

easily demarcated from the forest by looking at the trees. The

of the grove lDok much older and bigger than the trees of the for'est.

But the number of such tre~s exceed more than twenty to thirty in

number. There is absolutely no undergrowth within the grove. Women are

allowed to enter into the grove but not inside the temple. Simi I al'ly

though shoes are permitted in it, they are prohibited in the temple.

The temple 1'1.,5 pf'12viDusly vet-y small in si.ze. UnJ.y ',)P.f'Y f"ecen t 1 Y

it has been expanded slightly through local donations and free labour

from the adjoining Yillag~s. Though there is no regular worship of the

deity, an annual fair or yatra takes place there with great amount of

as devotees from far off places gather there. A palinquin

carryIng the 'rn L\ k u t s' 0 r rep 1 i cas 0 f v ill a. g e d e i t i so 5 are t i'l. ken there

for on0 night. The palinquin is, however, carried on the shoulders of

the barbers and not the Kunbis. During the yatra a collective feast is

Drgan:i.zed and goats and fowl are sacrificed and eaten at night. The

sacrifice is exclusively done by the Harijans though the purchases are

rnad e collectively by all. Apart from the yatra, pPDple a.lso visit

Kalamma devi occasionally for asking boons particularly to get cured

ii' the

peClple of ail to get favourable results from Kalamma devi they go to

Bhagawati devi of Savarde and vice verSB.

A story is related that Kalamma devi and Dirba devi of the ad-

joining village called Waki are sisters. Wakoba - a deity located at

had once approached both Kalamma devi and Dirba devi to be his

consort. But both the goddesses refused this overturG and fled from

Waki. While fleeing Kalamma first halted at Bagalvadi of Savsrde. But

on hearing the sound of drums and noise made by the people she flew to

the present site. There is also a saying that Satam - the guard of

Kalamma has it's head next to the deity. The torso of Eatarn is located

at Basundi where the Dhangars stay.

There is another story relating Kalamma devi. It is said

Hanvar~ a Dhangar got very wild with a cow of his which did not

that

milk

at home. Getting suspicious one day he followed it to the forest at

Yerand2 and found that the cow was milking on it's own on the top of a

stone. Becoming very furious he then tried to hit the cow with an axe.

But it missed her and hit against the stone. Immediately afterwards

blood started oQzing out from the stone where the axe hit it. Kalamloa

then appeared from the stone and pleaded with Hanvar to leave the cow

alone and she would grant him anything he demands. Hanvar then asked

Kal~mm2 to take care of his cattle while grazing in the forest for the

next thirteen years

Rewala is a sacred pool located inside the dense forest near

Kamtivadi on the border of Savarde. The Dudhganga river is considered

to originate from there. The Hindus of the ar~a do not go to Rewala as

they fear it to be the abode of ghosts. Even if one might go to the

Rewal~, fishing in the pool is absolutely prohibited (The Christians

01 the area are not found to abide by this taboo are found to go there

occasionally for fishing). It is believed that if they go there, they

get possessed by the spirit of Rewala. In order to get rid of the

202

spirit one goat, 9 fowls, 9 coconuts and 1 egg have to be offered to

the spirit. It is said that Sahu Chhatrapati had once gone fishing to

Rewala. As he cast his net into the water it sank inside along with

the catch and it could not be retrieved. In order to bring it out the

king entered into the water riding his horse. On not being able to

find it still he threatened the spirit of the water that he would

blast off the place with dynamite sticks. Immediately afterwards the

net along with the catch surface up. The king took the fish to Janji-

mahal and got it cooked for a long time. But the fish got melted away

and turned absolutely red 8S hlood. Thereafter Sahu Chhatrapati and

the local people stopped going to the pool altogether. But about 7-8

years back an owner of a nearby bau~ite mine caught some fish by

blasting dynamite sticks in the RewBla. But since then his quarry

started running at a loss and he was forced to leave after winding up

his business.

Parsari Village Case: Parsari is a medium sized village

Radhanagri taluka of Kolhapur district. It is a multi-ethnic village.

It has one gaothan and three vadis and five vadas. There are masutias

and small sacred groves with each of the y~di. But we will discuss

about just two of them here which to some extent reflect the process

of Dhangars marginalisation and self assertion with e~ternal aid.

The biggest sacred grave of Parsari is located about two furlongs

from the gaothan and is dedicated to Jugai devi, the tutelary deity of

the village. It is ~however, said that this grove was previously

dedicated to Nirmal Pander which was the tutelary deity of the Dhan-

gars when they used to reside at the gaothan. The Kunbis who were

originally panaris trading paan - betel leaves came and settled at

203

Parsari about hundred years back. They came and displaced the Dhangars

from the gaothan.

The acres sacred grove has three deities placed inside the

temple. The principal deity of the grove is placed inside the temple.

Lingoba is another deity placed in the temple along with the deities

Bh a ra rot') and Bhutoba. Vaghoba is another important deity of the

(~rove. But it is placed outside the temple under some trees close to

the entrance of the grove. Apart from these there are s-mall

plac~d at one corner of the grove which is considered to be 'Thal'- a

the Harijans. A beheaded anthropomorphic image of Nirmal

Pander- the deity of the Dhangars is also found close to it. According

to the legends, at the time of take over of the grove by the Kunbis,

the image of Nirmal Pander was beheaded by the Kunbi Patil. The pres-

ence of the broken image as yet in the grove in a way symbolizes the

conquest of the Kunbis over the Dhangars. In fact this phenomenon is

ye t c:oullnemorat ed by th e ~:::unb i dorni n ated viII age du ring the annual

ghondal or yatra, in the presence of thousands of devotees by symboli-

cally cutting a cucumber into two pieces inside the temple. Presf?'ntly

though the Dhangars go to the grove, they do not worship Jugai devi or

accept the 'prasad' during the yatra. The presence of the ThaI deity

outside the temple at one corner of the grove also reflects the legit-

imizing role of the sacred grove of the prevalent social structure of

the village based on the hierarchic principles.

ThOU(jh the Dhangars have five vadas or hamlets, they have cmly

one small sacred grove at one corner of the village on th~ top of the

pli~teaLl, on the way to the Dajipur Sanctuary. This grove has no big

tr-f'!e. It also does not have any temple. The deity of the [Jrove

placed within the thickly growing herbs and shrubs and cannot be seen

20L]-

'from outside. The deity of the grove is Amha devi, S8m2 as the

clc-?ityof the family deity of Sahu Chhatrapati. It is said that the

king used to support the upkeep of the grove by paying a token amount

~;.ymbD 1. i c: a 11 y" The amount which is still Rs. 20 per annum is paid to

the Dhangars from the family of the king. The Kunbis of the village do

not ever visit this shrine.

5.2.SAHUVADI TALUKA: ANUSHKURA VILLAGE

Introduction:

Anushkura village is situated in the Sahuvadi taluka of ~<o 1 h apL\)"-

district. Anushkura in the olden days was placed right along the trade

rDute from Kolhapur to Malvan in Ratnagiri district. But [,<Ii th the

construction metc11ed road alDng Kolhapur-Malkapur-Deorukh-

R~tnagiri changed the entire political-economic and social con'f i gu ra'-

tion of

from the place. A Leprosy Home run by the missionaries jn the

~;hi'fted

village

was then winded up 'f rom th f? I~e n The Police post too was taken away to

Malkapur during the British rule. Once a flourishing market centre

that Anushkura was is presently reduced to a remote interior village.

It is believed that the Dhangars were the earliest ~;ettlers of

r'tnushkura village. They were followed by the Harijans. But the Dhan-

gars migrated off from the gaothan to the new site Dhangarvadi

which is about 3 kms away. The villagers state that the Kunbis who now

2T'O the predominant group of the village and like to call themselves

as Maratha, had migrated in the last century from Masur village in the

area of Sindhdurg district. They displaced the Dhangars 1'1"om

the area and assumed the village administration. There is a popular

story which states the way the King of Kolhapur offered illam lands to

205

the Kunbis shortly after they had migrated. It is said that Garluji

Patil, one of the first Kunbi settlers while having

cerni'runteei an elephant running towards him from the oppos it e cJ i rec""

tion, Thinking that it was a fugitive beast who was escaping from hIS

Ganuji chased it back from the way it had come. In reality

the king of Kolhapur~ Sahu Chhatrapati had deliberately let loose one

of his pet elephants to have a walk Bnd Ganu Patil had chased back the

same beast. Coming to know of this the king summoned Ganuji to explaIn

his conduct. But on learning the truth he felt very happy with Ganuji

and offered all the lands of Anushkura a e -,

f~flU~;hkul~a j:Jresently is a mLllti--ethnic village being inhabited by

the Kunbi-Marathas 5 Harijans, Dhangars and the Muslims. The village

h .i ~; P )"' e F'=' e n t 1 '.I about 50 households of Maratha-Kunbis,

each of pure Kunbis and Vaishya Vanis, 7 Harijan households, 3 Navi

and 3 Sutar households. Besides there are 20 households of Dh ang a r!::,

and 20 households of Muslims residing in the village. The entire

popuJ. i::tion is distributed in one gaothan and eight vadis Dr hamlets

namely as~ Dhangarvadi J Chaukivadi, Navichivadi, Muslamanvadi, Chowgu-

If.iV8c.ii, Lacfv<;di, 1'1ahadevchavadi and HaT~ijanvadi.

