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The article provides information concerning the sacred groves in Tamil Nadu, India. The author infers that the sacred groves have been attracting the attention of plant ecologists, environmentalists, anthropologists, and historians of religion alike. The author adds that the groves intrigue students of culture because they are protected by beliefs and practices that represent poorly understood varieties of folk Hinduism. The identification of the factors that both support and undermine the sacred groves in one region is also discussed.

The article provides information concerning the ethnography on the religious meanings of trees and forests in India. In the myths and rituals of Hinduism, forests and trees are said to often appear as heirophanies, the portals where the power of the divine can be accessed in a particularly potent form. The scholars have understood the phenomenon in advance by unpacking the semantic range of concepts. The author implies that the calls for a re-imagining of humanity's relationship with the natural world have been prompting renewed research of religious traditions to find the resources for an environmental ethos.