I SSN 0975-4067

KIRAVAL
Journal of Sanskrit Research Foundation
The New Trivandrum Sanskrit Series
Vol.V. Book.I & II
January-June
2013
SANSKRIT RESEARCH FOUNDATION
T.C 39/37
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM-36
KIRAVAL
Journal of Sanskrit Research Foundation
Editor
Dr.M. Manimohanan
Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit,Kalady
dr.m.manimohanan@gmail.com
Executive Editor
Dr.C.S.Sasikumar
Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit,Kalady
drsasikumarcs@yahoo.co.in
Managing Editor
Dr.G.Narayanan
Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit,Kalady
dr.g.narayanan@gmail.com
Editorial Board
Dr.V.Sisupalapanikkar,Professor of Sanskrit(Rtd.) Uty. of Kerala
Dr.R.Vijayakumar, Professor of Vyakarana, S.S.U.S.Kalady
Dr.K.Muthulakshmi, Associate professor in Vedanta, S.S.U.S.
Kalady
Dr.K.K.Sundaresan, Registrar, Kalamandalam
Editorial Advisory Board
Dr.T.Devarajan, Professor of Sanskrit(Rtd), University of Kerala
Dr.P.Chithambaran, Rtd.Professor of Vedanta,S.S.U.S. Kalady
Dr.P.K.Dharmarajan, Professor of Sahitya, S.S.U.S. Kalady
Dr..S.Sobhana, Associate professor in Vedanta, S.S.U.S.Kalady
Dr.K.Sekharan, Professor of Sanskrit, University of Calicut
Associate Editor
Prof.R.Jinu
jichelnu@yahoo.co.in
Views expressed in the articles are those of the authors and not
necessarily those of the publishers
Contents
Ia Upaniad and Rmyaa Dr.V.Vasudevan- 7
Bhadrakalikalam- a Reminiscence of
Dhuli Chitra: A study Babu.K -15
Modern and Vedantic Views
on Mental Health Dr.H.Sylaja -38
Cultivation and related income
in the Arthastra Pushpadasan Kuniyil -44
Rmyaa Plays of
Bhsa Dr. N. Vijayamohanan Pillai - 49
The Creative Genius
in Sree Narayana Guru Dr.Asaletha.V -56
Eco Feminism Shamshad Begum.R - 62
Ajitamahtantra:
Treatise on Vstuvidya Soumya. K -70
Historical and Cultural Aspects Reflected In
Ashtamimahotsava Prabandha Krishnaveni -79
Influence of Buddhism in the Social Health
Environment of Kerala Soumya.c.s -84
-.... .|...... :...-. ...+ -
.... .....|.-...
.....-...... .|-.+-. :..-..|.-..+-..|
E&- Ehi M & .E .E -104
-.|.. :... -. +. ... ..|- :. . |.. -. . |.-..+ -..|
+ . -..-..||.. .......-. .|.. . -.|.
Eco Feminism
Shamshad Begum.R
Nature is only valued in terms of its usefulness to us. It is
the nature of Humans to interfere with the environment and
economic activities are responsible for long scale alterations
for natural eco systems. Natural resources are very important
for development and human progress. The study of
environment has been given inadequate attention in the study
of history with the growth of environmental history as an active
field; it become necessary to revisit the question of the role of
human initiative in history As J ohn R Mc Neill defines it
Environmental history is the history of the mutual relations
between humankind and the rest of nature. Human kind has
long been a part of nature , but a distinct part Human
history has, and will always unfold with in a larger biological
and physical context, and the context evolves in its own
right.(McNeill 87)
The first citation of the modern sense of pollution in the
Oxford English Dictionary is from Francis Bacons The
Advancement of hearing 1605, a founding text of modern
Scientific methodology.
The new organic pesticides such as DDT, Aldine and
Dialdine that had been introduced after the Second World
War and had already proven highly successful in controlling
pests insects constituted a serious threat both to wild life and
human health.
Kiraval 63
There is an acceleration in the rate of construction of large
dams built to service the mining and smelting processes. These
changes have been characterized by an increasing level of
state violence accompanying attempts to vacate tribal land for
mining and dams. These have frequently involved since 1998
mass shooting and related incidents, arguably genocidal in
effect and intention along with unregulated and illicit
environmental impacts involving deforestation, pollution and
species decline. This undermining of the law by state
mechanisms posess greater threats both to human rights and
to the implementation of environmental protections. The
historical causes and environmental consequences of these
developments have been very little researched to date but need
to be understood if local cultures and heritages are to be
sustained a long side biodiversity protection(McNeill 18).
