Eco Criticism and Literature. A Cultural Analysis of the Motif of the Snake in Indian Mythology

Serpents- a crafty culture?

BY

Anila Ashok

Eco criticism is rather a young theory which has gained recognition in the immediate past especially during the 1990’s. This study inculcates a thorough introspection into the desires which rule the interactions of human and the natural environment in a more narrow sense this relation encompasses itself with a cultural shade. Like Arne Naess, the founder of deep ecology, states the importance of killing and predators needs to be acknowledged but we also should give due weightage on the fact that there is “the importance of togetherness and cooperation in the plant and animal world” that has been emphasized by modern ecology (Naess, 170).

Ecocriticism is:

“ most appropriately applied to a work in which the landscape itself is a dominant character, when a significant interaction occurs between author and place, character(s) and place. Landscape by definition includes the non-human elements of place—rocks, soil, trees, plants, rivers, animals, air—as well as human perceptions and modifications”. (Scheese)

It is quite interesting to look at Barry Commoner’s first law of ecosystem ecology that "everything is connected to everything else". In this light Eco critics understand that there essentially exists a relationship between human culture and its literature, it is connected to the physical world just like nature is connected to culture (Glotfelty, ASLE). Besides all this ecocriticism provides a view of human relation towards nature; and their advancement has led to massive changes both to the non-human world and the literature; admitting the fact that humans have always had an overwhelming attitude towards nature. As Bill McKibben argues in The End of Nature, for the first time in history, human beings [have] become so large that they [have] altered everything around us. That we [have] ended nature as an independent force, that our appetites and habits and desires [can] now be read in every cubic meter of air, in every increment on the thermometer (sic). (xix).

Cheryll Glotfelty argues that human actions have indeed shown its upper hand on nature stating that, “we have reached the age of environmental limits, a time when the consequences of human actions are damaging the planet’s basic life support systems” (ASLE). The main goal of ecocriticism is to analyze “our own attitudes toward nature and to engender a sense of accountability for the havoc the culture’s left hand wreaks on its right hand through short sighted technological practices” (Arnold “Forum” 1090).

We are living in a century where the imperial and neo imperial issues of environmental justice are pressing itself towards a call for action. These kind of attitudinal and behavioural differences have brought about irreparable changes in the environment which again has stemmed up a lot of disciplines dealing with environmental discourse. It is here that the term Ecocriticism gains its prominence which deals both with environment and literary studies. It emerged initially as a sub- field in Anglo American literary studies (Buell, 2005; Garrard, 2004; Heise, 2006). Quite early and most commonly cited sources explain Ecocriticism as “the study of the relationship between literature and the physical environment” (Cheryll, 1996). This introspection into literature dates way back to 1978 essay of William Rueckert "Literature and Ecology: An Experiment in Ecocriticism". Though the term lay hibernating till 1989 when Cheryll Glotfelty reawakened it in the Western Literature Association Meeting since then it had been known as the “study of nature writing”. Ecocritics find out a way where the people might live in harmony with nature and adopt certain measures to reduce environmental degradation. Seven years later, Harold Fromm worked along with Glotfelty to co-edit the first anthology of ecocriticism, The Ecocritical Reader: Landmarks in Ecological Literary Criticism; in doing so, they tried to expand the range of ecocriticism beyond the analysis of nature writing to the “scrutiny of ecological implications and human-nature relationships in any literary texts, even texts that seem (at first glance) oblivious of the nonhuman world” (Slovic). Since then, ecocriticism as a genre has started its expansion and scholars have started defining the term in all its lengths and breadths. As Lawrence Buell understands, “The success of all environmentalist efforts finally hinges not on ‘some highly developed technology, or some arcane new science’ but on ‘a state of mind’: on attitudes, feelings, images, narratives,” all of which can be found in “acts of environmental imagination.”(Buell, 2001). It connects itself to the self, nature, society and the text; essentially the relationship between the human and the non-human world. It began its way through environmental crisis and the need as a holistic practise which ultimately triggers the interconnectedness of things in nature. Cheryll Glotfelty is of the opinion that ecocrticism takes an earth centred approach towards literary studies. This kind of reading helps a person to understand and analyse the relation of the human and the non-human world. One creature; the oft discussed in the non-human world is the snake. The shock and havoc it creates in its mere sight and the compulsive fear of the human world that leads to its death slowing reaching a state in which the world will see it in the verge of extinction.

There are a lot of serpent entities that are prevalent in Indian mythologies and religion. They are semi divine spirits who appear as serpents mostly everywhere- in pre Hindu indigenous art, Buddhist images and Tantric images. These images are deeply set in particularities- mostly in a negative shade- examples are plenty- myth of Krishna and the Naga Kaliya, as Satan in the Garden of Eden. There are also beliefs that Buddha had converted Nagas and provided them with secret Buddhist Tantras. Beliefs go unimaginably wild when there were instances where the Nagas could interbreed with humans- infusing them with Naga bloodlines, like the kings of ancient Khymer or the sage Nagarjuna. Nagas can also be said as mythically morphed into dragons in the Chinese and South Asian mythologies. Tibetan Buddhists believe that Nagas are water spirits and that they extend themselves in protecting the nature, in such a scenario they consider to deify Nagas by making offerings, praying and apologizing. Our question is to whether believe in these spirits or to admit that we’ve been destroying the nature and natural habitat of these slitherians leading to an ecological crisis (Sargent, 2014). This is perhaps the main intention of the paper- to highlight the issues concerning the Ophidian and how these cultural and mythical beliefs have seeped into literature to characterise the semi- God as an anti-hero.

