#laccadives

Edited by  BAIDYANATH SARASWATI

1998 vii+237pp.  ISBN: 81-246-0103-8,  Rs 600(HB)

CONTENTS

Foreword (Kapila Vatsyayan)

Introduction ( Baidyanath Saraswati)

Traditional Resource Management Systems (Madhav Gadgil)

Symbiotic Relationships Between Man, Animal and Nature: A Study of Gujars of Garhwal (R.S. Negi)

Sacred Groves and Sacred Trees of Uttara Kannada (M.D. Subash Chandran)

Island Ecology and Cultural Perceptions of Lakshadweep (Makhan Jha)

The Mukkuvar: A Fishing Community (G. John Samuel)

List of Contributors

With meticulous analyses of the lifestyles of the Himalayan pastoral nomads, the Lakshadweep islanders, and Kanyakumaris Mukkuvar fisherfolk, among others, the studies here show how these communities follow the spirit of the natural world: not in imitation of old times, but in continuation of the primal vision. Delineating, thus, variegated cultural paradigms of these communities, with details like, for instance, of their belief systems, myths, rituals, folklore, songs, and their knowledge of cosmology as well as natural phenomena, the authors underscore the inseparability of nature and culture in the lived experience of traditional societies the world over. The book also carries a brilliant overview of ecology vis-a-vis traditional resource management systems.

The authors are ecologists, anthropologists and folklorists of wide repute.