CHAPTER II GEOGRAPHIC BASE OF RELIGIOUS SYSTEMS CHAPTER - II GEOGRAPHIC BASE OF RELIGIOUS SYSTEMS 1) ECOLOGY OF RELIGION : Environment has been defined as 'the aggregate of all the external conditions and influences affecting the life and development of an organism* . Environment, in biology, is the entire range of external influences acting on an organism, both the physical and the biological forces of nature surrounding an individual. While causal relations are no longer thought to be as clear-cut as believed by some early environmental determinists, cultural phenomena often cannot be fully understood without consideration of environmental factors. Contemporary environmen­ talists recognize that physical surroundings are only part of total environment, that includes social and economic factors, cultural traditions and reciprocal influences between societies and their environment. Environmentalism in social science theories, concerns the role of environmental factors in the development of culture and society. The concept of ecology was developed in the study of religion from the 1960s onward. The term ecology (derived from the Greek Oikos "house, habitat", and Logos " doctrine ") is adopted from the biological study of the interdependence between organisms and natural environment. It later became a methodolo- 2 gical tool in geography . -20- The relationships between environment and religion have preoccupied some geographers and cultural historians since the eighteenth century. Of particular interest here is Friedrich Ratzel's 'anthropogeography', which at the end of the nineteenth century, sought environmental impact on culture and religion. Some times religio-geographical studies led to extreme environ- mentalism, as for instance, with Ellsworth Huntington's analysis of cultural dependence on climatic conditions. The historicism and cultural relativism prevalent in the period between the two World Wars stimulated the general opinion among anthropologists that environment had a constraining, and not a creative influence on culture (the 'possibilistic' theory). Environment could allow certain cultural developments, but it could not further them. This attitude slowly changed after World War II, particularly after the American anthropologist Julian H. Steward published a series of articles on what he called cultural ecology. He studied the cultural and economic conditions of the Great Basin Indians of North America, noted for their cultural poverty and exposure to an inhospitable environment, and he found clear correlation between their cultural matrix and environment. The environmental impact seemed primarily to concern the economic and technological aspects of culture, with the social organization affected only indirectly. The modern geography of religions, guided by Manfred Buttner, David E. Sopher, and others, is primarily engaged in -21- investigating the influence of religion on environment in this case, social groups;as well ashman-made landscape (sacred groves, temple towns, and so on). For a long time the old task of observing environmental influence on religion was abandoned until cultural ecology opened up new horizons. Ecology of religion is the investigation of the relation­ ship between religion and nature conducted through the disciplines of religious studies, history of religions, anthropology of 3 religions and geography of religions. Steward's model remains the best basis for the development of a method in the ecology of religion. It is the organization of religious elements and the structure of religion and it's contents that are susceptible to an ecological treatment. Ecology of religion presents a broad framework that justifies the operation and intrinsic value of religion, emphasizing not just economy but the total natural environment. The goal is to assess the impact of environment on religion both directly and indirectly. Direct influence is seen in the use of animals and plants as forms of spirits, talismans and ritual attributes. However, their selection is basically determined by religious value patterns and they, therefore, constitute only superficial proof of the direct influence of nature. In observing the environmental influence on religion one should also be aware of a religion's capacity to form the environment (for instance, by an injunction against the killing of animals, as in Jainism and later Indian culture), which -22- actually complicates the religio-ecological process. The relations between religion and environment are mutual, so that their investigation can be approached under two main headings : How does the environment, including the people, the landscape and the country affect a religious form ? and how, reciprocally, does a religious form affect a people, landscape and country . Viewed in this way, ecology of religion is a valuable aid in the study of geography of religions. Since all religions in the course of their development have created a more or less manifest cults that is spatially and temporarily perceptible in the form of magical and symbolic events, objects and behaviour, religious