Prof. Anita Rathi
Abstract:
This research paper examines the water and nature conservation techniques practiced in ancient India, with a primary focus on the Vedic period (c. 1500–600 BCE). Using literary, archaeological, and ecological evidence, the study demonstrates that early Indian societies developed systematic and contextually sophisticated mechanisms for managing water and natural resources. These conservation practices were not incidental but reflected an integrated worldview that bridged cosmology, social norms, economic needs, and ecological balance. Classical texts such as the Rigveda, Atharvaveda, Taittiriya Samhita, and later treatises like the Arthashastra attest to a tradition that valued water harvesting, forest protection, pasture management, and seasonal regulation of resource extraction. The paper argues that this Vedic tradition of resource stewardship laid conceptual and practical foundations for later environmental consciousness in India and that it can inform contemporary debates on sustainable resource management.