{-)cilfiinistratively'l Anushkura falls under Sahuvadi Police station.

It's nearest Post Office is at Yerdow in Ratnagiri district. The near-

1:?3t Pr'iillr.~ry !--·Ie,:>.! th Centre is located lbout -4 kms fn)tn the ()"~Oth;;";I"l in

thf.' i":l.d j 0 i. I"l i n Cd village called Mouzia. The village forms a part of the

Anushkura Group Gram Panchayat. Although Anushkura is an inter-iDr

village it is relatively well connected with the outside world by a

metalled road leading to Malkapur and Kolhapur. Besides~ being on the

border of Ratnagiri distri~t, people also walk down about 6 kms to

Ye r-dolL_i for catching bus to Ratnagiri or Bombay. In fact there is a

"f ,~ i r· IL.I e 3. the r ro,s.d ·from the village (\l.lhich \'.Ias the old T'Out e)

that leads to Rajapur via Yerdow village.

Almost the entire village except for the Dhangarva.di is electri-

i'ied. Tap connections were installed by the Zilla Parishad, but they

arf? now not working. The people are therefore compelled to collect

from the wells or from a small river flowing through it. The

village has one high 9choolJ one middle 5chQQl~ one primary school and

", t:.i i':~ II'! a d i " a madrasa is run at the Musalmanvadi for the

Muslim children. The village has one general store, one flour mill, a

paan-biri shop and a tea stall.

The Sacred Groves And Temples In The Village:

1.. Ninaidevi Grove: Anushkura has a gaon devi or tutelary (jeity

called Ninai devi. The deity is placed in an ancient temple

,~bout furlong away from the gaothan. This has a sacred grove at-·

tachec:J to it. The grove is about 1 acre in size which has about 30

35 big trees and some herbs and shrubs. The grove appears to be e v-

posed to lot of interference. There is no taboo against wearing 1:;1"1085

insi.de the grove. But mensing women are not permitted. There is no

restriction against grazing cattle in it but trees are not supposed to

be "felled or lopped. However, it was reported by a section of the

villagers that a few of the village elders indulge In illicit

\ • .1 i th in the grove. In fact Kashinath Mukund Patil, a

village s'.tateci that the villagers are now planning to fell

trf?(?~; and build a bigger temple for Ninai devi deity. The

felling

all

the

the

villager's

also plan to take up plantation of ornamental species and ma.intain a

"flo:.'.If?1' gar·den replacing the present vegetation. But Patil alsD e v .-

pressed his apprehensions about the possibility of the survival of the

saplings since during the annual ghondal or yatra of Ninai d(tvi

s.ever-a.} hundred devotees assemble there. A few villagers also ex-

their grievance about such a scheme since ornam~ntBl plants

cannot provide shade to the d~votees who assemble during the yatra.

Though Ninai devi is the tutelary deity of the village, it is not

placed alone in the temple. There are a number of other deities which

art:' plc:ced along with it. They are that of Ithlai~ Viraman~

Kedroba, Vithlai, Ughwai, Gangoba, Dhaukoba and Vithal Rukmani. There

is a Gurav in the village who worships the deity regularly. Boons are

specially asked from the deity every Tuesday. Besides it is specially

worshipped once a year during the 'ghondal' or yatra which is held in

the rocmth of Dpcember. ~hnBi devi is also believed to go Dut on 5hik<.11"'

in thE> fi'lDf'lth ()f Pc~uS'Jh -- on trH; dark moon night and return back on the

following full moon night. No special ceremony is held to mark it, but

t.h;~ l"JE'ekly puja i:::, s.tupped clur1.ng that pf~r'iC:rd •

• Ughwaidevi Grove: On the extreme western border of the V 1 11 i3.(j e

on the edge of the reef there is a temple of Ughwai devi. The templE';

looks quite old and the local people in fact believe that it ~L.las

COl"'; ,;c' true: t ed at the time of Pandavas - the mythical

mentioned in the Hindu @pic of Mahabharata.There is no trees or vege-

tation in the immediate surrounding uf the temple. 1:<u1:. a big

starts just about a hundred yards away from the temple. This forest is

now under the management of tl1e forest department as a reserved for---

est. The exact status of the forest is therefore quite controversial.

Wh J. 1 t! most of the older people consider it as a sacred grove or for'--

est, the younger people do not. In fact even some of the older people

it as a s~cred forest rather than a sacred grove. Though thE'

4

trees are not usually felled from this forest~ many people say that it

15 because of the fear of the forest department that they are not

oppn J.y rf.-~moYEd.

The tE'mpJ.e must haye been of very strategic impDrtance bE' i ng

IDeated on the ancient trade rDute which leads down to til e 1<01'1 k ans

from the ghat just from the side of the temple. Traders are said to

have rested there after the steep climb. A water hole and an old stone

water tank is also placed close to it. It is aJ.so said that the Mara-

tha soldiers often hid in the Ughll)ai ·for'est to ovei'see th(~ erH?lny troop

movement in the Konkans which is so easily visible from ·fhe

importance of the temple and the forest, however, must have consider-

ably receded after the inception of the British rule and also due to

construction of the metaled road through Malkapur. The development of

the Bombay port and gradual regression of the small ports of Ratnagiri

too must have had their effects on such a trade route.

3. Gangotri Grove: In between the gaothan ~nd thE Chaukivadi there

is a small shrine of Gangotri deyi which is pl8ced under a clump of

(j;:;bout 6-7 in number). The Vashya Vani families:, Df Cha.ukivadi

consider Gangotri devi as their family deity. But other villagers also

sometimes go to her for asking boons, particularly when one is child-

les5 or is suffering from any sickness. Apart from this the pass~rsby

also pay their respect to the deity by remoYing their shoes and fold·-

ing their hands when crossing that way. There are

associated with the shrine. Women arB allowed to enter it e>~cept

during their periods. The trees surrounding the deities ar-e neveJ"·

touched.

4. Brahmandeo Grove: At Chaukivadi there is another small grove

which is dedicated to Brahmandeo. The deity is considered as 50rt of

tutelary deity of the hamlet as they hold the mirgai over there to

mark the pre-sowing ceremony. The grove is very small comprising of

just 7 - 8 trees. There is no undergrowth as such. Women are nat

permitted to enter it and shoes are also not allowed.

5. Dhuakoba Grove: A fourth sacred grove is located nGar the Musal-

manvadi. This grove is very small and does not measure more than • 1

acre in size. The grove i c dedicated to two deities called Dhaukoba

and Kedrobs. Only the replicas of the deities are I~ept in the grove as

the original deities had been removed to the temple of Ninai davi long

back. There are some taboos associated with this grove as shoes are

not permitted and also lYOmen are not allowed to enter. The palki

carrying the replicas of Ughwai devi and Ninai devi ~r~ brought to

this grove before proceeding to the Musalmanvadi. At the time of

mirgai the cultivstors who till the land on the adjoining agricultural

field assemble at the grove to enjoy a feast by sacrificing fowl.

Interestingly Ali Kasim Satulleman in whose name the grove is recorded

and who cultivates on some of the fields around the grove also

the potluck.

joins

Importantly the land of Dhaukoba grove along with some agricul-

tural fields was originally owned by a Brahmin of the village. He sold

it off to Ali along with the other lands w~y back i;1 1968. But Ali had

never touched the grove. In fact he too pays obeisance to it by sacri-

fieing fowls and joins with the community gatherings centering the

grove. Ali in fact mentioned that Dhaukoba and Kedroba were originally

210

propitiated by the Dhangars. But after the Kunbis took over the vi 1-

Jag(-) adrrd.nistration thEY rpmoved the deities to the Ninai devi temple.

6. Masutia, ThaI And Mand - Burial Groves:

associated with deities there are other groves in the viII ag e \'IIi i ch

are associated with cremation and burial. The ThaI grove of the Hari-

is one such grove. But it also is of course used a burial

ground eNclusively by the Harijans. This grove is of about 1 aCT'!:? in

si~e and IS located close to the gaothan. There is no temple of

the grove. There is neither any pujari of the deity. In

the grove is by and large neglected by the Harijans since all of

Tt-J a 1

fact

thf.;'m

have embraced Buddhism. Still sometimes they come if they are in great

trouble and seek the intervention of ThaI. But in spite of the neglect

the Harijans do assemble there during Shimga and at the time of the

~:;nnual yatra in December. Surprisingly~ though there is hardly very

strong strictures in the ThaI grove (except that trees are not allowed

to b~ felled) the vegetal condition looks much better th&n Ninai d Eo' 'v' i

gi'D'~·e.

In between the ThaI grove and the gaothan settlement there exists

a small patch of forest about .5 acre in size. This grove is ce;lled

'Mand'- meaning respect in Marathi. This place is legally recorded in

the name of Kashinath Mukund Bagwe. The Mand is a cremating/burial

[dround exclusively meant for the family of the Patil the first

settling clan of the village (among the Kunbisl. There are not many

big trees in it as mostly herbs and shrubs predominate the area. There

are a number of commemorate stone pillars placed at the site. There is

r~striction against grazing or wearing of slioes at the Mand. HOI.'Je v e r,

IDpping and felling is strictly prohibited except for community use.

