Each Hindu community in India has its own gramadevata, the deity of the locale. Everything that makes up the community embodies this great sprit: the houses, shops and barns, trees and bushes, reservoirs and streams and the inhabitants, both past and present. |
It is impossible to separate a community deity from its surroundings, but worshipping that God or Goddess still requires a specific place or object. Shrines to such deities are usually associated with a prominent natural feature such as a hill, a boulder, a stream or pond or a tree. Trees are the most common sites for community shrines, and hundreds of thousands of sacred trees are worshipped throughout India.
|