phenomena appear in a real relationship with the earth's surface and so can be studied 5 geographically . The term animism properly refers to a theory set forth by the English scholar F.B. Tylor (1332-1917 A.D.), one of the founders of modern anthropology, in order to account for the origin and development of religions. His assumption was that the earliest form of religion was characterized by man's ideas concerning a plurality of spirits and ghosts. In this he differed from Spencer, who had postulated atheism at the beginning of human culture, although both followed the common pattern of their evolutionistic contemporaries in deriving a most archaic form of religion from man's rational reflections on the world of nature and on himself . The tie between religion and the physical surroundings is generally stronger among primitive -23- people who rely upon their priests and medicine men to provide a protection buffer between them and the unknown mysterious forces of nature . Religion is the medium whereby nature and natural processes are placated, cajoled, entreated or manipulated in order to secure the best results for man . The tribal religious system, in which the central feature is the belief in worship of nature spirit and thus, the system called as 'animism' is mainly concentrated in the hilly and forested areas of the state. Poodgathering, apart from hunting or fishing, remained much easier over most of India and had a far greater range than in Europe or elsewhere on the Eurasian continent. Where half a dozen cereals, peas and beans make up almost the entire variety of European staple foods, even a region of average fertility like Maharashtra has over forty kinds of indigenous staples, most of which are cultivated but can also be found wild. Since India is a tropical country with diversified relef, climate and natural vegetation, it offers varied sources of food to the tribal communities. All are suitable for storing. These include rice and wheat, millets, sorghum, barley; with a considerable variety of vegetable proteins, and seeds like sesamum that produce edible oil. Pepper and spices give good taste,as well asJvitamins. A balanced diet is possible without killing any living creatures, especially as milk, butter, curds and cheese, fruit and vegetables can be had without taking animal life. This simple fact v/as. -24- leter, to revolutionize Indian theology and religion with doctrine of non-killing (ahimsa). Peasants and tribal people, especially in out-of-the-way places in jungle, normally know over a hundred other natural products beyond the staples, which may be gathered without cultivation : fruits, nuts, roots, tubers, honey, mushrooms, leafy vegetables etc. With the older mode there would always remain older beliefs and ways of life. In India the formation of such a society and its culture was - because of the ease and survival of food-gathering - based to a 9 considerable extent on religion and superstition . The Dhangars (Shepherds) supplement their livelihood by selling an occasional sheep and by sale of the wool-clip. A few used to weave rough blankets from the wool. All these activities now relate them to the general society within which they move. Hence they have become a Hindu caste just below the peasant farmers. It is possible to restore their original seasonal move­ ments by studying the places most convenient for grazing and for rainy-season settlement. The remarkable fact then appears that the best of these older Dhangar tracts, roughly in the Karha basin (which was never under dense forest), goes back into prehistory and is a firm base for the fine Deccan microlithic culture. In other words, the Dhangar's way of life has its roots in prehistory. Two of their gods (3iroba and Khandoba) can be traced back to before the fourth century A.D., though the 10 principal worshippers of these gods are now other Hindu castes -25- 2) VENERATION OF GEOGRAPHICAL ELEMENTS : Since the ancient period the religious attributes have been closely related to geographic elements and, therefore, are venerated. In the Tamil literature of the Sangam epoch and later one gets glimpses of gods and spirits worshipped by the common people, as also their religious practices prevalent, perhaps much before the advent of the great proselytizing religions of Brahmanism, Jainism and Buddhism. The worship of local gods and the animistic worship of spirits inhabiting trees, rivers, and hills, or guardians of villages, cities, cross-roads, sea-shores, and river ports or ghats, lakes, and tanks, were similar in essence to what obtained in North India, where one has the classic instance of the infant Buddha being taken soon after birth to the shrine of the Yaksha Sakya Vardhana a) TREE AND ANIMAL WORSHIP : From archaeological evidence, it would be clear that the conception of tree-worship is very ancient, dating back to the Harrappan period. As in the south, so also in the North India there are references in early Buddhist text to their existence 12 even prior to Buddha . The worship of trees as the abode of spirits and gods was once very popular.