211.

The significance of Mand is that it ensure a kind of special status

<:';;f~ttling clan l,!i"lich perhaps becomf:'c::.~ impCJr·ta.nt in a

social situation where economic class formation is rudimentary.

7. Likma- A Forest Grove: There are two other dpities which are

P 1. iC;ced the forests located in and af"Dund Tho(..lgh

placed in the forests, these deities there are just a few trees which

f~lled, but there is no sacred groves as such. [ine of' the

dGities which is called Likma is placed in the forests close to Ughwai

temple. At the time of annual yatra the palki from Ughwai temple is

·f i rst taken to Likma and carried to the village. Besides, people pay

their obeisance first at the Shrine of Likma and seek its blesE.ings

before procGeding to the forests for a collective ritual hunt during

Shimga. This appears to be principally a forest deity and an exclusive

males do~ain where women are not permitted.

part

the

c;,anc e

y<,tT~a

There is another 5mBI} sacred grove in the forest on the sDuthern

of the village. The deity of the grove is propitiated mainly by

Dhangars of the village, But even the passersby pay thEir obei-·

to the deity when crossing that way. Besides at the time of

the palki carrying Ughwai deity is too taken to it.

has only about 10-15 trees. But it is net very easy to distinguish it

from the surroundinQ forests. Cattle is found to be freely moving into

and the strictures do not appear to be very strong with

regard to the grove.

8. Sacred Pond: About 1 km away from the gaothan there is a water

hole near the edge of a forest. The water hole is believed to be the

a malevolent spirit or 'asra' who cannot tolerate \<lomen.

Should any woman approach the hole the asra eats it up.

212

It is not that all thE shrines at Anushkura have sac r·E·d gr·ovE's

them. There is a temple of Gangoba at Lad vadi which has been

constructed very recently. It is not only that no grOVGS are associat­

ed with it. In fact the temple has been constructed in the place of a

of a big payar tree after it was felled and sold off. There was some

opposition to it from the villagers but the family which received the

money and built it did not abide by them. Similarly at Mahadevcha vadi

<3. temple 1')SS built e;<clLl~.;ivt?ly thr~ou(;Jh the efforts o·f tile v<'l.cH a s,hort

time back and there is no space for developing any sacrGd grove th E:re

because of the congest nature of the settlement. At Chowgulevadi the

pEoplE< are planning to shortly construct a MBruti temple through the

donations raised from the hamlet only.

It is significant to note at Anushkura that

other villages of South Maharashtra where the villages 25 a whole are

cunstructing bigger temples or expanding the older t~mples collectiv2-

ly~ here the hamlets are ~.3eparately constJ~uc:ting nel •. ' but r"lll<:dl tt~mples

to their settlements. Secondly these new temples are not having

a.ny around them. Thirdly the temples do not have any plaque

indica.ting the nam~s of the donors. Most importantly, the role of the

Bombay based migrant workers do not seem to be that strong. In fact a

r·e tLl r·n ed

in the recent times and are i nCOInE'

g~nerating schemes. This also amply becomes manifest from th~ ·fact

that a high school has been recently started by a welfare organization

Df {inl.l.sJ··ih.H·c( i:.~rlcj a. tel • .! boy's ('Jho lLH:':·!"'€:> earl i Pol' studying in Bumbcij haVf;!

f' e tu ITI !·:d to join this. The reasons for this could not be deciphered

Apart from the collective sacred groves~ every household has pBr-

"\".:icular s;acred tree Quite like a totem which is worshipped during

eve ('y full moon and dark moon night. This trGe a 1::;0 ~:;pec:ially

worshipped at the time of marriage or deEth ceremony. Tukaram S. Ah8r~

instance has a totemic tree which is locally called k 211 arolJ • The

Polic0 Patil who belongs to the first settling clan too has kalamb as

the family tree. These trees are usually located on one's own agricul-

tural field. But a person called Deepak whose family tree 15 , S",on viI '

tr-ee and it is located at a village in Ratnagiri close to ti, e sea

{.);par"t from benevolent spirits associated with trees, malE-volent

trees at

Anushkura. Sometimes when somebody falls sick~ through divination such

malevolent spirits of the trees are pointed out. They have to be then

appeased by many ways including sacrificing fowls ~nd offering C::C)CD--"

nuts and flowers etc. In certain cases twigs of aghar tree are rubbed

the ear-s of the possessed persons. of the

gaothan owns a payar tree which is considered to be (;!host in"f e st ed.

This ghost has to be appeased ever-y year by offering one cock and an

egg.

5.2.4. The Sacred Groves With Complexities In Sahuvadi Taluka:

1. Jaoli Village: The sacred groves are often taking new turns

to changing social situations. A number of instances

wer-e observed through rapid survey of groves in different villages of

Volhapur ~nd adjoining districts in the Konkan region. They are being

Jaoli, a small village with 36 households is located about 12 kms

from Malkapur in Sahuvadi taluka of Kolhapur district. There

nD irlr?t: i" 1 ed road to the village and one has to walk about 3 kms:~

the village from the kolhapur - Aatnagiri highway_ The

h.-~~~ no ham.lets~" :~ '''h.:.sliin settlement used to be attached to it

but it rlc~=. not!) brDken o-f-f fOT~ all pr-acticcd pUq:'lO~.E'!~;. Thl'! village hs:::-

20 Maratha households, 9 kunbi, 2 Navi and 7 Harijan households. The

l"larij"~n~:. hi:.vE bE-'en convprt~~(1 to BUddhism.

Jaoli the land of the entire village was previously recorded

in the name of Dhopeswar which is the tutelary deity of th~

village called Kasarde. Even now though the lands have been

adjoining

recor·ded

in the names of the individual farmers$ the name of Dhop est!.lar is

customarily put on the top in the official records. The viJ.lage do·'·

sacks of pBddy to the temple of Dhopeswar annua.lly. The

paddy is given by different households of the village by turns.

Dh op e !.:;{,j 2 r tE'mpJ.€~ IS:· Im:<,tf.'d Dr; th(-~ top cd' t:l. hi 1. 1. i';;d Is

t!J i til i I""l the jurisdiction of Kasarde. The temple of 1thlai the

tutelary deity of Jeo1i is loc~ted close to the Dhopeswar temple, but

just across the border inside the territory o·f Jaoli. An annual

is held for both the deities together. A sacred grove which is dedi-

ci;lted bo Dhopesw3.r and 1thlai is located right next to the

grove is thus a common property of both Kasarde and Jaoli. TherE!

a forest contiguous to the sacred groves. In fact on records this

w~s shown in the names of Dhopeswar-Ithlai. Drawing a cle2r cut d i s·--

tinction for an outsider is very difficult. But it appears th a. t the

local people are aware of this. While they practise rotatory cultiva­

tion em "trH,) ternple forests, they do not cross beyond a c:eT~t;:dn point

215

2nd thu:;;; the big and old trees in immediate surrounding

yea.l'~;;; back dL\e t(:J the intervention of the "fOT'est depa.T'tlnent anc.1 tl", e

tha.t time

the temple forest was recorded in the name of Jongan pujari of Kasarde

as custodian or vahivatdar. Subsequently the PMDPS staked a claim o~er

it as the temple and it's property got registered with it.

during such a transitory phase that B good number of trees are report-

ed to have been clandestinely sold off. Immediately

was acquired by the forest department and exotic var"ieti~s of

"\;I'eo:='. V.l(~r(:? plant:ed to ;:;"F"fol'e~:;t tl"lr: depleted are~1S. The tT"'(ees i:1re nO\JJ

fully mature and are distinctly visible allover. It is reported

the matteI' l<la5 Inoved to tile court by the PMDPS but it cuulrj ned; regdin

the forests and now the Dhopcswar-Ithlai grove is de-"

clared as a reserved forest.

(":jt; JaDli pl~oper¥ theT'E:' is a tiny little sacred grOVE! dedicated to

BhaLlka" deo. The grove is about .25 acres in size and is in a bad 1 y

depl~ted condition due to human interference. It is said that a part

of it was sold off by the Patil in whose name the grove was recorded

to ~ Muslim from the adjoining settlement. He subsequently started

doing cultivation on it. It is ,however, said that about "four y'ears

after the demolition of the Sabri Masjid the younger persons of

sold to a Muslim forcefully vacnted and mainly with their initiative a

small temple has be(~n r1(JI'J constructed ther'e. It i~; said that three of

the boys working in Bombay have become staunch supporters of Shiv Sene

and they have started a 'shakha' - branch of the party in the villBQe.

21.6

took the initiative to raise Rs. 25?000/- from Bombay. l'1ainly

that some of the older residents were opposed to the whole

thing,! the majority people did not side wi·th them. a

balwadi is being run from the temple by the boys. They are also plan-

ning to plant some trees around the temple.

