Draft version for this Conference use only. Do not quote without author’s permission. 'Colonial Landscape In A Princely State: British Land Policies In Rural Spaces Of Ajanta' Bina Sengar (Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University, Aurangabad, India) ([email protected]) _____________________________________________________________________________ Abstract: ‘Ajanta’, for common perception is an ancient cave heritage site in the northern region of Deccan plateau in South Asia. The name and place became significant in the beginning of the 19th century when the British Officials visited the site while surveying and doing their flamboyant hunting expeditions. The communities which dominated the region were of tribal clans of Bhil, Mahadeo Koli, Malhar Koli and Banjara. Ajanta came under the ‘cusp zone’ of British colonial empire and the native princely state of the Hyderabad-Nizam. The hilly terrain above the Ajanta region where tribal communities dominated was used for hunting expeditions’ by the authorities’. The river valley area of Ajanta village was the major trade route, where the revenue exercised from the downhill valley zone was based on trade excise and local agrarian produce. After the exploration of Ajanta, the landscape and agricultural patterns in the region were revised. Hyderabad State with the British Empire reframed the strategy of agricultural managements in the region. The research paper, therefore, mainly studies the outcomes of preliminary and revised agricultural and forest management surveys which took place in the region in 19th and early decades of 20th century. Second aspect of probing is the shift in the agricultural, trade and forest landscapes because of the novel ‘Ajanta Cave Heritage Site’ interventions in the rural regions of Ajanta. The paper will explore the problematic of framework and linearity imposed over diversified community practices of agriculture and landscapes. _____________________________________________________________________________ 2 Old and New Worlds: the Global Challenges of Rural History | International Conference, Lisbon, ISCTE-IUL, 27-30 January 2016 2 I 1. Landscape Administration-Native Vs Colonialists A valuable function of the metaphor of landscape is that it solidifies cultural memories of place in representational form and in material textures, which together form what we might call a `culture of landscape'.1 The experience, memory, or culture of a place can be re-presented through a culture of landscape. Memory is central to an understanding of the value of landscapes to migrant communities. Memory, along with the shifting contexts and sites of home, is a significant factor in shaping the nature of geographies of belonging, being, and desire. In the case of British Asians, landscapes provide a set of solid, framed space times that reflect their dynamism as `theatres of memory'. The signification of places through objects operates on the mnemonic scale, which cannot be conflated with utopian, dreamlike, or even misremembered narratives of the past. This mnemonic mode requires organised, discrete visual spaces, able to be recalled and restated in their original form2. Symbols are what unite and divide people. Symbols give us our identity, our self-image, our way of explaining ourselves to others. Symbols in turn determine the kinds of stories we tell; and the stories we tell determine the kind of history we make and remake. Landscapes on the ground and as represented in various surfaces have come to be regarded as deposits of cultural and symbolic meaning. The iconographic method seeks to explore these meanings through describing the form and composition of landscape in their social and historical contexts. Moreover, geographical iconography accepts that landscape meanings are unstable, contested and highly political. Spurred on by these developments and the upsurge of interest in the forces at work in the production of landscape, geographers have begun to explore the role of public statuary in articulating the politics of power and expressing national identity in a variety of different contexts3. Whenever we emphasis or comprehend the rural landscape and environment heritage relations then we overwhelmingly delve into the rural land systems administration and seek the answers for overall destruction/reconstruction/landscaping in the rural regions with the human intervention in the forest tracts and land areas. This theory often substantiated