Eco-feminism a new term for an ancient wisdom grow
out of various social movements- the feminist, peace and the
ecology movements- in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Though
the term was first used by Francoise D Eaubonne(Mies and
Shiva 13). It become popular only in the context of numerous
protests and activities against environmental destruction,
sparked off initially by recurring ecological disasters. The
meltdown at Three Mile Island prompted large members of
woman in the USA to come together in the first ecofeminist
conference- Women and life on Earth : A conference on Eco-
feminism in the Eighties in March 1980, at Amherst. At this
conference the connections between feminism, militarization,
healing and ecology were explored . As Ynesta king, one of
the conference organizers, wrote. Eco- feminism is about
connectedness and wholeness of theory and practice. It asserts
the special strength and integrity of every living thing - We are
a woman identified movement and we believe we have a special
work to do in these important times. We see the devastation of
64 Kiraval
the earth and her beings by the corporate warriors, as feminist
concerns . It is the same masculinit mentality which would
deny us our right to our own bodies and our own sexuality and
which depends on multiple system of dominance and state
power to have its way(King 10). Women were the first to protect
against environmental destruction. Wherever women acted
against ecological destruction or/and the threat of atomic
annihilation, they immediately become aware of the connection
between patriarchal violence against women, other people and
nature: In defying this patriarchy we are loyal to future
generations and to life and this planet itself. We have a deep
and particular understanding of this both through our natures
and our experience as women(11).
As feminists activity seeking womens liberation from male
domination, we could not however ignore the fact that
modernization and development processes and progress
were responsible for the degradation of the natural world. Thus
women in Switzerland demonstrated against the seveso(Mies
14)poisoning. In India women have most severely affected by
the Union Carbide pesticides plant in Bhopal. Again the
Chipko(Bahuguna) women in India, women and men who
actively oppose mega dam construction women who fight
against nuclear power plants and against the irresponsible
dumping of toxic wastes around the world, and many more
worldwide. The women of Sicily who protested against the
stationing of nuclear missiles in this country stated-
Our no to war coincides with our struggle for liberation
It is no co-incidence that the gruesome game of war- in
which the greater part of the male sex seems to delight- passes
through the same stages aggression, conquest, possession,
control of a woman or a land, it makes little difference(Mies
15). Nuclear power plant at Whyl in South- West Germany
also saw the connection between technology, the profit oriented
Kiraval 65
growth mania of the industrial system and the exploitation of
the Third World(Mies 91). This connection was also most
clearly spelt out by a Russian woman after the chernobyl
catastrophe in May 1986. Men do not think of life they only
want to conquer nature and the enemy. whatever the costs
may be the chernobyl disaster in particular provoked a
spontaneous expression of womens outrange and resistance
against this war technology and the general industrial warrior
system.
The new developments in biotechnology generic
engineering and reproductive technology have made women
actual conscious of the gender bias of science and technology
and that sciences whole paradigm is characteristically
patriarchal, anti- nature and colonial and aims to dispose
women of their generative capacity as it does the productive
capacities of nature. Those involved look not only at the
implications of these technologies for women, but also for
animals, plants for agriculture in the Third world as well as in
the industrialized North. They understand that the liberation
of women cannot be achieved in isolation, but only as part of a
larger struggle for the preservation of life in this planet.
The common ground for womens liberation and the
preservation of life on earth is to be found in the activities of
those women who have become the victims of the development
process and who struggle to conserve their subsistence base.
In the final outcome of the present world system is a general
threat to life on planet earth, then it is crucial to resuscitate and
narture the impulse and determination to survive, inherent in
all living things. A closer examination of the numerous local
struggles against ecological destruction and deterioration, for
example against atomic power plants in Germany(Mies 3)
against chalk mining and logging in the Himalayas(Shiva,
Staying Alive)(Shiva, Fight for Survival -Interview with
66 Kiraval
Chamun Devi and Itwari) the activities of the Green Belt
Movement in Kenya(Dankelman) and of J apanese women
against food pollution by chemically- stimulated, commercial
agriculture and for self- reliant producer- customer net
work(Ekins) poor womens efforts in Ecuador to save the
mangrove forests as breeding- grounds for fish and
shrimp(Mies 3), the battle of thousands of women in the south
for better water management, soil conservation, land use, and
maintenance of their survival base (forests, fuel, fodder) against
the industrial interests, confirmed that many women,
worldwide, felt the same anger and anxiety, and the same sense
of responsibility to preserve the bases of life, and to end its
destruction. Irrespective of different racial, ethnic, cultural or
class women together to forget links in solidarity backgrounds,
this common concern brought with other women, people and
even nations . In these process of action and reflection similar
analyses, concepts and visions also sometimes emerged.
The contemporary womens movement in India spans a large
canvas. Many smaller and larger movements originated in the
generalized economic and political crises that gripped the
country towards the end of the nineteen sixties.(I. Sen
Introduction)
1
According to the different action groups and the feminists,
the origins of the exploitation of women is inthe patriarchal
system of society[ in] the writings of the feminists
in India the Political and left parties as well as trade unions are
partiarchal(Khullar 81).
The concept of womanhood , of mata (mother)has
automatically got connected with this whole movement,
although the concept of Narmada as mata is very much part of
(it. ) So the feminine tone is given, both to the leadership and
the participants- then (it all) comes together(G. Sen 294).
Nature is sobordinated to man; women to man; consumption
Kiraval 67
to production; and the local to the global, and so on. Feminist
have long eriticized this dichotomy, particularly the structural
division of man and nature, which is seen as analogous to that
of man and woman(Ortner).
