{"id":20020117,"date":"2016-09-14T12:30:22","date_gmt":"2016-09-14T07:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thethirdpole.net\/?p=20117"},"modified":"2021-01-12T05:00:23","modified_gmt":"2021-01-11T23:30:23","slug":"the-sacred-springs-of-sikkim","status":"publish","type":"video","link":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/uncategorized\/the-sacred-springs-of-sikkim\/","title":{"rendered":"The sacred springs of Sikkim"},"content":{"rendered":"

“Faith is taking the first step even when you don\u2019t see the whole staircase”. – Martin Luther King, Jr.<\/a><\/p>\n

Centuries ago, this faith in the unknown might have inspired the elders in Sikkim to worship their springs. What it would yield was perhaps unfathomable then, but today it surely is evident.\u00a0\u2018Devithans\u2019 are protected areas around a spring, often associated with a local legend or myth about why the place is holy. Rituals are organised there to appease the Deity.<\/p>\n

How it started is unknown but even today, the sacredness of the space is\u00a0perceptible\u00a0in the culture and beliefs of the people. Religious rituals are diverse since Sikkim is populated by Nepalis, Bhutias, Tibetans, Subbas and Lepchas but people from different communities and cultural dispositions\u00a0visit and worship the Devithans.\u00a0Locals organise annual pujas (acts of worship) here on important days such as the Buddha Purnima, but people are\u00a0free to perform pujas whenever they wish.<\/p>\n

The area around a Devithan is protected, and there are strict rules set up by the local committee to ensure this. In most cases, the water from such a spring is used only for drinking, and laws ensure that there is no wasting water or dirt\u00a0around the site. People also abstain from felling trees in the surrounding areas and often plant trees around it. No toilets are constructed and even grazing in the area above the spring is prohibited since it will lead to contamination.<\/p>\n

Though shrouded in rituals and myths, Devithans serve as an important institution to preserve springs but this is not all. On the flipside, some also believe that such strong religious sentiments may prevent any development work near the temple; this could be both a boon and a bane.<\/p>\n

The video explains more about Devithans and what it means from the point of spring conservation.<\/p>\n

This article was first published on India Water Portal<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Myths and rituals around sacred springs in the Himalayan Indian state have helped preserve important community water sources <\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":20020120,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","categories":[1],"tags":[523],"country":[20000111],"class_list":["post-20020117","video","type-video","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-conservation","country-india"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe sacred springs of Sikkim<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Myths and rituals around sacred springs in the Himalayan Indian state have helped preserve important community water sources\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/uncategorized\/the-sacred-springs-of-sikkim\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" 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