B I B L I O : S E P T E M B E R - O C T O B E R 2 0 0 1 22 and work with them, despite their relatively low status in the Sangha. He regrets the fact that they represent a massively untapped source with enormous potential for “resolv-ing major social and environmental problems”. This argument can also be seen in light of feminist researches into women’s roles in economic develop- ment and poverty eradication, and the need to invest into improving women’s capacities and economic opportunities. Investment in women can thus be seen as making economic, social and environmental sense. India’s post Independence develop- ment is studied by Gosling in terms of the victory of the Nehruvian vision over Mahatma Gandhi’s visions of India living in its villages. This meant the continuation of extractive modes of resource utilization. Linked with this narrative is the history of political mobilization in India along lines of caste and religion, which precluded the emergence of alliances, based on social deprivation across caste and religious barriers along class lines. While the movement along the lines of electoral politics and economic development predicated on industrial development, saw India make tremendous advances, it also led to the perpetuation of elite modes of development, which exclud- ed growing numbers of the poor and disadvantaged sections from edu- cation, health care, nutrition as well as participation in decision making. Gosling makes interesting use on the one hand of Gadgil and Guha’s anal- yses of the development process as one of resource intensive develop- ment leading to the environmental abuse and exclusion of the poor (the ‘ecosystem people’, ‘ecological refug- ees’ as posited against the ‘omni- vores’). On the other hand, he looks at the approach of Amartya Sen and Jean Dreze, in analysing patterns of elitist development in India, resulting in the massive failures to eradicate illiteracy, poverty and deprivation despite large advances in higher education, and high technology industries. Sen and Dreze cite the instances of tribal societies as providing a relatively egalitarian base for economic and social development and change as well as a state like West Bengal where a combination of resp- onsible government and public activism have brought about signifi- cant improvements in environment management, and participatory development. In concluding Gosling finds signs of hope not in the state or the market but in community-based movements aiming at carving out spaces for local communities, particularly the resource poor, to deal with their own problems of environment management, for example the Swadhaya movement. The interesting fact about several of these movements is that they are entirely local, based on varied religious backgrounds, and not donor driven! This book ought to be read by a wide audience particularly among the younger generation looking for answers to complex issues related to the pursuit of economic development on the one hand, along with the need for poverty alleviation, increasing decentralization of decision making, the need for protection of the environment and balanced resource utilization. “We are not the ones killing the forests and hills to make money. Why should they kill us? We are the sons of the forest. We follow the rules of the forest gods. They are angry at the men who come from outside. It happens like this—we are walking through the forest. Suddenly a branch snaps and falls in our path. But there is no wind, no breeze, so why did the branch fall? At once we know that we are being warned. We do not venture any further and turn back.” —Mahasweta Devi, ‘The Forests of Jharowa’, in Hauntings, Katha, Delhi, 2000. he compelling narrative of Mahasweta Devi reveals the way traditionally ecological concerns have been inter- twined with and sanctified by religion in India; and whenever the ecological boundaries have been trans- gressed nature has struck back to avenge itself. This story serves as a point of entry into the debate on the role of religion in ecological preserv- ation. The present volume picks up the thread of the debate where this story leaves off. Hinduism and Ecology, an eclectic collection of articles on traditional Hindu concepts of nature, Gandhian philosophy, Indian forests and rivers and on the role of ritual practices in developing the environ- mental ethic, enters the debate with two central questions. First, whether religious imagery, symbolism and practices (specifically that of Hinduism in this case)—given the state of ecological degradation—can be deployed for the purpose of environ- mental protection; and the second question is regarding the efficacy of the alternatives hitherto offered for environmental protection, i.e. national parks, biodiversity reserves and sanctuaries. The answer to the first question is at best a contested one in the volume. Scholars, such as, O.P. Diwedi and K.L. Seshagiri Rao, taking a romantic view of the relationship between ecology and religion unequivocally endorse the all-consuming importance of religion in preservation of