Abstract
Devbans are the parts of forest territory that have been traditionally conserved in reverence to the local deities in various parts of Himachal Pradesh. Today, they stand at the intersection of tradition and modernity. This paper endeavours to study the political ecology of a Devban in the contemporary times by looking at the power dynamics between various stakeholders with respect to their relative decision making power in the realm of managing the Devban of Parashar Rishi Devta. It further looks at howcertain political and administrative factors can contribute towards the growth or even decline of any Devban. The study argues that in the contemporary times when the capitalist doctrines have infiltrated every sphere of the social institutions including the religion, Devbans have a greater probability of survival when both the state and the community have shared conservatory idealsand powers to preserve them.
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