Forest Spirit

The forest is alive. It breathes, it feels, it sings, it dances, it eats and sleeps.

This is what people of Jogidaha, Udaypur believes.

They also believe forests has spirits, the spirits that create, nurture, heal, protect and punish.

They felt the presence of forest spirit sometimes in their dreams,

sometimes within themselves, sometimes in their home and sometimes in the forest. 

But these days the forest spirit seems to be hiding, hiding from the people.

The forest, the home of the spirit once upon a time used to exist in harmony and peace.

But in the last 20 to 30 years this place has seen massive deforestation

which has changed the definition of what

natural forest looks like which has disturbed the presence of the forest spirit. 

 

The majority of people that live in Jogidaha, Udaypur are Tharu (native indigenous) and Rai (non native indigenous). Culturally and spiritually they are really connected with the forest.Tharu people identify themselves as forest people on the other hand Rai people worship nature as their god. But with the change in the identity of the natural forest, people from this place are slowly losing their spiritual connection with the forest.

Forest is the most important parts of our ecosystem and also a valuable part of our culture and history. But these days we see forest only as a resource to use, not as part of ourselves. We fail to protect the forest because we people are disconnected with the forest.