Science communication through the lens of sacred ecology: Some reflections from India

Introduction

Science communication focuses on raising awareness and increasing audiences’ interest in science domains in an accessible, accurate and understandable way (Burns et al., 2003). Effective science communication can encourage critical thinking and sound decision-making (Fischhoff, 2013). Scholars are now turning to culture-specific approaches for enhancing audience engagement with science-related information (see Medin and Bang, 2014). This commentary encourages rethinking science communication beyond existing methods (Bubela et al., 2009; Kearns, 2021; NASEM, 2017).

Sacred ecology emphasizes profound interconnectedness between cultural beliefs and ecological knowledge (Berkes, 2017). India's sacred ecology associates spiritual significance with natural ecosystems (see Baindur, 2009; Danino, 2023; Krishna, 2020), signifying ‘all nature as a reflection of the Creator's essence’. This commentary examines how this tradition in India offers a presently underutilized yet targeted approach and a unique lens for reimagining science communication, serving as a link between scientific and cultural worldviews. Such communication can encompass domains ranging from biodiversity conservation and water management to theoretical physics and geography.

Foundations

Berkes (1999) identified complex interrelations among societies’ belief systems, local knowledge, social institutions and resource-management systems. As part of such worldviews and traditional wisdom, sacred ecology associates sacrality with natural systems through various rituals and norms. India's sacred ecology, dating back to the Indus civilization (around the 3rd millennium BCE), is possibly one of the oldest in the world. Mythological motifs rooted in sacred ecology have been a part of India's consciousness through storytelling across generations. Such stories can be strategically used for ‘desi’ (native) science communication, which, it is argued here, is more approachable, thought-provoking, locally grounded, memorable and persuasive. It has the potential to influence initiatives, educational models and policy frameworks at regional levels. This sensitive approach is rooted in specific landscapes and communities. Almost hidden in plain sight, sacred ecology can create new pathways for the public understanding of science.

The concept of sacred ecology is not limited to the Indian context. While nature is seen as being one with the Divine in India since time immemorial, other regions have different notions of this belief system. In some places, the Creator may be seen as superior to his creation (e.g., in hierarchical, Islamic countries; see Aminrazavi, 2001), while others may recognize nature as an ancestor that should have certain rights (e.g., legal personhood for New Zealand's Whanganui River; see Athens, 2018). Nevertheless, sacred ecology connects the past to the present and has the potential to inform the future by being specific to the communities practising it. It is grounded in experiential and relational frameworks and can serve as the basis for inclusive science communication by combining empirical observations with lived experiences.

India's sacred ecology: Some examples

One of sacred ecology's earliest possible scenes belongs to the Indus civilization, wherein a seal depicts a person worshipping a deity residing in a fig (peepal) tree (Krishna, 2020). Such motifs are possible early expressions of later religions. Another example is the Pashupati seal, featuring a horned figure in a yogic posture surrounded by animals. This figure is interpreted as the Lord (pati) of Animals (Pashu), corresponding to the Hindu god Shiva according to several scholars, and depicts early religious symbolism and yoga traditions (presently, a wellness approach). Sacred ecology in India is deeply embedded in Hindu, Buddhist, Jain and tribal traditions.

Trees: Trees are one of the most tangible expressions of sacred ecology in India. Stories of Gautama Buddha attaining enlightenment under the Bodhi (peepal), Krishna being worshipped with the banyan, and the goddess Shitala, who relieves infectious diseases, being associated with the neem, which has medicinal properties, are widespread. Trees have been used for healing by India's great-grandmothers for generations and are well documented in Ayurveda, which is a medicine system with origins in the Indian subcontinent (Venugopalan et al., 2019). In Jainism, banyan and bael are associated with Tirthankaras, or spiritual teachers of non-violence and truth. Amrita Devi sacrificed her life to protect the revered Khejri trees in Jodhpur in 1730 CE, more than 200 years before the Chipko movement. In a non-violent environmental protest in India during the 1970s, the word chipko was used to mean ‘to hug’, reflecting the method people used to prevent trees from being cut down. The Bhil and Santal tribes believe that spirits reside in nature and guard flora and fauna that are endangered or extinct outside their territories (Malhotra et al., 2001). Sacred groves exist throughout India (e.g., Kerala, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Rajasthan). They are rich reservoirs of valuable biodiversity, and their religious and spiritual practices are said to sustain ecosystems. Recently, the Uttarakhand Forest Department identified numerous sacred natural sites, comprising 83 forests and 62 groves that contain rare and endangered plants. Hence, trees can serve as ‘living laboratories’ for integrating traditional practices with scientific objectives, such as environmental sustainability.

