Hinduism and Ecology: The Intersection of Earth, Sky, and Water.

• Author: Findly, Ellison Banks
• Position: Book Review

Edited by CHRISTOPHER KEY CHAPPLE and MARY EVELYN TUCKER. Cambridge, Mass.: CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF WORLD RELIGIONS, HARVARD UNIVERSITY, 2000. Pp. xlix + 600, illus.

This collection grew out of a conference at the Harvard University Center for the Study of World Religions held in October of 1997, and is one of several volumes dedicated to exploring world religions and their intersection with traditional and contemporary environmental concerns. The list of contributors is distinguished and includes scholars from a variety of disciplines. The volume has as its goal investigating the role of Hindu religions in the development of ecological awareness, and each article serves in some way the discussion of environmental policy in national and international arenas. Seeking both the bases for common concern as well as the possibilities for constructing conceptual foundations that review current human estrangement from the earth, the contributors speak to Patrick Peritore's typology of ecological trends in India: the "Greens" who encourage bioregionalism and the integrity of tradition, the "Ecodevelopers" who encourage economic growth but only when coupled with responsible ecological programs, and the "Managers" for whom human needs and rational management of environmental processes have priority. The contributions also reflect the fact that India has the world's largest environmental movement, with 950 NGOs dedicated to environmental concerns.

The articles are divided into five sections: traditional Hindu concepts of nature useful in developing ecological views, Gandhian notions of an indigenous environmental ethic, the role and view of forests in traditional Hinduism, sacred rivers--the Yamuna, Ganga, and Narmada--and the points at which treatments of them may risk profanity, and ways in which texts and ritual practice may help in the development of an authentic environmental conscience. Older textual materials used include the Rg--and Atharvavedas, Mahabharata, Ramayana, Bhagavadgita, Arthasastra, and Abhijnanasakuntalam, as well as the Ayurveda Samihitas, Brahmanas, Upanisads, Dharmasastras, and Puranas. In addition, contemporary field and archival work shows that, while the nature and magnitude of environmental concerns may be different today, the ways of looking at the relationship between humans and nature remain as complex a ever.

The discussions take up many issues, including the centrality of ahimsa in Indian philosophies, the effects...