Eco-Custodians of the Himalayas: A Feminine Perspective on Sacred Natural Sites Conservation
摘要
Sacred natural sites in the Himalayas represent a deep amalgamation of spiritual faith, natural science, and local tradition. Indigenous women as guardians of these places are the focus of this chapter, where sacred groves, lakes, and sacred sites serve as bio-reserves of biodiversity and religious cultural landscapes. Based on UNESCO research and ethnographic case studies, the chapter examines how Indigenous conservation ethics, underpinned by spiritual beliefs, govern ecological balance. Indigenous women emerge as spiritual and environmental guardians, their ceremonial spaces during festival and ritual processes testifying to respect for natural resources. Uttarakhand and Ladakh seasonal water deity festivals show how gendered spiritual leadership creates ecological awareness and guarantees the preservation of water bodies in the era of climate crisis. The chapter also highlights the oral traditions, stories, and myths as agents for communicating conservation ethics, emphasizing the agency of Indigenous women as knowledge keepers. In the context of modernization and environmental degradation, their stories become a powerful resilient tool, leaving ecological awareness in collective memory. The chapter also explores the challenges of Indigenous women, i.e., encroaching development, policy overlooking, and shifting socio-economic forces. However, it highlights their agency in spreading sustainable practices rooted in the wisdom of ancestors. Through enlightening the convergence of gender, spirituality, and conservation, this chapter contends that Indigenous women are not only custodians of sacred natural sites but also designers of a resilient ecological ethos. Their role in preserving material and spiritual dimensions holds much to teach conservation practice, which in turn calls for a holistic, culture-oriented practice of nature conservation.