Changing Sacred Status of Village Pond in the Context of People-Pond-Spirit Complex: An Empirical Study

Natural environment plays a ven; important role in the life and living of human beings. Culture, the man-made environment has its origin on the earth from the time when human beings started interaction with their natural environment for satisfaction of basic, derived and integrative needs. Religion, an integrated part of culture is also the result of satisfaction of that psychic and integrative need. The concept of Nature-Man-Spirit Complex and Sacred Complex and the concept of Great and Little traditions contributed a lot to the understanding of the religious and cultural complexion of Indian villages. The villagers depend on their natural surroundings for their socio-cultural necessities and believe that various type of spirits reside in village forest, land and water bodies. In Chhattisgarh, ponds not only act as the source of water for the villagers, but also play a very important role in the socio-economic and cultural life of villagers. Present study is an attempt to observe the changing relationships of People-Pond-Spirit complex as a part of little tradition in a village ofChhattisgarh. The paper argues that Ponds are an important part of village life and belief pattern of the villagers in Chhattisgarh in general.