Edited by BAIDYANATH SARASWATI
1998 vii+237pp. ISBN: 81-246-0103-8, Rs 600(HB)
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)
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.
BAIDYANATH SARASWATI an anthropologist, is UNESCO-Professor at the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts
