Sacred Groves and Local Gods: Religion and Environmentalism in South India

Kent, Eliza F.

doi:10.1163/156853508x394490

Cited by 15 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 5 publications

(8 reference statements)

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“…The role of religious sentiments in the conservation of sacred groves around the globe is particularly emphasized in the field of Religion and Ecology [10,[12][13][14][15]. In this article, we aim to critically reconsider the assumption that religion is effective in nature conservation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Much has been written in a critical vein about religiously inspired environmental discourses and the religious environmentalist paradigm in India [5,10,15,[22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32]. However, others, especially those who take a "romanticist", "religionist" or "chauvinist-nationalist" stance, are inclined to saying that Hinduism is the crucial factor for protecting and conserving the biodiversity of the sacred groves [13,33,34].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Changing Landscape of Sacred Groves in Kerala (India): A Critical View on the Role of Religion in Nature Conservation

2016

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Sacred groves are an age-old and world-wide phenomenon, traditionally consisting of forest zones, protected by people based on their spiritual relationship with the deities or ancestral spirits believed to reside there. India alone counts nearly 50,000 sacred groves, with 2000 in Kerala where they are known as kaavu. Presently, the sacred groves are under serious threat with numbers of groves reducing drastically. In this article, the authors challenge one of the dominant theories that sacred groves, while previously protected by religion, now disappear due to the loss of traditional beliefs. Starting from the observation that the destruction of sacred groves has less to do with a loss of faith but more with a change of faith, the article focuses on the ambivalent role of religion and the impact the commercial offer of some specific Hindu rituals has on the declining number of sacred groves. Based on long-term ethnographic fieldwork among grove-owners in Kerala, the authors argue that it may be true that religious perceptions maintained the sacred groves for centuries, but that the same religious tradition now provides both justifications and marketable rituals for cutting them down.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Changing Landscape of Sacred Groves in Kerala (India): A Critical View on the Role of Religion in Nature Conservation

2016

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“…Accordingly, temple and shrine groves in different parts of Asia have acquired new significance as "Sacred Natural Sites" (Healy et al 2018), and captured the attention of scientists and environmental activists. This trend is visible for instance in India (Kent 2013) and in mainland Japan (Rots 2017c).…”

Section: Utaki Ecology and The Fight Against Invadersmentioning

confidence: 92%

Strangers in the Sacred Grove: The Changing Meanings of Okinawan Utaki

Rots

2019

Religions

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This article discusses the changing significance of sacred groves (utaki) in contemporary Okinawa. Until recently, utaki were the domain of female ritual practitioners (kaminchu or noro), and men were not allowed to set foot in them. In many places, such taboos have faded away, if not disappeared altogether, and utaki have acquired new meanings in the context of mass tourism, heritage conservation, and environmental degradation. Although there are several studies of the ritual system of the Ryukyu Kingdom (1429–1879), little research has been conducted on the postwar and contemporary significance of utaki. This article begins by describing the current situation, using examples from the southeastern part of the island. It then identifies three main issues for the study of sacred groves in Okinawa today: the claim, made by leading Japanese scholars, that these are sites of primordial “nature worship”, supposedly similar to ancient Shinto; the recent popularization of utaki as sites of spiritual power, so-called “powerspots”, among tourists; and, finally, the emerging realization of their potential significance for biodiversity conservation.

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“…The same holds true for Konkan, as the medieval documents label Konkan as "Rama-kshetra" (region or locale of Rama) after Parshurama (Thomas, 2014) 5 and the land is equated with morality and righteousness of the mythic hero. The naming of the coastline, the hills, the rivers, and the sacred groves (Kent, 2013) implies the act of naming as a constructive or creative process itself. The religious narratives from the text of SK tap into the processes of creation, absolving of the sins, and punishment for those who have wronged and a promise for lasting peace.…”

Section: The Narrative Backdropmentioning

confidence: 99%

Vocalizing the “Local”: Exploring the Cultural Milieu Along Coastal Maharashtra

Kale¹

2019

JCRS

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The return to the study of localized aspects of culture and tradition is unravelling the various layers of a regional cultural milieu in academic study. Following the vein of regional exploration, this paper explores the case of Konkan, along the west coast of India, for the vernacular religious traditions. The mythic hero Parshurama mentioned in the text of Sahyadri Khanda features as a prominent hero along the Konkan coast and numerous places and performative traditions have retained the mythical base of this narrative as a part of local history. Ritual significance of naming certain sites and the connection between temples and other archaeological material sources with a narrative thread form the crux of this discussion on local culture in Konkan. The aspect of orality in the narrative scheme is often overlooked in the study of regional culture, and this exploration makes a case for the interdisciplinary approach of textual sources, ethnographic and oral accounts along with the data pertaining to material culture in such a study. The paper offers an entry point into the examination of religious texts and local performative tradition hinged on narratives of space that have shaped the vernacular culture to this day. This exploration will offer a case-study for an interdisciplinary investigation into local cultures that in turn enrich the knowledge on popular socio-religious currents.

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Sacred Groves and Local Gods: Religion and Environmentalism in South India

Cited by 15 publications

References 5 publications

The Changing Landscape of Sacred Groves in Kerala (India): A Critical View on the Role of Religion in Nature Conservation

The Changing Landscape of Sacred Groves in Kerala (India): A Critical View on the Role of Religion in Nature Conservation

Strangers in the Sacred Grove: The Changing Meanings of Okinawan Utaki

Vocalizing the “Local”: Exploring the Cultural Milieu Along Coastal Maharashtra

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