Water of life
Ancient Hindus considered the construction of wells a sacred duty. Inscriptions on ancient wells in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, exhort the people drawing water from them to pour an equal amount of water in a nearby pool. Texts like the Vishnu Purana clearly state that one who cares for water sources …
Lessons for the future
Humans are essentially a part of nature and it is impossible to disentangle human affairs from what is happening to forests, animals, insects and microorganisms Population pressure affects environment adversely, which, in turn, affect the population. Whenever a population increases beyond the carrying capacity of the local ecology, it dies …
Legends and ecological history
• Geological studies in Kashmir have shown that the rise of the Pir Panjal range around four million years ago resulted in the formation of a vast lake, impounding drain- age in the Himalaya. Later, the Jhelum emerged as a result of the near Baramulla, draining out the lake years …
Relevance of history
POLITICAL history cannot be separated from cultural history, and cultural history is not a catalogue of events or a roster of events or a roster of personages, but an unfolding process of interaction between humans and nature. German scholar Leopald von Ranke, the father of modern positivist history, defined its …
