Understanding The Nature In Artworks

We do not see nature with our eyes, But with our understandings and our hearts (Hazlitt 249). Every night is sealed with the hope of waking up fresh the next day to see the beauty around. Our eyes would not be regarded so special without it seeing the beauty of things that nature has gifted us. As a child looks at the wide sea, coloured flowers, mountain ranges, animals, and plants with bliss and wonder, man does not do; especially, when he grows up. Humans’ relationship with nature has undoubtedly been one of contention and turmoil; especially, in the recent years. The manner in which we treat and define this living poem, the nature has garnered increased attention in the past four decades. Is it possible to live in harmony with the nature? Are humans a part of, or apart from nature? With human interference with nature, do we intend to mean that nature can no longer be ‘natural’? These are some of the recurring questions which artists have grappled in literature as well as films.

For what is nature? Nature is no great mother who has borne us. She is our creation. It is our brain that she quickens to life. Things are because we see them, and what we see, and how we see it, depend on the arts that have influenced us. To look at a thing is very different from seeing a thing. One does not see anything until one sees its beauty. Then, and only then, does it come into existence (Wilde 27). To stand and support for nature against all odds caused by mankind has come ecocriticism—critically voicing for the ecosystems. Ecocriticism is commonly defined as “the study of the relationship between literature and the physical environment” (Glotfelty xviii). As one of the newest forms of literary criticism, to emerge at the end of the twentieth century, ecocriticism was formalized as a literary theory in the late 1970s amidst concerns of human-induced environmental degradation, which has forced human, especially artists, to re-evaluate their relationship with nature.

Ecocriticism has since grown in areas previously untouched by literary theory. However, despite significant development within the last thirty years, ecocriticism still exhibits great potential for further growth and cultivation (Harrington and Tallmadge xv). William Rueckert, the first to coin the term ‘ecocriticism’ in his essay “Literature and Ecology: An Experiment in Ecocriticism” (originally published in 1978), but by no means the first ecocritic, developed this landmark literary theory as a means to “experiment with the application of ecology and ecological concepts to the study of literature” (107). Ecocriticism emphasizes that all living entities exist not only in a reciprocal relationship with each other, but with their non-living environment as well. Man need to occupy nature’s place and multiply prospects have caused a threat to nature’s place. The issue of place exists for a long time, and is so high that it needs immediate attention. This is seen in a significant role in Wordsworth’s writings on the Lake District to such a great extent that it has allowed critics such as Jonathan Bate to claim that not only is Wordsworth a poet attempting to foreground his environment, but that the extent to which he does this, and the ethical slant with which he handles the portrayal of the land, allows us to view and regard him as “one of the begetters of environmentalism” (Song of the Earth 139). Hardy’s Wessex is another prime example of a place, that too complete with a map, which shows how the author is “intensely responsive to the natural world and human relations with that world” (Kerridge 126).

Wessex is quite famously featured in the novel Far From the Madding Crowd, where, in the novel’s preface, Hardy describes it as a “partly real, partly dream-country” (4). The application of ecocriticism to other artistic media, film in particular, has been lacking as more emphasis is given to written texts. “Rarely has cinema in general been viewed through an ecocritical lens, nor has there been much evidence in the main venues of ecocriticism of the sustained application of ecocritical strategies to film and cinema studies” (Ivakhiv 1). However, even though it is apparent that with critics such as Ivakhiv giving prominence to the use of ecocritical principals in studying filmic texts, the range of films that have been selected for such an analysis has been narrow, with critics concentrating mostly on films that “portray nature and its defenders positively” (Ivakhiv 1). Films such as Gorillas in the Mist (Apted), Never Cry Wolf (Ballard) and Erin Brockovich (Soderbergh) fit such a description (Ivakhiv 1). When representing the environment on film, it appears that what concerns the ecocritic is not only the issue of whether or not the environment is given as much importance as the human characters, but also the issue of the authenticity of the environment that is being represented on film. All films, fiction or non-fiction, occur in some place, with some setting. Some films choose to, or are able to, use the real location depicted in the film, such as the Amazon jungle in Werner Herzog’s Fitzcarraldo. Nature is symbolized with women: several adjectives denoting nature are ideal and open reference made to women.

