Department of Botany, Bioinformatics and Climate Change Impacts Management, Gujarat University, Ahmedabad-380009, Gujarat India
The Kansari Mavli is a sacred grove situated in the Songadh Forest, Tapi District, Gujarat, India. There is a beautiful forest near the city of Vyara. Kansari Mavli sacred grove has a temple. During present field investigation, attempts were made to categorize the floral diversity of this sacred grove, and around 145 flowering plant species belonging to 116 genera under 51 family have been recorded. This grove serves as a vital pool for Preservation of Threatened endemic and medicinal plant species.
Areas of trees or natural forests that are protected and revered for spiritual, religious, or cultural reasons are known as sacred groves. Numerous indigenous communities worldwide have declared specific forests or groves to be sacred, and these groves are often considered sacred sites that may be associated with various deities or belief systems. Often believed to be inhabited by gods, ghosts, or ancestors, they are considered to be places of spiritual significance. In sacred groves, which are collections of plants, the locals have long engaged in religious worship of gods and goddesses. Sacred groves are maintained by the local population, who also tend to the forest's water life, wildlife, and vegetation. The inhabitants protect the environment and live in harmony with it. The residents have been preserving the forest plants in these sacred groves since their ancestors. The people who live in sacred groves beg nature's pardon before taking any trees away for human use. After then, they make use of the tree for their own objectives. Numerous plant species can also be found in the area surrounding a number of sacred groves. Tribal people worship a variety of gods and goddesses for protection under various titles. Worship rites are conducted in accordance with various beliefs that are observed at each holy grove location. 29 SGs have been reported from Gujarat. Gupta and collaborators (2000). Reports of 28 SGs have been made in the Sabarkantha district of North Gujarat. (Mehta 2011) (Malsatar Alpesh et al ., 2017). Sacred groves have been found in the central hilly regions, the northeastern region, and the Western Ghats region of India, where the indigenous population inhabits. Some experts estimate that there may be as many as 150,000 sacred groves throughout India, despite the fact that there are already over 14,000 knowns (Solanki et al., 2021).
STUDY AREA
Kansari mavli is the goddess of grain, according to the gods and goddesses of the traditional tribal farmers. The sacred grove lies between the villages of Nishana and Kavla in the Tapi district, at the base of a steep hill in a densely forested area. Situated between N 21°11'12 E 73°28'32 is the research area. One of the numerous sacred groves in the Songadh forest area of the Vyara division is Kansari Mavli. The vicinity of several sacred groves is also home to a wide variety of plant species. Under different names, tribal people worship a wide range of gods and goddesses for protection. For many years, the villagers have worshipped gods and goddesses in sacred groves, which are clumps of plants. The locals care for the forest's vegetation, fauna, and aquatic life in addition to maintaining sacred groves. As the name implies, the sacred groves are connected to specific gods. There is also a medieval temple in this wood. The descendants and members of the local community hold a daylong celebration known as the "Mela" in honor of the saint. The climate in Kansari Mavli is hot and semi-arid, with cool, pleasant winters, a short monsoon season, and dry, scorching summers. As is common in the semi-arid environment of the area, Kansari Mavli Songadh has considerable temperature fluctuations between hot summers and cool winters. It is believed that Kansari Mavli Songadh, located in southern Rajasthan, receives 400 to 800 mm of rainfall annually, or roughly 15 to 31 inches.
Kainisha Gamit*, Anusha Maitreya, Himanshu Pandya, Hitesh Solanki, Floristic Diversity of Kansari Mavli Sacred Grove in Songadh Forest Tapi District, Gujarat, India, Int. J. Sci. R. Tech., 2025, 2 (9), 216-233. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17182832
10.5281/zenodo.17182832
