       page 81 [455.16]. Singh, Rana P.B. and Rana, Pravin S. 2016. Indian Sacred Natural Sites: Ancient traditions of reverence and conservation explained from a Hindu perspective; in, Verschuuren, Bas and Furuta, Naoya (ed.): Asian Sacred Natural Sites: Ancient Philosophy and Practice in Conservation and Protected Areas. Routledge, Taylor and Francis, London and New York: pp. 81~92. [Chapter 7] <Pdf ref. 455.16> ISBN Hb: 978-1-13-893629-4. Pb: 9781138936317. eISBN: 9781315676272. !""#  $%  !&#  ’( )  *+,- ./ 0!1+ ’’2  *+% ( ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 7 INDIAN SACRED NATURAL SITES Ancient traditions of reverence and conservation explained from a Hindu perspective. Rana P.B. Singh and Pravin S. Rana Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India Introduction The concept of sacred natural landscape, refers to a complex cultural mosaic of relationships between time and space, sacrality of nature and overall the encompassing manifestation of transcendence of man. Man since time immemorial is trying to make a strong bridge between conscious mind and super-conscious divine. The idea of nature and human integrity in Hindu thought depends upon ways in which people see and experience themselves, their sense of attachment to nature, and their ways of maintaining this. It is through symbolism, the main expression of mythological understanding, that one can gain insight into the relationships of humanity to nature. Religion plays a vital role in the Hindu quest for understanding and practicing harmony between nature and humanity. This results in the formation of a cosmological awakening, i.e. ‘transcending the universe’ in the frame of ecospirituality, i.e. reverence and revelation through realization and practices in maintaining the cosmic order and rhythm of nature (rita). The tradition of pilgrimages is seen as a quest to experience the divine spirit manifested in nature. It became the life-philosophy of ancient Hindu tradition – marching from realisation towards revelation. This chapter presents the context of sacred natural sites in India expressed through natural elements like river, forest, caves and the associated sites that evolved in the passage of time. Sacrality and Natural Sites in the Hindu tradition In Hindu tradition, reverence for the pavitrasthn or sacredscape or the inherent spirit at a natural site is as old as the foundations of dharma or religion. Several hymns in praise of the goddess Prithvi (mother Earth) are found in the Rig Veda, the oldest religious text of Hinduism (1.185, 6.70, and 5.84), dated ca 2000 BCE. She is perceived as a great and mighty goddess and also a living being, a cosmic organism. Reverence to Prithvi is continuously found in early medieval mythological literature were she is often mentioned as Bhu Devi, Earth Goddess.