- Meghalaya is home to more than 125 sacred forests, which are rooted in indigenous religious beliefs and culture and are vital to environmental conservation.
- These ancient groves have been protected for centuries and serve as water sources and places for prayer ceremonies.
- Efforts by environmentalists and indigenous communities aim to spread awareness about the importance of protecting these forests.
As if visiting an elderly family member, Tambor Ringdo wandered through the fern-covered woodland, naming plants, trees, flowers and even stones.
The community leader and entrepreneur said that when he was young, his uncle brought him here and said the words: “This forest is your mother.”
This sacred space is located in the village of Mawhlang, nestled in the lush green Khasi hills of Meghalaya state in north-eastern India, and its name means 'abode of the clouds'. On a cloudy day, the forest, a bumpy 15-mile drive from the state capital Shillong, was silent except for the chirping of crickets and raindrops shaking the bright green leaves.
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The ground is carpeted with dead leaves and green saplings, and is dotted with sacred moss-covered stones that have served for centuries as sacrificial altars and receivers of chants, songs, and prayers. I did.
A Jaintia man stands beside a vast sacred grove in the Jaintia Hills, a sparsely populated mountainous area in northeastern India's Meghalaya state on September 6, 2023. Indigenous people believe that these forests are the abode of the gods. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath)
Mawpuram is one of the over 125 sacred groves in Meghalaya and is probably the most famous. These forests are ancient virgin forests that have been protected by indigenous communities for centuries. Similar areas have been documented in other parts of India and around the world, from Nigeria and Ethiopia to Turkey, Syria and Japan.
In Meghalaya, these forests represent an ancient tradition of environmental protection rooted in indigenous religious beliefs and culture. For hundreds of years, people have come to sacred forests to offer prayers and animal sacrifices to the gods they believe live there. Any form of blasphemy is taboo. In most forests, even picking flowers and leaves is prohibited.
“Communication between humans and the gods takes place here,” said Lindor, a descendant of the priestly family that sanctified the Mauplan forest. “Our ancestors left these groves and forests to symbolize the harmony between humans and nature.”
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Many of these forests serve as the main water source for surrounding villages. It is also a treasure trove of biodiversity. Lindor counts at least his four types of trees and his three types of orchids extinct outside Morphrang's sacred forest.
Today, climate change, pollution and deforestation threaten these spaces. They were also influenced by the conversion of indigenous peoples to Christianity that began under British rule in the 19th century. HRH Molmen, an environmental activist and former Unitarian minister, said people who converted to Christianity had lost their spiritual connection to the forest and their folklore. Meghalaya is almost 80% Hindu and 75% Christian.
“They saw their new religion as light and these rituals as darkness, paganism, or even evil,” he says.
In recent years, environmentalists working with government agencies as well as indigenous and Christian communities have begun to spread the message about why forests, which are so important to local ecosystems and biodiversity, must be cared for. Contributing to Molmen said efforts in rural areas are bearing fruit.
“We are now finding that even in places where people have converted to Christianity, they are tending to the forests,” Momen said.
Mustem village in the Jaintia Hills is one such example. Heimonmi Shira, head and deacon of the village of about 500 families, said nearly all the residents are Presbyterians, Catholics or members of the Church of God.
“I don't think the forest is sacred,” he said. “But I have a lot of respect for it.”
This is the village's source of drinking water and a fish sanctuary.
“Forests keep us cool when the weather gets really warm,” he said. “Breathing that fresh air refreshes your mind.”
Mr Shira said he was concerned about climate change and lack of rain, but had plans to “green the forest” by boosting tourism and planting more trees.
Petros Pirtu takes his 6-year-old son, Bali Kupal, to a sacred grove near his village, also in the Jaintia Hills. Although he is a Christian, he said the forest is an important part of his life. He wants his son to learn to respect it.
“In our generation, we don't believe that this is the abode of the gods,” he says. “But our ancestors taught us not to pollute the forest, so we continue the tradition of protecting it.”
BK Tiwari, a former professor of environmental science at North Eastern Hill University in Shillong, is heartened to see that conversion to Christianity has not completely cut people off from the land.
“In indigenous religions, everything is sacred: animals, plants, trees, rivers,” says Tiwari, who studies the biological and cultural diversity of Meghalaya's sacred forests. “Right now, they may not feel a connection to God or anything spiritual, but as a culture, they understand their role as stewards.”
Dongbok Buam, who hails from the Jaintia Hills and still practices indigenous beliefs, says that in his village's sacred forest, three rituals are held in honor of the goddess Retiki, the forest dweller and protector of the village. He explained that it was being held at the confluence of rivers.
“If people have problems or illnesses, or if women are having trouble bearing children, they go there and offer sacrifices,” Buam said.
One of the rituals involves carrying river water before dawn and offering it to the goddess at a specific spot in the forest. Pour water into a gourd and place it next to 5 betel nuts and 5 betel leaves. 4 for the river and 1 for the sacred grove. A white goat is sacrificed in honor of the forest god, he said.
“We still believe that the goddess walks in the forest,” Buam said.
The Nongrum clan is one of three clans that manage the Swar sacred forest near Cherrapunji, one of the wettest regions in the world, about 55 miles southwest of Shillong. They follow the pantheistic Sen Khasi religion, believing that God exists in everyone and everything. Kunik Nongrum, chairman of the local committee that manages the forest, said the forest is a temple to their gods and rituals are performed to ward off war, famine and disease.
“A village thrives when it has a healthy forest,” he said, vowing that the forest will continue to thrive as his family is determined to carry on the traditions established by their ancestors.
Like most sacred forests, this one is not easily accessible by road. It is located on a steep hill, which can be dangerous terrain if it gets hit by a downpour. This is common. It is impossible to enter the forest without feeling the brush of twisted branches, breathing in the scent of flowers and herbs, and bathing in the drops of water shaken off the leaves.
The part of the forest that people consider sacred is a leaf-covered patch surrounded by tall trees.
Most of the rituals are performed only during turbulent times. The most recent hardship was the global coronavirus pandemic. One particular ritual, the bull sacrifice, is performed only once in a lifetime by the chief priest, and this ritual gives him the authority to perform other rituals for the community.
Jasin Nongrum, 52, pointed to a sacrificial altar just outside the forest. In the center of the altar is a crater filled with animal blood. He was six years old when he witnessed his once-in-a-lifetime sacrifice.
“It was a very intense experience,” he said. “When I think about it now, it feels like a vision that I can't even really explain in words.”
Some sacred groves also serve as ancestral burial grounds, said Humphrey Lindo Lintatian, chief custodian of one such grove in the Khasi Hills. He practices Khasi faith and his wife is a Christian.
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Each forest has its own rules and taboos. Although it is possible to collect nuts in this forest, burning them is prohibited. In other regions, fruit can be picked from trees, but must be eaten in the forest. It is believed that the gods punish people for their disturbances.
Lindo, a native of Mauplan, is a Christian who takes part in forest rituals to invoke the gods, who are believed to appear in the form of leopards and snakes. He also looked at the effects of climate change on the region's forests, including invasive birds, fungi-infested trees and extinct species.
Lingdaw said that in rural Meghalaya, the poorest people are the most land-dependent, and forests are not only economic engines, but also have the potential to nurture life, providing water and promoting tourism. He pointed out that there is.
“But above all, the sacred groves are set aside so that we can continue to have what we have had since the creation of this world.”