For instance, ‘Mother Earth’, ‘virgin forest’, ‘rape of the land,’ etc. are references which do little in sealing the fissure between humans and humans, and between humans and nature, are part of the cause of the mutual subordination of women and nature (Berman 261–265). These phrases, as Berman suggests, are very languages used by many environmentalists who are fighting for socio-ecological change. Berman explores the harm inherent in the use of the ‘rape’ metaphor that accompanies environmental discourse by pointing out that if it is true that humans tend to actualize the symbols they create and use, then “we see that the rape metaphor sets up the exploitation of Nature as akin to the rape of a woman. If metaphors are not just arbitrary language use, but a reflection of our physical, cultural and social realities which in turn structure our activities, the use of the rape metaphor has grave implications” (Berman 265). The metaphor ‘Mother Earth’ and ‘Mother Nature’ are the best examples of ecofeminism: in a world of patriarchal culture, the mother is the one who satisfies all our needs, takes away waste, cleans and feeds us without any cost to us. “While it is true that we have a certain dependence on our mother, we also have many expectations—it is unlikely that your mother will hurt you” (263).

Basing her argument on similar principles, Louise Westling, a prominent ecofeminist, opines that “as we continue to feminize nature and imagine ourselves apart from the biota, we will continue to enable the ‘heroic’ destruction of the planet, even as we lament the process and try to erase or deny our complicity in it,” a point which is applicable to human–nature relationship both in the real world and in literature (265). In challenging texts which, intentionally or not, uphold androcentric values whereby men are above both women and nature, ecofeminists aim to favour narratives in which the cultural and biological diversity that sustains life is celebrated; women’s biological specificity is recognized; and where women are seen, not as objects of nature, but as both subjects and creators of history (Libby 257). Ecostudies takes the position that all life exists as an interconnected web; with each life form occupying a node on the web—an indication that we cannot “separate humans from the natural environment” (Capra 20). In other words, humans are seen as mere extensions of the natural environment and there is no ontological difference between the two. Said thus, it is apparent that nature must be protected and that humans must live in harmony with nature. In this interconnected web of life, there exists no hierarchy—life is equal; and no life is more important than the other. Oh, yes, those trees! How terrible what they did with the trees. Because, the cottonwood suckles like a baby. Suckles on the mother water running under the ground. A cottonwood will talk to the mother water and tell her what humanbeings are doing. But then these men came and they began digging up the cottonwoods and moving them here and there for a terrible purpose(Marmon Silko 117). Man is bent on using nature as the sole purpose of humanity—as a cultural expansion. The relationship between morality and nature is observed ages back. Ralph Waldo Emerson states,That which once existed in intellect as pure law, has now taken body as Nature.

We can use nature as a convenient standard,and the metre of our rise and fall when man curses, nature still testifies to truth and love (84). Coates describes the manner in which people today, when they use nature to define their morality, see nature as something pure and good: “Nature is often presumed to be an objective reality with universal qualities unaffected by considerations of time, culture and place; an assumption especially, evident in appeals to nature as a source of external authority (witness the ever popular saying ‘Nature knows best’)” (1). One of the best examples of this morality and nature relationship sentiments is seen in Thoreau’s Walking. He exemplifies this and writes that “All good things are wild, and free” (35). Thoreau, like the Puritans who preceded him, uses nature as a moral compass, but, unlike them equates nature with goodness. His understanding is quite a narrow and specific one: it is not that all things wild and free are good, but that being good is equated with being wild and free. The implication of this, then, is that if a human were to live a life that is considered morally good, then one must live a life immersed in wild nature whereby one is not restricted by rules and order. Chris McCandless, while greatly influenced by Thoreau’s sense of nature-based morality, also lived by perceptions of nature based on his own construction.

