Dharmic environmentalism: Hindu traditions and ecological care

Cairns, Rebecca (2020) Dharmic environmentalism: Hindu traditions and ecological care. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Abstract

In the midst of environmental degradation, Religious Studies scholars have begun to assess whether or not religious traditions contain ecological resources which may initiate the restructuring of human-nature relationships. In this thesis, I explore whether it is possible to locate within Hindu religious traditions, especially lived Hindu traditions, an environmental ethic. By exploring the arguments made by scholars in the fields of Religion and Ecology, I examine both the ecological “paradoxes” seen by scholars to be inherent to Hindu ritual practice and the ways in which forms of environmental care exist or are developing within lived religion. I do the latter by examining the efforts that have been made by the Bishnoi, the Chipko Movement, Swadhyay Parivar and Bhils to conserve and protect local ecologies and sacred landscapes.

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