INTRODUCTION:

Nature and Culture are two sides of the same coin. Nature, which is a natural construct and Culture, a social construct, go hand in hand. Love and affection for nature and culture is in the blood not only of Indians but of human beings at large. Indians believe in the ideal of “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam” which means the whole Earth is our family (Goel, 2008). This means they value their culture and custom more than anything else. Valuing Culture means valuing Nature wholeheartedly, for Nature and Culture are culminated into onein Indiaand across the world. Our ancestors had assigned divine attributes to natural phenomena, natural objects so that without questioning we can accept nature-worshipping, and made it a culture as if they were aware of ‘sustainable developments’, that is known as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of UNDP today (Verschuuren, et al., 2021).

Our forefathers were not only the prophets who prophesied the future but they were also torchbearers who showed the way for sustainable developments in the form of Culture and promoted the culture of nature-worshipping.

Indians believe that their body is an amalgamation of ‘Panchabhuta Tatvas’. We are born out of it and end in it. This Indian philosophy of ‘Pachbhuta Tatvas’ is prevalent not only in India but across the world, as the twentieth century American cum British Poet T. S. Eliot’s Epitaph reflects:

“In my beginning is my end.

In my end is my beginning “(Eliot, 1940).

Not only this, his poems in “Four Quartets” are dealt with the four classical elements (Tatvas) i.e. Air, Earth (Soil), Water, and Fire, with “Burnt Norton”, “East Coker”, “The Dry Salvages”, and “Little Gidding” respectively. He was very much influenced by the ceremonial Indian scripture “The Bhagavada Gita”. The ‘Panchabhut Tatvas’ (air, water, earth, fire and sky) are staple need to continue the life-cycle on the earth or for the survival of life in the universe. Nature-worship is not a new concept at all (Singh, 2016). It has a long history behind it. Nature was being worshipped since the very beginning of human civilization till date. Nature worship means to protect nature, to be with it (Dunlap, 2009). Being with someone or something means you are part and parcel of it, which gives birth to Emerson’s concept of ‘Over-soul’ and philosophy of existence. As Emerson rightly uttered in his poem ‘Each and All’: All are needed by each one; Nothing is fair or good alone (Emerson, 1901).

The ancient Greek Pagan endowed nature with gods of various kinds to compel nature-worship, for example- Zeus, the god of thunderbolt; Poseidon, the god of the rivers and Oceans; Apollo, the god of light; and Demeter, the goddess of agriculture etc. The reflection of Greek-paganism is seen here in India also in the form of worship of figurines, plants and animals throughout the ages (Stubbs, 1982). Indus Valley Civilization is the most ancient civilization of the World. In Harappa, the first excavated site of the civilization, numerous terracotta figurines of woman has been found. In one of the figurines a plant is shown growing out of the embryo of a woman. Probably the image represents the goddess of Earth, and it was intimately connected with the origin and growth of plants. The Harappans look at earth as a fertility goddess. The Goddess is referred as ‘Mother-Goddess’ by the historians. Instead of ‘Mother Goddess’ there are several other deities like ‘Pashupati Mahadeva’ that can be equated with Lord Shiva of Hinduism. This God is surrounded by an elephant, a tiger, a rhinoceros, a buffalo and two deer. The picture of a deity is represented on a seal in the midst of the branches of the Pipal (Chakrabarti, 2002).

The animals like One-horned Unicorn and the Humped bull are found to be worshipped likewise cow is being worshipped since Vedic era till now, which is considered to be sacred animal in India by the Hindus (Doniger, 2010). Tree and animal worship is not only present in the culture of Harappans but it is also in relevance even today itself. As the history of India is very vast likewise culture of worshipping of trees, animals and human beings has a long tradition. During Vedic period the Aryans found it difficult to explain the advent of rains, the appearance of the sun and the moon, and the existence of rivers, mountain etc. so they personified these natural forces and looked upon them as living beings to which they gave human and animal attributes. We have a large number of deities or gods and goddesses in Rig Veda, the most important are ‘Indra’ (Rain-God), ‘Agni’ (Fire-God), ‘Soma’ the God of plants, and ‘Usha’ (Goddess of dawn) etc (Nair, 2008).so here nature is being worshipped in the form of gods and goddesses. Offerings of vegetables, barley and other things were made to gods. This offering is believed to be relish by God but actually they are bread and butter of the animals, birds and other living beings. That means these rituals are made to serve and nourish the living entity on the earth.

