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Hinduism and Ecology

October 2-5, 1997

 

  • Opening Session and Plenary Address
  • Introductory Session
  • Gandhi and Ecology
  • Contemporary Ecological Issues: Forests
  • Rivers
  • Film Showing
  • Women's Issues and Ecology
  • Literature as Ecological Resource
  • Plenary Address
  • Krishna, the Bhagavad Gita, and Ecology
  • Panel Discussion on Policy Implications

 

Opening Session and Plenary Address

Chair - Arvind Sharma, McGill University

Kamla Chowdry, Society for the Promotion of Wastelands Development, New Delhi - Gandhi's Truth and Sustainability for the 21st Century

Respondent - Diana Eck, Harvard University

 

Introductory Session

Welcome - Christopher Key Chapple, Loyola Marymount University, and Arvind Sharma, McGill University, Co-conveners

O.P. Dwivedi, University of Guelph - Ecology and Hindu Religion

K.L. Seshagiri Rao, Encyclopedia of Hinduism and Indic Religions - The Five Great Elements (Panca Mahabhuta): An Ecological Perspective

Respondent - George James, University of North Texas

 

Gandhi and Ecology

Chair - Mary Evelyn Tucker, Bucknell University

Larry Shinn, Berea College - The Inner Logic of Gandhian Ecology

Vinay Lal, University of California, Los Angeles - Gandhi and Deep Ecology

Respondent - Kamla Chowdry, Society for the Promotion of Wastelands Development, New Delhi

 

Contemporary Ecological Issues: Forests

Chair - John Grim, Bucknell University

Ann Gold, Syracuse University - If You Cut One Branch, You Cut My Finger: Court, Forest, and Environmental Ethics in Rajasthan

David Lee, Florida International University - Sacred Plants and Forests: Lessons from the Ramayana

Frederique Apffel-Marglin, Smith Colllege, and Pramod Parajuli, Syracuse University - Sacred Groves and Ecology: Ritual and Science

Respondent - Frank Korom, Museum of International Folk Art

 

Rivers

Chair - Lawrence Sullivan, Director, CSWR

Kelly Alley, Auburn University - Separate Domains: Hinduism, Politics and Environmental Pollution

David Haberman, Indiana University - River of Love in an Age of Pollution

William Fisher, Harvard University - Sacred Rivers, Sacred Dams: Visions of Social Justics and Sustainable Development along the Narmada

Chris Deegan, School for International Training - Circumambulating the Narmada: Damming a Sacred Landscape

Respondent - Anne Feldhaus, Arizona State University

 

Film Showing

Kaise Jeebo Re! (How Do I Survive, My Friend!)
This film tells the struggles of uprootment, survival, and human dignity. This feature length documentary was compiled from footage that was shot over a period of six years in the Narmada Valley and other areas where resistance against dams has taken place. The film is in English, Gujarati, and Hindi, as well as the Bhilali and Gondi tribal languages.The co-directors of the film are Anurag Singh, involved in photography and film-making on political, environmental and social issues since 1984, and Jharana Jhaveri, a student of social movements who has been involved with human rights, labor, environmental, and anti-communal movements. She uses film as a medium for social transformation and to train rural and urban people.

 

Women's Issues and Ecology

Chair - Arvind Sharma, McGill University

Jael Silliman, University of Iowa - Indian Feminist Responses and Challenges to Environmental Population Paradigms

Madhu Khanna, Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, New Delhi - The Ritual Capsule of Durga-Puja: An Ecological Perspective

Vijaya Nagarajan, University of San Francisco - Women and the Earth: The Art of Symbolic Expression

Respondent - Kusumita Pedersen, St. Francis College

 

Literature as Ecological Resource

Chair - John Grim, Bucknell University

Laurie Patton, Emory University - Nature Romanticism and Violence in Rig Vedic Interpretation

Mary McGee, Columbia University - Environmental Consciousness in the Dharmashastras and the Arthashastras

Respondent - Julius Lipner, University of Cambridge

Chair - Lawrence Sullivan, Director, CSWR

Philip Lutgendorf, University of Iowa - Having a Forest and Eating It Too: “Narrative Ecosystem” in the Sanskrit Epics

T.S. Rukmani, Concordia University - Literary Foundations for an Ecological Aesthetic

Respondent - Frank Clooney, Boston College

 

Plenary Address

Chair - Arvind Sharma, McGill University

Anil Agarwal, Director, Centre for Science and Environment, New Delhi - Can Hindu Beliefs and Values Help India Meet its Ecological Crisis?

Respondent - Jack Hawley, Barnard College

 

Krishna, the Bhagavad Gita, and Ecology

Chair - Christopher Key Chapple, Loyola Marymount University

Shrivatsa Goswami, Sri Caitanya Prema Samsthana - Krishna and Vrindavan: Theology and Play of Ecology

Lance Nelson, University of San Diego - Reading the Bhagavad Gita from an Ecological Perspective

Ranchor Prime, International Consultancy on Religion, Education and Culture - Practical Hindu Ecology

Respondent - David Eckel, Boston University

 

Panel Discussion on Policy Implications

Chair - Mary Evelyn Tucker, Bucknell University

Participants:

Anil Agarwal, Center for Science and Environment

Harry Blair, Bucknell University

Christopher Key Chapple, Loyola Marymount University

Kamla Chowdry, Society for Promotion of Wasteland Development

Shrivatsa Goswami, Sri Caitanya Prema Samsthana

Arvind Sharma, McGill University