A Retreating Goddess? Conflicting Perceptions of Ecological Change near the Gangotri-Gaumukh Glacier
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/jsrnc.v6i3.344Keywords:
Himalayan glaciers, Ganges River, climate change perceptions, Hindu religionAbstract
The Gangotri-Gaumukh glacier is a signi?cant body of ice in the Indian Himalayas whose loss could cause ecological turmoil, the disruption of livelihoods, and possibly even threaten the continuity of cultural-religious practices intertwined with the sacred Ganga River into which its runoff ?ows. Although there is reason to fear for the Ganga’s longevity, the issue of its potential decline is layered with ambiguity, uncertainty, and debate. In this article, I present the science-based discourse on glacial melt, which continues to evolve, along with ethnographically documented perspectives on retreating glaciers and other ecological transformations. I demonstrate how faith in the enduring nature of the Goddess Ganga impacts interpretations of environmental change, regardless of the climate change science, and how ideas about the river’s impermanence in Hindu texts can sometimes deter conservation efforts. In doing so I offer a variety of views that enlarge discussions about the causes for and the range of responses to climatic change.References
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Bourdieu, Pierre. 1977. Outline of a Theory of Practice (New York: Cambridge University Press).
Crate, Susan A. 2008. ‘Gone the Bull of Winter: Grappling with the Cultural Implications of and Anthropology’s Role(s) in Global Climate Change’, Current Anthropology 49.4: 569-95.
Crate, Susan A., and Mark Nuttall (eds.). 2009. Anthropology and Climate Change: From Encounters to Actions (Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press). Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/529543.
Cruikshank, Julie. 2005. Do Glaciers Listen? Local Knowledge, Colonial Encounters, and Social Imagination (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press).
Cruz, Rex V. et al. 2007. ‘Asia’, in M.L. Parry, O.F. Canziani, J.P. Palutikof, P.J. van der Linden, and C.E. Hanson (eds.), Climate Change 2007: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability—Contribution of Working Group II to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press): 469-506.
Dobhal, D.P. 2009. ‘Climate Change and Glacier Retreat in the Indian Himalaya: An Overview’, in Climate Change at the Third Pole: The Impact of Climate Change Instability on Himalayan Ecosystems and Himalayan Communities (New Delhi: Navdanya/Research Foundation for Science, Technology, and Ecology): 67-76.
Drew, Georgina. 2011. ‘Ganga is “Disappearing”: Women, Development, and Contentious Practice on the Ganges River’ (PhD diss., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill).
Eck, Diana L. 1996. ‘Ganga: The Goddess Ganges in Hindu Sacred Geography’, in John S. Hawley and Donna M. Wulff (eds.), Devi: Goddesses of India (Berkeley: University of California Press): 137-53.
Gosling, David L. 2001. Religion and Ecology in India and Southeast Asia (New York: Verso).
Haberman, David L. 2006. River of Love in an Age of Pollution: The Yamuna River of Northern India (Berkeley: University of California Press).
Immerzeel, Walter W., P.H. Ludovicus van Beek, and Marc F.P. Bierkens. 2010. ‘Climate Change Will Affect the Asian Water Towers’, Science 328: 1382-85. Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1183188.
Nagaranjan, Vijaya Rettakudi. 1998. ‘The Earth as Goddess Bhu Devi: Towards a Theory of Embedded Ecologies in Folk Hinduism’, in Lance E. Nelson (ed.), Purifying the Earthly Body of God: Religion and Ecology in Hindu India (Albany: State University of New York Press): 269-96.
Naithani, Ajay K., H.C. Nainwal, K.K. Sati, and C. Prasad. 2001. ‘Geomorphological Evidences of Retreat of the Gangotri glacier and its Characteristics’, Current Science 80.1: 87-94.
Nautiyal, Shivanand (trans.). 1994. Skandapura
Published
2012-11-15
Issue
Section
Articles
How to Cite
Drew, G. (2012). A Retreating Goddess? Conflicting Perceptions of Ecological Change near the Gangotri-Gaumukh Glacier. Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature and Culture, 6(3), 344-362. https://doi.org/10.1558/jsrnc.v6i3.344