The Harijans of the village In spite of converSIon to Buddhism

have retainEd their sacred grove which is dedicated to ThaI a !::E't--

tleloent deity. The condition of their grove too is in il much better

state than the grove of the Bhauka deo which is located right next to

it. The Harijans use this grove for burial/cremating purpose. The

l<unbJ.E- un the cd.:hf'!l"' h,;md do the same on their' Ollln agr'icultur·al field<o: ..

It appears that Jaoli'5 aSSOcIatl0n with Dhopeswar-Ithlai makes it's

~,;DC i a J. {) y-.!;) <in j. ;~ <; t ion 1. 0; r··q f: 1. '/ c e !·1 t E: r' i n I~ t Ii i s=, P D lit i c a J. -- fi! C CJrl om 1. c 1. n~, tit u --.

t i Grl .. Con c,; I:>qu iiln t 1:/ J "lcol i cannot be said to have full poli.tical

It being associated with K~sarde group gram panchayat a.l ",,0

to go against its independ~nt existence. In t h Po con t <?;-: t the

Bhauka deo and its grove had not been a very a5ser'tive institui.::i.Df"l"

the rec(;>nt developments c:('n·i:.(·?r'in~1 it is a mO'v'e in the op-_·

posite direction. The recent religious resurgence needs to be

from that perspective.

1· ,_.

'"

At Jao11 a new shrine has come up recently and a new sacred grove

i.n the Df·fing. There used a saint called Balu Maharaj in

the village for a long time. He was a faith healer and people used to

tharga or stone commemoration was erected at one of the village under

jack fruit tree. Devotees from distant places throng th e I~e du f"':i ri(l

and death anniversary every year. Now the

217

decided to construct a temple there. But even before the constructions

have started, a few rOWS of eucalyptus trees have been planted

th€ tor

beautifying the area and to ensure some cool breeze.

2. Shembvene VillaQea Shembvene is a Kunbi village located at a

S BI'\ t.\ 'y' ",.d i taJuk<~" Shembvene village has just one hamlet called Nav-

the grove at the gaothan is dedicated to Rasai devi~ the

at the vadi is dedicated to Navia devi.

There is a constant tussle between the two settlements of ShE'mb'-

vene over different issues. But the differences got crystellized most

sharply over the ownership of an apartment which the migrant

of the village had purchased in Bombay. Though the same was purchased

'I'DI"' the entire community, sometimes in the late 19605 a person from

the gaothan made an exclusive claim over it. Subs~quently the matter

was moved to the court. This sharply polarised the people of eith!~r"

!;;E.,ttl('::ment ;:;,upport i j"j(j their own men. This rivalry as

to almost everything in the village. Earlier only th E~

gaothan sacred grove had 3 temple within it. But immediately after the

r: DU , .. t. the Navlechevadi mobilised all the people through

don~tions and free labour constructed a temple of Navla devi. But more

imp c' r" t <in t J. Y , they also sold off almost all the trees o'f the grove to

raise funds for the temple. After the completion 01 the temple, howev-

they planted trees of local varieties like jamun, nanya, bibi~

ch Bnd r"'~ etc without taking any external assistance. the

trees have grown quite large and the vegetation is almost fully r' e··'

21B

gi'.'ing appearance of Bny normal sacred This

rather surprising considering the fact that usual tabous like l~e-

~:,tT""ictif1g el'ltry to t •. 1ornen or \'!E~al'ing shDes· is not. Dppr'i:itiol'l;:~l in

grove. However, there are very strict rules against felling or lopping

of inside the grove. Presently the grove even boasts of

medicinal plants like kapse which is used for treating cough and cold

or makar kho~la and khubya which are used for healing cuts, bruises or

even ·fractures.

Construction of the temple at Navla devi grove had 6 snow balling

i~ -f of r? c: 1.:: -'I A few years back the people of the gaathan decided to expand

th~ir temple in the Rssal devi grov~" For this they felled some of the

trees in th2 groV2. Besides an organisation which the migrant workers

fOT'med by the name of 'Shembvene Gram Vi~as MandaI,

f'ai:.;ed an amount of Rs. 25,203.85 in 1982 and donated it to the 9ao-

than people. ( They of course put up a plaque displaying the amount of

donation and the name of their organisation in return).

Thf.: rivalry between the two settlements manifested most cleaJ'ly

of either settlement stopped taking the palki of

Navla devi to the gaothan and Rasai devi to the vadi during the annual

yatra as was the old tradition, immediately after the court was moved

in 1967 over the flat i~sue in Bombay. At present Navlechevadi IS

tTy'iI"H.~ tD 'FCH'1I1 a s,:par<:~te mouzi.~ and gram panchay;.~t. For this t.:1-ley are

trying to invite their relatives to come and settle at the vadi so as

to raise th2 population strength of 300 as required.

OeoJ.e Village: At Deole village which j~ about 10 kms. ''Prom

Deor-·I...lkh in R~tnagiri district a temple of Ravalnath deity was rE.'cC)n _.

d.nd (~ >: p i? n d e d j Co i 11 t 1 Y b Y t h I' e E' ad j 0 i n i n 9 h am 1 e t f" D 'f I.'; hie h

219

Jangalvadi is one. These three hamlets wanted to COIAG out of Deole

village and form a separate mouza and gl"am panchayat. They have been

successful ill their endeavour and now they have d~clared Ravalnath

deity to be their tutelary deity. The people of the area invited the

social forestry department to take up afforestation work on the lands

adjoining the t~mple -, an original sacred grove which was badly de-

pleted. Presently the exotic vsrieti85 which were planted are

grown and matured and are to be seen intermixed with the old

species. This grove has also become a place for mobilisation of

fully

local

the

three hamlets and they organise a collective feast there once a year

during the mirga pre-sowing ceremony.

There appears to be some close link between the trade routes and

the local village organizations. Since the sacred groves to large

extent reflect the social dynamics of the village through their physi­

cal location, forms of vegetation? quality of vegetation~ placem~nt of

the deities within them~ the nature of the deities 0ssociated with

them, perhaps reflect some of the distinct traits? particularly when

the villages are placed along the trade routes. In ordor to decipher

them a number of villages were rapidly studied. A few of the cases are

being presented here.

1 • Phondaghat: Phondaghat is ~ big village located at the foot hills

01' DGjipur Wildlife Sanctuary. It falls on the trade route leading

from Kolhapur to Sindhdurg. Phondaghat was originally not as big as of

now. It w~s about 100 years back that Taloure and Phondsghat villages

were merged to forlA on entity. Phondaghat presently has 36 hamlets.

220

Phcndar;:~hat 1·1.~~';:, 2. number of Ei3.cr·ed grDvf~s adjoining to ea.ch other.

In fact the entire hill on the slopes of which the sacred groves are

located 15 called 'Oeo cha Dongar' or hill of the Gods. There are

five sacred groves located at the spot and the totnl

these measures not IGSS than 300 acres. The deities tf.J ('.Ih i c h the

are namely, Gangoba, Ithc\lrJ2D,

ThaI deo or Nirankari deo. There are f[>\',,1 other sacr'(~d

groves inside the village as well. Devika rai and Ling rai are located

'-'l. t WadekarvarJi; Kedroba rai at Jhari vadi; Panchoba J' a i a.t PhoncJa

Tithe. There is 0 deity of Pauna devi at the Pauna vadi~ but it has no

gr'ove"

It and

the coastal townShips on the other. The military troops

this way. It is also said that the sacred groves proved to be a good

for the traders and a hiding place for

f:':,C) }. die r's • An old bullock cart road can yet be seen

a fEmOU5 Marathi poet from the village has briefly

written ~bout this in one of his articles.

r~ J. rno'", t all the sacred groves of Phondaghat have t e Hl pIe 5 \'.1 i t h i n

thelo. It is a130 surprising to see their dimensions ... \'Jhich .,·re ratl'1er

very large considering that they are located in a village. The

of the tutelary deity called Gangoba is about 250 fGBt by 80 feet

During the annual yatra, a few thousand devDt~es are stated

in

tD

assemblp in it. The old ternple I,'!as r'?i:panded to it's prf.:'f;;f?nt size 2.liout

to be in a depleted condition. There are only about 30 big

221

is almost totally lost as a boundary wall h2;!:;- been con--

::;tructed and trees planted along it on all directions by the -for-est

dep~rtment only a few years back. The place looks all the more artifi-

o::i3.1 clue to a small decorated water tank with fountains has been

edified close to the entrance of the temple. A few concrete

which have been placed at different places in the g T'D\! e m,~k (~S it

a p pea r- 1 i k €~ t h f.' P a l' k saT' e 1 and sea p £'? din cit i e ~~. T 11 e ~o- f! ;:d 1 lli e I' P. U n c:I e T'­

taken through a special scheme by the forest department.

A sacred grove adjoining the Gengoba grove which is dedicated to

Th 31 ~ a deity pT--opit:ia.t~?d t,y the HaT'ijaf1~~ i~;~ hOIL.IQV(}r~ in

bett~r state. It looks to be very thickly vegetated comprising Q good

nLI.mb e r of trees and heavy undergrowth. It does not have c1n y t (.? mp 1. e

:lns·jde. The ThaI deity is represented by just s few pieCES of ~;t:on!::s

placed under a small leanto. The forest department has not touched it

2nd thus it is saved of any boundary wall or any concrete chairs.

