Critically examine the Indian view of Conservation.

 Cutting across historical, philosophical debates, the one principle which underlies and provides unity in Indian philosophy as also continuity of vision and perception is the assertion that Man is only one among all living matter. Man’s life depends upon and is conditioned by all that surrounds him and sustains him, namely, inanimate, mineral and animate, aquatic, vegetative, and gaseous life. It is therefore, Man’s duty to constantly remind himself of the environment and the ecology.

In the Indian world view, as also of other ancient civilizations and cultures, life on earth emerges from the eternal waters that hold the potency of fires. Perhaps we have not pondered over the significance of the myth. While on surface myth has a dream like structure, its meaning and value lies in its pointing at the natural phenomenon. Indian science and philosophy and thus culture develop on the postulate of the perpetual movement of creation, degeneration, and regeneration of the cosmos.

The traditional society is structured on a four fold control system that orders human life, its subsistence and desires. Life is ordered into four successive stages (ashramas) from learning and performing to gradual indifference and final withdrawal. Although seemingly opposed in character, these primal desires stand in an organic and interactive relationship to one another. This fourfold ordering of life is called purusartha, that is, the making of a cultural person (purusha). At a higher level of consciousness, the cultural person is transformed into a cosmic person.

The Indian theory of nature and ecology is enormously affected by the theory of creation which recognizes that every element, object and living being in the universe is created by the same Supreme Being; and the man has no special dominion over nature. The early Indian socioreligious systems enshrine respect for nature in the following basic elements:

· faith in a supreme power,

· non-dualistic view of this supreme being, and

· a set of rules defining duties in consonance with cosmic order.

The early scriptures of India provide useful references ascribing practical conservation tips that directly relate with this enshrined respect for nature. Vedas, Upanishads, Puranas and other scriptures give detailed descriptions of trees, plants and wildlife along with their importance to the community. Trees have been considered as an essential part of Indian homes. Significance of plants and trees to human life is further exemplified in Varah Puran which advocates regular plantation as a means to achieve heaven. In Matsyapurana and Padmapurana also there is a description of great plantation ceremony – Vriksha Mahotsave. In Matsyapurana plantation of a tree has been equated with progeny of ten sons.

Indians accept nature as divinity; and as such various trees and plants are used in religious ceremonies and worship. Some trees and plants are considered so sacred that it is assumed that particular Gods and/or Goddesses have made their abode in them. In Narsimha Puran tree has been personified as God (Brahma) itself. Atharvaveda considers Peepal tree as abode of various Gods. Names of various trees and their associations with God and Goddesses are:

Ashoka Buddha, Indra, Vishnu, Aditi etc.

Peepal Vishnu, Laxmi, Vana Durga etc.

Tulsi Vishnu, Krishna, Jagannath, Laxmi etc.

Kadamba Krishna l Ber Shiv, Durga, Surya, Laxmi

Vata Brahma, Vishnu, Shiv, Kal, Kubera, Krishna, etc.

The various trees and plants are not only worshipped but cutting green trees has also been prohibited and punishments prescribed for the offender. Indian society had been very much aware of the fact that indiscriminate destruction of plants and forests would result in diseases and pollution of the atmosphere.

One of the early historical evidence of this nature comes from the inscriptions engraved on pillars and rocks at the behest of Ashoka, the famous Mauryan Emperor in the third century BC.

The Ashokan inscriptions were put up at centres of population and pilgrimage where crowds of people would gather and read them, and receive the inscription of their messages of morality. One of this pillar edits, No.V found at Rampurwa in Bihar and issued by him in 243 BC provides elaborate injunctions relating to environment. This edict may even be taken as one of the earliest historical record focusing on conservation practices to be followd by people in general. The text of this edict reads as below (English translation):

Thus saith king Priyadarsi, Beloved of the Gods.

Twenty-six years after my coronation, I have declared the following species of animals exempt from slaughter, viz., parrots, mainas, ruddy geese, wild geese, nandimukhas gelatas, bats, mango-tree ants, terrapins, boneless fish, vedaveyakas, gangapuputakas, skate-fish, tortoises and porcupines, leaf-hares, twelve-antler stags, bulls set at liberty, household vermin, rhinoceroses, white pigeons, village pigeons and all the quadrupeds which are neither useful nor edible.

Those she-goats, ewes and sows, which are either pregnant or milch, are not to be slaughtered, nor their young ones which are less than six months old. Cocks are not to be caponed. Husks containing living beings should not be burnt. Forests much not be burnt either uselessly or in order to destroy living beings. The living must not be fed with the living.

At the three Chaturmasis and at the full-moon of the month of Tishya, for three days in each case, viz., the fourteenth and fifteenth of one fortnight and the first of the next, and invariably on every fast day, fish is exempt from slaughter and should not be sold. And on the same days, not only these but also other species of beings should not be killed in the elephant-forests and in the fisher-men’s preserves.

On the eighth of each fortnight and on the fourteenth and fifteenth, on the tishya and Purnarvasu days, on the three Chaturmasi days and on every auspicious day, bulls are not to be castrated. And he-goats, rams, boars and such other animals as are usually castrated should not be castrated on those days. Horses and bullocks should not be branded on the Tishya and Punarvasu days, on the Chaturmasis and during the fortnights associated with the Chaturmasis.

Up to the time when I completed twenty-six years after my coronation, the release of prisoners has been ordered by me twenty-five times during the period in question.

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