Letters

Sacred groves

The article, Besieged. The forests of the gods (January 31, 1994) was extremely enlightening. The comment, "Sometimes, even the promotion of a deity from a local spirit in the form of a stone or two to a universal divinity has caused the destruction of a sacred forest", in particular, sounds interesting.

On the, one hand, it substantiates Madhav Gadgil's contention that cosmocentric people, who lived in harmony with the ecosystem, developed into anthropocentric creatures with devastating consequences for nature; on the other, it negates Gadgil's earlier view that Christianity, In contrast to Hinduism, brought about destruction of nature, especially sacred groves in the Christian-dominated areas in Meghalaya.

The observation indicates that sacred groves have been subject to destruction in spite of an increase in the level of religious faith. This has also been observed by Gadgil in many of the sacred groves in south India.

One also cannot ignore the broad political ramifications related to sacred groves. The trees in the sacred groves of Ratnagiri district were felled when they were brought under the purview of the revenue department. The people cut the trees to construct bigger temples so as to assert their moral authority over the groves. Though the land is under the jurisdiction of the revenue department, the management of these temples is vested with the villagers.

In Kolhapur and Satara districts, too, trees have been felled in many sacred groves. But this happened mainly when the groves were brought under the purview of the government-sponsored Western Maharashtra Deosthan Samity. It is reported that many contractors felled the trees in connivance with village leaders and functionaries of the Deosthan Samity.

J J ROY BURMAN
Tata Institute of Social Sciences
Bombay

The article on sacred groves does not mention the concept of panchavati - groves that are not only sacred, but also highly utilitarian and eminently practicable.

A panchavati is a sacred grove of five trees - banyan, peepul, bell amla and ashoka. Neem and mango are also planted as ancillary trees. The five trees are recognised as sacred and the panchavati is considered an appropriate place for meditation and self-realisation. All the trees have considerable medicinal value.

Almost anyone with a hectare of land to spare can plant a panchavati. I think a panchavati movement will be an appropriate symbol and instrument of Indian environmentalism, perhaps better than the traditional sacred groves, whose preservation depended, to some extent, on the fear of malevolent gods. A panchavati movement should start with individuals who have land to spare. At the next level will be institutes - temples, mosques, churches, schools and colleges. Panchavatis can also be raised on public land in villages and in city parks. ...

Vanishing lakes

In the analysis, Gone to seed (December 31, 1993), you have done well to highlight the unplanned development that is characteristic of the abuse of water bodies in the country. Thanks to short-sighted strategies, urban development in several states has resulted in either the serious degradation of lakes and tanks or their obliteration.

Two instances are worth mentioning. The garden city of Bangalore, which had more than 40 lakes four decades ago, today has hardly 10. And, the lakes in the belt areas of Madras are disappearing fast because of the state's housing board schemes.

One factor that has not attracted the concern of the authorities is the indiscriminate exploitation of sand from river beds, which results in the faster evaporation of water, which in turn, leads to a lower groundwater table. ...

Wind power

A few years ago, about 100 windmills were set up in India. I think the expenses were met through government money, which means taxpayers' money'. A survey must be conducted to find ad what happened to this investment.

In Holland, thousands of windmills run on the seashore. In California, USA, we see a number of 3-bladst windmills producing electricity.

Why are we not successful? I think consultations with experts are necessary to prevent investments of public money being wasted. Those who spend such money must be made accountable for the investments. ...

Letters Letters