Indian philosophy of ‘Ashrama System’ represents a glimpse of human’s close connection/relationship with nature (Srivastava, 2010). “Ashrama Vyavastha” is a system of stages of life discussed in Hindu mythological texts like Upanishads and Puranas. Under Ashrama system human life-span is divided into four periods, they are ‘Brahmacharya’ (Student), ‘Grihastha’ (Householder), ‘Vanaprastha’ (Forest dweller) and ‘Sannyasa (Renunciate). Have we ever thought that why to live the Vanaprastha life? Why to live in a forest? To draw the attention of human beings from materialistic life to spirituality is it enough? Actually Vanprastha period is a transition period, a preparatory step for ‘Sannyas’ the last stage of life on earth, which established a balance between homely life and the ascetic life.

During Vanaprastha period human becomes more close to nature enhancing human-nature relationship. What do they do in the forest? They worship nature; they observe it and become aware of the charisma of the Almighty that attracts them towards the Truth of life. Later on, human worship came into existence; the greatest examples are Lord Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, and Swami Mahavir, the 24^thTirthankar of Jainism in the sixth century BC onwards. On the one hand we believe in the culture of “Atithi devo bhavah” (Guest is equal to God) and on the other hand in ‘Manusmriti’ that states “Yatra naryastu pujyate ramante tatra devta” (the place where woman is worshipped, is the abode of the Almighty, the God) itself represent the rich culture of human-worship. This is the great India where women are considered different forms of the ‘Shakti’ like Goddess Laxmi, Durga, and Saraswati. Although there are some traditions like Sati pratha by citing which one can ask where is human-worshipping. It was the worst culture that we have but as change requires we change ourselves as per the need of the circumstance i.e. adaptability.

The ceremonial rituals in India, whether it is ‘Chhath puja’, ‘Pitra-visarjan’, ‘Navaratri puja’, ‘Kumbh Mela’, or any other occasion, plays a very significant role in the emancipation of nature-worshipping and conservation of nature. The purpose behind these festivals and rituals are attached with human sentiments so that they can be followed wholeheartedly and seriously by the people, for instance in case of ‘Chhath puja’ the various ritualistic practices in the form of offering reverence towards the Sun before the water-bodies instilled in them respect and gratitude towards the natural world. This is a sort of acculturation to promote harmony between human and non-human world but it has been correlated with the belief of ‘long-life of sons, offspring and husbands so that women take it more seriously and actually they do. Likewise ‘Pitra-visarjan’ is worship of river, some people visit nearest river or some water bodies and some people even visit the holy river Ganga, in memory of their forefathers, people think that their forefathers will take their offerings and will bless them with prosperity, peace and happiness in their life. Again ‘ancestors’ whose sentiments matters a lot for us with whom we are emotionally attached with, has become a ‘Mohra’ of the Chess of life. Have we ever thought why Kumbh or Ardh-Kumbh Melas always take place at the bank of a river? The narrative behind it is the myth of ‘Amrit distribution’ found in ‘Samudra-manthan’(Ocean-churning) which was dropped on these places Prayagraj (at the confluence of Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati rivers), Nasik (Godavari), Haridwar (Ganga) and Ujjain (Shipra) where Kumbh Mela is organised, it is believed that the one who has bathed in the river at the occasion of Kumbh Mela all the sins which he/she has committed in his /her life will washed away along with the streams of the holy river.

As time goes on things start changing. Change which is inevitable, continuous and natural process doesn’t spare anyone as the British dramatist and sonneteer William Shakespeare rightly asserted in one of his sonnet: “And nothing stands but for his scythe to mow” (Shakespeare, 1609). So we can see the attitude towards perception and preservation of nature changed from time to time. During twentieth century the attachment and love for nature is shown in the form of love for one’s own land (Dromi & Shani, 2020). On the one hand Hindi Critic Aacharya Ramchandra Shukla expresses his view that love for nature reflects one’s love for his own country, he connected it with patriotism (Singh, 2007) and on the other hand the indigenous movement called Chipko Movement of 1970s which advocates the preserving of nature for the sake of humanity and for the sake of nature at large.