through various empirical studies and our overall impressions very often leads to the colonial/capitalists human practices which lead to overall destruction of the rural- vernacular4 heritage or the ecological spheres. For us, rural communities or tribal communities of the third world when they are hunters-gatherers or living a primitive/subsistence life then only could only lead to a harmonious biosphere. The debate on the environmental history of South-Asia & India that emerged during the last quarter of the twentieth century, which focuses predominantly on forestry, rural spaces further validate these theories and states categories’ of forest/environmental degradations into categories’ viz. Commercialisation of forests and conservation of forests (Guha, 1983). The first school of thought argues that while forest resources were exploited for commercial purposes’, there was an appalling neglect of the forest dwellers and users (Grove, 1995). On the other hand, the second school contends that though the commercialisation of rural landscape and their practices and forests occurred, conservation was also duly emphasised (Grove, 1989). Further, commercialisation of forests, according to this school, was not an early nineteenth century phenomenon but widely prevalent even before colonial rule. Literature and empirical observations suggests that; prior 1 Divya P Tolia-Kelly, Mobility/stability: British Asian cultures of `landscape and Englishness', Environment and Planning, volume 38, 2006: 341-358 2 Ibid. 3 Y. Whelan, ‘The construction and destruction of a colonial landscape: monuments to British monarchs in Dublin before and after independence’, Journal of Historical Geography, 28, 4 (2002) Pp. 508-533, P. 509-510 4 Gabriele Battani-Dragoni, ‘’The Rural-vernacular habitat: a heritage in our landscape’, Futuropa-For a new vision of landscape territory, No.1, 2008, P. 3 3 Old and New Worlds: the Global Challenges of Rural History | International Conference, Lisbon, ISCTE-IUL, 27-30 January 2016 3 to colonial intervention, colonial exploitation of forests produce was largely restricted to the collection of spices (such as pepper and cardamom) herbs, wood, and that of ivory, where extraction did not pose a serious threat either to the ecology or customary use. This ensured renewal and sustainability.5 Different studies have pointed out that equilibrium of natural resources base existed between AD 800 and AD 18006. The historiographical questions on various issues pertaining to rural landscape and environmental history and change further explore the connections to human and environment and the way each other reciprocate as a way to propose some alternatives to the extant modes of writing rural and environmental history in India. One is the noticeable persistence of political processes in different historical periods that pertained to defining and managing boundaries between wildness, rural vernacular landscape and civility in Indian society. The other is the ways in which, in any period, the prevalent ideas of nature can be related to different aspects of social life, like labour, aesthetics, politics, commerce, or agriculture and admittedly in exploring the interrelation of these two sets of historiographical questions.7 2. Seeking Historical Connections in the Rural Environment of Ajanta Both history and heritage make a selective use of the past for current purposes and transform it through interpretation. History is what a historian regards as worth recording and heritage is what contemporary society chooses to inherit and to pass on. The distinction is only that in heritage current and future uses are paramount, the resources more varied, including much that historians would regard as a historical, and the interpretation is more obviously and centrally the product that is consumed8. To examine aspects of monument heritage and community heritage, the structures of history and heritage were likely to be understood. It can be argued that both history and heritage conceive of, and use, the past in similar ways. Nevertheless, however, much agreement in theory can now be demonstrated in the argument below, familiar to most historians, differences in the detailed practice is a frequent source of dissonance, as will be described later in many contexts9. Tourism does not simply reflect upon culture and the environment; it also serves to alter and re-create both. In the past, we have assumed that much of this alteration and re-creation