For example, well into his journey into the wild, McCandless etched the following onto the inside wall of the magic bus in which he resided before moving further to Alaska: No longer to be poisoned by civilization he flees, and walks alone upon the land to become lost in the wild (Krakauer 162). What is interesting about this line is that it provides insight into McCandless’s viewing of nature not only as something which is morally pure, but that it is morally pure because it stands in opposition to humanity. Humanity, for him, is something by which one may be ‘Poisoned. ’ Thus, McCandless’s idea of becoming a virtuous person is determined by, simultaneously, immersing himself into nature and divorcing himself from society. To Thoreau, he is of the view that nature and God are one and the same. To see divinity in nature shows the amount of regard and appreciation these writers have for mother nature. “May we not see God? Are we to be put off and amused in this life, as it were with a mere allegory? Is not Nature, rightly read, that of which she is commonly taken to be the symbol merely? ”(Thoreau 403). In glorifying nature, and seeing them as a symbol of ultimate power, the romantic poets stood and still stand a trendsetting landmark. Among the core characteristics of most romantic artists is their affinity and admiration for employing nature as the central subject of their poetry, prose and painting. Art is a medium whereby an understanding of the universe is filtered through the human mind means that Romantic artists were by no means an exception in the practice of assigning human qualities to the nature. It is believed that nature is humanity’s salvation, especially, in its ability to curb the evils of science: “Peoples, know, then, once and for all, that nature wanted to preserve you from science as a mother snatches a dangerous weapon from the hands of her child; that all the secrets she hides from you are so many evils from which she protects you, and that the difficulty you have in learning is not the least of her favours” (Rousseau 14).

Rousseau likens nature to a mother, which is telling of his understanding of nature that he sees as that from which we may come to learn morality. Humanity is of course modern; but lacks moral intelligence and must be taught right from wrong. However, the most provocative metaphor Rousseau uses is his portrayal of science as a ‘dangerous weapon’, implying that nature (as a nature) ‘hides’ evils from humanity, and in so doing ‘protects’ humanity. This, of course, gives the impression that ‘nature knows best’, that humanity, given free reign, would become corrupt because it does not have moral knowledge, and that the secrets we would discover in the universe would lead us to become corrupt. It is not only the personification of nature as ‘mother’ which shows Rousseau’s view of nature, as the source of all good moral knowledge. However, Rousseau unwittingly, and ironically, taints nature by assigning human qualities to it, thus taking away nature’s ‘purity’, which is why he values it to begin with. Rousseau sees nature as a space in which no vice can ever exist. Inequality can only exist in human world, where humans are flawed and have the propensity for evil.

Just as Rousseau believed the nature was the greatest teacher of life and morality (98), so did many romantics believe the same thing. For example, Wordsworth, in his Tintern Abbey, states the following: well pleased to recognizeIn nature and the language of the senseThe anchor of my purest thoughts, the nurse,The guide, the guardian of my heart, and soulOf all my moral being (Collected Poems 107–11). It is clear here that Wordsworth perceives nature as the source of all moral knowledge. It is that which is able to give him moral guidance. As a result of this stance, Wordsworth advocates living a life closer to nature, and for Wordsworth, this meant living in a rural space. In his preface to Lyrical Ballads, Wordsworth argued that he had chosen the “Low and rustic life” in his poetry precisely because “in that condition the essential passions of the heart find a better soil in which they can attain their maturity, are less under restraint, and speak a plainer and more emphatic language; and, lastly, because in that condition the passions of men are incorporated with the beautiful and permanent forms of nature” (Complete Poetical Works 7). “Love of nature leads to love of mankind” (Bates Romantic Ecology 31). The love of nature is viewed and expressed in so many warm and inviting ways. Poets like Tennyson who, in the fifty-fifth verse of his In Memorium, called nature “red in tooth and claw” (15). Marquis de Sade and Algernon Charles Swinburne who questioned those who found nature to be the site of moral purity: “Nature averse to crime? I tell you nature lives and breathes by it; hungers at all her pores for bloodshed, aches in all her nerves for the help of sin, yearns with all her heart for the furtherance of cruelty” (158).

