Western Himalayan N?gs as Guardians of Water Resources
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/jsrnc.33600Keywords:
cosmologies, myth and ritual, sacred landscapes, springs and wellsAbstract
My ethnographic research focuses on the N?gs, which are cobra-shaped deities and guardians of water sources, to exemplify how religion and ecology relate to each other in the Indian Western Himalayas.
Ethnography has much to contribute to environmental research: Hydrological degradation of the Ganges (alias mother Gang?), erosion of mountains (alias goddess Nand? or the N?g deity V?suki), and deforestation are not merely physical phenomena. They also belong to the ritually and mythically constructed environments of Hindus, in which religion, ownership, irrigation techniques and microeconomics are interconnected.
My project examines not only how theories and mythologies about water, rain and the N?gs shape the imaginative world of deities and place them in ‘nature’, but also how this nature is reciprocally set up and conceptualized by its connection to deities. How do people distribute their water supply and what role do the N?gs play in this instance?
References
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Framarin, Christopher G. 2015. Hinduism and Environmental Ethics (London: Routledge).
Foster, Peter. 2006. ‘Hindu Gods Turn Down Plans for a Himalayan Ski Resort’, Telegraph. 21 February. Online: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/india/1511074/Hindu-gods-turn-down-plans-for-a-Himalayan-ski-resort.html.
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Guha, Ramachandra. 1989. The Unquiet Woods: Ecological Change and Peasant Resistance in the Himalaya (New Delhi: Oxford University Press).
Haberman, David. 2006. River of Love in an Age of Pollution (Berkeley: University of California Press).
Haberman, David. 2013. People Trees: Worship of Trees in Northern India (Oxford: Oxford University Press). Doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199929177.001.0001.
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Ingold, Tim. 2003 ‘Three in One: How an Ecological Approach Can Obviate the Distinctions between Body, Mind and Culture’, in N. Buband et al. (eds.) Imagining Nature: Practices of Cosmology and Identity (Aarhus: Aarhus University Press): 40-55.
Hames, Raymond. 2007. ‘The Ecologically Noble Savage Debate’, Annual Review of Anthropology 36: 177-90. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.anthro.35.081705.123321.
Lansing, Stephen, and Karyn M. Fox. 2011. ‘Niche Construction on Bali: The Gods of the Countryside’, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B 366.1566: 927-34. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2010.0308.
Mamgai, Sitaram. 2008. Prasiddh Na"gt?rth Sem Mukhem (Srinagar: Sarvadhikar Surakshit).
Michaels, Axel. 1998. Der Hinduismus: Geschichte und Gegenwart (Munich: Beck).
Mishra, R. 1997. ‘Conserving the Kumaun Forests through People’s Participation: A Case Study’, The Indian Forester 123.6: 568-71.
Müller, F. Max. 1878. Lectures on the Origin and Growth of Religion (London: Williams & Norgate).
Overing, Joana. 2004. ‘The Grotesque Landscape of Mythic “Before Time”, the Folly of Sociality in “Today Time”: An Egalitarian Aesthetics of Human Existence’, in E. Mader et al. (eds.), Kultur, Raum, Landschaft (Frankfurt: B&A): 69-90.
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Sax, William S. 2002. Dancing the Self: Personhood and Performance in the Pa"n9d9av L?la" of Garhwal (Oxford: Oxford University Press). Doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/0195139151.001.0001.
Sax, William S. 2009. God of Justice: Ritual Healing and Social Justice in the Central Himalayas (Oxford: Oxford University Press).
Singh, Binay. 2011. ‘Noted Environmentalist embraces Sanyas’, Economic Times. 4 July. Online: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/environment/the-good-earth/noted-environmentalist-embraces-sanyas/articleshow/9093007.cms.
Shivshankar, Goutham. 2017. ‘The Personhood of Nature’, Law and Other Things (Weblog). 5 April. Online: http://lawandotherthings.com/2017/04/the-personhood-of-nature/.
Sprenger, Guido. 2015. ‘Animism’ in J. Athyal (ed.), Encyclopedia of Religion in Southeast Asia (Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO): 7-10.
Tomalin, Emma. 2009. Biodivinity and Biodiversity: The Limits to Religious Environmentalism (Farnham, UK: Ashgate).
Vogel, J.P. 1926. Indian Serpent-lore or The Na"gas in Hindu Legend and Art (London: Probsthain).
Werner, Hanna. 2015. The Politics of Dams: Developmental Perspectives and Social Critique in Modern India (New Delhi: Oxford University Press).
Zee Media Bureau. 2013. ‘Uttarakhand Floods. Dhari Devis Wrath—Myth or Reality?’, Zeenews. 2 July. Online: http://zeenews.india.com/news/uttarakhand/uttarakhand-floods-dhari-devis-wrath-myth-or-reality_857295.html.
Bhatt, Ram P., Heinz W. Wessler, and Claus P. Zoller. 2014. ‘Fairy Lore in the High Mountains of South Asia’, Acta Orientalia 75: 75-166.
Bhatt, Haridatt. 1976. Gar[hwa"l? Bha"s[a" aur uska" Sa"hitya (Lakhnau": Hindi Samiti/Uttar Prades[ S&a"san).
Drew, Georgina. 2017. River Dialogues: Hindu Faith and the Political Ecology of Dams on the Sacred Ganga (Tucson: University of Arizona Press).
Framarin, Christopher G. 2015. Hinduism and Environmental Ethics (London: Routledge).
Foster, Peter. 2006. ‘Hindu Gods Turn Down Plans for a Himalayan Ski Resort’, Telegraph. 21 February. Online: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/india/1511074/Hindu-gods-turn-down-plans-for-a-Himalayan-ski-resort.html.