Th i:: sa_c: red grove of Vaghoba is placed at a higher elevation.

Though looks pretty green from m distance~ it too has witnessed

animal

stock. Within this grDv~ there is no temple Bnd the deity is placed in

the open. However, a replica of the deity is pl3.ced at the base of the

hi.ll ,,,nd the people generally pay obeisance to it only

climbing up. There was a belief that if a temple of Vaghoba had to be

at all, it should be completed within a night time .. tk--

cordingly the people in 1993 brought some prefabricated materials and

finished the temple just in one night. Interestingly there is no imag0

of Vaghoba inside the temple and a multicolored photograph of a tiger

has been hung inside.

The V8ghoba sacred grove has also witnessed interference from the

forestry dep~rtment in the past. About twenty y~8~S back the

pe rm iss ion o'f the 'Ii 1 11'l.ge elders completely

off the Vaghoba sacred grove and planted exotic species

eu.calyptus arld dcacia. The social forest1'y department~ hOll.tever·, denies

this and stat~s that the villagers themselves had cleared th~ i'orests

while they had only planted the saplings. Whatever may be the reality,

the plantation which the social forestry department had created was

again cleared off by the villagers in whose names the groves are

r-ecorcfE'cJ.

reality a closer look reveals the place to be highly

the place h~s only herbs and shrubs. The big trees have

tot~lly disapP2ared.

a few mythic~l stories connected to the

groves. al A vagh - tig0r used to always escort married women to their

parent's hous~ from their husband's village. On reaching the dt!~:t:inr.;-·

tion a cock used to be always given to him as a token of appreciation.

a woman who was similarly escorted by the vagh to rH2r natal

vi I lL!'.[ji:' , she forgot to present him with the customary gift. Getting

'f U J' i OLl S , the tiger ate off her son. But after a while he very

and committed suicide in the forests of the same village.

The villagers then buried him off. Aft~r a few years a stone

from the burial spot. Subsequently a cow was found to go every day to

s;.h i pp ed as a symbol of Vagh deo. b) The other myth is linked to the

Gangoba deity - the tutelary of Phondaghat. It is believed th~t Jhadi

Gaor1kaT'1

'i::U<iT"'

of Gango temple used to have a python call~d

the prince. The kuar was a staunch follower of his master and

""""'7 .L::~: .... )

B close watch over the traders who used to carry potato, oniDn

and chilly along with a lot of cattle from KolhBpur. The traders used

to pay some money to the pujari fearing the ku~r would oth~rwise

devour them up or their cattle. The traders were in fact quite unhappy

this and they killed the kuar by procuring some acid

b011 metal workers and putting it into his mouth. The priest could not

the grief of Kuar's death and he nlono with his -;: am i 1y

perished away lui thin eight days of this. Since then the traders could

c;:;'l""·r-y out tJ··,t!ir' tT~acle -freely 1'lithDut any feal~.

2. Pauna Devi- Tutelary Deity Of Kondya Village On the Trade Route:

village which is only about 5 kms west of Phondaghat falls on

the ancient trade route from Kolhapur to Sindhdurg. It is ad rn i [l i ~,t T';;;-

tivoly within the jurisdiction of Kankauli taluka in Sindhdurg dis-

tric"C:u At Kondya Pauna devi or the deity dedicated to guests is the

tu·t.F.:l,,~ry cif!ity. The temple of the deity i~ located by the !:,ide

river about 2 kms away from the gaothan. In fact the old 9ao-

than was earlier located close to the temple only. It chang~d tD the

present site only after the old trade route became defunct to a large

extent due to the construction of a new metaled read to Kankauli and

the 125senin9 of the importance of Malvan port. Moreover the i mpDl-·---

tance of the route along Ughwai river receded due tD it's siltation

the coast. Interestingly, the adjoining village of Kondya

namerJ Har+ul \<Ihictl <~150 fell along the s;,ame trade route tuo h",d P8.L.tnB

devi as the tutelary deity.

t-, 0 I'l f:.' V ~-

er~ reconstructed and expanded in 1962. There are also other deities

of Vithal ~nd Maruti placed n~xt to Paunai within the same temple. Be-

224

sides, it has an image of a Jain deity which was much In favour of the

Three years back a new temple of Pauna devi has been con-

the chauhata of the gaothan. This temple had been

constructed since the people found it difficult to regularly go to the

old temp 1 f: which is so far. The festivals which are pre~;ently ce1-

eb ra h?rJ at the Pauna devi temple are r';himga, an d D i \L.I U 1 i .

During Shimga, the mukut or replic& of Paunai is brought and kept at

the 1'le\'.1 telilple o"f chal.lhata in "the I.;,aothan.

The sacred grove of Pauna devi is currently not 'v't~ry big and

mGasur~s only about 2.5 acres. It is said to have been much larger in

earlIer. The Tirorkars being the khot of the village got

part of the grove in their own names. Some other parts were

1n the name of Navarkar family who used to cultivat~ on

c;djc)ining the grove. These two families are said to have "f ,"?.l .l ed the

tre es o"f the grove and converted into mango orchards some t i m£," in

195(~s • The remaining pOT'tion o"f the grove l,.thieh l~; a depleted

condition due to human interference is reported to have been acquired

by the social forestry department for a few years for afforestation.

Some of the trees thus planted are yet to be found in the grove.

There is a temple of Shanker and another of Gangoba not very far

the Pauna de'll temple. Since the land Bnd forest of these t!l!O

temples werp recorded in favour of Sachin Tirorkar's "fL'l.milies, they

sold them off. The selling off of the groves or" transforming tllem into

orchards should be viewed in totality. It would be grossly wrong to

that the' gorovps were felled due to waninrg-" f J"" o T~e" 19J.Dfl. If it:

true then the construction of a new PaL'I~~ c" '_' v 1" t 1 ° • 'Q J, -emp£e In the heart of

village would not have taken place very recently.

the exp~nsion Df the old Pauna devi temple would not have been possi-

ble. A deeper probe rather indicates that the changes are link,?c! to

t: hE:.' total economic base of the village. The redundance of th€,

I'C)U t \.? based economy forced the village to adopt a totally different

ii.ind ;;;: nf111! E,CClnDlllic mean~," of livelihood i:1nd the pr'opago:;tion of fTia,nCjo as:,

crops was a new option available to them. Existing cultivable

land being scarcE, the peoplv were compelled to look for other options

and the sacred grov~s proved to be the easiest means 0" acquiring more

lands. Besides the redundance of the trade based economy also forced a

nu,nbeT' D'f people to tnigT~att~ to Bombay in search jObf5. nH:>f;-H~ migrants

D.tti···

tude towards the sacred groves. They did not share the old traditional

new temples for which th2Y even donated significant

The new situation has not only affected the intra village

tions y but also the inter village dynamics. The Pauns devi deity which

used

deitiES of other adjacent villages in a procession along the

route to the sea is no longer done so. The deity is rather taken on B

truck e 'i e roy year to the Deogarh port these days. The iflti~r

village organi2ations to manage such trips are also thus no longer

required. On the other hand the trip by truck signifies that what was

functional necessity earlier is now converted into exclusively

religio-cultural rite.

Five Eda- The Trade Route Sacred Grove: The case of

sacred grove perhaps provides one of the best illustrations of linkage

bctW0en trade route and sacred groves. The shrine of FivG eda

226

about 3 kms from Phondaghat comes on the way to Kankauli. This shrine

to be about 150 y~ars old. There is no temple

·:::,hl~ijle and only five ada trees are revered. There are of course SOfflE.'

Dther big trees by the side of the eda trees. P~ople from

places go there to pray to the trees and ask for boons, pe.r'ticularly

if they do not have any children and desire to have them. Even who do

n()t ha.IJQ a house or property and desire to have them, P f~d.'J to the

rE~ver'ed trt::!e~:.. Shcluld {~hpir desireE be fulfilled, tho~"~· \'11"10 h<-~\!f.:' bef~n

with children go and hang toy cradles from the trt?f?S. ThoSf~

l'lhD ha'iE'! acquired house nnd prDperty~ hang miniature houses or toy

trucks and buses. Even otherwise when the people ply by that way in

vehicles, they pay their obeisance to the shrine. Even the drivers of

the vehicles show their respect by blowing their horns when

the shrine. This shrine is thus to som0 linked to a fertility cult. A

~,irnilar ~:.hT'ine callecj 'Saat jarnun' compri~;.ing of -; black berr·y trees

Goa.

4. Upawade Village- Bocial Organization Of A Trade Route

Upat'12.de is a medium sized village in the Sawantwadi taluka of f:3indh--·

durg district and is located on an old trade route, though not a \I(~r'y

impDr'tc:.;nt one. The entire village organization reflects how it

Dr.L en t t?d to balance the trade based economy and the

under an 2x-princely state. This is evident from the very fact that it

has two tutelary deities Ravi:dnath alld Pauna. devi Dr Paunai.

