A DISCOVERY has been the existence of aands. Till recently one had been talking only of oraans as sacred groves.

Aand is a vow, taken by a village, not to grow anything on a plot of land. The aands are dedicated to deities and have either a soil cover or grassland. They are out of bounds for agriculture and left fallow. Technically, aands can be categorised as in between the oraans and gochars (pastures) and retain the characteristics of both.

The essential purpose of aands is to increase biomass production. The aand near Pokhran, the site of the 1974 nuclear test, was about 2 sq km and till then, was the biggest protected area in the region.

Though the oldest aands are a few hundred years old, there is no mention of them in state revenue records.