Sarna Burhi, the 'old lady of the grove' (also Sarna Mai or Sarna Devi), is the goddess of the sacred grove (sarna) and the principal village deity of the Oraon. She is imagined as an aged woman with white hair who dwells among the remnant sal (Shorea robusta) trees that form the village shrine, where the village deities also reside. Strongly associated with water, vegetation and fertility, she is propitiated by the village priest, the pahan, with offerings of sal blossoms, rice-beer and the sacrifice of fowl, most conspicuously at the spring festival of Sarhul; the felling or defilement of her trees is held to bring calamity upon the community. She stands somewhat apart from the celestial complex of the supreme god, belonging instead to the localized cult of the grove and the land.