Religion: Can it Save the Ganges River That it Destroyed?

River Pollution in the Ganges of India

The people of the Hindu religion make up a large portion of India, and along with population growth, the customs and beliefs of the Hindu religion have been destroying the water supply of the Ganges river. In J.R. McNeil’s book, Something New Under The Sun, he explains that, “in Hindu belief, gods created the Ganges to give people a chance to wash away their sins, Hindus believe that death and cremation at Varanasi (Benares) ensures liberation of the soul, so Varanasi attracts millions of elderly and sickly Indians”(McNeil129).  McNeil also explains that the population of about 10 million around the Ganges river dumps all of their waste directly into the river. The waste, bodies, cremations, animal carcasses, and the washing of sickly and elderly make the “holy waters” of the Ganges a “bacteriological nightmare” of pollution. This bleak situation does however have a possible turnaround with the use of their religion being emphasized for the preservation of the water as opposed to the destruction of it.

            To be able to make this suggestion at all there are aspects about the Hindu religion that should be emphasized. In Vasudha Narayanan’s article, Water, Wood, and Wisdom: Ecological Perspectives from the Hindu Traditions, he describes the aspects of the religious traditions that could be emphasized to turn habits of pollution around.

He explains that, “Many Hindu texts are firm in their view that human beings must enhance the quality of life. A popular blessing uttered in many Hindu temples and homes focuses on human happiness in this life, on this earth: May everyone be happy, may everyone be free of diseases! / May everyone see what is noble / May no one suffer from misery”(Narayanan 181). Perhaps these beliefs could be explained that by polluting the water supply they are in fact causing disease and suffering for many of their people. If they could perceive their beliefs in this manner, then the Ganges will have a better chance of rehabilitation. The Hindu people need to remember that, “the texts on dharma earnestly exhort people to practice nonviolence toward all beings; other texts speak of the joys of a harmonious relationship with nature”(Narayanan 183). This “harmonious relationship with nature”, needs to include not destroying the Ganges with pollution. There is nothing harmonious about dumping tons of waste, bodies, and cremations into the main water supply. It is also important to remind ourselves as outsiders looking in on the situation that they do have strong connections with the water and lasting religious beliefs in the holiness that the water possess, so it would make sense to them to dispose of loved ones’ ashes into it, or bath the sick or elderly, but they are absorbed with the holy properties of water and are not seeing what is happening to their cherished holy water.  Narayanan points out that, “the ashes of the cremated body are immersed in holy waters the same rivers that feed and irrigate paddy fields; the same water that cooks the rice and bathes the dead before cremation. From cradle to cremation, Hindus have long had a palpable, organic connection with nature. But today they must also face the reality of environmental disaster. With the population hovering around a billion in India (with eight hundred million Hindus), the use, abuse, and misuse of resources is placing India on the fast track to disaster”(Narayanan179).

   Anytime that we attempt to understand another culture, we have to be delicate and try as hard as we can to not judge or compare it to our own culture. In this case it seems all to easy to wonder how the Hindus could possibly be so naive to think that they should bath and use the same water that is so heavily polluted by their waste and deceased.  Then once we remind ourselves that this culture is very different from our own, we have to be creative and come up with possible solutions that are relative to their culture. Narayanan ponders the same questions: “What, if anything, can Hindu tradition say about this looming environmental crisis? Are there any resources in the Hindu religious and cultural traditions that can inspire and motivate Hindus to take action?”(Narayanan179).  After considering aspects of Hindu religion and culture, appealing to their sense of love and beauty in nature, the prayers to keep people healthy and free of disease and misery, then perhaps they could begin to alter their customs of abusing their water supply. The Ganges could also use the help of some waste management plans, but getting to the source for the cultural reasons that the river is polluted in the first place, and working on new understandings to change practices will help the river for centuries to come.

 

1)      McNeil, J.R., 2000: An Environmental History of the Twentieth-Century World: Something New Under the Sun. Norton & Company, Inc., New York.

 

2)     Narayanan, Vasudha. “Water, Wood, and Wisdom: Ecological Perspectives from the Hindu Traditions” Daedalus, Vol. 130, No. 4, Religion and Ecology: Can the Climate Change? (Fall, 2001): 179-206. The MIT Press on behalf of American Academy of Arts & Sciences. 18 November 2009. http://www.jstor.org/stable/20027723