ENVIRONMENTAL
SENSIBILITIES AS REFLECTED IN VEDIC AND CLASSICAL
SANSKRIT LITERATURE
Dr.
Chilakamarthi Durga Prasada Rao,
Reader of
Sanskrit (Retired)
3/106,
Premnagar,Dayalbagh.
dr.cdprao@gmail.com
Dr. D. Vasanta Kumari
Dept: - of
Education.
Dayalbagh Educational Institute,
Dayalbagh, AGRA -
282005. U.P
This is a
Conversation between a poet and a stranger. The stranger
asked the poet.
कस्त्वं
भो
!? = = Who
are you?
कविरस्मि
= I am a
poet.
तत्किमु
सखे
क्षीणोSसि
= Why are you so
weak?
अनाहारत:
= No food to eat.
धिग्देशं
गुणिनोSपि
दुर्गतिरियम्
= I blame this country in which
this is a plight of a great man.
देशं
न
मामेव
धिक्
= Don’t blame the
country blame me alone.
पाकार्थी
क्षुधितो
यदैव
विदधे
पाकाय
बुद्धिं
तदा
= whenever out of hunger I make up my mind to
cook my food,
विन्ध्ये
नेन्धनमम्बुधौ
न
सलिलं
नान्नं
धरित्री
तले
= I find no fuel in the Vindhya forests, no water in
well tanks and lakes and no food on the surface of the earth.
कस्त्वं
भो
कविरस्मि
तत्किमु
सखे
क्षीणोSस्यनाहारत:
धिग्देशं
गुणिनोSपि
दुर्गतिरियम्
देशं
न
मामेव
धिक्|
पाकार्थी
क्षुधितो
यदैव
विदधे
पाकाय
बुद्धिं
तदा
विन्ध्ये
नेन्धनमम्बुधौ
न
सलिलं
ना Sन्नं
धरित्रीतले
||
Environmental pollution is one of the serious problems that confront
the world. The contribution of Sanskrit towards the protection of
environment is tremendous.
The
world constitutes five elements, Earth, Water, Air, Fire and sky. Of
these, the three elements, Earth, Water and Air are prone to
pollution, while the rest remain unaffected. The pollution which
disturbs ecological balance is called Environmental Pollution.
In olden
days, man, as part and parcel of nature, used to live harmoniously
with it. He even treated the forces of nature as divine beings—Agni
Deva, Varuna Deva, Vayu Deva and glorified their existence and prayed
for their intervention in nature’s fury.
But in
the modern age man partly out of necessity but mostly selfishly
started industrial and other such activities, but soon his greed de
-generated into avarice and drove him to excesses. He indulged in
the over exploitation of nature’s bounties and began polluting
natural elements in the name of development and modernization.
The evils, Viz., exploitation of natural resources, industrial
pollution, deforestation and excessive use of chemicals have
contributed to the environmental pollution. As the present
generation is a nexus between the past and future generation, it has
a bounden duty to leave a good legacy to Posterity.
If the attitude of the modern man continues to be the same, the
survival of humanity itself will become a big question. In fact, no
country wishes to remain undeveloped. But the development should be
healthy and at an affordable cost. It should not create obstacles in
the healthy and prosperous development of future generations. So, in
order to achieve sustainable development, one should give up one’s
greed and learn to live in peace with nature. This is how our
ancestors, even in the Vedic times, learned to live.
‘Veda’, the very first book of mankind, which is also
considered to be the greatest treatise on environment, ensured a
healthy relation ship between man and nature. This relation ship
should be as sacrosanct as between mother and child. The Earth was
looked upon as universal mother and all living beings, her children.
माता
पृथिवी
पुत्रोऽहं
पृथिव्या:
(अथर्ववेद:
/12/1-12)
In Vedic times rituals were encouraged and performed with a view
to keeping the environment pure and prefect. The flora and fauna were
considered to be the two important facets of Mother Nature.
The Vedas have glorified the greenery and identified it
with divinity.
“वृक्षेभ्यो
हरिकेशेभ्यश्च
नमो
नम:”
According to the Sastras, plantation of saplings is a
sacred dharma, and destruction of trees, a great sin.
All the poets of Sanskrit literature, with no exception, are great
lovers of nature. They not only loved nature but also identified
themselves with it. There are many instances to highlight the love
of Sanskrit poets for flora and fauna.
In the II canto of Raghuvamsa a lion speaks to Dilipa explaining the
significance of
अमुं
पुर:
पश्यसि
देवदारुं
पुत्रीकृतोSसौ
वृषभध्वजेन
यो
हेमकुम्भस्तन
निसृतानां
स्कन्दस्य
मातु:
पयसां
रसज्ञ:
Oh, King! The tree which you see yonder is a Devadaru Tree brought up
by Siva like his own son. His wife, Parvathi nourished it by
providing pots of water as she nourished her own son Kumaraswamy with
her breast milk.
