Agrarian life and Sacred Ecology: Exploring Religion, Ritual, and Farming in Bundelkhand region of Madhya Pradesh
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31305/rrjss.2025.v05.n01.012Keywords:
Ritualistic traditions, Sacred ecology, indigenous knowledge, traditional ecological knowledge, agrarian livelihoods, rituals, Bundelkhand, Madhya PradeshAbstract
This paper explores the intersection of agricultural lifestyle, ritual practices, and ecological traditions in Bundelkhand region of Madhya Pradesh. The study reveals the parallel existence of agricultural resilience through practices rooted in the local traditions of worshipping local deities, seasonal ceremonies, and sacred groves. The study also looks into the Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) and its support for sustainable agriculture. Bundelkhand’s agrarian distress is largely an outcome of loss of sustainable agricultural practices, soil degradation, and shortfall of rain. These factors have increased the relevance of community-based responses. The paper is an ethnographic study based on field work across six villages distributed evenly in three districts of Bundelkhand region. The paper employs qualitative methods to get an in-depth understanding of the local narratives related to spirituality and its connection with the agrarian lifestyle. The findings reveal that traditional ecological knowledge and the spiritual connotations of rural life contribute substantially in sustaining the agrarian economy. The paper contributes to a broader theme of agro ecology, a de-colonised understanding of Indian rural society by critically analysing the interface between material agrarian concerns and the cosmological aspect of religious life in the global south.
References
Agarwal, B. (1997). Gender, environment and poverty interlinks: Regional variations and temporal shifts in rural India. World Development, 25(1), 23–52. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0305-750X(96)00103-0 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0305-750X(96)00084-8
Agarwal, A. (2010). Environmentality: Technologies of Government and the Making of Subjects. Duke University Press.
Baviskar, A. (2003). In the Belly of the River: Tribal Conflicts over Development in the Narmada Valley. Oxford University Press.
Berkes, F. (1999). Sacred Ecology: Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Resource Management. Taylor & Francis.
Berkes, F. (2012). Sacred Ecology (3rd ed.). Routledge. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203123843
Bell, M. M. (2004). Farming for Us All: Practical Agriculture and the Cultivation of Sustainability. Penn State University Press.
Bhatia, V., & Joshi, A. (2014). Ritual calendars and farming cycles: A study of central India. Asian Ethnology, 73(2), 249–268.
Chandran, M. D. S., & Gadgil, M. (1998). Sacred groves and sacred trees of Uttara Kannada. Current Science, 75(2), 165–168.
Chaudhury, P., & Sinha, A. (2016). Ecological rituals and agricultural knowledge in Madhya Pradesh. Indian Anthropologist, 44(1), 45–62.
Deshpande, R. S., & Arora, S. (2010). Agrarian Crisis and Farmer Suicides. Sage.
Dirks, N. (2001). Castes of Mind: Colonialism and the Making of Modern India. Princeton University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400840946
Escobar, A. (2008). Territories of Difference: Place, Movements, Life, Redes. Duke University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822389439
FAS. (2022). Drought and Deprivation in Bundelkhand. Foundation for Agrarian Studies.
Gadgil, M., & Guha, R. (1992). This Fissured Land: An Ecological History of India. Oxford University Press.
IUCN. (2023). Red List of Threatened Species. https://www.iucnredlist.org
Malhotra, K. C., Gokhale, Y., Chatterjee, S., & Srivastava, S. (2001). Cultural and Ecological Dimensions of Sacred Groves in India. IGRMS.
Mishra, S. (2016). Farmers’ suicides in India, 1995–2012: Measurement and interpretation. Asian Journal of Economics and Social Studies, 9(1), 35–48.
MoA&FW. (2023). Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana: Progress Report 2022–23. Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of India.
Nagaraj, K. (2017). Agrarian distress in India: Possible solutions. Economic and Political Weekly, 52(12), 10–12.
Narayanan, V. (1997). Hindu rituals and ecological knowledge. In D. S. Lopez (Ed.), Religions of India in Practice (pp. 485–499). Princeton University Press.
NBA. (2022). Status Report on People’s Biodiversity Registers. National Biodiversity Authority.
National Innovation Foundation. (2023). Compendium of Traditional Agricultural Innovations. Ahmedabad, India.
Pretty, J. (2002). Agri-Culture: Reconnecting People, Land and Nature. Earthscan.
Rappaport, R. A. (1999). Ritual and Religion in the Making of Humanity. Cambridge University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511814686
Ray, R., Subash Chandran, M. D., & Ramachandra, T. V. (n.d.). Sacred Grove: Conservation Tradition of the Ancient World (32nd ed.) Indian Institute of Science. https://wgbis.ces.iisc.ac.in/biodiversity/sahyadri_enews/newsletter/issue32/article1.htm#:~:text=Indian%20sacred%20groves%20have%20pre,predominant%20in%20agro%2Dpastural%20communities
Reddy, D. N., & Mishra, S. (2010). Agrarian Crisis in India. Oxford University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198069096.001.0001
Sahu, S. (2013). Rituals and ecological consciousness: A study of tribal communities in Odisha. Asian Journal of Social Science, 41(4), 387–410.
Sax, W. S. (2009). God of Justice: Ritual Healing and Social Justice in the Central Himalayas. Oxford University Press.
Shiva, V. (1989). Staying Alive: Women, Ecology and Development. Zed Books.
Shiva, V. (2005). Earth Democracy: Justice, Sustainability, and Peace. South End Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5040/9781350219755
Singh, K. S. (1994). People of India: Madhya Pradesh. Anthropological Survey of India.
Singh, R. K., & Padmavathi, K. (2020). Traditional knowledge systems and sustainable agriculture: A study of central Indian tribal communities. Journal of Rural Development, 39(3), 457–470.
Turner, N. J., Ignace, M. B., & Ignace, R. (2000). Traditional ecological knowledge and wisdom of aboriginal peoples in British Columbia. Ecological Applications, 10(5), 1275–1287. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1890/1051-0761(2000)010[1275:TEKAWO]2.0.CO;2
