The Wounded World: A Study of the Ecological Consciousness in the Poetry of Niranjan Mohanty

Abstract

Cheryll Glotfelty‟s definition of ecocriticism as “the study of the relationship between literature and the physical environment” has incited the minds of the critics to give a deep thought to the condition of the natural world, constantly under threat due to anthropogenic activities. Activities like deforestation, unreasonable use of natural resources, spreading pollutants in the environment has benefitted man initially but disturbed the ecological equilibrium giving rise to great disasters in the human community. According to William Rueckert, the most glaring problem faced by ecologists is to find grounds upon which both the human and the natural world can coexist and flourish in the same biosphere. Literature plays a vital role in creating/disseminating bioregional consciousness in human beings. Niranjan Mohanty is quite aware of this fact and his poems provide ample illustrations to this. In this paper I shall take up certain representative poems of Mohanty like “A Subtle Difference”, “A Poem that Never Begins”, " Digging", “Kalahandi”, "Grief",“The World”, “Prayers to Lord Jagannatha” etc. to discuss Mohanty‟s consciousness regarding nature which, if disturbed, threatens the existence of man on earth. X Little we see in Nature that is ours; We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon! This sea that bears her bosom to the moon; The winds that will be howling at all hours, And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers; For this, for everything, we are out of tune; It moves us not. (―The World is Too Much with Us‖ MP, 180) This sonnet by Wordsworth very well express the insensitiveness of human beings towards the beauty of nature. Men are always busy in amassing more and more wealth and spending those. What Wordsworth said years ago is more than true in this post-modern age. Nature has always been a constant source of support to human beings but human beings have always exploited nature for their own benefit. Compared to nature‘s benevolence towards human beings, man has done very little for nature. The different activities of man like deforestation, unreasonable use of natural resources, spreading pollutants in the environment through various activities have not only threatened nature but also threatened the existence of man on earth. The consumerist attitude of man has disturbed the ecological equilibrium which has led to very big disasters in the human community. Therefore, for a safe and healthy living, maintenance of ecological balance should be one of the primary concerns of man. The 20 th century has led scientists, artists and critics to think and develop ways to create an awareness in man regarding nature and her preservation. This has given birth to a new genre called ―nature writing‖. The relationship between living organisms and their environment are very active, one affecting the other either with its presence or absence. This serious issue has created a new branch of literary theory called Ecocriticism, defined by Cheryll Glotfelty in The Ecocriticism Reader: Landmarks in Literary Ecology as: The study of the relationship between literature and the physical environment the study of the relationship between literature and the physical environment. Just as feminist criticism examines language and literature from a gender-conscious perspective, and Marxist criticism brings an awareness of modes of production and economic class to its reading of texts, ecocriticism takes an earth-centred approach to literary studies (Glotfelty: 1996, xviii). Literature is the platform which is utilized to unravel our awareness towards nature. In fact, literature