Here the motherly affection towards a tree is established.
Moreover it is also said that once upon a time a wild elephant rubbed
her cheek against this same tree rupturing the bark of the tree. On
seeing this, Parvathi felt sad as if her own son Kumaraswamy was
wounded by the arrows pointed at him by Asuras
कण्डूयमानेन
कटम्
कदाचि
द्वनद्विपेनोन्मथिता
त्वगस्य
अथैनमद्रेस्तनया
शुशोच
सेनान्यमालीढ
मिवासुरास्त्रै:
Harshavardhana, while describing the hermitage of a saint in his
magnum opus, Nagananda,
declares that the trees in the hermitage are barked only
superficially lest deep-skinning should cause great pain to the
trees.
वासोSर्थं
दयया
च
नाति
पृथव:
कृत्तास्तरूणाम्
त्वच:
(नागानन्दम्)
From these anecdotes it is evident that in the Vedic times even the
smallest injury done to trees was seriously viewed and resented.
In the Kumarasambhavam, Kalidasa
went a step further by saying that even a poisonous tree should not
be cut down even by the person who raised it. विषवृक्षोSपि
संवर्ध्य
स्वयं
छेत्तुमसांप्रतम्
In Abhijnanasakuntalam, Anasuya while conversing with Sakuntala
speaks to her jovially. She said: “I think that our father sage
Kanva must be having more love and affection for the trees of our
hermitage than for you who, though extremely delicate, has been
entrusted the task of watering them.
Then Sakuntala replied that she had been watering the plants not
merely because of her father’s behest but because she was also
having brotherly affection towards them.
It is very interesting to observe that every
tree in the hermitage of Kanva offers ornaments to Sakuntala at the
time of departure to join her husband.
Similarly the sage Kanva, while sending Sakuntala to her husband’s
house, reminds the trees about the service rendered by her to them
and seeks permission from each for her departure.
पातुं
न
प्रथमं
व्यवस्यति
जलं
युष्मास्वपीतेषु
या
नादत्ते
प्रियमंडनापि
भवतां
स्नेहेन
या
पल्लवम्
|
आद्ये
व:
कुसुमप्रसूतिसमये
यस्या:
भवत्युत्सव:
सेयं
याति
शकुन्तला
पतिगृहं
सर्वैरनुज्ञायताम्
||
Our culture went to the extent of saying that no loss of trees under
any circumstances should be permitted. Even in extraordinary
circumstances the destruction of trees or plants should be
compensated for. As an example the loss of plants occurring for a
cremation should be replenished by cultivating the same number of
saplings by the person who performs the funeral rites.
The plantation of trees is highly encouraged in our culture. “One
should raise big trees which bear fruits. Even if it does not offer
fruits, it at least gives shade”.
सेवितव्यो
महावृक्ष:
फलच्छायासमन्वित:
यदि
दैवात्फलं
न
स्याच्छाया
केन
निवार्यते
The trees are compared with great people who
sacrificed their every thing for the happiness of others
. छायामन्यस्य
कुर्वन्ति
तिष्ठन्ति
स्वयमातपे
फलान्यापि
परार्थाय
वृक्षा:
सत्पुरुषा:
इव
They give shadow to others while standing themselves in the heat.
Their fruits are also helpful for others. The trees are like good
people.
Now let us come to the other aspect of environment, Fauna. It may
evoke great interest to point out that all animals forgetting their
identity used to live together in and around the hermitages of saints
without mutual animosity. The sages also used to treat them as their
children. The description of Vasistha’s hermitage in the Raghuvamsa
establishes a sort of mother-child intimacy between man and animal.
The hermitage of Vasista was littered with deers which were so eager
for their fodder that they almost blocked the wives of the hermits
carrying grains inside.
आकीर्णमृषिपत्नीनामुटजद्वाररोधिभि:
अपत्यैरिवनीवारभागधेयोचितैर्मृगै:
- 1/50
Please find the mental agony of a poor animal which is caught and
taken by a hunter.
आदाय
मांसमखिलं
स्तनवर्जमङ्गान्
मां
मुञ्च
वागुरिक
यामि
कुरु
प्रसादम्
|
सीदन्ति
शष्प
कबल
ग्रहणानभिज्ञा:
मन्मार्गवीक्षणरता
: शिशवो
मदीया:
(वल्लभदेवस्य सुभाषितावळि
: ९८१)
Oh! My dear hunter! You cut and take away every part of my body.
But spare my udder. Because my newly born babies being unable to eat
even tender grass waiting anxiously for me staring at the direction
of which I have come. If I don’t feed them they will die. Please be
kind enough to leave me.
The indiscriminate killing of
animals for food and export, scientific experiments, preparing
medicinal potions, and cosmetic purposes, may disturb the ecological
balance.
