God's Fishes: Religion, Culture and Freshwater Fish Conservation in India

God's fishes: religion, culture and freshwater fish conservation in India

N ISHIKANT G UPTA,ARUN K ANAGAVEL,PARINEETA D ANDEKAR N EELESH D AHANUKAR,KUPPUSAMY S IVAKUMAR V INOD B. MATHUR and R AJEEV R AGHAVAN

Abstract Indigenous communities worldwide have long re- species and ecosystems (Colding & Folke, ; Anthwal lied on their environment for survival. Religious and cus- et al., ), governed to an extent by the voluntary involve- tomary beliefs that foster community conservation have ment of local stakeholders. Although religious adherents are not only bound these communities to ecosystems but also distributed unequally in relation to areas important for glo- assisted in the conservation of species. We provide an ex- bal biodiversity, in India there is an overlap between such ample of how religion fosters the conservation of freshwater areas and the religions of Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam fishes in India. Since ancient times rural communities in (Mikusiński et al., ). Circa  billion people in countries India have revered fish species as symbols of divine power, with biodiversity hotspots follow an organized religion, and and offered them protection in pools associated with tem- these countries generally have low ecological footprints, ples. Such voluntary, informal institutions and arrange- with nearly % of people utilizing ,  global hectares ments continue to help conserve several freshwater fish per person (Bhagwat et al., ; WWF, ). In promoting species that are otherwise subjected to anthropogenic pres- environmental conservation this association provides an sure in open-access areas. However, religious beliefs in India opportunity to work together that is more persuasive than are waning as a result of increased urbanization, moderniza- the scientific importance of species (Bhagwat & Palmer, tion of societies and disintegration of rural communities, ). Sacred species and sites are also concentrated in and the sustainability of existing temple and community biodiversity-rich nations; in India, for example, there are fish sanctuaries is questionable. We discuss the role of tem- c.  groups of sacred animals (e.g. lizards, snakes, frogs; ple sanctuaries as an informal conservation strategy for Krishna, ), and more informal sacred sites than formal freshwater fishes, and discuss the knowledge and policy protected areas (Kala, ; Rutte, ). gaps that need to be addressed for ensuring their future. India is home to numerous religious groups, indigenous communities, ethnic groups and regional cultures, each with Keywords Beliefs, Buddhism, fish, Hinduism, mahseer, sa- their own beliefs and taboos (Sinha, ; Kanagavel et al., cred, taboos, temple sanctuaries ). Religions have long advocated care and passion for nature and the environment, resulting in protection of forest Introduction areas, aquatic bodies and various species (Yachkaschi & Yachkaschi, ). In Hinduism many species are consid- eligion is a powerful facilitator of the evolution of pro- ered sacred because of their association with gods and god- social behaviour in human society (Norenzayan & R desses. Lord Shiva (the destroyer), one of the three main Shariff, ). In many countries religious beliefs have de- deities of Hinduism, is represented with a spectacled cobra termined local resource use and facilitated the protection of Naja naja around his neck, signifying that he has conquered death, and also representing dormant energy (kundalini).  NISHIKANT GUPTA (Corresponding author) Department of Geography, King’s Lord Krishna is one of the incarnations of Lord Vishnu College London, UK. E-mail [email protected] (the protector), another of the three main Hindu deities. In ARUN KANAGAVEL and RAJEEV RAGHAVAN* Conservation Research Group, Hindu mythology Lord Krishna is known for his fondness ’ St. Albert s College, Kochi, India for butter, and one story tells how he hid stolen butter rolled PARINEETA DANDEKAR South Asia Network for Dams, Rivers and People, Delhi, within a leaf of the sacred fig Ficus religiosa.BasilOcimum India sanctum,knownlocallyastulsi, is also worshipped as a sacred NEELESH DAHANUKAR Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune, plant, a favourite of Lord Vishnu; the annual ritual Tulsi India Vivaha coincides with the start of the Indian marriage season. KUPPUSAMY SIVAKUMAR Department of Endangered Species Management, Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, India Many faunal species are revered as vahanas, or vehicles that carry or transport gods and goddesses. The tiger is as- VINOD MATHUR Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, India sociated with the goddess Durga (the invincible), the pea- *Also at: School of Fisheries Resource Management, Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies, Kochi, India cock with Karthikeya (god of war), the owl and elephant Received  February . Revision requested  April . with Lakshmi (goddess of wealth, love and prosperity), Accepted  May . First published online  September . and crocodiles with the goddess Ganga (the sacred river).

