THE CULTURAL DIMENSION OF ECOLOGY www.ignca.gov.in THE CULTURAL DIMENSION OF ECOLOGY Edited by BAIDYANATH SARASWATI 1998 xvii+185pp. col. plates, ISBN: 81-246-0102-x, Rs 600(HB) CONTENTS Focussing on the ecological systems in the mountains, forests, Foreword (Kapila Vatsyayan) and islands vis-a-vis the hitherto- Prologue (John. V. Kingston) adopted modes of aggressive Introduction (Baidyanath Saraswati) development, the 15 articles here underscore the urgency of changing the modern lifestyles, of befriending 1. Environment and Education (Sunderlal Bahuguna) Nature and, above all, of returning 2. Subsistence Strategies and Environmental to wisdom tradition. Also included Management (R.S. Negi) here are case studies, highlighting 3. Traditional Knowledge and Management of Natural the aspects of culture that are being Resources (A.S. Mishra) lived in the day-to-day lives of 4. Ecological Degradation Due to Exploitation of Natural people even today! Resources and Development (Ramakar Pant & Rakesh Khanduri) This volume has also grown from 5. Water Resources and Their Management in Kashmir (B.L. the 4-day Conference on the Malla) "Cultural Dimension of Education 6. Sacred Response to Environment: The Gaddi and his and Ecology", held in New Delhi on Mountain (Molly Kaushal) 13-16 October 1995 as a part of the Unesco Chair activities (in the field Ecology and Traditional Wisdom (P.S. Ramakrishnan) 7. of cultural development). While 8. The Nature Centric Culture of the Nepalese (D.S. volume 3 embodies the education- Rasaily & R.P. Lama) related essays, this volume 9. The Brahmaputras Changing River Ecology (A.K. Das) incorporates the expert deliberations 10. The Warlis and the Dhangars: The Context of the bearing on ecology. Commons (Ajay Dandekar) 11. Cultural Dimension of Ecology: A Case Study of the Oraons (Virginius Xaxa) 12. Ecological Cultivation in the Karanpura Region: A Case Study(Sachchidananda & Rajiv Ranjan Jha) 13. Ecology, Culture, History and World-View: The Andaman 1 THE CULTURAL DIMENSION OF ECOLOGY www.ignca.gov.in and Nicobar Islanders (T.N. Pandit) 14. Moral Education for Environmental Protection: The Sarvodaya Model(H.M.D.R. Herath) 15. African Modes of Transmission of Traditional Knowledge (Charles S. Makari) List of Contributors Plates Copyright IGNCA© 1998 Co-published: IGNCA and D. K. Printworld Pvt. Ltd., F-52, Bali Nagar, New Delhi - 110 015. No reproduction or translation of this book or part thereof in any form, except brief quotations, should be made without the written permission of the Copyright Holder and the Publisher The views expressed in this volume are those of Participants, and are not necessarily those of Editors or the Publishers. 2 THE CULTURAL DIMENSION OF ECOLOGY www.ignca.gov.in Foreword Kapila Vatsyayan The Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) has been engaged for nearly a decade in exploring all dimensions of culture understood in its widest and deepest connotations. ‘Culture’ here is an all-encompassing and permeating attribute of human living. It penetrates the innermost recesses of the human psyche, individual and collective, as also permeates the social structure to give shape and form to an identifiable, but not easily definable, mode of behaviour, conduct and action. The vertical and the horizontal movements intersect to contain the inner experience and give rise to outer expressions. When they are held together in balance and harmony, cultures are cohesive and creative but not static; when balances are disturbed, then turmoil takes place often resulting in disruption of the flow of movements causing stultification of some aspects and disintegration of others. The results of many of the lifestyle studies programme of the IGNCA and the series of conferences, seminars and workshops held under the UNESCO Chair for Cultural Development have amply borne out the primary importance of considering culture as an all-encompassing and permeating phenomenon for any future modelling of societies in a post-modern or even post-post-modern world. Each of the studies, seminars and the consequent monographs viz. Interface of Cultural Identity and Development (Culture and Development Series No. 1) or Integration of Endogenous Cultural Dimension into Development (Culture and Development Series No. 2) or The Cultural Dimension of Education (Culture and Development Series No. 3) have repeatedly underlined the need to view the universe and, of course, our earth and the human species as a closely interrelated organic system. Each constituent is part of a whole; the whole is not a mechanical aggregation of the parts. This is as true of the macro universe and the solar system as it is of microman (and microwoman), be it the elementary biological system of his body or mind or the social and economic systems he generates. Any disturbance in the acceleration or overdue emphasis on a single constituent or an attribute within a constituent results in the phenomenon of dominance