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Judgment
Adami, J.—The question which arose in the suit was whether the landlord of the village had the right to cut down trees forming a grove called Sarna in an Oraon village. There are in these Oraon villages certain trees which are worshipped for the propitiation of evil spirits and portions of forest were in the old days marked off as a sacred grove in which these trees grew. In the present case it was stated that there was a very large grove of about 2000 trees standing on a large area of land and on the four sides of this grove there was a tree which was worshipped.
The plaintiffs'' case was that the landlord had a right to cut all trees in the grove other than those which were actually worshipped. The defendants'' (being the body of villagers) case was that every tree in the grove was sacred and could not be cut down. Both the Courts below have found for the defendants; they have held that a Sarna is not merely the actual tree which is worshipped but comprises the whole body of trees in the grove in which the trees worshipped stand. We have been referred to Mr. Roy''s book on the Oraons and to the District Gazetteer and both of these show that it is the grove that is held sacred and.
ancient custom forbids anyone to cut trees or branches of trees standing on the Sarna groves.
It may be true that in some villages the grove has been reduced to a small number of trees for the trees may have either been blown down or died owing to age, or may have been allowed by the villagers to be cut. But in the present case there is nothing to show that there has been a custom in the village to allow the cutting down of the trees in the grove in dispute. It is true that there were signs found by the learned Munsif that some of the trees had been cut or broken at some previous period and had sprouted again but that is not sufficient to show a right in the landlord to cut down the trees as a custom which is not consistent with the general custom attaching to the Sarna grove.
I would hold that both the lower Courts are correct in the finding they have come to, and I would dismiss this appeal with costs.
Kulwant Sahay, J.
I agree.