H<.:;valnclth symbolizes the administrative mechanism linked to agricul-

Paunai is for certain a deity linked to organized trade under

c~~tain conditions. The village organization is under the control of a

r,.ro,-] • .;: ... ..:_ l

kind of dual position5~ ttle Dalvi and Raul. The DBlvis ar0 consider~d

to be the first settling clan of the village. While the Rawls are

~xpected to look after the religious affairs of the village, the

Dalvis are supposed to take care of the general administration of the

settlemEnt. In many of the areas which formed parts of the trade

routes such dual organizations are to be found. Upawade was certainly

the route from Patgaon on the Western Ghats via Hanu-

manghat to the Konkans - Mangaon and Karas. Whatever may have been the

tr~dc pattern earlier~ presently the contents and the volumes have

c8rtainly changed. Presently while the trade items are brought down

from Hanumanghat on Saturdays to these villages, on Sundays they 8r~

transported back to Dukanvad, about 3 kms from Upawade gaothan. The

m~in items of transaction are cattle, dried fish, fruits and spices.

In the recent times the role of this ancient trade route has

receded considerably due to the construction of good metal roads whicll

are capable of withstanding heavy traffic. As a consequence this has

affect~d th~ traditional village organizations too. The traditional

roles have also significantly altered due to both changed trade routes

and the changed political systcms of administration as well.

Usually in IROSt of the Konkan villages the chauhata and the tem-

pIes with the tutelary deity are locat0d at different places slight-

ly at a distanC0 from each other. However, at Upawade both the chauha-

ta and the temple with the tutelary deities are situated at the same

place. At the time of Shimga while the kham of a 'mad' tree is 0rected

2t the chauhata, a kham of mango tree meant for the temple is placed

right next to it. As a consequGnce there is a confluence of the relig­

ious and pDlitic~l systems operating in the village very directly. In

other words while the religious life has a tinge of political

228

the political system is not devoid of the religious prescrip-

t:j[)n~.;u TI·)i~=. r.leCDmeS fUT'thr::?r· f.::vid(;.'nt a~~ Dne finds that t.h(~ c:lal-j t: f:'mp.l £"

with the ancestral deity or kul devta of the Rauls (called sthal) and

the Dalvis (called Kul) placed right next tD the temp 1. (0.' 0"1'

Ravslnath-Paunai.

Previously during the annual yatra the two palkis, each carrying

the replica of 'kul' and 'sthal' used to be taken only to the clan

cIders of the Dalvis and Rauls respectively. But in 1985, a 0ignifi--

cant change was noticed as the palkis were started to be taken to all

the clan members of the Rauls and Dalvis respectively. It also

that earlier, during every third year at the time of the

thp IT;ukut (clan totE"ffi or rppJ.icC"i of thE·) I<ul emd ~c,th<~l) UEE':d to

bo taken to the house of a clan elder of the Dalvis and Rauls (. t? t:;p e c: .....

tively whose names were divined by two persons (a Dalvi and

aft~r getting into a trance and they used to be retained there for the

three years. This was considered to be a kind of

·For the clan elder as he gained some status through this and he used

to .::)-f·fpr a meal to all the clan members. But this Syst0ffi

changed after 19854 and since then the mukut is kept at the r(·~sid(~nce

of any clan member whose name is divined during the yatra. In way the

eh <'l.ng e has resulted in a kind of proletarisation of the village - :in

t e? r·· rn <:". {) ·f ",. "1".: <.> t: l.I. S E; y rn b u 1. '". • I t: i b r' e p D roo t e cj t: hat an eli.l. i Cj h t fJ ri E d HI f~ In b e r· CJ f

the Paul the

th e iI' t r'ad i-

"lion.

It also came to be noticed that during the British rule~ the khat

the village- the lineage head of the Dalvis

authority and status than the Rauls. But s inc l~ i nd ep fend (;.1 nc E'

229

the position had reversed 1n favour of the RBuls. Larller the

LI "~e d to get 10 Annas of the temple share and the F{ ;:il.l I ~:; , .. J

Th E~ remaining 1 Anna went to the HarlJBnsu But in thH

system was completely changed and the temples offerings are now shared

c'qutilly by all the villagers. With the secularizetion of

this s.hoi.tld not howe he.ppenE'd normally. But perhap'.:,> \,.lht0l"1 the democt'c'l.t--

Ie process of the state fails to reach the grass roots and aspirations

of the people are not fulfilled? people are likely to take recourse to

"\;r;:;[Ji tional I' fi! I i 9 i ou s institutions which also respect the

mutual tolerance, rather than resorting to outright fascist a.nd Db·-

scul""antist forces. Reposing faith on the quasi-religious ins:- t: i t uti on~·

also perhaps gives credence to the moral basis of socia.l "f CJ r,n a t i Of) 5 •

No wonder that in 1994, Rs. 1.6 lakhs were raised from the village to

expand and reconstruct the old temple of Ravalnath and Paunai. In 1995

morD funds were raisod to construct a temple of linga deo.

Th2 Ravalnath and Paunai temple has surprisingly no sacred grove.

U~u211y the sacred groves among the Kunbis are associated with

"tral worship. quite often the dead bodies are buried in them or else

commemorates are placed thpre. This perhaps is done to tht'l.r

roots to the place and legitimize their territorial control. It needs

to bp noted that Upawade was located to the border of Sawantvarii

The village was thus forced to keep both the

and th[~ British in ~:Joocj t·,umour-. vJh:i.le t:h£:: Dal'/l. tr-iE!d to di.::,.,l dir-·ectly

the British in matters of trade and administration1

majnt~ined the ties with th£:: King mainly through realms Df r£::ligion

tile king's power being quite limited. This compelled the people tD

cDmbine the chauhata - seat of secular pOW~l"" and the tutelar-y

deity- symbolizing the seat of spiritual power, to be located at the

same place. This apparently came on the way of cremating

the bodies near 1- J._

" is

through the tress the abodes of ancestral spirit5~ the link with the

is drawn, in the case of Upawade th~ clan temple thE'

temple of the tutelary deities fulfills this purpose.

Upawade has a big sacred grove located between the Ravalnath and

But no deity is to be found inside

was reportedly felled by the people in

of Pascliiln 1'1ahaT'8.shtra Df?o~;th'3n Prabodhan t\;:;mity (PNDPS)

to: ,-": [~ P a \,.' a I nat: h temple is registered with it.

the D<~lyi~:-

who seom to have reported the forest department about tempIe

lar";cJ,.:; r",ot vP;--y cll'!c;rly dE'fllc:r-cated and T~E:-corded, the fOT~(~~,t d t~ par -l:-rnE'rl t.

cenT:i soc "~t,'O!d a part of the wood from a Muslim contractor who had been

to fell the trees.Th~ local committee of th~ PMDPS had to

later pay a fine of Rs.9000 for their crime.But the PMDPS did nut

2Cc~pt overy thing the for~st d~partment ordered and it moved the court

the r"j-? v j-? n LH? d e p <; r tine n t 'T 0 r c:I eel a I' i n 9 t his l;;~ n d

;or~st.Consequently a very funny picture has emerged since thE' Di s'---

is now sub-judice.

situation at Upawade has taken even a more complicated turon

as the Social Forestry department on the request of th2 local c:omm i t--

tee D1: PMDPS had taken up afforestation work on th E~

.l L:;;rid • P ,-';'?sen t.l y the plantation has gained very good growth and lDG).::s

the

like acacia and eucalyptus which tl1 e

~,c: 2 n t? • ElLl. t this grovw d025 not have a sacrad character now as many of

the vill~gers reported.

The Paunal deity of the guest certainly played a very import oint

role in providing and identity to the villagers and fostered i:l.'f'finity

h e t: I.') e f.' n '{: hE·) n f~ i g I') r.l 0 L\ I' i n 9 v i 1 lag e 5 by r e 9 u J. a tin g t h Fe t r a d Q t h r' 0 u 9 !-'I t h (!;'

No wonder that the Paunai used to be carried

three years along the old trade routes to the sea and

into the sea and brought back the same. The Paunai of a single village

did not travel alone as different Paunai of different villages in the

adjoining areas used to be collected en route to the sea. This proces-

therefore needed to be well regularized. This ph~num~non is said

existed in almost all the villages of Konkan

c: f~ ]"' t 2:. i n 1 'y a.re distri,buted along onE, OT" the ott-'Ier tra.de T'Dut(:~

from the ghat to the coastal townships. Th8 palinquin of Upawade used

Jarap -Salgaon-Ader-Math-Matu-Vengurla-Ubadanda

Of late the procession of the Pauna devi to the sea is no longer

s;o rpguJ.ar. In fact the deity at Upawade was taken to the la.st

011 mD~; t twelve years back. This may be considered to be indic:,:;:.tor

that

nificance of the Pauna deyi very distinctly. The coming up of Bombay

port and transportation by flight also must have affected the

institution very significantly.

"'-"7 r 'j, -d~.~ •• ~

ancient

5.4.Ganpati Pule-Sacred Groves. Sacred Complex And Social Dynamics:

Pule is a famous tourist resort by the sea l.ociited in

RBtnagiri district. The place is also famous as a plece of pi 19r-:i.m;:ige

also duo to a temple complex as well. In fact the int(?·(~Q,,;tin\J

Gbout the G~npati Pule case is the way the ritual complex centering a

sacred grove has altered with time leading from a vlllagG and

intere~.t to that of a ritual dynamics blowing hot and cold t •. li th

~?m(?rl~0rlCe o·f thf~ pI ace as· a touri~;t 1'(·:501't due to tl"H? pT'omotic)[1 D"f the

state government.