and subordination and an unbalanced growth of one aspect at the cost of the other, whether in nature or culture. Eco-balances are the norm in Nature. So are they or should be in culture and of course between the two (if we concede for a moment that the two are differentiated categories always in interaction and dialogue). The earlier monographs highlight the nature of this interaction between Man and Nature and the integral world-view of endogenous societies which viewed and continue to view Man (woman) as one life form amongst thousands of others in Nature. Man in Nature rather than Man in domination of Nature is the recurring theme of many of these studies and essays in the monographs. Of equal significance has been the realisation that the undue importance and dominating position given to the material progress of man has resulted in creating many disruptions and imbalances in human societies. Man’s dominance over Nature and his unbridled exploitation of Nature to construct his world of material progress has brought the world to a situation where the very survival of the earth as a planet is threatened. Only lately has Man realised that intervention of Man without discipline and austerity has disturbed the ecobalances and the natural rhythm of change and readjustments of these systems. The present monograph focusses on the eco-systems of the natural world and the contrasting world- views and social organisation systems which facilitated or disturbed these systems. In the prologue to the volume, John V. Kingston unequivocally draws attention to the dangers which humanity faces on account of the momentum which some seemingly irreversible forces have gathered: "After 2000 years of almost universal belief in scientific progress we are now seeing the price of the progress." He tells us, and one can only agree with him, that "we risk planetary destruction" unless technologies developed by man are used for sustaining and not disturbing the global environment. We know that despite the initiatives taken by UNESCO in the First Bio-sphere Conference held in 1968, the subsequent global conferences on environment held in Stockholm and Rio-de-Janeiro and elsewhere, the earth and all other primal elements, water, air and fire (energy) are threatened as never before. The pollution and the over- exploitation has disturbed the eco-systems to a point where all that sustains man at an elemental level is vulnerable and fragile. Can eco-balances be restored and re-instituted and if so what is the fundamental 3 THE CULTURAL DIMENSION OF ECOLOGY www.ignca.gov.in question? It is not a matter of correcting one when it surfaces e.g. ozone layer, global warming, land use, water management and air pollution or energy crisis. These are methods of curing symptoms of the disease but not addressing ourselves to the causes of the disease which has gripped humanity — a disease caused by the avarice of Man himself. Not without reason while global conferences and specialists of science and technology try to find solutions on the basis of the applications of appropriate technologies and political leaders advocate equitable distribution of natural resources and restraint in the use of energy (fire), there are others who are convinced that the eco-balances can only be restored by the mind of Man. His (her) innermost recesses have to re-ignite the ‘consciousness’ (which the modern industrial world has put to comotose state) that the human species is an infinitesimally small part of a very large and extensive universe of life- forms. The special faculties given to him which have empowered him with astounding scientific knowledge and extraordinary technical knowledge and skills must not lead to the arrogance of assuming a supremely dominant role. Understandably this group turns to re-learn lessons from those very societies and cultures of the human species where this consciousness was ingrained as a primary article of faith. The consciousness and awareness articulated itself in a body of poetry, oral and written, the evolution of a mythical world which drew attention repeatedly to the eco-system and interrelationships. A series of festivals, customs, and rituals served as a constant reminder. Naturally the notion of sacred space and time was essential for how else could earth, water, vegetation, air, rejuvenate themselves singly or together unless left fallow or undisturbed for a time. Mangroves, rivers, waterbodies, such as lakes and tanks; tracts of land were accorded a sacred status as a most effective strategy and instrumentality of ensuring non-pollution and purity to sustain eco-balances. The agricultural practices and other lifestyle functions were designed to accommodate the cycle of inactivity and activity, the latency and potency, of both the natural and the human world. There is massive literary and archaeological evidence to convince us of Man’s subscription to such a world-view as is clear from Prof. Baidyanath Saraswati’s Introduction.