Bir Sikhanwala in Faridkot district is a jhidi, a sacred grove, dedicated to Baba Kala Mehar, a local Sandhu Jat saint.
A monthly festival draws around 50,000 devotees who offer alcohol as prasad in exchange for wishes, followed by langar.
Faridkot's last ruler, Harinder Singh, who died in 1989, bequeathed the grove to the Maharawal Khewaji Trust. His daughter Amrit Kaur contested it. A Chandigarh court invalidated the trust. Part of the land was leased to Punjab Agricultural University for a seed farm. About 150 encroaching families were evicted in 2013. Leopards have been sighted.
The size of the grove is genuinely disputed, with figures ranging from 9.35 hectares to 200-300 acres to a claim of more than 2,000 acres.
The grove is one of a small number of jhidis surviving in the Malwa, patches of old vegetation preserved because they are attached to a shrine rather than because anyone set out to preserve trees.
The offering of liquor is not unusual at shrines of this type in the region and it is the reason the grove is largely absent from official heritage and religious tourism listings. The vow made is generally for the recovery of livestock or of a family member.
The bequest by the last ruler of Faridkot placed the grove in a trust whose management has been disputed, as most of the Faridkot estate has been. The trees themselves have no protection under forest law.