Geertz, Clifford. 1973. The Interpretation of Culture (New York: Basic Books).
Gha?4, Vedakuma"r?4 (trans.). 1973. The Nilamata Purana: A Critical Edition and English Translation (Srinagar: J & K Academy of Art, Culture and Languages).
Guha, Ramachandra. 1989. The Unquiet Woods: Ecological Change and Peasant Resistance in the Himalaya (New Delhi: Oxford University Press).
Haberman, David. 2006. River of Love in an Age of Pollution (Berkeley: University of California Press).
Haberman, David. 2013. People Trees: Worship of Trees in Northern India (Oxford: Oxford University Press). Doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199929177.001.0001.
Ikari, Yasuke. 1994. A Study of the N?lamata: Aspects of Hinduism in Ancient Kashmir (Kyoto: Institute for Research in Humanities).
Ingold, Tim. 2003 ‘Three in One: How an Ecological Approach Can Obviate the Distinctions between Body, Mind and Culture’, in N. Buband et al. (eds.) Imagining Nature: Practices of Cosmology and Identity (Aarhus: Aarhus University Press): 40-55.
Hames, Raymond. 2007. ‘The Ecologically Noble Savage Debate’, Annual Review of Anthropology 36: 177-90. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.anthro.35.081705.123321.
Lansing, Stephen, and Karyn M. Fox. 2011. ‘Niche Construction on Bali: The Gods of the Countryside’, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B 366.1566: 927-34. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2010.0308.
Mamgai, Sitaram. 2008. Prasiddh Na"gt?rth Sem Mukhem (Srinagar: Sarvadhikar Surakshit).
Michaels, Axel. 1998. Der Hinduismus: Geschichte und Gegenwart (Munich: Beck).
Mishra, R. 1997. ‘Conserving the Kumaun Forests through People’s Participation: A Case Study’, The Indian Forester 123.6: 568-71.
Müller, F. Max. 1878. Lectures on the Origin and Growth of Religion (London: Williams & Norgate).
Overing, Joana. 2004. ‘The Grotesque Landscape of Mythic “Before Time”, the Folly of Sociality in “Today Time”: An Egalitarian Aesthetics of Human Existence’, in E. Mader et al. (eds.), Kultur, Raum, Landschaft (Frankfurt: B&A): 69-90.
Premchand. 1915. ‘Na"g Pu"ja"’, Short Story in Manasarovar, part 4. Online: https://archive.org/details/Manasarovar-4_by_Premchand.
Sanford, A. Whitney. 2012. Growing Stories from India: Religion and the Fate of Agriculture (Lexington: University of Kentucky Press).
Sax, William S. 2002. Dancing the Self: Personhood and Performance in the Pa"n9d9av L?la" of Garhwal (Oxford: Oxford University Press). Doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/0195139151.001.0001.
Sax, William S. 2009. God of Justice: Ritual Healing and Social Justice in the Central Himalayas (Oxford: Oxford University Press).
Singh, Binay. 2011. ‘Noted Environmentalist embraces Sanyas’, Economic Times. 4 July. Online: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/environment/the-good-earth/noted-environmentalist-embraces-sanyas/articleshow/9093007.cms.
Shivshankar, Goutham. 2017. ‘The Personhood of Nature’, Law and Other Things (Weblog). 5 April. Online: http://lawandotherthings.com/2017/04/the-personhood-of-nature/.
Sprenger, Guido. 2015. ‘Animism’ in J. Athyal (ed.), Encyclopedia of Religion in Southeast Asia (Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO): 7-10.
Tomalin, Emma. 2009. Biodivinity and Biodiversity: The Limits to Religious Environmentalism (Farnham, UK: Ashgate).
Vogel, J.P. 1926. Indian Serpent-lore or The Na"gas in Hindu Legend and Art (London: Probsthain).
Werner, Hanna. 2015. The Politics of Dams: Developmental Perspectives and Social Critique in Modern India (New Delhi: Oxford University Press).
Zee Media Bureau. 2013. ‘Uttarakhand Floods. Dhari Devis Wrath—Myth or Reality?’, Zeenews. 2 July. Online: http://zeenews.india.com/news/uttarakhand/uttarakhand-floods-dhari-devis-wrath-myth-or-reality_857295.html.
Additional Files
- Requires Subscription or Fee Figure 1. (N?gr?ja temple in Pantvari village, 30°36’N 78°5’E).
- Requires Subscription or Fee Figure 2 (Interieur of fig 1).
- Requires Subscription or Fee Figure 3 (N?g Devt? temple on N?g Tibb? mountain, near 30°35’N 78°9’E).
- Requires Subscription or Fee Figure 4. (Mugdat?l lake, ca. 30°49’N 78°31’E)
- Requires Subscription or Fee Figure 5 (Temple of the N?g deity V?suk? amid his property in Ga?e?pur, 30°45’N 78°28’E)
- Requires Subscription or Fee Figure 6 (Gate into Lord V?suk?’s property, defined by a wall)
- Requires Subscription or Fee Figure 7. (V?suk? temple in Hurri, 30°54’N 78°41’E)
- Requires Subscription or Fee Figure 8. (Talbala Sem, a swampland equated with the demoness Hidamb?’s belly; 30°35’N 78°27’E).
Published
2018-02-19
Issue
Section
Field Notes
How to Cite
Lange, G. (2018). Western Himalayan N?gs as Guardians of Water Resources. Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature and Culture, 11(3), 361-378. https://doi.org/10.1558/jsrnc.33600