has occurred through tourism practices that originated with accommodations to privileged travelers predominately from western industrialized countries that with the advent of industrial capitalism, evolved into a kind of tourism for the masses. Much of this tourism was constructed on assumptions of cultural superiority on the part of the tourist and highly exoticized imageries of the toured as being simpler, out of touch, quaintly interesting, sometimes suitably subservient, and on some other occasions threatening and dangerous. This was true of much of the tourism directed to foreign lands, as well as domestic tourism directed to rural places. In such terms, culture as a tourism product gained its primary value through demonstrating fundamental differences between the tourist and the toured (Chambers, 2009). The anthropologist Erve Chambers distinguished a professionalized public heritage that values historical accuracy from a private heritage experienced by community members with ties to 5 Velayutham Saravanan, ‘Colonialism and Coffee plantations: Decline of Environment and tribals in Madras Presidency during the nineteenth century’, Indian Economic and Social History Review, Vol. 41, No. 4, 2004, P. 465-467 6 Ibid. 7 K. Sivaramakrishnan, ‘Forests And The Environmental History Of Modern India’, The Journal of Peasant Studies, Vol. 36, No. 2, April 2009, Pp. 299–324 8Turnbridge and Ashworth, Op.cit., p. 6 9 Tunbridge, J.E. and G.J. Ashworth, Dissonant Heritage: Conflict Management of the Past as a Resource in Conflict, New York, John Wiley and Sons, 1996, p. 6-7 4 Old and New Worlds: the Global Challenges of Rural History | International Conference, Lisbon, ISCTE-IUL, 27-30 January 2016 4 the local past (Chambers, 2009). The two axes tangible/intangible and public/private are distinct. Tangible and intangible are characteristics of the heritage itself; they describe its form. Public and private are concerned with the values and attitudes about heritage, particularly in its social and institutional context. Thus, four possible heritage types are possible long these axes: tangible heritage that is public or private and intangible heritage that is public or private10 (Chhabra, 2003). It is usually admitted that tourism plays an important role in economic development, providing long-term benefits to local economies, mostly when implemented on a sustained way. The capacity of tourism to establish synergies with several other activities, like lodging, feeding, drinking, transport and entertainment services for tourists, makes tourism a structuring sector of many economies (Vareiro and Ribeiro, 2007). They have been involved as cheap labour in the hospitality tourist industry, their images are marketed to the tourist, they perform representations of their culture and produce souvenirs; however, it is primarily the non - Indigenous tourist agents who have attained the economic benefits. Furthermore, it is these agents who have defined how Indigenous cultures and identities are commoditized to become an attractive commercial product of tourism (Coronado, 2014). Fyall and Garrod define heritage tourism as an economic activity that makes use of socio- cultural assets to attract visitors (Fyall and Garrod, 2000). Hollinshead (1988) asserts that local traditions and community heritage can serve as attractions and that heritage tourism embraces folkloric traditions, arts and crafts, ethnic history, social customs, and cultural celebrations. Poria et al define heritage tourism more narrowly as “a phenomenon based on visitors’ motivations and perceptions rather than on specific site attributes” (2001) Zeppel and Hall also emphasize motivation, and view heritage tourism, as “based on nostalgia for the past and the desire to experience diverse cultural landscapes and forms” (1991)11. II 3. AJANTA: ITS ENVIRONS AND ITS GEOGRAPHY The caves of Ajanta are located on the Ajanta Hills, the hill range sprawls among three districts of North-western region of Maharashtra; Aurangabad district, Jalgaon district and Buldhana district. The rivers with irrigate this range are mainly River Waghor and River Girna which are further supported by several of small rivulets, cascades and nalas further these two rivers create a wide catchment area by being tributaries to river Tapti. The caves have obtained their present name of Ajanta from a neighboring village, the usual local pronunciation of which is Ajinthii. It would thus be seen that the words Ajitafijaya and Ajanta seem to be very closely related. It is also likely that the full ancient name of this monastic establishment was Ajitafijayasthina from which the word Ajintha could be an easy derivative. Ajita is also the lay- name of Maitreya or the Future Buddha (Deshpande, 1973)12. 