The Sacred Landscape: Nature as Cultural Repository and Spiritual Discourse in Indigenous and Tribal Literature of India

Abstract

This paper examines the multifaceted role of nature in the indigenous and tribal literature of India, arguing that natural elements function not merely as backdrop but as active agents in cultural preservation, spiritual expression, and resistance discourse. Through analysis of oral narratives, folk songs, and contemporary tribal writings from diverse communities including the Santhal, Gond, Khasi, and Toda peoples, this study demonstrates how nature serves as a repository of ancestral wisdom, a medium for cosmological understanding, and a vehicle for articulating environmental and cultural sovereignty. The research reveals that indigenous literary traditions construct nature as an animate, relational entity fundamentally interconnected with human identity, contrasting sharply with Western literary traditions that often position nature as external to human experience. This analysis contributes to understanding how indigenous epistemologies challenge dominant literary paradigms and offer alternative frameworks for conceptualizing human-nature relationships in an era of ecological crisis.