nature. Failing to problematize the supposed harmon- ious relationship between religion and ecology, they are of the view that damage to the environment in India inspite of the eco-friendly tradition and ideology of Hinduism, is because of the influence of alien cultures and values, and the forces of materialism, consumerism, individualism and corporate greed. And yet there are authors who see the contemporary ecological depredations as the result of Hinduism prescribing certain forms of social behavior which are of a “highly individualistic character” and its advocacy of separateness of the “sacred or the spiritual from the profane or utilitarian”. Authors such as Anil Agrawal and Lance E. Nelson feel that a re-examination of Hindu religion is absolutely vital and that all religious traditions must undergo some degree of reconstruction if one wishes to establish a harmonious relationship between man and nature. Parajuli & Apffell-Marglin take this argument even further by saying that no one religion can really become the “rallying point of ecological orient- ation” given the state of religious itihasa as displayed by Chris Deegan while exploring the contours of culture and history, which intersect in the Narmada region. So what comes through quite clearly in most of these articles is the fact that, unlike the West, the relationship of the Indians with their ecology or the “non-human collect- ivities” (as Parajuli and Apffell-Marglin term it) has been definitely mediated by religion and not by secular ideologies. Most of the Indian festivals and rituals are in actuality the “articulating moments” of peoples’ ecological consciousness, as Vijaya Nagarajan demonstrates in her study on Kolams and the ritual of marrying trees as generators of auspiciousness T Hinduism and Ecology: The Intersection of Earth, Sky and Water Edited by Christopher Key Chapple and Mary Evelyn Tucker Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 2001, 600 pp., Rs 695 ISBN 019565808-6. APARNA VAIDIK Rituals of preservation conflict in the subcontinent. However, by dismissing the role of religion in entirety or by focusing only on those aspects of religion, which have hindered ecological preservation, one would be making the mistake of throwing out the baby with the bath water. Classical ecological beliefs have not only had a mythological/historical but have a contemporary importance as well. Some of the authors who have undertaken an ecological reading— distinct from a romanticized view of role of religion—of religious and classical texts, such as, Lance E. Nelson (Bhagwad Gita), David Lee (Ramayana), T.S. Rukmani (Abhijnan- asakuntalam), Philip Lutgendorf (Mahabharata and Ramayana) Mary McGee (Arthasastra) and Laurie L. Patton (Rig Veda) try to illustrate the continued relevance of classical beliefs and their role in spreading ecological awareness. For instance, David Lee argues that since the epic Ramayana tells us about the natural history of the forests and the classical attitudes toward nature, its contemporary popularity could be used to make it an excellent vehicle for popularizing messages about nature and the preservation of the natural history. Similarly, T.S. Rukmani feels that the religious texts can play a constructive role in moulding the thinking of those engaged in the developmental process, especially the non-governmental sector. Mary McGee and Ann Grodzins Gold take it further and consider the way the religious texts could provide paradigms for govern- ment protection and management of environment and could also contribute toward the historical knowledge regarding ecosystems. The ancient river systems and forests are also repositories of Indian culture and in southern India as does Madhu Khanna in her article on the Durga Puja. Moreover, most of the modern environmental movements such as the Chipko movement and the Narmada Bachao Andolan—discussed in an interesting way in the present volume (by George A. James and Pratyusha Basu & Jael Silliman respectively)— have also displayed significant ethical and religious dimensions. Even Gandhi who can not be categorized as an environmentalist had a definite eco- logical vision of life which was, as persuasively shown by Vinay Lal and Larry D. Shin, grounded on what Gandhi understood to be the “ecological wisdom of India’s epic and religious literature”. However, historically the diktat of religion has run both ways—for the protection and the destruction of nature. The sanctification of the destruction of nature by religion has been explored by Laurie L.Patton, through her textual reading of Rig Veda. According to her, the idea of balanced harmony and the destruction E C O L O G Y ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ■ What much of modern environmentalism and scientific ecology has overlooked is the co- existence of processes of life and death, destruction and growth and the fact that in South Asia ecological knowledge has become so very firmly embedded in the indigenous religious beliefs and practice that it is nearly impossible to mark the division between the two