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Sacred Ecology
Cosmologies, Ecologies and Rituals in Colonial India (1886-1936)
Introduction
This volume delves into the colonial past and identifies papers on nature and natural phenomenon that were deemed 'primitive' and 'superstitious' by those who narrated them and analyzed them in the pages of the Journal of the Anthropological Society of Bombay, published from 1886 to 1936; the period covered by the papers that have been reproduced in this volume. However, they have been recast in the contemporary framework of environmentalism, indigenous wisdom and critical reflections on Western science and scientific methodology.
Context and Critique
The positivist method or western rationalism was propagated during the exact time of the publication of these articles, through the political hegemony of colonial rule. Each of these papers was presented to criticise 'primitive' cultures and obscurantist thinking. Yet, each presents wisdom and knowledge about nature, which, if followed, would have averted much of the environmental distress that the world is facing today.
Purpose and Reimagining
These papers have been reproduced with a purpose, a purpose to show that real knowledge was thrown away as garbage. The volume invites critical rethinking and advocates a revised version of rationalism, reconceptualising nature as sacred, moving away from anthropocentrism towards nature-centrism.
