Seminar on environmental consciousness in literary tradition held by Pondicherry varsity

A G.D. Birla Memorial national seminar on ‘Environmental Thinking and Ideology in Indian Prose Literature’ was organised by the Department of Hindi, Pondicherry University

Highlighting the rich reverence for nature in the literary tradition, speakers at a seminar called for modern-day writers to raise public awareness on the environmental fallout of materialistic pursuits.

Participating in the two-day G.D. Birla Memorial national seminar on ‘Environmental Thinking and Ideology in Indian Prose Literature’, organised by the Department of Hindi, Pondicherry University, in collaboration with UCO Bank, R. Jayachandran, Director, Faculty of Indian Languages, University of Kerala, said environmental problems were not specific to any region and represented a universal problem.

In such a scenario, literature can play a leading role in representing the problems of the common people by transcending its regional template, he said.

The speaker also threw light on the various dimensions of environmental consciousness expressed in Indian prose literature from the perspective of famous Malayalam writers’ works. C. Jaya Sankar Babu, seminar convenor, said there had been a historical tradition of environmental protection in Indian thought. The country that worships rivers, trees, animals, birds, mountains and the earth is encountering many environmental challenges in the twenty-first Century. An increasingly materialistic world was witnessing relentless exploitation of natural resources at the cost of ecological balance. The seminar is relevant in the prevailing situation to ponder upon our failures to protect the environment, he said.

A. Bhavani, former Professor of Manonmaiam Sundaranar University dwelt on the human endeavours of nature worship, as embodied in the ancient Indian thought stream of knowledge.

Human tradition of offering worship to trees, rivers and mountains has started disappearing. The environment is being exploited. Unless we change this behaviour, nature is bound to wreak havoc and mankind can do little to control it, she said.