To Wordsworth, the high quality of life is “dependent on integration with, not subjugation of, nature” (Bates 33). William Cowper, who, in “Book VI” of “The Task”, states that he would not consider a friend “the man/Who needlessly sets foot upon a worm” (563–64). Coleridge, in his The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, describes the Mariner’s killing of albatross in value-laden diction: “With his cruel bow he lay’d full low/The harmless Albatross” (122–23). Also, in Coleridge’s To a Young Ass he expresses a sense of camaraderie with nature when, addressing the young ass, he exclaims “I hail thee Brother” (Poetical Works 26). In providing such readings of nature, the romantics made an attempt to explore, not nature, but the self through nature. In I Sing the Body Electric, when Whitman writes that he sees his “soul reflected in Nature” (71), or when Emily Dickinson compares a mountain to a ‘Grandfather’ (7) and the seasons to ‘children’ (6) in her poem numbered “LXXII”, it is evident that reading nature in human terms is evident in romanticism. Nature is imbued with a sense of kindness, serenity, order and purpose. To Henry Wadsworth Long-fellow, nature acted as ‘a fond mother’ in the poem Nature (1). Thus nature is regarded as a mother who knows only to shed love to her children no matter what they do to test her. Romantic’s love of nature was born out of opposition to the destructive effects of the Industrial Revolution. Indeed, it was during the romantic era that the artists of the time “took the word [‘pollution’] and applied it to what we now call environmental pollution” (Brimblecombe 83). It was the Romantics’ response to the Industrial Revolution which spurred on such a vociferous praise of nature, and such a vicious attack on mechanization.

This was the sentiment which was the motivation behind Blake’s characterization of factories as “dark Satanic Mills”(8) in his “And Did Those Feet in Ancient Time. ” It is also what led Wordsworth, in his sonnet “On the Projected Kendall and Windermere Railway”, to “Battle the threat” (Poetical Works 9) of industrialization and to call on the forces of nature to “protect against the wrong” (Poetical Works 14). Today, humanity has entered an era in which the destruction of nature has reached terrifying proportions: Carbon dioxide produced by the burning of fossil fuels is trapping the heat of the sun, causing the planet to become warmer. Glaciers and permafrost are melting, sea levels rising, rainfall patterns changing, winds growing stronger. Meanwhile, the oceans are overfished;deserts are spreading, forests shrinking, and fresh water becoming scarcer. The diversity of species upon the planet is diminishing (Songs of the Earth 24). Of course, ecocriticism, as a theory that is constantly changing, is also a theory to which additions are constantly being made, especially, additions from other disciplines. Given thus, ecocriticism is a literary theory still in development; there are several exciting ways in which it may branch out. One such direction may be a kind of merging of ecocriticism and psychoanalysis, a merging of theories which have proved valuable in recent times. Thus, it may be interesting to observe the ways in which ecocriticism may benefit from one of the most significant theories over the last century, a theory that has regularly contributed to our understanding of literature.

Nature is perceived in human terms for the purposes of establishing a relationship between humanity and nature that is ultimately for humanity’s survival. But nature, as depicted as a motherly figure warns us that we are lucky to be here; and insists to survive as a species alongside the presence of a woman who is becoming less tolerant of humanity in her home. It is not to be forgotten by humanity that part of valuing nature comes from valuing the diversity of species found within it as well. Every culture views nature in a different way: for example, the Native American perspective of nature when compared to the white American goes as: “We did not think of the great open plains, the beautiful rolling hills, and winding streams with tangled growth, as ‘wild. ’ Only to the white man was nature a ‘wilderness’ and only to him waste land ‘infested’ with ‘wild’ animals and ‘savage’ people. To us. it was tame” (Standing Bear). Nature with and literature have always shared a close bond and is evidenced in the works of poets and other writers down the ages. Now, this intimate relationship between the natural and social world is being analyzed in all departments. Indian Literature stands pioneer in this aspect defining nature in all spheres. India is a country with variety of ecosystems which ranges from Himalayas in the north to plateaus of south and from the dynamic Sunderbans in the East to dry Thar in the West. In times, however, these ecosystems have been adversely affected due to increase in population and avarice of mankind. Nature has two components: organisms and their environment that are not only complex and dynamic, but also interdependent, mutually reactive, and interrelated. Any disturbance in one, disturbs the other naturally.