10Frederick J. Conway, ‘Local and public heritage at a World Heritage site’, Annals of Tourism Research 44 (2014) Pp. 143–155,. 11Deepak Chhabra, Robert Healy and Erin Sills, Staged Authenticity and Heritage Tourism, Annals of Tourism Research, Vol. 30, No. 3, pp. 702–719, 2003, P. 12Deshpande, M.N., The Art of Ajanta: Sculpture, 1973 5 Old and New Worlds: the Global Challenges of Rural History | International Conference, Lisbon, ISCTE-IUL, 27-30 January 2016 5 Fig. No. 1: Maharashtra-Geographic Regions’ Source: Internet Ajanta Caves as Historical Heritage Site: Ajanta's Cave 26-complex seems to hold a special position in the history of Indian rock-cut architecture for many reasons. It was the largest and most elaborate caityagriha-complex in its time. It transformed Ajanta from just another sanghārāma of Buddhist India to a catalytic force that engineered the rejuvenation of Indian rock-cut architecture in general and the renaissance of Ajanta in particular. Contrary to the long cherished and still officially held view that it was a late Vākātaka phase caityagraha, fresh facts are presented here that support Walter M. Spink's proposition that in terms of chronology it was only the second excavation of the Vākā aka period after Cave 8. It was the first caityagrarha to be built after a gap of two and a half centuries, but it had a rare arrangement of four flanking wings. In due course, further adjuncts were added in the form of large lenas13(Caves 21, 23, and 24) – all probably patronised by a single monk named Buddhabhadra. The donor's taste is visible in the introduction of many unique features, some unprecedented, that heralded the era of individualism in Buddhist art and architecture. It dispels the notion that all sanghārāmas were the handiwork of the sangha and that individuals had no role to play in the construction of edifices. In the end, two individuals are brought into focus, Dharmadatta and Bhadrabandhu, who were thanked by the donor in his inscription for ‘seeing to the execution of the work’ on his behalf. They must have been the architects (sthapatis or sutradhāras who masterminded the grandest rock-cut project known until then. The value of their accomplishment is properly realised when we come to know about the trying circumstances under which they performed. They may be considered the first known Master Architects of Indian art. 13Its important to note here that Burgess continued to use the term Lena in his writings about the Ajanta caves and gave fair amount of emphasis to the Lehnapur when one explored these caves. 6 Old and New Worlds: the Global Challenges of Rural History | International Conference, Lisbon, ISCTE-IUL, 27-30 January 2016 6 The sanghārāma (monastery) of Ajanta witnessed two distinct phases of artistic and architectural development. The first phase of activity took place during the Sātavāhana period, when Caves 9, 10, 12, 13, and 15A (or 30) were excavated14. The second phase of activity took place when the region was under the control of the Vākātaka King Harisena. Image No:-1 & 2 : Landscape of Ajanta Caves and its Environs Source: Wikimedia and Archaeological Survey of India Ajanta which is almost synonym for the world heritage site Ajanta caves, is more than what we know as Ajanta; Ajanta is a hill range which traverses from Vidarbha to Khandesh regions.15Ajanta or Ajintha is a village which was a trading town on the trade route from Avanti to Pratishthana in ancient times of Indian history and later in medieval and late medieval times was an important revenue collecting town and trade centre. 16( In 1730’s when Nizam took over the administration of Mughal Suba of Deccan, Ajanta village continued to have its strategic importance, therefore, it was fortified in the 1740, under the rule of first Nizam (Give reference). Ajanta, the well-established town, thus, identified the northern territories of Nizam’s Aurangabad division.17 The geographic locations of village Ajanta is in the foothills of Ajanta hills and above is the villages inhabited people of Maratha, Muslim and tribal communities. 