Diversity, of life and cultures, which instead are experienced
as divisive and threatening. An ecofeminist perspective
propounds the need for a new cosmology and a new
anthropology which recognizes that life in nature (which
includes human beings ) is maintained by means of co-
operation, and mutual care and love. Only in this way can we
be enabled to respect and preserve the diversity of all life forms,
including their cultural expressions as true sources of our well
being and happiness. The concept of emancipation necessarily,
implied dominance over nature including human, female
nature, and, that ultimately, this dominance relationship was
responsible for the ecological destruction we now face. Modern
chemistry, household technology and pharmacy were
proclaimed as womens saviours, because they would
emancipate them from household drudgery.Today we realize
that much environmental pollution and destruction is causally
linked to modern household technology. The preservation of
the earths diversity of life forms and of human societies
cultures is a precondition for the maintenance of life on this
planet.
To find a way out of cultural relativism, it is necessary to
look not only for differences but for diversities and
interconnectedness among women, among men and women,
among human beings and other life forms, worldwide.
The universalism does not deal in abstract universal human
rights but rather in common human needs which can be
satisfied only if the life- sustaining networks and processes
are kept intact and alive. These symbiosis of living
interconnectedness both in nature and human society are the
68 Kiraval
only guarantee that life in its fullest sense can continue on this
planet. These fundamental needs; for food, shelter, clothing,
for affection, care and love; for dignity and identity, for
knowledge and freedom leisure and joy, are common to all
people, irrespective of culture, ideology, race, political and
economic system and class. The Ecofeminist perspective as
expressed by women activists recognizes no such division
culture is very much part of their struggle for subsistence and
life. They identify freedom with their loving interaction and
productive work in co-operation with Mother Earth(Shiva,
Fight for Survival -Interview with Chamun Devi and Itwari).
Eco- feminism has held greater appeal for historians thus has
world system analysis, and to date is perhaps more
successful(J acobs).
Notes
1.Ajitha K (1990) Reminiscences from Wynad.
2.Datar, Chhaya (1990) Bidi Workers in Nipani
3.Everett, J ana (1986) We were in the Forefront of the fight: Feminist
Theory and
Practice in Indian Grass Roots Movements.
4.Gandhi Nandita (1990) The Anti- Price Rise Movement.
5.Geetha (1990) The Tamil Nadu Construction Workers Union
6.Kelkar, Govind and chetna Gala (1990) The Bodhagaya Land
Struggle.
7. Kishwar, Madhu (1998) The Nature of Womens Mobilization in
Rural India.
8.Omvedi Gail (1990) The Farmers Movement in Maharashtra.
9. Nayak, Nalini(1990) The Kerala Fisher Workers Struggle.
10.Barthakur, Sheila and Sabita Goswami (1990) The Assam
Movement.
11.Omvedt, Gail (1990) The Farmers Movement in Maharashtra.
12. Raman Vasanthi (1986) Nari Mukthi Movement in Assan.
13.Ranadive. V (1987) Feminists and the Womens Movement, Delhi.
14.Sathe, Nirmala (1990) The Adivasi Struggle in Dhulia.
15.Sen, illina (1990) Workers Struggle in Chhattisgarh.
16. Sree Sakthi Sangathana (1989) We were making History: Life
Stories of women in the Telangana Peoples Struggle.
Kiraval 69
17. Vindhya U (1990) The Srikakulam Movement.
18. Bahuguna Vimla (1990) The Chipko Movement
Works Cited
Dankelman, Irene. Women and Environment in the Third World:
Alliance for the Future. London; Wolfeboro, N.H.: Earthscan
Pub. in association with IUCN; Distributed in the USA by
Longwood Pub. Group, 1988. Print.
Ekins, Paul. A New World Order/ : Grassroots Movements for
Global Change. London; New York: Routledge, 1992. Print.
J acobs, Nancy J . Environment, Power, and Injustice: a South
African History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003.
Print.
Khullar, Mala. Writing the Womens Movement: a Reader.
Zubaan, an imprint of Kali for Women, 2005. Print.
McNeill, J ohn R. Environmental History: As If Nature Existed.
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010. Print.
Mies, Maria. Ecofeminism. Halifax, N.S.; London; Atlantic
Highlands, N.J.: Fernwood Publications; Zed Books, 1993. Print.
Ortner, S. Is Female or Male as Nature to Culture? Women,
Culture and Society. Ed. M Rosaldo & M.Lamphere Zand.
Standford: Standford University Press, 1974. Print.
Sen, Geeti. Indigenous Vision/ : Peoples of India, Attitudes to
the Environment. New Delhi: Sage Publications/ : India
International Centre, 1992. Print.
Sen, Ilina. A Space Within the Struggle: Womens Participation
in Peoples Movements. New Delhi: Kali for Women, 1990. Print.
Shiva, Vandana. Fight for Survival -Interview with Chamun
Devi and Itwari. The Illustrated weekly of india 15 Nov. 1987
: n. pag. Print.
. Staying Alive: Women, Ecology, and Survival in India. New
Delhi: Women Unlimited, 2010. Print.