Pankaj Kumar Verma1 & Prabha Shankar Dwivedi2
1Research Scholar, Indian Institute of Technology Tirupati, India. ORCID: 0000-0001-8952-7906. Email: hs18d002@iittp.ac.in
2Assistant Professor, Indian Institute of Technology Tirupati, India. ORCID: 0000-0003-1620-2830. Email: prabhas.dwivedi@iittp.ac.in
Volume 12, Number 5, 2020 I Full Text PDF
DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n5.rioc1s29n2
Abstract
The paper aims to lay out a critical analysis of eco-aesthetical wisdom of pan-Indian society through the lens of ancient seers whose insights for environment and ecology were shaped in the form of the teachings of Vedas and Upani?ads. With the passage of time, the bond between humans and non-humans has largely weakened, and humans have increased exploiting the natural resources without caring for their regeneration. Consequent nature bred hostility is emerging as a bigger crisis in front of the 21st Century world that may sooner turn to be, if not taken seriously, an existential crisis for the whole human race. The Upani?ads enlighten us not only with the knowledge of maintaining the relationship between human beings and physical environment but also among various inhabitants of ecology. Therefore, as Deep Ecology proposes, there should be a shift from human at the centre (anthropocentricism) to ecology at the centre (ecocentrism) which very much was existing in Indian society. So, this paper attempts to deal with the global ecological crisis co-opting with the ecological/environmental ideas and attitude of the classical Indian treatises.
Keywords: Ecology, Eco-aesthetics, Ved?nta, Upani?ads, Anthropocene, Ecocentricism