Rivers: Several divinity stories are associated with Indian rivers. Ganga is portrayed as the river of the gods, symbolizing purity and sustenance in the epics and Puranas (Eck, 2012). Historian Radhakumud Mookerji associated the Rigveda river hymns with the ‘first national conception of Indian unity’ (Eck, 2012: 50). Rivers such as the Godavari and the Yamuna are believed to be purifying, and their banks are sacred. Initiatives such as the Namami Gange Programme, ¹ which aims to rejuvenate the Ganga, include significant community participation. Recognized by the United Nations in 2022 and propagated by the Prime Minister of India as a collective responsibility to keep the ‘mother’ goddess clean, Namami Gange exemplifies the leveraging of sacred ecology in environmental science communication with respect to government policy outreach. Thus, sacred ecology can reframe science communication as a moral engagement and foster a culturally relevant understanding of issues.

Animals: Krishna (2010) discussed how animals were revered due to their ecological and social roles (e.g., elephants removed obstacles, cows provided milk, etc.). The god Vishnu's first three avatars (incarnations) to save the world were animals (fish, tortoise and boar). Animals are also the vahanas (vehicles) and emblems of the gods. For example, the tiger is associated with the goddess Durga, the lion with Mahavira, and the peacock with Amitabha Buddha. This creator‒creation binary expresses divine presence in and control of nature. According to Hiltebeitel (1978: 772), in the Pashupati seal, one ‘might imagine a proto-Siva with bull's horns as a prefiguration of Siva's connection with his vahana’. Sanctuaries have been established as an attempt to save such sacred and endangered animals in India. Territories in the form of national parks and reserves, often overlapping with sacred groves, protect species like the Asiatic lion (Gir) and tigers (Project Tiger areas), among others (see Rai, 2022; Yarlagadda, 2022).

Mountains: India also holds the sacredness of several mountain peaks (e.g., Nanda Devi, Amarnath, Agastya Mala, etc.), reflecting the idea of a nation in terms of geography (Eck, 2012). Geological landscapes are imbued with equal spiritual value alongside that of the biotic world. Another example is Mount Kailash in the Himalayas. Located in the Xizang (Tibet) Autonomous Region of China, it is considered sacred in the Indian subcontinent and home to the god Shiva, the destroyer and transformer of the world. Shiva's manifestations can be seen in rock cycles that govern how our natural world evolves and changes. Kailash was formed from the northbound collision of the Indian plate with the Eurasian plate. As the crust was compressed and uplifted, creating the mountains, they were inexorably eroded down by ice, wind and water. Such examples, in which nature maintains a balance in our world, showcase how sacred ecology can mediate human–nature interactions, encouraging coexistence and habitat preservation (see Sethi, 2025).

It is important to note that there are several such examples where the sacred has been used to promote actionable knowledge (e.g., the Namami Gange Programme attempts to raise awareness regarding ecosystem restoration). This sacredness has translated abstract values into routine behaviours, making the knowledge socially enforceable and guiding decisions. As another example, banyan and peepal trees are protected through rituals (see Basu, 2022). However, the effectiveness varies by context and scale.

‘Desi’ (native) science communication

Macaulay's Minute on Indian Education (Macaulay, 1835) illustrates the white man's burden to civilize the non-white ‘other’ India. It labelled Indian science as inferior and promoted Eurocentricity. With this, Macaulay marginalized a rich history of scientific achievements and their communication. However, science communication has been prevalent in India since ancient times. India has utilized sacred ecology as a means of biodiversity conservation in the past. Starting as songs and oral stories, it later found its way into writings on bark, leaves and other materials.

Gods travelling the cosmos at light speed are a recurrent theme in numerous Indian stories, such as the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. The modern concept of wormholes appears to resonate with this narrative. Wormholes can be seen as tunnels through the space‒time dimension that connect distant points in the universe through faster-than-light travel. Integrating an ancient idea with a physics concept, even when their mechanisms vastly differ, can be seen as a cultural metaphor in science communication, which may help audiences grasp abstract ideas such as space‒time curvature. As another example, the Todas of Tamil Nadu associate rituals with specific plants and trees, which can again be leveraged in science communication. While species such as Ceropegia pusilla help them predict the monsoons, Gentiana pedicellata predicts anxiety levels through the speed at which its petals close when held by individuals (see Chhabra, 2008).