A lot of literates have penned about this living thing with infinite synonyms to its existence. In order to be fair and square; as a creature that balances the ecosystem, it should not be looked down upon with contempt and superstition. Its limbless body, the variety of colours, its enchanting gaze, flickering split tongue and the stature often go unnoticed due to the deep rooted phobias, detestation and aversion towards it; both psychologically and physically. As Briar Wood observes, "myths have long been understood to perform the social and cultural function of instructing people in acceptable or improper behaviour and in performing the task of fusing seemingly impossibly contradictory interpretations of the world" (119).

The Book of Genesis goes forward to represent animals as objects of submission, silent creatures that do not access language (Lynn White, 1996:10). Walter Benjamin on a rereading of the language of Genesis claims that animals were named by humans and they were passive creatures (1996: 72) which led to a lot of misreading within the contexts of non-humans especially the snake who belongs to the reptile family. This has also led to a lot of stigma and biases encompassing these so called passive creatures. There is also a lot of cruelty meted out to these nonhumans and the ethical accountability of it certainly rests upon the humans. Snakes, not just in literature but among mortal beings too, creates a sense of awe and fear. A lot of stories, myths and legends revolve around this slimy, slithery creature without legs. The Oxford dictionary defines it as a reptile with no limbs, eyelids and some carry a venomous bite; it also proceeds its definition by qualifying it in a negative shade popularly portraying it as deceitful and again adding along a lot of qualifiers. Dragons, human- serpents or snake-animal combination has always innovated literary characters like Medusa-the women with a head full of snakes, dragon Smauge in ‘The Hobbit’ and much more. The snake is usually portrayed from the past bearing associations with a plethora of symbols, often changing according to different cultures and religions. Much of these associations have paved way to a lot of superstitious beliefs thereby leading to a number of myths and legends around it. The Hindu mythology looks at snakes in complex ways; being a deity that is worshipped it inculcates in Hindus a sense of fear culminating in immense faith in its mature form, The Naga. The Naga dominates the underworld or the Patal, making it more fascinating for the mortal beings to inquire upon. From time immemorial serpents in Christian belief have been closely connected with temptation and sin- the best illustration can be seen in the Garden of Eden where Satan transforms to the shape of a serpent to tempt Eve to taste the Forbidden fruit. The Muslim religion too offers no good explanation on these creatures moving about in their bellies. Similar to Christianity; Muslims too believe snakes as non-Muslims or Jinn as they call it and that their Prophet has advised to kill it at sight according to some versions of the Holy Quran. The mere sight of the Ophidian itself triggers in one’s mind a surfeit of thought provoking statements and religious associations. Freud explains snakes as phallic representations and their dreams as forbidden wishes which has been seriously ignored and evaded in the modern world and is been replaced by biological interpretations. It is this fear and fascination which makes it an incredible animal to paste our eyes on. We also have the tradition of alluring the snake with a musical device called the ‘magudi’ where it dances to the movement of the instrument.

Also it has to be remembered that India is known for its snake culture and how it used to be preserved in the olden ages through ‘Sarpa kaavu’ as it’s called in the regional language Malayalam and they are found in ancestral homes called ‘tharavadu’. It is indeed a good topic to be researched on. Relish, the Indian culture and the myths behind it. The legend is to be continued.

References:

Cheryll Glotfelty and Harold Fromm, eds., The Ecocriticism Reader: Landmarks in Literary Ecology (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1996), xviii.

Lawrence Buell, Writing for an Endangered World (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2001), 1–2.

For overviews of American and British ecocriticism, see Lawrence Buell, The Future of Environmental Criticism (Oxford, UK: Blackwell, 2005); Greg Garrard, Ecocriticism (New York: Routledge, 2004); and Ursula K. Heise, “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Ecocriticism,” PMLA 121, no. 2 (2006): 503–16.

Wood, Briar. "Mana Wāhine and Ecocriticism in Some Post-80s Writing by Māori Women." Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment 14.1 (2007): 107-24.

White, Lynn (1996) “The Historical Roots of our Ecologic Crisis”. In: Glotfelty, Cheryl and Harold Fromm (eds.) The Ecocriticism Reader: Landmarks in Literary Ecology. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 3–14

Benjamin, Walter (1996) “On Language as Such and on the Language of Man”. In: Bullock, Marcus and Michael W. Jennings (eds.) Selected Writings. Vol. 1. Trans. Lloyd Spencer et al. Cambridge and London: Harvard University Press, 62–74.

Wilk, S. R. M. (2000) Solving the Mystery of the Gorgon.

Stanley, J.W. (2008) Snakes: Objects of Religion, Fear and Myth. Journal of Integrative Biology 2 (2):42-58.

Naess, Arne. Ecology, Community, and Lifestyle. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1989. ---. “The Shallow and the Deep, Long-Range Ecology Movement. A Summary.” Inquiry. 16: 95-100.