Baiga sacred grove, Dindori

The Baiga tribal community's devgudi sacred groves at Dindori in Madhya Pradesh — the community-managed sacred forest patches of the Baiga tribe (population c.300,000 in central India). The Baiga (classified as a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group) maintain devgudis as collective sacred forests where no trees may be cut, no hunting is permitted, and traditional Baiga rituals are performed to the forest spirit Bada Deo. The devgudis range from 1 to 50 hectares each and are maintained through community consensus without formal state recognition. The Baiga Chak region of Dindori district contains over 100 devgudis covering 2,000+ hectares of old-growth sal forest — among the most intact tribal-managed forest reserves in central India. The 2006 Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers Act legally recognised Baiga devgudis as community forest rights. The 2014 Baiga Development Agency's survey documented the full devgudi network.