Pankaj Jain, "Dharma and Ecology of Hindu Communities: Sustenance and Sustainability" (Routledge, 2011)

Summary

In Indic religious traditions, a number of rituals and myths exist in which the environment is revered. Despite this nature worship in India, its natural resources are under heavy pressure with its growing economy and exploding population. This has led several scholars to raise questions about religious communities’ role in environmentalism. Does nature worship inspire Hindus to act in an environmentally conscious way? Pankaj Jain's Dharma and Ecology of Hindu Communities: Sustenance and Sustainability (Routledge, 2011) explores the above questions with three communities, the Swadhyaya movement, the Bishnoi, and the Bhil communities. Presenting the texts of Bishnois, their environmental history, and their contemporary activism; investigating the Swadhyaya movement from an ecological perspective; and exploring the Bhil communities and their Sacred Groves, this book applies a non-Western hermeneutical model to interpret the religious traditions of Indic communities.

Tiatemsu Longkumer is a Ph.D. scholar working on ‘Anthropology of Religion’ at North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong: India.

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Tiatemsu Longkumer

Dr. Tiatemsu Longkumer is a faculty member in the Anthropology Department at Royal Thimphu College, Bhutan. His doctoral research explored the complex interplay between indigenous religion and Christianity among the Ao Naga of Nagaland. Dr. Longkumer’s current research focuses on Buddhism in Bhutan. He teaches courses in anthropology, communication skills, and Generative AI.

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