Indian Culture and Nature – Part 1

On the occasion of Earth Day

माता भूमि पुत्रोSहं पृथिव्या: | ‘The Earth is my mother and I am her child,’ says the Hymn to the Earth in the Atharva Veda (XII.1.12). So long as the earth is able to maintain mountains, forests and trees Until then the human race and its progeny will be able to survive. –– Durga Saptashati

Every aspect of Indian culture including Indian festivals is intimately connected with nature and the environment, and scientific environmental management. Nature is a friend, revered as a mother, obeyed as a father and nurtured as a beloved child.

In Vedic literature, all of the nature was, in some way, divine, part of an indivisible life force uniting the world of humans, animals and plants. Vedic people were one with nature. ‘One is that which manifests in all’ meant that everything is related to everything else. Five thousand years ago, the sages of the Rig Veda showed a clear appreciation of the natural world and its ecology, the importance of the environment and the management of natural resources (I.115, VII.99 and X.125). The Rig Veda dedicates a whole hymn to the rivers (‘Nadistuti Sukta’), while the hymn to the earth (‘Prithvi Sukta’, Book 12) of the Atharva Veda consists of sixty-three stanzas in praise of Mother Earth and nature, and human dependence on the earth. Throughout the Vedas, we sense a deep respect for life.

A quotation from the Atharva Veda describes all forms of life. The hills and mountains covered with snow, the thick forests and the earth are sacred. It prays for the well-being and happiness of all living beings. It further craves for bountiful crops. May all tribes and nations prosper and may no one be subjected to your anger or suffer from natural calamities (XII.1.10). The world is one family––vasudhaiva kutumbakam––embracing all forms of life. The Atharva Veda gives us a beautiful description of the relationship between human beings and nature: ‘The earth, which possesses oceans, rivers and other sources of water and which gives us land to produce foodgrains and on which human beings depend on for their survival––may it grant us all our needs for eating and drinking: water, milk, grains and fruit’ (XII.1.3).

Humans have no authority over animals. Rather, they have duties and obligations towards all creation. In Hindu philosophy, there are no dos and don’ts, no god who sits in judgement. It is all cause and effect: one has to bear the consequences of one’s behaviour, good or bad. God is kind and loving, not judgmental. People are responsible for their behaviour and one’s karmas or actions lead to their own consequences in a future life. Hindu philosophy has a definite code of environmental ethics. According to it, humans may not consider themselves above nature, nor can they claim to rule over other forms of life. Hence, traditionally, the Hindu attitude has been respectful towards nature. It is noted for its deep respect for all forms of nature and the unique role that each life form plays in the ecology of the earth. It has a cosmic, rather than anthropocentric, view of the world.

Every aspect of nature is sacred for the Indic religions: forests and groves, gardens, rivers and other waterbodies, plants and seeds, animals, mountains and pilgrimage centres. The sacred is still visible in modern India in certain aspects of people’s lives and in rural areas, especially among communities like the Bishnois, and many tribes, and in the many festivals which celebrate nature and the environment in so many ways.

सर्वेSत्र सुखिनः संतु सर्वे संतु निरामया ।
सर्वे भद्राणि पश्यन्तु, मा कश्चित दुःखमाप्नुयात ।।
- Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, 1.4.14

Meaning: May all be happy and healed; May all be well and no one be unhappy.

Reference: Hinduism and Nature – Krishna, Nanditha.

Image Source: India Today

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