Though the sarnas of south Bihar have declined under pressure from development projects and urbanisation, there are instances when survival instincts revived them. They were one of the factors that stalled the Koel-Karo twin-dam project a decade ago. The Munda tribals living in the 112 villages in the submergence area refused to give up their sarnas and sasandiris (burial grounds) as well as their lands without suitable rehabilitation.

The project officials could offer as compensation only cultivable land. But the tribals told the government if they shifted the sarnas, they would have to shift the spirits residing in them, too. Says Vincent Lakra of the Koel Karo Jan Sanghatan, "That shut them up!"

More recently, the tribals of Keadchalom village struggled for three years and prevented the National Thermal Power Corp from clearing their sarna to make way for power transmission line towers.

Not all revivals of the sarna have been through fights against big projects. The villagers of Raghunathpur in Ranchi district proudly display the 14-ha sacred grove they saved from the axe of a Rajput landlord, Tejnarain Singh. Says Shanti Minz, who was instrumental in the struggle against the landlord, "We fought a court case and when Singh's men came to cut the trees, we didn't let them enter."

Crucial to the sarna was the baisi, the traditional village assembly that had collapsed with the decline of the sarnas. But in Raghunathpur, the villagers resurrected the baisi and today it not only protects the forest, but also regulates other aspects of village life. The villagers plan to revive the village tank and start a community fishery.

Says Minz, "The struggle to save our sarna brought us together and we are not going to lose this unity again. Finding our roots has made us human beings again. We have regained our self-respect. That's what the sarna means to us."