In Good Faith: Ecological dharma

Religious notions of indigenous communities in India provide an understanding of the natural order, and resources to resist its degradation.

The Hindu concept of Rta dharma, explained by Kapila Vatsyayan in her essay ‘Ecology and Indian Myth’, states that the moral duty of communities is through karma towards sustaining and maintaining Rta (cosmic natural order). (Representational purpose)

Assertion of environmental citizenship by the people of India is the need of the hour. And it is the original citizens of India, the Adivasi (first citizens), who have had the courage to assert environment citizenry, and deliberate Rta (Sanskrit for “truth” or “order”) dharma. To protect their forests and sacred hills, the indigenous forest communities organised protests initiated by the Sanyukt Jansangraha Samiti against the mining of Deposit 13 of the Bailadila iron ore mine in Chhattisgarh’s Dantewada district. It is similar to the uprising a few years ago of the Dongria Kondhs of Odisha who eventually won a David-and-Goliath battle against mining giant Vedanta Resources.