Flora, Fauna and Nature Conservation Values in Indian Culture (With Special Reference to Vrataraja)

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It is necessary to highlight the importance and applicability of ancient Indian conservation principles in the present age when environmental pollution and climate change have started showing negative impacts on the earth including humankind. Cultural literacy is important for social reforms and environmental education. Hence, extracting such knowledge from ancient texts systematically and logically becomes relevant today. This book is mainly based on the text Vrataraja written around 1736 CE. This work emphasizes meanings and the spirit behind various festivals and rituals (that otherwise seem irrelevant today). It enables us to understand how our ancestors were in synergy with nature.

Dr. Suruchi Pande is the trustee founder member and vice chair of Ela Foundation, Pune - a registered NGO and charity for nature education and conservation. She has her first PhD degree in Bio-Ethics and second PhD degree in Ethno-Ornithology. She has two post- doctoral dissertations to her credit. She is working as a research scholar of Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Kolkata. She worked on the post of Infosys Scholar, Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Pune. She has worked as a researcher at Foundation for Research in Community Health, Pune; Sanskrit department, SP University of Pune and Sanskrit department, Jnana Prabodhini, Pune. Till date, she has authored 73 books in Marathi, English, Hindi and Gujarati on Sanskrit literature, philosophy and nature conservation. She is a member of the editorial board of Ela Journal of Forestry and Wildlife, India and European Journal of Ecology, Poland. She is a recipient of many national and international awards including the prestigious Maharashtra Rajya Sahitya Puraskar.

This book is mainly based on the text Vrataraja written in Samskrita language, around 1736 CE (samvat 1793 or saka 1658) by Visvanatha Sarma. It is interesting to note that the author gives Marathi names of some vegetables or plants in this text. The author has based his work on various old scriptures, samgraha granthas, texts on Dharmasastra and Puranas.

There are references from the Rigveda, Yajurveda, Samaveda and Atharvaveda.

The author himself tells that he has taken references from Hemadri, Kalpataru, Madanaratna, Prithvi candrodaya, Gauda nibandha, Shattrinshamata, Siddhantasekhara, Saradatilaka, Padarthadarsa, Govindarņava, Bhagavatarchanadipika, Madhaviya, Jnanamala, Nirnayamrita, Dwaita nirnaya arcanamayukha, Durga bhakti taramgiņi, Sivarahasya, Kaladarsa, Rudrayamala, Brahmayamala, Vacaspati nibandha, Puraņa samuccaya, Agastyasamhita and Aditya pancharatra.

There are Puraņa texts like Brahma, Padma, Vishņu, Vishnudharma, Vishnudharmottara, Siva, Linga, Garuda, Narada, Brihannaradiya, Bhagavata, Agni, Skanda, Bhavishya, Bhavishyottara, Brahmavaivarta, Markandeya, Vamana, Varaha, Matsya, Kürma, Brahmaņda, Devi, Gaņesa and Kalika.

There are Smriti texts like Manu, Yajnavalkya, Narada, Devala, Vishņu, Harita, Yama, Apastamba, Katyayana, Brihaspati, Vyasa, Sańkha, Daksha, Vasishtha, Vriddha vasistha, Satyavrata, Chagaleya and Baudhayana. Except these there are many other Samskrita texts referred in Vrataraja.

I tried to explore the biodiversity reflected through various customs, rituals and food items for naivedyam offerings - mentioned in Vrataraja. There are 183 botanical references. It is once again highlighted that through religious traditions, nature, flora and fauna were protected. Culture is an effective medium of nature conservation even today, because it connects to people's hearts.

Ancient Indian culture vibrantly thrived with nature. Our culture has portrayed Nature's intricacies in the most spellbinding manner by associating deities with natural elements and festivals with flora and fauna. This book is not a treatise on religion but it shows the journey of cultural traditions through ages. It is remarkable to note that all flora and fauna described in this text which is based on further ancient texts-still exist and are a part of on-going culture in India. We need to preserve the thread of nature conservation delicately woven in the manners in which rituals are performed and festivals celebrated. It is much needed today because anthropocentric exploitation of natural resources has significantly disturbed nature.

Our ancestors foresaw the destructive potential of human greed and exploitation of nature. Hence, they connected nature to higher philosophical principles. This study unfolds the ways, festivals were celebrated in olden days. For example, there is a clear mention of worshipping a picture or a clay or wooden or silver image of a snake on the day of Naga Pancami. Eventually this original reference was misinterpreted and a wrong custom of displaying and worshipping live snakes began. Practice of feeding milk to snakes started which was completely unnatural and irrational. It obviously culminated into a threat for the existence of snakes because snake-catchers started to trap wild snakes, captivate, and torture them. Slowly this wrong practice is being stopped with the efforts of wildlife conservation volunteers.

Such incidents emphasis the need of re-reading and re-interpreting original Samskritatexts. Spiritual philosophy which is rooted in nature-friendly attitude should be brought forward.

Ancient Indian literature provides us a glimpse of the society and the foundations of the culture that is continued today. The only problem and the major one is that a vast treasure of knowledge about past flora, fauna, nature, and environment is locked in many manuscripts. Such manuscripts are in varied scripts and languages and are often not accessible to laypeople.

Suruchi Pande, the author of this book felt a need to bring to the forefront the meanings and the spirit behind various festivals and rituals (that otherwise seem irrelevant today) so that one can understand how our ancestors were in synergy with nature. For this reason, she selected a Sanskrit text Vratraja written around 1736 CE by Vishwanath Sharma. She has provided many illustrations of various deities that are depicted in sculptural art to support the descriptions of rituals and festivals as mentioned in the text.

This book is an outcome of the work done during the tenure of scholarship at the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute under the Academic Development Programme supported by the Infosys foundation.

I hope this book would be helpful as a source material to all those who intend to find out the knowledge preserved in our traditions regarding the nature and environment.