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An interdisciplinary exploration of the relationship between religion and environment in Hinduism.
Examining the relation between religion and ecological concern in Hinduism from textual, theological, anthropological, feminist, and eco-activist approaches, this volume brings together an international, interdisciplinary group of scholars. The book covers the most relevant aspects of the Hindu tradition, searching out the ecological implications of pilgrimage and sacred geography, earth and river goddesses, the beliefs and ritual practice of villagers, caste consciousness, and Vedanta, Tantra, and Goddess theologies.
"The book considers, in a thoughtful and analytical way, a timely issue: how important and basic traditional ideas like asceticism, karma and rebirth, and purity and impurity influence contemporary Indian thinking about the environment. It has an impressive and diverse array of contributors, and there is a nice balance of theory and fieldwork. It shows well how India is 'sacred ground (and water).' " — Andrew O. Fort, Texas Christian University
"This is the only book of which I am aware in the larger field of Indian studies and ecology where attention to religious textual resources is combined with the investigation of modern field contexts." — Rachel Fell McDermott, Barnard College, Columbia University
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Lance E. Nelson
Part I: Theological and Textual Perspectives
1. Toward an Indigenous Indian Environmentalism
Christopher Key Chapple
2. The Ecological Implications of Karma Theory
Harold Coward
3. Attitudes to Nature in the Early Upanisads
Arvind Sharma
4. The Dualism of Nondualism:
Advaita Vedanta and the Irrelevance of Nature
Lance E. Nelson
5. Sacred Immanence: Reflections of Ecofeminism in Hindu Tantra
Rita DasGupta Sherma
6. Models and Images for a Vaisnava Environmental Theology: The Potential Contribution of Srivaisnavism
Patricia Y. Mumme
Part II: Views from the Field
7. Sin and Rain:
Moral Ecology in Rural North India
Ann Grodzins Gold
8. On the Ethics and Aesthetics of Recycling in India
Frank J. Korom
9. Learning the Story of the Land:
Reflections on the Liberating Power of Geography and Pilgrimage in the Hindu Tradition
David Kinsley
10. Theology and Ecology at the Birthplace of Krsna
Bruce M. Sullivan
11. The Earth as Goddess Bhu Devi:
Toward a Theory of "Embedded Ecologies" in Folk Hinduism
Vijaya Rettakudi Nagarajan
12. Idioms of Degeneracy: Assessing Ganga's Purity and Pollution
Kelly D. Alley
Conclusion
Lance E. Nelson
Contributors
Index