Hence concern to replenish the diminishing factors of ecology which threatens human beings is crucial. Literature, well-known for reflecting the contemporary issues remains affected from this theme. It is this sense of concern and its reflection in literature that has given rise to a new branch of literary theory, namely, ecocriticism. Nature has been used as an important backdrop against which the plot develops. Raja Rao is found to be one of the most prominent writers of Indian English novels, and his depiction of the South Indian village culture and environmental setting is a true depiction of relationship between man and nature. In his Kanthapura, he has shown how rivers and mountain play an important role in people’s lives. They have names for mountain in the novel as Goddess Kenchamma; and they consider it responsible for their prosperity as well as adversity. Rao writes, “Kenchamma is our goddess. Great and bounteous is she … never has she failed us in grief. If rains come not, you fall at her feet and say, ‘Kenchamma you are not kind to us. Our field is full of younglings” (7). These few pages reminds us of the age old practices of our ancestors when nature was revered in the true literal sense.

The same decade produced R. K. Narayan, who has given life to a place Malgudi—also developed the place as a character—that can be seen in all his writings. He used landscape as an important theme and as mentioned in the earlier chapter this is also one of the important considerations under ecocriticism. Nature has proved to be stronger than man. It has often shown its power by controlling manpower through natural calamities like famine, drought, flood, earthquake, etc. man’s life and nature are so interlinked that it is not possible for human beings to separate themselves from its influence. Logically analyzed, it would be felt and concluded that man has caused immeasurable damages to nature, by penetrating their boundary, and thereby facing its consequences now and for the rest of future left. In Nectar in Seive, Kamala Markandya writes, “Nature is like a wild animal that you have trained to work for you. So long as you are vigilant and walk warily with thought and care, so long will it give you its aid; but look away for an instant, be heedless and forgetful, and it has you by the throat” (11). A writer who touches ecology not just as a dominant theme, but also shows concerns for natural depletion is Ruskin Bond. Anita Desai, yet another writer of the age, to whom animals, plants, and birds form nature.

Several others like Tagore, Kamala Das, Shoba de, Nissim Ezekiel, and AmitavGhosh, fit in the category of criticism that highlights its plot with nature as its backdrop. Amidst strong writers and works forming the web of Indian Literature, Jeyamohan’s The Forest, Rajam Krishnan’s When the Kurinji Blooms, Sa. Kandasamy’s The Defiant Jungle, Subrabharthimanian’s The Coloured Curtain, Bibhutibhusan BandyoPadhyaya’s Aranyak: of the Forest and Pundalik Naik’s Upheavel are the select novels that are taken for analysis in this thesis. It is to be noted that all these are translated novels, now sharing a common language—English. Aranyak: of the Forest takes Bengali; Upheavel in Konkani, The Defiant Jungle, The Coloured Curtain, The Forest, and When the Kurinji Blooms, Tamil. Jeyamohan is one of the most influential contemporary writers in Tamil and Malayalam. His entry into the world of literature is marked by a deep impact on the Tamil literary landscape that has emerged from the post-modern phase. His well-known novels include Vishnupuram, Venmurasu, Rubber, Pin Thodarum Nizhalin Kural, Kanyakumari, and Kaadu (The Forest). Jeyamohan’s writings are greatly influenced by the works of humanitarian thinkers Leo Tolstoy and Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. Reflecting on the strength of his rious life experiences and extensive travel around India, Jeyamohan re-examines and interprets the essence of India’s rich literary and classical traditions. He often conducts literary meet ups and writer’s conclave in Kutraalam, Ooty and Thirparappu to exchange ideas in literary spheres.

Further, he actively engages in dialogues with his audience and participates in developing ideas and axioms. The ultimate concern about species is that they may becomeextinct due to human activities (176). Post 2000, Jeyamohan broke new ground in transcending genres and exploring the boundaries of creativity, The Forest was an exploration of the forest landscape as a metaphor for lust and vigour of life. How the wild animals are malevolently trapped by human beings, whose thinking is ideated by anthropocentric notions in order to have a complete control over Nature, and also over all other organisms in the forest is the crux. Forest is generally regarded as a place where innumerable organisms and species live harmoniously with each other. It is man’s indomitable conquering attitude that has not left any organism to live its space even inside the forest. The survival agony and the threat caused to the animals affect not only their behavioural pattern, but also the freedom of movement from one place to the other. The Forest presents how wild animals, especially the Mila, a variety of deer family, and elephant, are on the verge of extinction due to various threats caused to them by various other sources that includes other wild animals as well as human beings. Rajam Krishnan is popular for her Needle and Sense, Voice of the Woman, Malargal, VerukkuNeeer, NannagatthuPoonthuligal and Salty Pearls. Her Kurinjithen [When the Kurinji Blooms] was first serialized in the magazine forty years ago. Amist several works like, all readers, academics or others have identified Rajam with Kurinjithen.