Around the late nineteenth century, John Strachey said, ‘What is India? … There is no such country … possessing … any sort of unity, physical, political, social, or religious’ (Strachey, 1888: 2–5). Providing arguments against this misassumption, Kaul (2020) discussed a general continuity in the idea of India across centuries (e.g., Bharatavarsha, Indu, Yindu, Jambudvipa, Hindustan, etc.) as a ‘vast and diverse land surrounded by lofty mountains and seas/oceans’. Sacred ecology can be seen as a powerful device in considering India as one entity for ages before British colonization. There are several intersections and overlaps among the Buddhist, Hindu, Jain, Muslim and Sikh traditions, highlighting India's unity (Eck, 2012). For example, apart from its spiritual significance in Hinduism, Jambudvipa is the place where Buddhas and universal rulers are said to arise in Buddhism. Jainism explains it as the universe's middle part, where humans reside, and liberation can be achieved. Thus, although the boundaries have varied over time, there appears to be a consistency in the notion of India as a nation. In this case, sacred ecology emerges as an example of India's geography being communicated through the millennia.

Towards relatability

Several science-communication approaches used today rely on objective, data-driven narratives (see Matei and Hunter, 2021), which can lead to a detachment from emotions and fail to engage and influence certain audiences. Statistics and global-scale phenomena may result in communities struggling to understand and apply science in their everyday lives. Kearns (2021) described critical listening as essential in science communication. It focuses on empathizing with and relating to others, including understanding where audiences come from and how that influences their beliefs and behaviours. Sacred ecology can form the basis of relatable science communication embedded in religious and spiritual ideologies. Lived experiences that resonate deeply with audiences may contribute to translating science concepts into tangible and meaningful decisions and practices. Rather than positioning the sciences and science communication and sacrality as two opposites, a pluralistic understanding based on the coexistence of empirical information and cultural narratives is the need of the hour. Sacred ecology-embedded science communication can combine the natural sciences (e.g., physics) with social sciences (e.g., religious studies) and encourage interdisciplinary conversations and collaborations. Sacred ecology can create entry points for culturally sensitive discussions in mainstream scientific discourse, particularly for marginalized communities. Effective ‘desi’ science communication connects science to what people have been aware of for generations and creates bridges for them to understand and retain the information efficiently. Science communication, based on such worldviews, can foster more trust and engagement in communities.

Science itself could actively benefit from such ‘desi’ perspectives. These viewpoints can contribute to context-sensitive research questions and inclusive interpretations of findings. The potential outcomes include the diversification of scientific worldviews and the development of relevant and reflective insights. An example is the neem (Azadirachta indica), which is a native to the Indian subcontinent. The ancient ‘desi’ practice of using neem in households has informed contemporary investigations on the tree's antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory and pesticidal properties (Islas et al., 2020). It highlights an affinity towards a polyvocal and multidirectional engagement in which diverse voices shape and benefit from research (see Holliman et al., 2024).

Storytelling and visual mapping that correlate science with culture can serve as important science-communication vehicles. Furthermore, educational institutions can encourage field visits to places like sacred groves and stepwells to cultivate awareness of both empirical and cultural systems. Such tours can, for example, explain how sacred groves (reverence) contribute to groundwater recharge (science). Inspired by frameworks such as India's National Biodiversity Action Plan and the National Education Policy, science-communication strategies can focus on developing culturally and traditionally rooted modules. Science communication grounded in sacred ecology should be collaborative, involve active participation from the community and utilize culturally embedded platforms (e.g., festivals) for enhanced effects. Such an approach can provide an emotional connection that is amplified when articulated in languages with which the audience is comfortable. Furthermore, research into the role of such traditions, and hence decolonization and diversity, can make science communication more inclusive.

Conclusion

This commentary provides a glimpse into how culturally grounded concepts, such as sacred ecology, can lead to respectful and engaging science communication. However, the information presented here is not exhaustive. Striking a balance between scientific accuracy and traditional worldviews is crucial. It should be emphasized that unsubstantiated claims without context would serve only to discredit the goals of both science communication and sacred ecology. Future research is needed to develop such frameworks in partnership with local communities to potentially benefit education and policy outreach. Sacred ecology-based science communication acknowledges that diverse knowledge systems can coexist and enrich each other. With this idea, the present commentary encourages a profound rethinking, rather than making surface-level adjustments to existing science-communication strategies.