Thread by @halleyji

Full support for your analysis on colonialism and environmental crisis as a reader of your book Nutmeg's curse.
No support for your disdain for your country's pre-colonial past though.

+

theguardian.com/books/2022/jan…

Come out of your Mukul Sharma inspired/induced "eco-casteism" lens for a bit.
I understand your liberal credentials will be at stake unless you take such cheap shots at caste system (with no substantiation whatsoever ofcourse).

+

There is absolutely no evidence in our pre colonial past for this phenomenon you are attributing to upper caste environmentalism - craving for pristine nature and treating 'adivasis' as intruders, lowest rung etc.

+

These attitudes are very coloniser like . Nothing native or Hindu about them. No need to attribute such malice.

+

Infact if you read through our own Epics, Puranas (of all flavours) and other sources including lived experiences recollecting via oral literature etc you would only find evidence for harmony while acknowledging the need to nurture diversity all along.

+

There is no dichotomy here between Ecology and Dharma. Between people of the forest and people of the plains. That relationship got messed up only after colonialism in this country.

+

Also for what it is worth - kings, rishis also stayed in forests. Gurukuls were in forests as well.
Wait many of our Gods also stayed in forests!

+

Grama (Village) - Nagara (City) - Vana (Forests) weren't in conflict with each other. There wasn't a parasitic/extractivist relationship amongst them unlike now.

+

While your incisive analysis in understanding colonial roots of ecological crisis is good, it will really be helpful (for you as an environmental activist and your readers both) if you also do some serious reading and soul searching on pre-Colonial Hindu past of this land.

/End