Exploring Eco-Mysticism in Between Heaven and Earth: Writings on the Indian Hills

Abstract

Narrative geographies often curate human and non-human connections in space, which mark the spirit of the place. Beyond this frame, the intricate nexus between human geography, environmental mysticism, and theology has been discussed less often. This article seeks to explore the sacred hillscape of the Himalayan ranges and its contingent eco-mysticism through selected post-colonial essays in the collection Between Heaven and Earth: Writings on the Indian Hills, edited by Ruskin Bond and Bulbul Sharma (New Delhi: Speaking Tiger Books, 2022). The decolonial origin of “mysticism” can be traced to the Sanskrit word rahasya, meaning something implicit which is often engraved with the essence of religious spirituality. Across the Indian hills, the spatial network of mysticism and ecology procures an interdisciplinary crossroads with Hindu belief in the divine, which will be examined in this article through the interdisciplinary nodes of the environmental humanities. Further, the integration of Hindu mysticism with the spatial environment not only emphasises the conscious presence of sacredness in human geography, but also permeates the ethical imperative of eco-mysticism, which strives for an alternative consciousness about the contemporary ecological crisis.

Keywords:

• hillscape
• eco-mysticism
• Himalayas
• environmental humanities
• religion
• Alka Pande
• Keki Daruwalla
• Madhu Tandan

Notes

1 The word “decolonial” is used here as a theoretical strategy to perceive and think beyond Eurocentric discourses (Nigam 2020).

2 While the term “landscape” often refers to visual topography (Cresswell 2015), this article uses the term “hillscape” to specifically refer to the hilly region beyond the plains.

3 For further details, see https://www.mrd-journal.org/issue/restoring-mountain-systems-for-social-ecological-resilience/.

4 In the disciplines of the Humanities and Social Sciences, the “spatial turn” refers to a scholarly impulse that critically reasserts the value and concern for space and place, particularly in socio-cultural contexts. It also emphasises different cartographic traditions in literary and cultural studies. It started receiving immense critical attention from the 1960s and 1970s onwards, with its greatest proponents being Henri Lefebvre, Michel Foucault, and Gilles Deleuze, to name a few.

5 The Puranas are the ancient scriptures of Hindu mythology.

6 In the North Indian hills, the worshipping of devis as a distinct form of energy is celebrated.

7 Shakti Peethas are significant Hindu pilgrimage sites that reflect the goddess-centric nature of the religion. As per the Puranas, it is believed that there are 51 shrines of this kind in total, dedicated to various forms of primordial energy. Together, these Peethas can generate a unified transcendental value for the entire Indian subcontinent (Kinsley 1998).

8 Yagna is the sacrificial Hindu ritual in which offerings are made to fire. In the Hindu religion, bhog refers to food given to the gods as offerings.

9 Pahad is a native Indian word meaning “hill”.