Gods of the Forest

 Gods of the Forest

Tamil Nadu’s landscape is dotted with forests of the gods. 

Studies have documented over 1275 sacred groves in this southern state, ranging across the five landscapes - “ainthinai” - from the mountains to the forests to the grasslands to the human-dominated scapes to the seashore. These groves are patches of trees (and sometimes large tracts of forest) where a forest god or deity is said to reside. The land is considered sacred because it belongs to the deity, and trespassing or desecrating these spaces is a sin. Communities are the custodians of these sacred groves, passing down the tradition of protecting these groves from generation to generation through storytelling, rituals, and prayers. Tirunelveli district has 39 documented sacred groves, each telling its own story and embracing the rich history of the people living there. 

In the village of Thiruppudaimarathur in Tirunelveli district, we saw many such sacred groves surrounding an ancient Shiva temple. One of the features of most sacred groves here was the local watchman deity Aiyanaar who is said to guard the village from evil spirits and outsiders meaning harm to the locals. Villagers place terracotta horses near the deity so that he may ride upon them when making his rounds around the village at night to protect it. The other deity at most of the sacred groves we visited was the Mother Goddess, whose shrine is protected by Aiyanaar. Many groves here also hold many species of medicinal plants. Other groves serve as heronries, where many species of waterbirds roost in colonies for protection of young against predators and communal feeding. 

 

Typically, each village celebrates one or two festivals a year in these sacred groves. There are strict rules regarding the use and misuse of these groves. For example, one is not allowed to defecate, urinate, or litter in sacred groves, at the risk of offending the local deities. People are also prevented from removing natural resources from inside the groves and are often asked to remove footwear before entering the patch. The religious heads of each village preside over the groves and their permission is sought out by those wishing to enter the grove. 

The culture of worshipping deities of nature goes back to a long-standing respect for nature and wildlife. Across India, animal deities are worshipped for protection against wildlife, good health, productive crops, and blessings for newborn children. In a way, these beliefs make sense scientifically. Large animals such as elephants and tigers pose a risk to local villagers, their crops, and their livestock. Praying to deities that represent these animals (or forest deities that control such animals) gives villagers a sense of safety in a landscape where safety is difficult to come by. One such example is the Sundarbans, where locals worship the forest goddess Bonbibi and the tiger god Dakshinray for protection before entering the swamp forest. Around the temple groves in Thiruppudaimarathur, we saw colonies of nesting waterbirds like painted storks, pelicans, and even a few fruit bats hanging from the trees! 

 

Sacred groves have a long history of local worship, beliefs, and respect for nature etched into their existence. Visiting Thiruppudaimarathur was eye-opening and exposed us to the nature of such worship in the rural landscape of Tamil Nadu.