The religious sanctity of the place gained prominence through

popular myth which is found to exist with many of the sac: I~ed 9 rov 25

link~d to th~ existenco of pastoral Dhangars. It is said that the khot

or first settler of th~ place, by the surname Bhide had a cow. This

COW W2S found to go regularly in the evening to a stone and au tomB t i --.

Hh idE'. in hj.s~

dreams. As per the directives of the Lord in the dream, Bhide cleared

up t.hE place near the marked stone. He constructed a hut there and

start2d worshipping the stone as a symbol of Ganpati. This stone <'l.1so

earth on it's own also became famous as Nirankari Ganpati or shapeless

bhivaji Maharaj came to know of this deity as well a~d h2 got

- a shed for the deity constructod. Later a larger temple was

constructed mainly thj""·uu~jh the donatiuns of Ramabai P f: ~;h [.' .. 1 a i . The

riUfnbf:T"' of d'2'y'otees vis-,iting the !!.~hrine also incT'eased grach.lidly. It

slowly took the turn towards a tourist resort.

Before developing as & tourist complex, Ganpati P,;le was more

famous for it's sacred grove placed right next to the Nirankari Ganpa-

t i . The grove is in f8ct ~ s~cred hill with ~bDut 1.5 km perimeter.

There is a thick growth of vegetation on it. It is said that previous-

ly the grove had more importance than the shrine was only of symbolic

value. The rock formation in the shape of Ganpati on the ground was

the main attraction of the place. People used to make a 'parikrama'

take round of the hill on foot after 'darshan' of the Lord. The

place was then also recorded as 'OeD rai' or sacred grove~ in the

revenuo records. But after a conflict arose, it was changed to

'Sr'secha dongar' Dr the 'hill of Lord Ganesha', This ch2ng~ had a lot

of political significance which we shall discuss later. The conflict

~t Ganpati Pule had in fact arisen even before this.

In the early days the bone of contention regarding G2np~ti Pule

was between the two adjoining villages Malgund and Nevl~ about it's

Jurisdiction. It app0ars that the place in reality was a buffer bet-

ween t!l~ two villag~s. Earlier traders flocked there for transacting

goods transported by sea. But since the British period till 50 years

back Ganpati Pule was administratively under the jurisdiction of Nevle

village. Subsequently it was transferred to Malgund village. However~

about 20 years some of the people of Ganpati PUlE who were

residing in Bombay and had formed a welfare society named, 'Sree

Ganpat; Pule Resident's SOCiety, Mumb8i' took the initi2tivo to furm a

sep2rate mauza and panchayat taking advantage of the stipulated rules

the 1958 Panchayat Act and 1966 Land Revenue Code. On 1st April

1974~ Ganpati Pule gained the status of an independent village.

l'he other cDnflict regarding Ganpsti Pule emerged dl;ring the long

tussl2 betwe~n th~ priests and the trustees (though it is ulso in-

234

linked to the settlement history since the Yhot 0("' the

settling clan should have been the priests and enjDy~d cErt~in

Way back in 1840-41 the British government had formed

to manage the temple. But in 1910 ~ conflict 8Pose tht~

and the court was moved for justice. A new trust was subse-

qu~ntly formed in 1912. The trust was much later registcred und~r the

Society's Registration Act of 1952. In 1972 the trust was brought

und~r the purview of Assistant Charity Commissioner under the Act of

1950. New rules were incorporated in 1992 to manage the trust. But the

formation of the trust itself was not without conflicts.

the local customs the Khat or the fir~;t ~;ettling

clan usually have the right to be the custodian of the vi. 1 lagE':'

sources and the tutelary deity and also other important deities. At

Pulp thf2 local authority had never beGn very '" . ,J. rm it ~t.las

a buffer between two contesting villages and then a businRss centre

also a pilgrimage where many of the princely f am:i. 1 :i. E':;::, U5.ed to

provide grants and send donations for the upkeep of the shrine.

they also intervened into the functioning of the place. The SE? t-·

t 1 errlf?r1 t thus lost the characteristics of a normal village long back.

At one time not only the Peshwas took interest into the running of the

shrine, but even the Diwan of Baroda for some time took special inter-

f2st into the functioning of the temple. Consequently the local Buthor-

ity could never fully assert itself. The khot, Balbhattji i 1'1

fact even gave away his priesthood to Keshav Krishnaji Ghanghotkar~ a

B 1-' a h rf! i n p r i \.? ':; t t D \1 .. 1 h {]! n h i-? h ;,;; d () n 12 t i In e g i \1 (0) n ,~1'1 e 1 tel" • r~ p ::, r-' t of r-' CJ (n h i In ,

2 p~rson called Chintam8ni Prabhakar Shinde also got ~ssociated t,! i. t: t1

the temple by becoming a 'puranik' - one who sings psalms. He gained

this position through one of his relatives called Haribhatji Pat «! a r'd -_.

.235

h ,,~n 1.'.1 h Co 1.'.1 <:1 ~:. a resident 81 a n~arby village named h Btl

wor0hipped at the shrine continuously at the shrine for twelve

on to Chintamani Prabhakar Shinde. Apart from the and

-chl? puranik, the descendants of a vaidya (ayurvedic doctor' ) cd.lled

also gained prominent positions in the trust body of thG t em-'-

On c: f2 when the Diwan of Baroda had fallen seriously sick lL!h lIe

Pulf!, he was treated back to he~lth by a vaid~la

called Narayan Vasudeb Kelkar. Later when Kelkar visited Baroda at the

invitati.on of t:he DilL.lan, hE:' [L.ISS preS:.E·nted (Llith rllany cD!';tly g3.i:t~_,. and

also offered the custodianship of Ganpati Pule shrine. Hi"", de-

~cendants now playa very important role in management of the t (::fl1p 1 e •

In the pres~nt trust committee the rivalry of the two groups IS very

clearly evident. While the khot of the villag~~ Bhide does not f i gu J"'ft

in it, the priests are also not represented in the board of

It is the Shindes of Malgund~ who are the puraniks and the Kelkars who

acquired the main powers of the temple. Both th2se

their positions through their association with t h f:! Di...\ t. ~,. j, rj E'

princely powers who used to financially support the shrine. In L:-~:t 1

possibility these powers also had economic and trade interests,

«.Ihich nothin(] i::. knoll.m much. But th(~ ~:::(-?lkar,,~ aT~e c(·?rti'ii~"lly onQ of the

richest mango exporters of Ganpati Pul~.

It is evident that it is the trustees who are trying to promote

the placf:! as ~ tourist complex. But at the same time they also

the prominence of the temple. It is reported that thf?

members prpssurized the government to change the records of the place

by converting it from 'Dea rai' - sacred grove to 'Sreecha Dongar'

hill of the Ganpati. In other words they changed the importance of the

turned the grove as ancillary to it. This way th r~y CQU Id

control oyer larger rfrsources legally, since otherwise b(?ing

their int~rest5 perfectly and they Bre now engaged in

temple complex by leaps and bounds. They are ta~ing massive drives to

collect donations to expand the existing temple. It that

Sh~rad Pawar, the former Chief Minister donated Rs. 25 lakhs t ()

1 \' y • Previously the four replicas of Ganpati at four extreme points of

th~ grove marked the boundary of the grove and people did not cross

beyond that point and never do any damaging act. But now that yo E.'n E' 1"',3""'

tion 15 gone and the trust has been compelled to raise bounda~y walls

all along the parikram2 to keep away the crowd from entering the grove

the nature's call. Even the character of the parikrama has

sf tel' being fully paved with red marbles a.II t: h rDU.g h • T~l E'

trust also has planned to fell part of the sacred grove to convert it

into a flower garden.

Th (~ P u j ,-::. r' i s; a 1 so d i. d riot J i E~ J 0\1.1 t D the 0 v e 1-' t U I' £:: 5 0'/ e r·· t h P

all through. They are reported to have manipulat2d to get the tt?mpJ.e

lands recorded in their names, But they lost the caSE whan the t rus:·t

moved the matter to the court. The court gave 3. ruling that since the

grove is 3. common property it cannot belong to any individual.

Ganpati Pule case provides some very 5ighificant insight to

the pr'[)blems ljnl::ed c:ornrl'lon 'Ct.l all sacr'ed groves. Fir,,::.'tly it: indicatPfi.

the sacred groves are fundamentally linked th f? bf2ttl~?m"~r1t

and that the khat or lineage head of the s.et:tl j.ng

U~;Ui:111y enJoys a custodial role and has no ownership 1"'ight.

the role of the British was to underplay th i ~,. tr<>.ditional

custodial role and mechanically introduced a system which either gave

credence to individual ownership Dr else to registered bureaucratic

trusts which could be manipulated. The village commons thus got either

con 'v' E' rt ed to individual property leading to sDcial inequalities or·

else con ve rt ed them in to comHlon prop e rty reSOll rc es. r-~s a consequ enc e

traditional customary laws were replaced by institutiDns which

t. t? c: d.rn e f;:,;ub j f?C t ec.1 to command laws of the state. At places th i~:; also

facilitcted to Brahminical supremacy, which was advantag~ous for them

to collude with an elite class for the governance of the colony. The

Kelkars at Ganpati Pule gaining supremacy was thus no accident, but D

p",;rt o·f thf.' I'.lidl calculi3,ted de',;:;ion.