14Rajesh Kumar Singh*, The Early Development of the Cave 26-Complex at Ajanta, South Asian Studies, Volume 28, Issue 1, 2012 15James Burgess, The rock-cut temples of Ajanta: with an account of a trip to Aurangabad and Ellora (Google eBook), Times of India, 1868 16Ibid., P. 3-4 17Sir William Wilson Hunter, Imperial Gazetteer of India, Vol.-I, Clarendon Press, 1908, P. 117 7 Old and New Worlds: the Global Challenges of Rural History | International Conference, Lisbon, ISCTE-IUL, 27-30 January 2016 7 Fig. No. 2: Aurangabad and Ajanta Agricultural Distribution in Maharashtra Ajanta Source: Maps of India III 4. Colonial heritage landscaping in Ajanta While it is held up for the West the example of a “superior” and “living” tradition of architectural craftsmanship, Indian architecture, in Fergusson’s view also carried the supreme value of historical and ethnographic evidence in a country where few written records existed. Through the 1860’s and 1870’s, Fergusson gave himself to over to the fulfilment of these twin demands of the subject: extracting from this chosen field both the lessons to perfect form and the clues to an unknown history. In 1866 his most programmatic manifesto on the subject appeared where he set out the main aesthetic and intellectual compulsions of the study of Indian architecture (Guha-Thakurta, 2004)18. The echoes of Fergusson’s first tour keeping resonating in the continuing priority he placed in this period on the necessity of detailed 18Guha, TapatiThakurta, Monuments, Objects, Histories: Institutions of Arts in Colonial and Postcolonial India, Columbia, Columbia University Press- Indian Edition by Permanent Black, 2004: Pp. 21-22 8 Old and New Worlds: the Global Challenges of Rural History | International Conference, Lisbon, ISCTE-IUL, 27-30 January 2016 8 accurate visual replication of monuments, through casts, drawings, facsimiles’ and photographs. ..We see its manifestations in the first photographic surveys undertaken by Colonel Thomas Briggs and Dr. William Pigou in the Deccan during 1855-1856, by Major Gill at Ajanta and Ellora in the 1860’s19. With the efforts of Robert Gill, the earliest photographic archive on the subject matter began to accumulate in the headquarters of the empire-each image exuding the authority of the photographer viewing the monument on-site-what seizes one’s attention is Fergusson’s complete reliance on the camera images as the ultimate architectural record. Presenting again “The Rock Cut Temples of India,” Illustrated this time with seventy four stereoscopic views of Ajanta and Ellora by Maj. Robert Gill, Fergusson was convinced that these “photographs tell their story far more clearly than any form of words that could be devised.” In the on-going study therefore we are examining the emergence and impact of a Monument heritage site of Ajanta Caves into prime touristic destination in a specific geographic area of forest tracts surrounded with the native populations. The development of the tourism in the region is studied from the nineteenth century till the beginning of on-going twenty first century. With the changing times the scope of the tourist site has increased, now with the incorporation of the heritage site and the surrounding territories and inclusion of tribal villages expanded scope of the heritage site so it is in process increasing its possibilities from being an monument heritage based touristic site to becoming an eco-touristic heritage site. It could be subsumed that the with increasing awareness about the geographic region and its community histories there is a widening of the touristic influx in the caves as well as in the villages of Ajanta hill range. Under the Nizam’s rule and neighboring British territories’ of Khandesh which adjoined the Ajanta range there were caste communities and tribal communities dominating the forest tracts. Among them the communities which dominated the region and its forest tracts were distinct fisherman castes/communities of Kolis (Malhar Koli, Bibi-Koli, etc..), but the occupational communities were followed as a supplement to other means of support, by Mahrattas/Marathas, Bhois, Kahars, Bhils, Tadvis, Pardhis, Baujaras, Mahars, Mochis, Musalmans, etc. Bhils were the largest tribe of Western India, and the third largest tribal community in the country. They are concentrated in small parts of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Khandesh region of Maharashtra. In the nineteenth century the Bhils were called as the ‘Bhils of the hills’20 Gujarat Bhils belong to two main divisions, one of partly Rajput and the other of pure