The movement focuses on the powerful connection shared by women and nature even World Bank in one of its report of 1991 states that women play a pivotal role in the management of natural resources including soil, water and forest etc (Raimi et al., 2019) and often have a profound traditional and contemporary knowledge of the natural world around them, this reflects that women being closer to nature are great protector of it. An extraordinary example of it is the Chipko movement of Uttarakhand where the women of the local community saved trees from being felled down by hugging or embracing them. Thus we can see nature worship had acquired different forms and different nuances at different time and in different places. This change in attitude is perceptible in the tradition of planting trees at the birth of the girl-child in Bishnoi community/tribe of Rajasthan and they look after them until their daughters get married. They correlated trees with wealth for the dowry at the time of the marriage of their daughters.

How one can forget the Indian tradition of planting ‘Tulsi’ (Ocimum sanctum) plant in the ‘Aangan’ (Premises) of each and every Hindu houses. This culture is considered to be sacred and beneficial for the family. Is it just for the sake of tradition only or has some underlined ancient knowledge associated with this practice? No it’s not just for the sake of tradition only, since our ancestors were aware of the medicinal and scientific value of this wonderful herb, and its need for balancing both the environmental and human health so they associated it with cultural and religious aspects of life, and which lead to worship the herb gradually. You all may have heard about the belief regarding ‘Pipal’ (Ficus religiosa) tree. No one ever think of cutting it. Do you know why? First have a glance over the superstitious connotation- people are made to believe that Pipal is the residence of 36,000 gods and goddesses and if anyone dares to cut it down he/she shall suffer a lot in life, and displeased by the act ‘Shanigrah’ will enter into his/her life and their life will be full of troubles, so they tend to avoid it.

In a nutshell, a sort of fear is being developed within their hearts. But the scientific reason behind it, is that- Pipal is the only tree that exhales oxygen over day and night that means twenty-four hours while other plants exhale oxygen only in day and inhale Oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide at night, only for this reason it is advised not to sleep under the trees at night, it may cause the problem of suffocation, the loss of breathing which may lead to death slowly. I think I need not to tell you that how important oxygen is for the survival of life on the earth, and the emergence of pandemic like Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) have taught us a lot about its significance. This increases the value/significance of this tree in the present context of ever- increasing pollution leading to increase in Carbon dioxide (CO₂₎ level.

Now you all take a few seconds and go back in your past, and try to remember and analyse the places of pilgrims/shrines you have visited till date, okay, just leave the places and try to go in the flashback if you have ever seen your grandma, mother or aunt worshipping, what do they do while worshipping? Where do they pour water? Where do they offer offerings? Did you observed the places carefully, the deities they worshipped, and the offerings they made in the name of God? And what do you think about the traditions, cultures and customs like this made by our ancestors? What do you think about this kind of legacies? Generally while worshipping they made their offerings and pour water to the roots of trees or on the ground. Pouring water to the root of a tree means nourishing it and pouring water on the ground means helping in the formation of cloud which ultimately lead to raining and also helps in maintaining the water-level in the soil. You might have come across a question that how can a little pouring water help in the formation of cloud? You may also have come across the saying that ‘many a little makes a mickle’, India that is a country of 1.34 crore population and if only 1% people pour water in a day then you can imagine the quantity of water used in worship on the name of God and its contribution in cloud-formation. It is necessary to form this culture just because India is an agrarian society. Since most of the population depend on agriculture from the very beginning of the civilization till date, our livelihood depends largely on agriculture, agriculture on irrigation, irrigation on rain, rain on cloud-formation, cloud-formation on vaporization, and vaporization depends on water on earth in the presence of sunlight, sunlight which works as a catalyst.

CONCLUSION:

In a nutshell, culture is nothing but a hidden science, and nature-worship is a part of it. Each and every culture and its tradition and myth associated with it seems to be superstitious but have some scientific backing/value behind them. Culture is science behind a curtain what we need to do is to remove the curtain and see the reality. We should not leave our culture considering it a long ongoing meaningless tradition but we should try to go in depth of it and follow the motto behind it or value within it because it is the value that matters not the showing off to be reasonable. And motto behind the above-mentioned Indian rituals and cultures is the well-being of mankind. Valuing culture is valuing India and its designation of Vishva-guru (as NEP-2020 of government of India has one of the targets to revive its title of vishwa-guru) and also the whole humanity.

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Received on 27.05.2024 Modified on 29.06.2024

Res. J. Humanities and Social Sciences. 2024;15(3):221-224.

DOI: 10.52711/2321-5828.2024.00033