Similipal tribals allege sacred groves are destroyed, turned into tiger Zeenat’s enclosure

Residents of Jamunagarh holding a demonstration in Bhubaneswar on Monday demanding permission to continue their religious traditions inside Similipal Tiger Reserve.

Tribals who lived in the Similipal Tiger Reserve (STR) in Odisha for generations before their relocation say their rights to continue their age-old rituals and worship of their deities in the sacred groves in the forest have been denied for the first time. The villages they inhabited have been fenced off, now deemed part of the territory of Zeenat, a tiger translocated from Maharashtra to support the population stability of big cats in STR.

A demonstration by the members of Munda tribe, former residents of Jamunagarh village in STR, held in Bhubaneswar on Monday might have gone unnoticed by many. Yet, they attempted to bring to light their deep-seated anguish over the issue.

“Zeenat was preferred over our traditional rights to worship nature,” Ramrai Sae, a Pahan (tribal priest) of erstwhile Jamunagarh village of STR.

As part of efforts to make Similipal free from human habitations, residents of Jamunagarh were evicted in two phases in 2015 and 2022 and relocated. The eviction happened despite protest and against the wishes of people, said Telenga Pasa, a former resident of Jamunagarh. The village has been transformed into a meadow after the eviction.

“Even after our relocation, we continued to visit our sacred groves, abodes of our deities and sacred burial grounds every year. It was a ritual to honour our sacred lands and ancestorial and traditional worship practices which is integral to our community’s very existence,” said Mr. Pasa.

‘People fell ill after eviction’

“Many of our family members have fallen ill and elders even died after getting separated from our homelands, deities and ancestors,” said Mr. Sae.

“Since January 2025, the authorities of Similipal Tiger Reserve are preventing us from entering Jamunagarh and worshipping at our sacred spaces. Deputy Director of South Wildlife Division categorically told us that we cannot go to our village Jamunagarh to perform our sacred rites, because our lands are now being used for tiger supplementation programme,” said Sagar Aleya, another villager.

Their belief system was so deeply rooted that members of the Munda tribe would cycle 40 km to Jamungarh to perform rituals. In 2023, they carried a body across the same distance to fulfil the deceased’s last wish — to return to the soil of his village. There existed about 10 different sacred groves in Jamunagarh, they said.

Residents of Jamunagarh submitting a memorandum to Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (wildlife) in Bhubaneswar on Monday requesting permission to continue their religious traditions inside Similipal Tiger Reserve.

“It is really appalling that we were never informed, asked or consented to our lands, sacred spaces and burial grounds being used as tiger enclosures. How can our spirits be caged? Enclosed? How can we tolerate our sacred spaces being bulldozed and destroyed?” asked Maa Mati Surakhya Samiti, Jamunagarh, Similipal, a forum of villagers, in a memorandum submitted to Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (Wildlife).

‘Sacred groves destroyed’

“Moreover, our sacred groves (Jayars) and burial grounds (Sasan Pilis) are being destroyed using earthmovers and some construction activities are underway to create a bigger tiger enclosure,” it said.

Stating that not allowing them to perform worship at their sacred groves was a threat their existence, identity and religious beliefs, the villagers urged the forest department to allow them to continue their worship.

Zeenat, the three-year-old tiger, was translocated from the Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve in Maharashtra to STR on November 14 as part of a strategy to boost the genetic diversity of STR’s big cat population. The tiger then strayed into Jharkhand and West Bengal keeping forest department officials in the three states on their toes for days before it was finally captured and relocated to STR again.