Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: The current study explores the eco-cosmological frameworks in Indian Knowledge Systems (IKS) and introduces a holistic and alternative view of sustainability and habitability theories. Indian eco-cosmologies rooted in scriptures like Vedas, Upanishads, Puranas, and Smritis, and indigenous oral traditions, depict an extremely moral and spiritual relationship of human beings with nature. The Indian worldview understands nature as a living, godly presence, represented by deified entities like Bhūmī Devi (Earth goddess), Agni (fire), Vāyu (wind), and Jala (water), and not as a dead resource to be used by man. A spirituality-informed concept of habitability that is above material sustenance and considers ethical, cultural, and cosmic factors has evolved through this spiritual ecology. Values that encourage ecological balance, moral responsibility, and intergenerational justice, such as ṛta (cosmic order), dharma (righteous duty), ahimsa (non-violence), and loka-saṅgraha (well-being of the world), are part of this system. Further, indigenous Indian methods of harvesting water, forest preservation, agriculture, and building (Vaastu Shastra) are sustainable systems that harmonize with the cycles of nature and local biodiversity. This study critically analyzes how these indigenous cosmologies have the potential to inform modern environmental theory and practice, particularly in response to ecological degradation, climate emergency, and the need for inclusive and resilient sustainability models. The study underlines the key contribution of indigenous eco-cosmologies toward defining moral, sustainable, and community-oriented responses to global ecological emergencies by re-examining the IKS's philosophical and practical arenas. Lastly, by asserting the primacy of relationality, nature respect, and cosmological continuity as necessary foundations of Earth's habitability, this study not only retrieves India's ancient wisdom traditions' intellectual and ecological inheritance but also advances the global sustainability discourse.
Source: Vidhyayana
DOI: 10.58213/a041a416
Institution: Poornima Institute of Engineering and Technology
Language: English
Subfield: Religious studies
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W7132814548