Bhil descent. The former of have adopted certain Rajput clan names, such as Baria, DangiSavra, Katara, Malwania, Parmar and Rathod.21 The pur Bhils were chiefly found in Rewakantha and the Panchmahals. They are of two kinds: Hill and plain Bhils. These two kinds are further sub-divided into numerous clans. But as all intermarry and differ in no way in their habit and custom it would serve no useful purpose. Wilhelm Koppers presumes the homeland of Bhils as follows; the original homeland of the Bhils seems to point towards the Aravali Mountains and the western Vindhyas. It seems probable that the western Satpuras need not be considered those latter regions, as they are not healthy and still largely un-habited. Therefore one may consider the western Vindhyas and the Aravallis to be the most probable homeland of the Bhils.22There are legends associated to their origin in Puranas and 19Ibid., P. 21-22 20Lancy Lobo, op. cit., p. 4844. 21 James Campbell, ‘Criminal Classes of Bombay Presidency’, Bombay, MSA, 1904, p. 37 22 Wilhelm Koppers and L. Jungblut, Bowmen of Mid-India, Vol. I, Series Indica-6 Wien (Vienna), 1976, p. 10; Also see G. A. Grierson “The Bhil languages including khanabadoshibanjanmi, or lahani, Bharupia 9 Old and New Worlds: the Global Challenges of Rural History | International Conference, Lisbon, ISCTE-IUL, 27-30 January 2016 9 Mahabharata and anthropologists for more than a century have been trying to find the origin of the Bhils23. It is absolutely surprising that they have repeated the ancient origin of the Bhils and postulated their affiliation to diverse peoples without any empirical evidence at all.24 In the Ajanta hills fishing water carrying and safeguarding the trade routes by the tribal communities was a regular feature in the nineteenth and twentieth century. The fishing communities of Koli’s formed royalties and were let out to contractors, who alone possessed the right to sell fish. The contractors again allowed the people on payment, to capture fish for their own consumption. In past before the formation of State of Maharashtra it was divided among the British Bombay presidency, Nizam’s dominion and smaller Bhil Principalities within the Ajanta hills. Nizam’s dominion in the Northern western part comprised of Aurangabad and Berar divisions. The region of Berar ran through the border of Aurangabad division touching the Tapti river. In the East, North and North West areas it shared its boundaries with the Central provinces25. On the west the border of the Berar is merely an artificial line cutting across a broad valley from the Satpura mountains to the hills on which stands Ajanta, and preceding southward over these hills until it turns eastward by a sharp angle near Jalna. The Ajanta range intersected the whole province of Berar from west to east, and its steep ridges divide the interior geography into two systems. Setting aside the Melghat mountain tract as abnormal, we have two distinct sections of Berar-the hills: the Payanghat or the low land country, bounded on the north by the Gawaligarh hills and on the South by the outer scraps of the Ajanta range; and the Balaghat or upland country above the Ajanta ridge, sloping down Southward beyond the ghats or passes which lead up it. The Payanghat is a wide valley running up eastward between this ridge26. The credit of constructing Buddhist caves in Ajanta goes to Vakatakas, although there is no evidence of the direct involvement of the Vakatakas in Ajanta there are two strong reasons to believe that Harishena supported the cause, one he has been eulogised in Ajanta inscriptions even though he was a ‘Hindu’ King, and two it was during his reign and within his dominion that Buddhist rock cut architecture was revived in India after centuries’ of lull27. After being abandoned for many centuries, the site received the world’s attention in the early nineteenth century. According to prevailing belief, published frequently in literature on Ajanta. It was John Smith who first re-discovered the caves in 1819. This, however, is contested and Coleman McLaughin states that natives of Ajanta were already aware about the Ajanta caves and worshipped it, according to him it’s around 1805 that the caves were rediscovered by the people of the region28. and others” in hisLinguistics Survey Of India, Vol. IX, Indo-Aryan Family Central Group Part III, Calcutta, Govt. Printing Press, 1907, p. 1 23ShubhangiPawar, Ethnobotany of Jalgaon District, New Delhi, Daya Books, 2008 24 Robert Deliege, The Bhils Of Western India: Some Empirical And Theoretical Issues In Anthropology In India,New Delhi, National Pub. House, 1985, p. 14. ‘It has been said that the word ‘Bhil’ is derived from the word ‘Bhil’ of the Dravidian language. The word means ‘arrow’ which is essential element for the Bhil’. For further details see, M. R. Palande (ed.), Gujarat State Gazetteer: Panchmahals District, Ahmedabad, Govt. Press. 