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Sacred Ecology: Cosmologies, Ecologies and Rituals in Colonial India (1886-1936) [Hardback]

Edited by (New Delhi, India), Edited by (Centre for Culture and Development, Vadodara)
  • Formāts: Hardback, 128 pages, height x width: 234x156 mm
  • Izdošanas datums: 17-Oct-2025
  • Izdevniecība: Routledge
  • ISBN-10: 1041029691
  • ISBN-13: 9781041029694
Citas grāmatas par šo tēmu:
Sacred Ecology: Cosmologies, Ecologies and Rituals in Colonial India (1886-1936)Palielināt
  • Formāts: Hardback, 128 pages, height x width: 234x156 mm
  • Izdošanas datums: 17-Oct-2025
  • Izdevniecība: Routledge
  • ISBN-10: 1041029691
  • ISBN-13: 9781041029694
Citas grāmatas par šo tēmu:
Permanent link: https://www.kriso.lv/db/9781041029694.html

This volume delves into the colonial past and identifies papers on nature and natural phenomenon that were deemed ‘primitive’ and ‘superstitious’ by those who narrated them and analyzed them in the pages of the Journal of the Anthropological Society of Bombay.



This volume delves into the colonial past and identifies papers on nature and natural phenomenon that were deemed ‘primitive’ and ‘superstitious’ by those who narrated them and analyzed them in the pages of the Journal of the Anthropological Society of Bombay, published from 1886 to 1936; the period covered by the papers that have been reproduced in this volume. However, they have been recast in the contemporary framework of environmentalism, indigenous wisdom and critical reflections on Western science and scientific methodology. The positivist method or western rationalism was propagated during the exact time of the publication of these articles, through the political hegemony of colonial rule. Each of these papers was presented to criticise ‘primitive’ cultures and obscurantist thinking. Yet, each presents wisdom and knowledge about nature, which, if followed, would have averted much of the environmental distress that the world is facing today. These papers have been reproduced with a purpose, a purpose to show that real knowledge was thrown away as garbage. The volume invites critical rethinking and advocates a revised version of rationalism, reconceptualisingnature as sacred, moving away from anthropocentrism towards nature-centrism.

Recenzijas

This collection of essays about South Asian nature-related folklore provides an unusually multi-faceted overview of folk wisdom on humanitys connection with nature. As most of the essays were written in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries by authors with condescending and positivist points of view, the introduction provides important social and political background for the reader. The collection, however, offers a unique opportunity to understand and perhaps reclaim the necessity of water, plants, birds and other animals, and even inanimate parts of nature to human survival. Suzanne Hanchett, Ph.D., Planning Alternatives for Change, LLC & International Womens Anthropology Conference/IWAC; Author of Water Culture in South Asia: Bangladesh Perspectives

The vital connection in the Science-Religion-Society triad to build/destroy all in our Earth Home significantly permeates this set of purposefully selected and relevant research articles, published nearly a century ago, and hard to come by today. True! They are coloured by a Colonial mindset and Western Science influence; nevertheless, through narratives (focussed on flora and fauna, precious stones, omens and superstitions, figurative stories and myths), and reflections and analysis on them, they present us with the vision, wisdom and world view of a bygone era in which there was resonance and integration between humans and nature. The creative critique in the Introduction to the book enlightens us about the roots of the devastation that the triad continues to inflict today on our ecology. Sacred Ecology in India points the way for a better tomorrow. Vincent Braganza, S.J., Ph. D, Scientist (Emeritus) and Ex. Chairman, Xavier Research Foundation, Ahmedabad, India

Introduction: Sacred Ecology: Cosmological Connections Between Humans,
the Non-Humans and the Super-Human
1. The Theology of Primitive Religion
2.
Water Worship in India and the Western Countries
3. Folk Lore of Bombay Wells
4. The Cult of the Lake Goddess of Orissa
5. Sacred Trees of the Hindus
6. A
Note on the Worship of the Pipal Tree
7. On the Tulsi Plant
8. A Note on the
Dhatri Puja as performed by the Hindustani residents in Calcutta
9. A note on
Fire-Worship among the Ancient Arabs
10. Dream Plants
11. The Thunder Myths
of the Primitive Races
12. Sun Worship in Chittagong Nursery Rhymes
13. The
Full Moon Festival of the Tripuris
14. On a Tibetan Weather Superstition
15.
The Crocodile in Bengali Folklore
16. On Some Superstitious Beliefs about the
Lizard
17. A Note on Dakshina Raya
18. Notes on the Ominous Birds
19. The
Cosmological Myths of the Birhors and its Santali and American Indian
parallels
20. Some Curious Folklore about Precious Stones
Subhadra M. Channa is a retired professor of anthropology from Delhi University. She has twelve books and more than eighty papers to her credit. Her awards include two Fulbright teaching fellowships,Charles Wallace and several visiting professorships, as well as the Distinguished Teacher Award from Delhi University. Presently she is the Co-editor of the journal Reviews in Anthropology. Lancy Lobo was Director of the Centre for Social Studies, based in Surat. He was the founder and director of the Centre for Culture and Development, Vadodara, for 20 years. He was an International Visiting Fellow at the Georgetown University, Washington, DC. He has authored, co-authored, and co-edited 30 books and scores of mimeographs and articles. Currently, Research Director at the Indian Social Institute, Delhi.