Gandhian Ecology and Vaishnava Environmentalism: Journal of Vaishnava Studies

Abstract

Just as Lynn White positions Saint Francis as the patron saint of ecologists, Ramachandra Guha identifies Mohandas K. Gandhi as the “patron saint of the Indian environmental movement” (Guha 1998: 65). Gandhi’s environmental legacy in India also parallels Aldo Leopold’s role in the emerging field of environmental ethics. Whereas Aldo Leopold is recognized as the Western father of modern environmental ethics, Gandhi is acknowledged as having “fathered the Indian environmental movement” (Lal 2000: 185). Comparatively, however, Gandhi had little to say about the value of nature and was observed as having no attraction to wilderness. Despite his extensive travel throughout the countryside of India and his numerous trips to the ocean, his writings are “singularly devoid of any celebration of untamed nature” (Lal 2000: 184). The word “ecology” never appears in any of his works. Yet, environmental historians portray Gandhi as the most influential figure in Indian environmentalism.