Once in china farmers killed all the
sparrows opining that they would consume five percent of food grains.
But to their surprise they witnessed twelve percent loss of food
grains. Because, sparrows, though consume some amount of grains,
protect the crop by eating away the harmful pests which cause more
amount of loss.
The messages such as “
अहिंसा
परमो
धर्म:”
“Non-violence is the supreme Dharma”, “ मा
हिंस्यात्
सर्वा
भूतानि
” “Let not all animals be killed” are
found in the Vedas, which advocate non-violence. {11}
In our culture, every creature in nature has been treated
and worshipped as a divine being and even venomous serpents are
treated as gods and worshipped.
Earth: From Vedic times till date, we regard the Earth not as mere
natural object but as loving mother who sustains all beings.
Similarly Earth has many treasures in her womb, yielding not only
agricultural products but also mines of gold and other material. But
over exploitation of natural resources is a serious offence. Earth
can satisfy our need but not our greed. Earth will never tolerate
when it is being exploited beyond certain limits. A story in the
Mahabharata indicates this. Once, Karna was roaming in his kingdom on
a chariot. At that time a girl, who was walking with a bowl full of
oil in her hand saw him passing near by. Fascinated by his charm she
stared at him. The bowl, in her hand fell on the ground and the oil
sank in to it. The girl while weeping insisted Karna to get back the
oil. Karna squeezed the sand and he could get fifty percent of oil.
The girl again insisted her to squeeze more. Karna squeezed the soil
and could get eighty percent of oil. Again the girl insisted him to
get more. Karma tried. It gave vent to her anger and Bhudevi cursed
Karna. She said: When you are fighting with your enemy, the wheel of
your chariot will sink in to the ground and you will also be killed
by your enemy. This story reveals that even the nature can tolerate
exploitation up to some extent but not beyond.
Water: Water plays a vital role in human life. There are hundreds
of Vedic mantras which reveal the importance of water. Water is
called Jivanam in Sanskrit. Jivanam means life. It is a drink for
immortality.
We depend upon food for our living and for production of food
agriculture is necessary and agriculture depends upon water. Our
culture went to the extent of saying that polluting water is a great
sin. In the Ramayana Bharata says to Kausalya, the mother of Rama “
Oh mother if I have any bad intention of sending Rama to exile I
will definitely go to hell where a man goes by polluting drinking
water. Lord Krishna punished Kaliya as the later had polluted the
waters of Yamuna. Krishna said : Kaliya, a river is meant for the use
of human beings and their lives depend on the river and her water. It
is not right that you should poison it.( The Bhagavatapurana).
Because of the water pollution, we are in a miserable state of
purchasing drinking water.
Air:
There are hundreds of Vedic hymns which describe the glory of
Air. They recognized the importance of pure and unpolluted air for as
source of health, happiness and long life. We should never forget
that every oxygen molecule we breathe is definitely a product of a
particular tree of a particular period. The air is praised as the
Supreme Deity.
[Namaste vayo tvameva pratksham brahma.
Tvameva pratyaksham brahnma vadishyami. Ritam
vadishyami. Satyam vadishyanmi. Tanmamavatu. Tadvaktaramavatu .
Avatu mama vatu vaktaram.
Om Santih Santih Santih ].
In many areas in our country air is also polluted due to industries
and excessive use of chemicals and a stage may come shortly that
everyone should purchase fresh air for sustenance.
Similarly there are many types of pollutions such as sound
pollution, mind pollution, thought pollution etc. Thought pollution
is the root cause of other pollutions and it can be rectified
through the practice of ethical code available in the moral branches
of sciences and Yoga.
From times immemorial the bond between man and
nature has been extremely strong. Now it is our bounden duty and
sublime obligation to maintain the equilibrium and see that nature is
not disturbed or interfered with, lest it should lead to chaos and
confusion as aptly pointed out by Earnest Hemingway, the famous
American novelist, who said “Mending nature is ending nature”.
It would be a great service to nature if littérateurs,
besides environmentalists, contribute their share in preventing
further environmental pollution.
In this
connection I advise all to encourage plantation of trees and
discourage, using polyethylene covers. You make this a point and
continue it as a movement. Let the following American Saying bring
some change in the minds of the people.
“Only
after the last tree has been cut down,
Only
after the last fish has been caught,
Only
after the last river has been poisoned,
Only
then will you realize that money cannot be eaten’’
--- Native American Saying----
Let all
the lokas be happy
Save
environment--- Save the world
***
Bibliography:
1. Abhijnanasakuntalam of Kalidasa
2. Kumarasambhavam of Kalidasa.
3. Naganandam os SriHarsha.
4. Raghuvamsa of Kalidasa.
5. Rigveda.
6. Subhashita ratnabhandagaram.
7. Yajurveda.
8. Journals & News Papers.
