Sarna is a place of worship in Chotanagpur region of

Jharkhand Jharkhand (; ; ) is a state in eastern India. The state shares its border with the states of West Bengal to the east, Chhattisgarh to the west, Uttar Pradesh to the northwest, Bihar to the north and Odisha to the south. It has an area of . I ...

, Chhattisgarh and

Odisha Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of ...

. It is a

sacred grove Sacred groves or sacred woods are groves of trees and have special religious importance within a particular culture. Sacred groves feature in various cultures throughout the world. They were important features of the mythological landscape and ...

, where people of village gather to perform rituals in village festival.

Ritual

Sarna is scared groove consist of Sal tree called ''Sarai'' in Chotanagpur. It is remaintant of forest patch in the village, where spirit reside. According to traditional belief, Sarna is residing place of gaon khut (village deity), the founder of village. Each year people gather to offer sacrifice to Sun, village deity and ancestors for good harvest and safety of village. The village priest in Chotanagpur is known as ''Pahan,'' sometimes called ''Laya. Pahan'' and his assistant ''Pujar'' sacrifice animals especially goat. Then cooked meat is eaten with Tapan (liquor). The ritual of Sarhul festival takes place in Sarna. Sarna is place of worship in village of the Sadan and Kurukh of Chotanagpur. Several tribal organization including Santal are demanding separate religious code for Sarna as

Sarnaism Sarnaism is a religious belief found in India. The belief is based on worship at Sarna, the sacred groves in the Chota Nagpur Plateau region in the states of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Odisha. According to local belief, a ''Gram deoti'' or vi ...

as they belief it is different from

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Indian religion or '' dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global p ...

. Although

Santals The Santal or Santhal are an Austroasiatic speaking Munda ethnic group in South Asia. Santals are the largest tribe in the Jharkhand and West Bengal state of India in terms of population and are also found in the states of Odisha, Bihar and A ...

call their sacred groves ''Jaher'' and village priest ''Naike''.

References

{{Religion in India topics Sacred groves of India Veneration of the dead Nagpuri culture