Oryx, 2016, 50(2), 244–249 © 2015 Fauna & Flora International doi:10.1017/S0030605315000691 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. IP address: 170.106.202.58, on 27 Sep 2021 at 22:40:24, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0030605315000691 God’s fishes 245

Similarly in Buddhism, meditating Buddhas (individuals the form of a fish. In this incarnation Lord Vishnu is be- who have attained enlightenment) and some bodhisattvas lieved to have saved the first human on Earth by informing (those who practise the way of life of a Buddha) have an ani- him of the calamitous floods that were to follow. Many mal vehicle (Krishna, ). The Bodhi tree Ficus religiosa tributaries of the River Ganges are considered sacred, and under which the Buddha attained enlightenment is held sa- religious sentiments play a positive role in the protection cred by Buddhists and is considered to be the tree of life of the Endangered golden mahseer Tor putitora (Jha & (Mansberger, , cited in Barrow, ). Rayamajhi, ) in this region (Dandekar, ). Local wor- Localized cultural attitudes and practices (e.g. sacred ship of the fish god is a key driver of conservation at groves, deification of bird, animal or tree species) attributed Machchiyal Lake in the state of Himachal Pradesh, where to indigenous and non-indigenous communities have facili- the fishes are fed regularly by local people and tourists. tated effective biodiversity conservation; for example, the The temple authorities keep the water free of pollution, Bishnois, a religious sect in the state of Rajasthan, are eco- and prevent exploitation by local people (Plate ). logically conscious and do not cut trees or kill animals The charismatic and threatened mahseer species are (Krishna, ). Some Buddhist sects in the north-eastern probably better protected in such sacred sites (Gadgil states and in the western Himalayan regions have evolved et al., ; Gupta et al., ) than in unprotected open- community conservation practices, including bans on hunt- access areas, where they are subjected to indiscriminate ing and fishing, and play an important role in the protection (often destructive) fishing, and habitat loss as a result of of threatened species, such as the black-necked crane Grus hydroelectric projects and pollution (Pinder & Raghavan, nigricollis (Mazumdar & Samal, ). ; Nautiyal, ; Gupta et al., a). The mainstays of The belief in supernatural monitoring (Rossano, ) this protection are the prohibition of fishing in these waters, and punishment (Johnson & Krüger, ) deters people the availability of food (through artificial feeding), and ac- from violating norms and breaking social rules, and may tive monitoring against pollution and other hydrological have played a vital role in maintaining sacred sites in changes. Community-based educational programmes have India (Gadgil & Vartak, ). It is also likely to have con- improved the water quality in many temple pools by ensur- tributed to the conservation of freshwater fishes, which have ing protection of upstream and downstream reaches been associated with supernatural beings (Dandekar, ; (Dandekar, ; Gupta, ). Katwate et al., ). Ecological and socio-political issues Religion and freshwater fishes in India Although freshwater fishes are one of the most threatened Freshwater fishes have been considered sacred in many vertebrate groups (Leidy & Moyle, ; Carrizo et al., parts of India since the Vedic period (– BC; ) they are often neglected in conservation efforts, in- Nautiyal, ). Species of mahseer (Tor spp.), for example, cluding in countries rich in freshwater biodiversity, such a threatened group of cyprinid fishes (Pinder & Raghavan, as India. None of the .  threatened freshwater fish spe- ), are mentioned in various religious scriptures as being cies in India (IUCN, ) are legally protected or the focus valued for propitiating the souls of deceased ancestors and of species-specific conservation plans. The increasing threat relished by forest-dwelling saints (Nautiyal, ). This rev- to freshwater ecosystems and fish species in India has been erence for mahseer continues and the fishes are protected the subject of debate not only among scientists but also in several stretches of rivers associated with temples among stakeholders, including local communities (Gupta (Dandekar, ; Fig. ), where fishing is prohibited and et al., c). However, the role of stakeholders in freshwater local communities, pilgrims and temple authorities help to biodiversity conservation is often overlooked by policy ma- monitor and safeguard the fish population. kers (Gupta et al., b) as a result of overt emphasis on In Walan Kond (Savitri River) in the northern part of centralization and adoption of a technocentric approach the Western Ghats, local people regard mahseer as the to managing ecological entities (Gupta et al., b). children of the goddess Parvathi (Katwate et al., ). On Despite the apparent conservation benefits of sacred the Tunga River, also in the Western Ghats region, the sites, several ecological and policy-related concerns have Sringeri fish sanctuary protects threatened cyprinids of the yet to be addressed (Dudley et al., ). Providing legal sta- genera Hypselobarbus, Neolissochilus and Tor. Chippalgudde tus to sacred sites would help ensure additional protection Matsya Dhama, another sanctuary on the same river, for these areas but could also undermine the concept of re- protects, among other fishes, the endemic herbivorous ligious values and traditions associated with the sites cyprinid Hypselobarbus pulchellus, categorized as Critically (Dudley et al., ) if local communities were allowed Endangered on the IUCN Red List (Rema Devi & Ali, ). only limited access. The success of legally protected sites is The fishes are considered sacred as they are associated often hindered by poor management and enforcement be- with Lord Vishnu, whose first incarnation on Earth was in cause of a lack of human resources (Kanagavel et al., )

