Review of Ramachandra Guha’s Speaking With Nature

Review of Ramachandra Guha’s Speaking With
Nature: Under the banyan tree

The author profiles 10 people who he credits with laying the foundation of
environmentalism in India
Published - November 15, 2024, 09:02 am IST
Neha Sinha
Environmentalism isn’t just an idea; it’s also a verb. In his latest book, Speaking With Nature,
historian Ramachandra Guha draws portraits of ten people who he credits with laying the
foundation of environmentalism in India.
One would expect a list of tribal leaders, hunters-turned-conservationists, (‘repentant

butchers’ as the author remarks in one section of the book), those who have spearheaded
environmental movements, or professional conservationists and administrators. Guha though
presents us with an unexpected selection of people — writer Rabindranath Tagore,
sociologist Radhakamal Mukherjee, Hindutva thinker K.M. Munshi, the naturalist M.
Krishnan, Gandhi follower Mira Behn, anthropologist Verrier Elwin and more.
Links with social thought
Guha continues the questions he has asked in previous writings, in that he descries
‘full-stomach environmentalism’ — the Western idea that environmental consciousness can
only come out of prosperity (suggesting that Indian thought cannot be environmental). The
people he picks in this book, eight men and two women from all over the world, linked nature
to broader social and political thought with reference to India. Another thing they had in
common is that they wrote about their ideas, and were scholars. Refreshingly, the book leans
on a variety of sources to piece together the ideas Guha puts forward. Readers may remember
Jairam Ramesh’s tome on Indira Gandhi as an environmentalist (A Life in Nature); this book
too uses letters, talks and papers as sources.
I read with great interest the chapter on Mira Behn, the sole woman in this book (the other
lady is one-half of a married couple who advocated for ecological agriculture, Albert and
Gabrielle Howard). Mira’s writings are especially interesting for two reasons. One is their
relevance even today — one of her concerns was on the intrusion of pine trees in Himalayan
oak forests, a problem which still persists (and is exacerbated by human-induced disturbance
and fire); another was the disappearance of the Haldu tree, which still doesn’t get the
ecological importance it deserves. The other is her enquiry into an unthinking forest
department. In many passages, the book is not just an appraisal of the problems of India a
century ago, but becomes a reflection of issues we face today.
Guha writes of Tagore describing cities as parasites, of anthropologist Elwin describing the
Gond understanding of nature as both beautiful and savage, which is increasingly true under
climate change.
On Tagore and Mukherjee, Guha recalls their fondness for a tree with “coils”, the banyan
tree. Guha writes that Krishnan does not like Indian animals being called Western epithets
(for example, the Gaur is wrongly known as the bison). Playfully though, Guha calls
Krishnan India’s John Muir. Krishnan was a naturalist who wrote about all animals, whether
big, small, endangered or common; and like Muir he too advocated for a view of
untrammelled nature, Guha argues.
Skilful framing
In its skilful framing of environmentalism not as an abstract or aesthetic concept but as

something deeply linked to economics, agriculture and other fields of public interest, the
book might be seen as a prophecy waiting to be fulfilled. We still require a much more
ecological path to development, not crumbs off the table of industrial growth.
Guha’s skill is his deep questioning and questing into a wide variety of sources for creating
richly detailed accounts which might be described as interdisciplinary; this is a book that is
likely to surprise you. As a conservation biologist, I would be interested to read Guha’s
writing on present environmental ferment on the non-human. Such as the burgeoning Rights
of Nature movement; and on the tree he refers to so many times — a political and
environmental history of the banyan.
Speaking With Nature; Ramachandra Guha, Fourth Estate, ₹799.
The reviewer is a conservation biologist and author of Wild and Wilful: Tales of 15 Iconic
Indian Species. She tweets at nehaa_sinha
Published - November 15, 2024 09:02 am IST

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Review of Ramachandra Guha’s Speaking With

Nature: Under the banyan tree

Published - November 15, 2024, 09:02 am IST

One would expect a list of tribal leaders, hunters-turned-conservationists, (‘repentant

Links with social thought

In its skilful framing of environmentalism not as an abstract or aesthetic concept but as

Speaking With Nature; Ramachandra Guha, Fourth Estate, ₹799.

Published - November 15, 2024 09:02 am IST

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