1961. p. 207, and Shobhnath Pathak, BhilonKe Beech Bees Varsh, (Hindi) Delhi. Prabhat Pub. 1983. p. 17 25Sir Alfred ComynLyall, Gazetteer for the Haidarábád Assigned Districts, Comminly Called Berár (Google eBook), Printed at the Education Society's Press, Byculla, 1870, Chapter I 26Ibid., Chapter-I 27Ibid., P. 16 28Colmán McLaughlin,”Stupendous Monuments Indeed of the Superstition of Former Ages”, Eli Franco, Monika Zin (Ed.), From Turfan to Ajanta: Festschrift for Dieter Schlingloff on the Occasion of His Eightieth Birthday, Volume 1, Lumbini International Research Institute, 2010, Pp. 627-641 1 Old and New Worlds: the Global Challenges of Rural History | International Conference, Lisbon, ISCTE-IUL, 27-30 January 2016 100 IV 5. Impact of the colonial heritage landscape maneagement At the same time as the Nizam dispatched Yazdani to study the murals, he also sent two Italian conservationists to help restore them. Unfortunately, their efforts only obscured the murals further: they coated the pigments with a thick layer of unbleached shellac which sat on top of at least two existing Victorian layers of varnish. The shellac attracted grime, dust and dried bat dung and quickly oxidised to a dark reddish brown which totally obscured the images from both travellers and scholars. Less than a century after being rediscovered by a British shooting party in 1819, the figures of caves nine and ten had been lost again. For the entire length of the 20th century they remained effectively hidden, invisible to the naked eye, forgotten by all. -William Dalrymple29 The bare physical facts of the deterioration of Ajanta’s environment are by now well established forms of livelihood crucially dependent on the bounty of nature, such as agriculture, fishing, cattle-rearing or basket weaving are nearly abandoned in all over Ajanta and its people . Those who once subsisted on these occupations are joined by the band of ‘ecological refugees’, flocking to neighbouring cities in search of employment30. Jaffersonian Vs. Gandhian model of Agrarian peasantry31: Theorise the space, environment and cultural praxis... How the people define a space and environment? The environment of spaces is identified with the people who live with the places and by it. “...the cultural dynamics-the processes of cultural change, exchange and persistence that have produced today’s observed pattern of diversity and similarity.32 As stated by Guha, “...the conventional wisdom of Northern Social Sciences an alternative and sometimes oppositional framework for more fully understanding both the ‘full stomach’ environmentalism of the north as well as the ‘empty- belly’ environmentalism of the south Varieties of Environmentalism deals with the perceptions and valuations of nature among Subordinated social groups, such as peasants and fisherfolk.33 Destruction of forests in pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial times in India...the exploitation of forests and forest wealth continued in independent India; forest degradation even increased because of the expansion of modern infrastructure (roads, electricity) and the pressure of a steadily growing population. Even so, forest regions continued to be the home and life bases of many tribal and peasant communities in various parts of India. Forests are culturally constructed and appropriated in diverse ways by local residents; they are meaningful 29 William Dalrymple, Ajanta Restoration: Unseen Ajanta-The Oldest Classical Indian Paintings, Retrieved From Time, and Decay, Outlook Magazine, Nov. 24, 2014, Weblink: http://www.outlookindia.com/article/unseen-ajanta/292587 30Ibid., p. 4 31Ibid., p. 5 32Gerald Roche, ‘Flows and Frontiers’: Landscape and Cultural Dynamics on the Northeast Tibetan Plateau’, The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology, Vol. 15, No. 1, 2014, Pp. 1-25 33Ramchandra Guha and Juan Martinez-Alier, Varieties of Environmentalism: Eassys North and South, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1998 (Indian Edition) Earthscan-1997, pp. xxi,