FIG. 1 Locations of important temple fish sanctuaries in India.

PLATE 1 Temple fish sanctuaries in (a) Walan Kond (site  in Fig. ), (b) Yenekal Temple (), (c) Ramanathapura Temple () and (d) Shishileswara Temple (). (a and b © Parineeta Dandekar; c and d © Shrinivas Kadabagere)

and in some cases the transfer of site ownership to Forest the survival and dissemination of beliefs that support the con- Departments has resulted in conflict with local communi- servation of nature, habitats and species. These beliefs could ties, which has adversely affected site management be retold as simple stories that emphasize their positive (Gadgil, ; Bhagwat & Rutte, ). To avoid this, the le- value, and not the religion from which the beliefs originate. gislative arrangement should empower the primary stake- However, to achieve long-term conservation benefits it will holders and uphold their rights, and put land-use and be necessary to inspire people to put their beliefs into action. management mechanisms in place rather than devolving Research suggests that sacred spaces harbour species of sci- and transferring management to the Forest Department. entific importance in significant abundance, and in many The legislation should promote the bio-cultural diversity cases these are the last remaining relics of the original land- of individual sites rather than focusing on biodiversity scape and species (Dudley et al., ). Although not all tem- alone, given the interdependence of biodiversity and cul- ple sanctuaries necessarily harbour endemic and threatened tural values at these locations (Verschuuren, ). Sacred freshwater fishes, it is the pro-conservation beliefs in place sites could also benefit from being integrated into a larger, that are of significance and should be harnessed to promote state-level conservation landscape. freshwater fauna and habitats, regardless of the species in- The most important ecological challenge related to tem- volved. Conservation organizations could focus attention pri- ple fish sanctuaries is the need to manage their upstream marily on those sacred spaces that encompass critical habitats reaches so that the sacred sites are not damaged by stressors and species, and establish partnerships with faith groups to as- that originate in other places. One way to achieve this is sist in the fulfilment of conservation goals (McKay, ). through the establishment of safe zones where sustainable and regulated fishing activity is promoted, potentially yield- ing social and economic benefits for local stakeholders The way forward (Gupta et al., b). Another emerging question is whether Temple sanctuaries continue to exist in India but diminish- temple sanctuaries serve as arks (where fish can mature, re- ing dependence on traditional dogmas may mean that reli- produce and help repopulate adjoining areas) or cages gious beliefs and taboos are unlikely to be prioritized in the (where they can survive but are unable to reproduce because future (Bhagwat & Rutte, ). This is particularly pertinent of unsuitable habitat or other hindrances; Kumar & Devi, in the case of marginalized communities living along river ). Whether temple sanctuaries alter the life history traits banks, for whom fish is a cheap source of protein, and fisheries (e.g. feeding behaviour, reproduction) of fish is therefore a a livelihood option. Incentive-driven conservation (Hutton & priority for future research. There is also a need to explore Leader-Williams, )intheformofnationalrecognitionand non-invasive means of monitoring and stock assessment, provision of financial support for maintaining or improving such as the use of hydro-acoustics or video cameras. the water quality at sanctuaries could ensure that such informal Many community-conserved fish sanctuaries at Indian protected areas provide much-needed protection for threa- temples are threatened by the proliferation of hydropower tened freshwater taxa. There is a need for a greater understand- projects (e.g. Nakur Gaya and Hosmata in Karnataka, and ing of the short and long-term socio-economic, environmental Walan Kond and Tilase in Maharashtra; Dandekar & and conservation impacts of such sacred sites (Berkes, ). Thakkar, ). Environmental impact assessments do not With the current dearth of conservation options for freshwater even mention the existence of such fish sanctuaries, nor biodiversity (Strayer & Dudgeon, ), whether sacred sites are the communities managing the sanctuaries involved in can be supported legislativelyand utilized as an additional safe- making or implementing decisions related to dams guarding mechanism can be ascertained only throughrigorous (Dandekar & Thakkar, ). scientific studies that involve locally relevant stakeholders. The erosion of religious beliefs, an increase in religious heterogeneity, and changing traditions are potential drivers  of the increasing threats to sacred sites (Gadgil, ; Acknowledgements Bhagwat & Rutte, ). In promoting freshwater conservation through temple fish sanctuaries it is essential that lin- We thank Steven Cooke and three anonymous reviewers for kages between religion, culture and conservation (McKay, their critical comments and suggestions, Unmesh Katwate ) are highlighted in a non-discriminatory manner for information, and Shrinivas Kadabagere for photographs. to avoid causing divisions among people of different religions, which could have an adverse effect on conservation efforts. The bio-cultural conservation of freshwater fishes should References not be limited to temple sanctuaries but expanded to include ANTHWAL, A., GUPTA, N., SHARMA, A., ANTHWAL,S.&KIM, K.H. individuals, communities or organizations interested in facili- () Conserving biodiversity through traditional beliefs in sacred tating and coordinating such initiatives. However, informal groves in Uttarakhand Himalaya, India. Resources, Conservation institutions such as temple sanctuaries serve as models for and Recycling, , –.