The novel depicts vividly the lives in Nilgiris spanning three generations spanning fifty years. The story highlights two families who dwell in Nilgiris for almost three kurinji seasons. As the winds of social change and modernity invade the protected lives of inmates, the innocence and harmony enjoyed, is replaced by conflict and tragedy. Clearing lands owned by poor people so as to set windmills and generate electricity to the entire place leaves the uneducated, rural people perplexed, troubled, and raged ultimately as they know nothing than to plant few vegetables like potato in their small land owned. One cannot but feel moved while reading the last chapter. When the Kurinji blooms does not fail in reflecting the lofty ideals of life and is highly rich in sentiments within and outside family. Being said that the novel is rich in family emotions and sentiments, the author has very brilliantly given shape to the existing ideology of culture in a precise and subtle manner. How modernity control tradition; educated, the uneducated; men, the womenfolk; knowledge, the ignorant; wicked, the kind-hearted are the core of When the Kurinji Blooms. Santhappa Devar Kandasamy, popularly known as Sa. Kandasamy began to experiment with his pen at an early age. His first novel SaayaVanam was written when he was twenty-five. To date, he has published seven novels and around 200 short stories. Kandasamy is also a reputed film maker, director and producer, whose documentary Kaval Deivam won the prestigious International Award for Best Documentary in Cyprus in 1989. SaayaVanam—The Forest that would not be Felled [And later] Nature itself seemed to be yielding to him (14). A very similar novel to that of Jeya Mohan’s The Forest and Rajam Krishnan’s When the Kurinji Blooms is this The Defiant Jungle by Sa. Kandasamy. Agriculture which was a way of life now became a profitable occupation.

Gone are the days when man really cultivated land for livelihood with good intention. In the dispassionate tone which has established him as a reliable literary witness, Kandasamy tells the story of how a South Indian forest rich in honey and tamarind yielding is destroyed to make way for sugarcane plantations and a sugar mill. We see how nature expresses her rage and discontent when trees are mercilessly cut leading to death of several birds, and fires set to burn all the cut trees and plants leading to the death of wild animals. The story happened in living memory in his homeland, the kaveri delta. Since it evokes the ambiguities unearthed when man reshapes the natural environment, this novel has a deserved place in the world literature of globalization. An engineer by background, with work as a Sub-Divisional Engineer, SubrabharathiManian is a creative writer in Tamil who has published 40 books, including 11 novels, 15 short story collections and a travelogue. His works have been translated into various regional languages: English and Hungarian. SubrabharthiManian is the editor of Tamil literary magazine Kanavu since 1986, and has also released two short films. His famous works include, “Give us drinkable water. . . Do not give us dye water to drink” (175). A typical story portraying daily life of the class of people who depends upon their monthly wages got from dying company, the impact dye leaves, the destruction and pollution caused to the water element is The Coloured Curtain. Water, such an essential element of nature to mankind and other creatures and creations is questioned and tested for its chastity. The once gloriously flown river is now in its blue, black, yellow form daily observing the colours emitted from the dying factory. Staying stagnant on the road, the water causes sickness like jaundice/malaria; fever, etc. to the inhabitants of the town.

Children of the area are gleeful to immerse and drench themselves in the stained, dirty water as a game and while away time not knowing the consequences. Animals like dogs drink this water and blot deceased leading to diseases widespread everywhere. In an era where to see water in pure form is a rare bliss, the so powerful water is deprived of its innate nature, and made flow polluted proliferating multitudes of diseases than happiness to its dependents. A leading writer of 16 novels, even as a student, BandyoPadhyaya was extremely talented. Before plunging into writing as a career, he worked in a variety of jobs to support both himself and his family. BandyoPadhyaya is one of the leading writers of modern Bengali Literature. His best known is the autobiographical novel Pather Panchali (The Song of the Road), which was later adapted into The Apu Trilogy of films. All his works are largely set in rural Bengal, with characters from that area. Many of his novels are set in the city of Bongaon, sensitively portraying relationships, flora and fauna.

