Nature, environment and the sacred
प्रकृति
Also written: hinduism and environment · sacred rivers · sacred trees · prithvi sukta · ecology hinduism · cow protection
There is no doctrine in this tradition that the earth was given to human beings for use. There is a doctrine that the same Self is present in every being, which makes the question of use into a question about relationship.
माता भूमिः पुत्रोऽहं पृथिव्याः।
mātā bhūmiḥ putro'haṁ pṛthivyāḥ
The Earth is my mother; I am the son of the Earth.
The Pṛthivī Sūkta — sixty-three verses of the Atharvaveda — is the oldest ecological text in any language. It asks that what is dug from the earth be quickly replaced, that her vital parts not be pierced, that her waters and forests be left unharmed, and that whatever is taken be taken as from a mother rather than seized.
What is treated as sacred, and why it works
| What | Status | Practical effect |
|---|---|---|
| Rivers — Gaṅgā, Yamunā, Sarasvatī, Narmadā, Godāvarī, Kāverī, Sindhu | Goddesses; invoked at every bath | Riverbanks kept as tīrthas; whole festivals organised around water |
| Trees — peepal, banyan, tulasī, bilva, neem | Deities dwell in them; felling requires rite and reason | Sacred groves survive as some of the oldest protected forests on earth |
| Mountains — Kailāsa, Govardhana, Aruṇācala | Themselves objects of circumambulation | Kailāsa has never been climbed, by agreement |
| The cow | Mother; gives without being killed | The animal's economy — milk, dung, draught — placed above its meat |
| All creatures | Bhūta yajña is a daily obligation | Food set out for animals, birds and ants in ordinary households |
Daily life — dinacaryā, ṛtucaryā and āhāra
The daily and seasonal routine, the classification of food by guṇa, the observances of an ordinary day, and th…
Social structure — varṇa, āśrama, kula and gotra
How the classical social order was meant to work: function, stage, family and lineage; what hardened into cast…
Family and marriage
Marriage as a saṃskāra rather than a contract, the saptapadī vows, the eight classical forms of marriage, and …
Festivals — the year as it is kept
The major observances through the lunisolar year, what each marks, and the pattern underneath them.…
Temples and tīrthas
The temple as a body and as a cosmos, the meaning of tīrtha, and the great pilgrimage networks — jyotirliṅgas,…
Guru and paramparā
Why knowledge is transmitted rather than published, what the word guru means, the tests the tradition places o…
Last revised 2026-08-16. Corrections are welcome — see how this site is written.