5.5. Sacred Groves And State Intervention

Social Forestry In Sacred Groves: A number of sacred groves have been

dCqU i J'ed by the I~evenue department in Ratnagi ri department lonr~

back as 1957. In Deorukh taluka alone the groves were acquired in 192

villages, measuring a net area of 426.72 hectares. Later in the late

19705 and in 19805 a number of such groves were adopted by the social

forestry department for afforestation. In Sawantwadi taluka of Sindh­

durg district between 1982 to 1987 about 60 sacred groves were adopted

for afforestaion covering a net area of about 270 hectares land.

According to the officials of social forestry department sacred groves

".Ie f'f? adopt2d for afforestation for two reasons. Firstly because corn-

rnunity lands are scarce in he Konkan areas and the sacred grov~s

the only places available. Secondly it was thought that the sentiments

groves offer a better chance of survival foT'

plantations. Here we will present two cases where such progranlmes had

been adopted.

1 • Hatiu Village: At Hatiu Yillage which is 2 kms away from Deor-

ukh, the sacred grove dedicated to Kalisree and Vithlai was adopted

for afforestation. It was returned to the village after ~ years

Subsequently the department adopted the adjoining grove as well. Taken

together about 50 acres was brought under the plantation scheme.

During the plantation the standing tr~es were not felled but the

undergrowth was completely cleared off. The plantations are presently

fully matured and in very good state though they fully comprise of

exotic species like eucalyptus and acacia. One of the major drawbacks

of the programme as pointed out by the villagers was that no clear cut

decision has been taken about the usufruct. Legally the villagers

cannot directly cannot have access to it since the land 15 recorded

with the forest department. In case it is auction~d by the panchayat

(it is not very clear whether the panchayat can do so) the income has

to be shared between all the villages of the group gram panchayat.

This is npt acceptable to the villagers as it is that particular

village which had protected the plantation. But more fundarnentally the

problem is rooted to the fact that by tradition no tree can eyer be

felled from sacred groves, except for community use - mainly for the

upkeep of the temple. Once this norm is violated there is every chance

that the old standing trees may also be felled. The thinning of the

exotic species which is needed for proper growth of the trees also

creates doubts in the minds of the people. Naturally no thinning has

bean done in the plantations in thG sacred groves of Hiure village.

239

Vi 11 ag e ~<Llia. : Kua is a village on the Goa - Bombay highway in

Ratnagiri. district. A social forestry afforestation was taken up in

Ganesh temple sac~ed grove of 15 hectares, a few years back. The

uldpr trees were not touched but the und~rgrowth IL) i::~~; C amp Ie t e 1 y

clearGd in course of the plantation. Only exotic species were selected

In the p~;Dpl e

se~med uneasy over certain issues which were also similar·ly voiced at

Hatiu. L The thinning of exotic species will obviously dilute til e

strictures against felling of trees in the grove 2. It i5. not c 1 ea f'

as to whom the usufruct would go. The villagers claim that since they

have contributed labour and have protected the plantations, it should

be handed over to them. But legally they cannot claim it since th.?

land belongs to the revenue department ..,.. ...:..' It species havf.l

the customary laws linked to the sacred grOVES do not permit it. There

a danger that repeated felling o'f the trees in the gro'/e through

endeavours will ultimately result in total dis T' f;:' 9 <3. n.i

.i. n s t :i t uti () n 0 f sacred grove. The sacredness attached t:c.J the m \i.} i 11

3. Smriti Van: An environmental NGO in Pune under the 1&ad~r5hip of

Smita PatvardhBn, a social worker, has created 2 Of'

memoria.I 'forest The programme was initiated 7-8 years back on

aCl~e land the NGO had taken on lease at Kothrud from another

NGG called Jnan Prabodhini. On this plot of land the NOD encDuragf2d

i.ndivj.dUi:;J.~,. to plant a tree of any variety and pay Rs.500 fOT~ it· ;;:,

(n;.:d.ntc'narKE'!. The trees are Llsually dedicated to any dead meflll~H:?r cd tl"le

family. The idea behind it 15 that instead of conducting a 'kriya' (a

r"ituc.~J. t'.Ih i ch is normally performed after 10-12 days of death

person by the Hindus) a tree could be planted. (:)"f t e r the initial

it became evident that people were not willing to plant tr"ees

only in the memory of their relatives, but even In

their dead pets or for commemorating any exceptional event like secur-

irig high mc:rks In the exams etc. Even the I ndo"""F r!~ 1"1 c. h

Association planted a tree 1n order to commemorate the occ a~=" i Dn 01'

their visit to the Van. A Japanese couple doing in

a tl""", i:! -/: arni ly

.nembers of FukuZBWS 1 a famous Japanese scholar. The Management n~~so-

eiation and the Worker's Union of Kirlosksr Cummins - a big industry,

had also planted trees after the passing away of Kirloskar, the found-

ing member of the industry_ Presently the entire 8 la.nd

become saturated with plants and the concerned NGO is looking "for new

lands.

rnin-

ister 01 "forest and also by the forest Secretary. With their initia-

tive the government of Mah2rashtra passed an order in 1992 to procure

at least 10 acres of land at every district head quarter and create a

Smr-iti Van in \~.Ihich along l~)it.:h children's pad:: memorial "rOl~E'!:~ts shoulLi

initi;.?.tpd

Van on 2.5 hectares of land. The department of c: Dur's E.'

already having it's central nursery on the adjoining plot of land. In

this Van saplings of different plant species have been planted under

the ni~mes of variDus "forests classifil:>d by the sncifH,"l:; Inrjian

1. ikE 5 T!"H2 public

['e:::"porF:'i-p to the govl?rnmen"i:: programme has~ hOliJf?Ver, nDt bt?en \<'[:.'I"'y (dOorj.

24-1

Only a couple of rich contractors who have dealings with the depart-

ment only have been found to adopted a few trees in the mt!'rrlor"y 0"1'

thEir" cJepal~te(j relations. The cost if1CLWr~ec.1 to i[")itii;ti~ and (oa[")';;ge the

pr"Dgr";_~mme has bf,pn rath€~r" very t-d.Qh. Till the parly p,-c:rt uf lCfC;~;"i unly,

Rs. 30 lakhs had bosn spent over it. The whole programme rather seems

to hav~ become an exp~rimenting ground of the social forestry depart-

rT!::::nt. It has in fact experimented with a novel scheme of

The star Forest proQramme has been initiated by the department

mainly with the assistance of a nature lover named Vijay Vishnu Bhatt.

Indian astrology to determine the 108 plants which

r"f?cep"l;ivp to different waves from heavenly bodies. He states that

thf:;;::"p pli:~nt:~'" ar"E: pJ.Hced <\cc())"'ding to thE' P2,ttE:l'n dL·"ti=r""lili,..",E,d by c:alcu--"

lations, they need not be sown on the earth~ they will n0ed no

tic:icl0S 3.5 the positions themselves work against the insects and para-

dnd the plants ther~fDre need minimum care.

himself has experimented with this pattern at his residence and h i:l~S

helped the social forestry d~partment to introduce the same on the

basis of his experiments.

Th0 Smriti Van programme has also been introduced in Delhi

muddin in August 1990 to commemorate the birth anniversary pf Rajiv

Gandl"", i .

dUJ'inO

In this grove many foreign dignitaries have planted

vis it::., " (~n I:) the T-" 'yl 0; n \ • ./ ;::; ::;" i n t T"" D d U C Q c.1 "f CJ T' t h t~ (~ e n e r"" i!~ 1 public eln

the Elhair'on I'lr.lr"q -" Hirll] RCJi.~d T"-.jLlnction. At the ~~i:lrne time one HlDre ~/an

:i.ni.tii',t€,d f"lPBr ;J;::,mUj""'2~ bridue elas!:: to Nj"zarnmuddin.

Municipal Corporation too ha~ such a Van at Nanakpura which has evoked

242

good response from the public. But a report on Smriti Vans in Delhi by

od 1 the Vans taken together till January 1995. The MCD ha5~ In ·f ae t ,

Rs. 40 lakhs for just two Smriti Vans. This indicates that the

programme is yet to catch up with the public in Delhi. The NGD 2Nperi­

ence in Pune has been on the other hand in sharp contrast to this.

sac redn e·:;:;5.

Perhaps such Vans will also lead to the formation of sacred groves in

the tilfll"'?":l to caine. B\Jt \<.illat is; most impDr'tant o·f the ~)i3.n i'~ that

have come up in urban areas where people are most stretched away from

religions and indifferent to environment. It may perhaps lead one to

tic:.n \<.Ihich compels thE- people tD seek their roots in ales!;; mecha.nic;;d

and look for values more close to the nature. Otherwise there is,

no reason why the rich class of people including some of

industrialists of the country should support such an