Fostering environment protection preservation and sustainability: Practicing ethical biocentrism in northern Indian tribes “Khasis and Oraon”

Abstract

The present era marked a shift in the balance between Earth and its inhabitants due to anthropogenic activities. Indigenous peoples, such as “Khasis and Oraons” in India, have traditionally lived closer and more harmoniously with nature. Their cultural practices, festivals, rituals, taboos, and customs help regulate behaviors that affect the environment. These two North Indian tribes’ religions view nature as a deity, protector, or host, with ancestral spirits residing within it. These beliefs reflect the deep ethical considerations of tribal communities regarding their interaction with the environment. The tribal practices prevalent here are conservationist in nature and are not grounded in science but in the moral philosophy, of interdependence and tolerance. We argue here, with the help of textual shreds of evidence and primary data collections that these Adivasis do not take land as a commodity but as a “community.” For them, the land is “Ethic” and nature is “Religion.” The majority of tribal communities in India adore the natural world. They revere forests, rocks, rivers, and mountains. They hold that spirits exist in the natural world and its environs and can either be good or bad for their way of life. Since they worship nature, they have elevated the environment to the position of god, demonstrating the unbounded value they place on it. The study will focus on their traditional ecological knowledge (TEK), conservation practices, and sustainable resource management.