Abstract

There is an urgent need for environmental awareness in order to re-establish the broken link betweenmodern man and nature. The belief that nature can be exploited indiscriminately can be shattered only when manrealizes that the price he is paying for manipulating nature is in fact making man reach the end of his ‘carryingcapacity’. The impact of climate change is having a drastic effect on life on earth leading to global warming, greenhouse effect, natural and manmade disasters. Global environmental awareness is of recent origin. But in India,evidence of this awareness can be found even in the pre-Vedic Aryan period.The aim and objective of this study is to showcase the rich ancient Indian tradition of taking care of the environment.Whether it was due to awe and wonder or love and respect for the nature, the ancient Indian societies founded on theVedic philosophical traditions had established a way of living that was in tune with nature and its surroundings. Theseancient Indian thoughts throw light upon the protection of flora and fauna, about the importance given topanchamahabhutas, fundamental principles of ecology, about the importance of performing yajnas and providingadministrative rules on environmental issues.In this paper, an effort is made to understand the environmental awareness that was prevalent in ancient India and tobring out its relevance to the present scenario. Nature can take care of itself provided man is aware of therepercussions of his actions on the environment