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SINHA, R.K. () Biodiversity conservation through faith Biographical sketches and tradition in India: some case studies. International Journal of Sustainable Development & World Ecology, N ISHIKANT G UPTA is interested in river and fish conservation in , –. India. A RUN K ANAGAVEL is interested in social dimensions of nature STRAYER, D.L. & DUDGEON,D.() Freshwater biodiversity conservation and their role in influencing pro-conservation behaviour. conservation: recent progress and future challenges. Journal of the P ARINEETA D ANDEKAR works for a civil society organization on is- North American Benthological Society, , –. sues related to water governance, infrastructure projects and their im- VERSCHUUREN,B.() Arguments for developing biocultural pacts on people and ecosystems. N EELESH D AHANUKAR is interested conservation approaches for sacred natural sites. In Sacred Natural in ecology and evolution, with an emphasis on statistical analysis, as well Sites: Conserving Nature and Culture (eds B. Verschuuren, R. Wild, as taxonomy, distribution patterns, molecular phylogeny and conserva- J.A. McNeely & G. Oviedo), pp. –. Earthscan, London, UK. tion of freshwater fish. K UPPUSAMY S IVAKUMAR’s interests include WWF () Living Planet Report : Species and Spaces, People and fish and avian ecology, island ecology, marine biology, invasive species Places (eds R. McLellan, L. Iyengar, B. Jeffries & N. Oerlemans). and Antarctic wildlife. V INOD M ATHUR’s interests include biodiver- WWF, Gland, Switzerland. sity conservation, environmental and strategic impact assessment, bio- YACHKASCHI,A.&YACHKASCHI,S.() Nature conservation and diversity informatics and natural heritage conservation. R AJEEV religion: an excursion into the Zoroastrian religion and its historical R AGHAVAN’s research focuses on generating information to support benefits for the protection of forests, animals and natural resources. conservation decision making in tropical freshwater ecosystems, with Forest Policy and Economics, , –. a special focus on the Western Ghats–Sri Lanka biodiversity hotspot.