Ecological Awarness Reflected in the Atharvaveda

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ABOUT THE BOOK This work is a study of the Atharvaveda from the angle of ecology, which deals with the relationship of one man with another man, society, nature and with all that is around him at the time of the Atharvaveda. It depicts a more or less realistic picture of then society. It has been suggested that the study of the entire Atharvaveda from ecological awareness point of view, which may give insight to many aspects of human treatment to environment.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Dr. Niranjan Jena, born in 1973 at Dundakote, Balasore, Orissa. He did his M.A. in Sanskrit having specialization Vedic Literature from Utkal University, Bhubaneswar in 1994. He has been awarded Ph.D. degree in Sanskrit from University of Pune, Pune, in 1997. He is presently working at the Centre of Advanced Study in Sanskrit (C.A.S.S.), University of Pune. He is continuing his rese-arch specially in the Vedic literature.

FOREWORD Environmental Philosophy is a branch of study which can obtain great insight from our ancient literature. If philosophy is understood as the very basis of the principles of a system them one may say that the philosophy of environmental science can be gleaned at through the study of our ancient cultural heritage preserved in the form of literature.

. What is it that we should known about our environment? What is it that relates us without environment? What is our relation with our environment? etc. are the questions which man has been to probe into.

. Our oldest literature namely the Vedas have ample references which reflect the thinking of Vedic people. The Vedas also contain various aspects of man's relationship with the environment. The basic philosophy seems to be that everything has come out of one singular source and hence each and everything in this universe is related with each and everything else.

. Attitude of domination arises from man's thinking that he is the supreme being and everything else is meant for his enjoyment which is never to be found in our ancient literature.

. The philosophical outlook, mentioned earlier, has appeared in the Ṛigveda, which is the oldest record of human intellectual activity. Just like the Rigveda, the Atharvaveda also holds a very special position in the whole mass of Vedic literature on account of its varied and many times unique contents. It is called the Veda of the masses for its more close relation with the common-man and his life.

PREFACE Today the environmental problems have become the focus of discussion everywhere be it a village or the parliament. Whether there were environmental problems in the ancient times or not? If there were problems, what were they and how were they solved? To answer these questions one has to have a look into the ancient literature, as literature is the reflection of the society and the culture. So far as our country is concerned, we have an enormous amount of literature beginning from the Rigveda till today, where, we find that people respected nature very highly and had established various relationships with the natural elements. The Atharvaveda has a special status in the vast span of Vedic literature. It is said to be the Veda of the masses. It contains the expressions of all kinds from mundane to highly philosophical type. Ordinary man and his environment seems to have occupied the central place in the Atharvaveda.

We, however, are more interested here in looking into the ancient concept of ecology and man's thought concerning the same. The ecological history of India is not very different from any other country. In Indian writings right from the Vedas, Epics and Puranas etc. we find many references to ecological thought. Many ancient writers in Sanskrit described the importance of Vayu (gasses and air) Jala (water), Desa (topography) and time in the regulation of life. Similarly, the concept of Puncatativa (five elements) namely; earth, water, air, fire, sky reflect the idea of circulation of materials. Indians have always respected plants and animals. In this country. curring green tree has been considered a sin and planting tree is a charity.

The eminent scientist Robert W. Sussman in his book Primate Ecology (p.1), classified ecological inquiry into three major heads namely; (i) general descriptive natural history, (ii) problem oriented field and research, (ii) purely theoretical studies. This present study deals with the first one, i. e., general descriptive natural history. This exactly is the nature of our study, i. e., we are concerned here only with the ecological awareness of the Indians at the time of the Vedas which will be proved on the basis of the materials extracted from the Atharvaveda.

In the modern times however, due to the concept of ecology, dire necessity of the hour ecology is studied from various angles. Now it is fully developed science that deals mainly with the modern problems caused by the ecological imbalance and strives hard to seek solutions for those.

We should be clear that, it is not a scientific study, in the sense that this study has no claim whatsoever as to make so far as ecology as far as a science is concerned. To explain: This study does not necessarily deal with the problems of imbalance etc. in the natural elements caused by various factors which are basically rooted in the ecological imbalance or it does not give either of any theoretical solutions to such problems, but it is a study of human awareness and that of human behavior towards nature at the time of the Atharvaveda. It has been suggested that the study of the entire Atharvaveda from the angle of ecology which may give insight to many aspects of human treatment to environment.

**Contents and Sample Pages**