The writer walked miles in the woods every day, usually taking his notebook for the purpose of writing whilst surrounded by the wilderness, “The jungle will get inside of you” (11). Yet another story depicting jungle and land in its wholesome is Aranyak. One gets an entire picture of the forest: its dryness, deep green serpentine forests, the rocky masses, flocks of wild parrots, herds of neelgai, sunshine and open land, local vegetation, culture of the pure, etc. live before our eyes. Having been forced by his friend’s love, the protagonist–cum-narrator involuntarily takes up a job as a Manager leaving Calcutta and stepping in a dry rural village of Purnea district. Being appointed in a job to lease lands, he comes with some hope for survival; however, the clear distinction drawn between rural and urban life makes him tremble and often muse on returning to Calcutta. But the impact nature has left in him, made him dwell the chillness of nights, the vast open field, heat, fire, sound of foxes, darkness encircles pathways even in dreams. We see not only the impact of forest here, but also the existence of real humanity in simple hearts. The uncorrupted nature of the rural people in spite of wealth and prosperity is a striking contrast to the greedy, modern people. Born on the sylvan banks of the Mandovi on the picturesque village of Volvoi in Ponda, Pundalik Naik is the eternal child of spring steadily committed to efflorescence and growth. He grew up with nature, often working in the field, tending the farm or herding family cattle. He often kept commenting that he had a chance to learn from life. Naik is not just a writer, but an activist and environmentalist too.

Naik is the youngest among the Konkani writers to have won Sahitya Akademi Award. Achchev, Pishantar, Muthai, Khann Khann Maati, Raansundari, Aakashmanch are few of the important works of Naik that has got him good recognition, “Everything has been defiled!” (118). The Upheaval, a piece of work describes the violence of industrialization and a total transition of nature from beauty to a beastly devastation. It cannot be denied that mining has brought in a good considerable amount of wealth; but at the same time it has not forgotten to take the innate beauty of nature from it. The writer, Pundalik Naik, is considered as a prominent writer whose work, The Upheaval, is regarded as the first Konkani literary work to be translated into English. It was believed that until the 1950s, there was poverty in Goa. It is only after 1950, that some money came to flow in because of mining. Rivers, local lakes that gave water to drink, aroma of wild flowers, home birds, acres and acres of fertile land, clean air carrying the scent of grass and flowers were all corrupted and deprived of their original beauty. Agitated and aggravated by the injustice caused to nature by humankind in their worthless pursuit of materialism, where Pundalik Naik states that the Konkani flower has bloomed in fire, so it would not fade. The number 5 or the word ‘pancha’ has strong power. The concept of 5 elements forms its basis in both Hinduism and Buddhism. In Hinduism, the system of five elements are found in Vedas, especially, Ayurveda, the Panchamahabhuta, or ‘five great elements’: earth, water, fire, air or wind, and space.

Future, it is suggested that all creation, including the human body comprise of these five essential elements and upon death, the body dissolves into these five elements of nature and thereby balancing the cycle of nature. It is also believed that with these five elements comes the association of five senses: hearing, touch, sight, taste, and smell. Whether it is the individual human body or the larger cosmic body, essentially, they are made of five elements—earth, water, fire, air or wind, and space. In this, the first four elements are the active participants—space is the catalytic force. It is in the lap of this boundless space that these four elements play the game. If these five elements do not cooperate, one can struggle as much as they want, nothing happens. Only with their cooperation, from the basic aspects to the highest aspect, our life becomes a possibility. In India, a land of temples that has seen focus and understanding of nature has five temples for the five elements of nature. All of these are geographically located within the Deccan Plateau—four in Tamil Nadu, and one is Andhra Pradesh.

All these temples were created not for worship, but for sadhanas. Living in such a country where sadhanas are performed in honour of five elements, men have become and void. By disturbing the ecosystem, men do not realize that he is the first direct prey to it and is going to reap its consequences. The novels chosen for this dissertation are chaptered according to these four elements and what man gives and gets in return from them. Thus Land, Water, and Air are taken as three core chapters; and films reflecting these select novels are taken to substantiate these ideas; and the last chapter, summing up and emphasizing on the importance of eco-literature.