Eco-consciousness in North-East Indian Indigenous Folktales

Abstract

Environmental degradation is a severe threat to the existence of humanity as environment is the source of life for humanity, and the source itself is deteriorating every day due to insensate anthropocentric activities. To save environment from degradation, we need deep eco-consciousness, which recognizes nature as inherently valuable and emphasizes that humans must change their relationship with the ecology from materialistic usefulness to aesthetic and reverence. This study explores how North-East Indigenous discourse in the form of oral tradition, i.e., folktales, mythology, story, and epic, gives an account of Deep Ecology leading to eco-consciousness. It also seeks to answer how the Indigenous community’s eco-spirituality is generally formed through cultural, social, and oral traditions that help create a sense of eco-friendly attitude towards the environment. The objective of this study is to critically analyze the Indigenous folktales from North-East Indian cultural contexts to find out the inherent implication of those tales. The intention is to ascertain whether North-East Indian Indigenous oral traditions formulate a collective consciousness regarding preserving and protecting the environment.

Keywords

• indigeneity
• eco-spirituality
• eco-consciousness