Nature, Religion and Ecological Sustainability in “The Hungry Tide” of Amitav Ghosh | Original Article

ABSTRACT:

This paper highlights how environmental climate fiction can effectively be a powerful mediating instrument for disseminating the ecological wisdom and relevance of our mythologies in the wake of the influence of religion in climate discourses gaining momentum worldwide. The Hungry Tide of Amitav Ghosh, alluded to by Greg Garrard as a canonical text for environmental critics, is a novel influenced by Hindu mythology. A close eco-critical review of this book shows Hindu theories at the base of the native inhabitants of the Sundarbans islands' embedded ecology. Applying Magpie as a sorting tool in the novel to classify traces of myth-oriented behaviors and activities, the research reveals that this eco-mythological effect may be practiced outside specific environments and to cover the broader landscape of human life if expanded. Having identified the obvious signs concurrent with the vision of Joseph Campbell of a modern, living contemporary mythology, the thesis seeks to create similarities with the Protagonist of the book, Piya's Conservation project model, between these integrative principles. The paper caveats the debate with a consideration of the extremities to which the fragile minds might draw our religious-mythological views. In these words, therefore, the credentials of our religious legendary mythologies and the discerning ability of the human spirit are focused on enabling art to offer a portal to our ancient knowledge to recognize and resolve the urgent issues of concern for the well-being of our world.