Recommended viewing:
Wildest India: a documentary series by Animal Planet, of 5 episodes at ~50 min each.
Shows some of the major natural, wild spaces left in India, and how the rare creatures and plants have survived there, with especial and respectful coverage of how there is a special bond and balance between these and the native heathens, due to the *heathens* revering them as Gods or part of the divine world. The first episode already introduces India as "90% Hindus" and the series throughout continues to discuss and give examples of how it is these native heathens - and their innate Hindoo-derived/-based reverence for and close relationship to their natural habitat and nature in general - that has allowed India's native wilderness to survive for so long, despite the numerous setbacks it has faced. The conclusions one unavoidably comes to at the end of the series is that the further the natives depart from their traditions, the more progressive and urbanised they become, the more certain that the delicate balances between humanity and wildlife in India will become unhinged and Indian wildlife will suffer for it (as it has already started to).
The episodes are on:
1. the Thar Desert in the far north-west of Bharatam,
2. the Ganga throughout its course from source to end in the Sagar on the W Bengal side,
3. the Indian part of the Himalayan range from west-to-east,
4. the Western Ghats mountain range in India's south and how it's a main source of life on both sides of the range,
5. both the tropical jungles and the dwindling heathen religio-culture of the as-yet-unsaved heathens of India's 7 northeastern states.
Three particular aspects of the series stand out:
- the respectful coverage of heathenism in India. Coverage actually verges on admiration.
- the continuous tying back of both preservation and conservation of the native wildlife to the heathenism of the native heathens of India: i.e. the series stresses repeatedly that it is the still-heathens' heathenism that results in their reverence for the world they live in and its animals and that this is what has caused them to actively persevere in maintaining it, against heavy odds
- the practically exclusive focus on heathens instead of on converts to christoislam. Even in the episode on northeastern states, even in the section on Nagas, featured are only those native communities still following their ancestral (i.e. heathen) religion. E.g. only those Nagas still unconverted and therefore still worshipping their Gods (and their worship of their Gods - in plural - is specifically mentioned by the narrator, as is their "shamanistic" practices like oracling based on the guts of sacrifical birds. <- What the Greeks and Romans like even Philosopher Emperor Marcus Aurelius did, as also what native Korean heathens still do).
The following are some of the elements from each of the episodes. Best not to read the following if there's any chance to watch the series instead.
1. Thar Desert:
A desert that's orders of magnitude more life-infested than the Sahara owing to the mutual relationship between humans and their animal relatives.
Examples given are Langur monkeys and how the Hindoos' reverence of Hanuman has allowed these monkeys to survive during the dry periods. Even when the city monkeys' antics in stealing food from humans during hard, dry times becomes too much, Hindoos only bring in the Monkey Catcher, who then releases the monkeys back into their ancestral Aravalli Hills, where they initially look bemused. The Hanuman Langur species also gets a look, and the narrator mentions how this species of primate is also understandably held in high regard by Hindoos as having an even more direct kinship with Hanuman.
The mutual relationship between rare carion fowl vultures and Hindoos, since the remains of naturally-deceased cows are left for these rare vultures to feed on who in turn ensure that the cadavers don't rot and result in disease.
The Rat temple in Rajasthan, where the Hindoos worship the rats as their brethren, the children of Karni Mata. The episode mentions that despite rats being frequently being bearers of fatal epidemics, no outbreak ever occurred at the temple and surroundings.
Another notable example is the fact that the region's Indian lion population fell down to 20 (owing to hunting for sport under christoislamic rule), but a Hindoo community that worships Narasimha gave up their usual livelihood to ensure the Indian lions' survival and so now the numbers are up to 500.
And more examples. Beautiful large Indian antelope (black buck or something) and other native animals, including I think tigers and definitely an Indian bear type (sloth bear?), the Marwari horses that are unique for their stamina as they don't require so much water and have an intimate relationship with their human communities as do the camels, but also the wild desert wolf of this Indian landscape which are not-so-shaggy owing to the temperature. These are considered sacred too by the Hindoos there and who therefore tend not to kill them even in extreme situations. The ridiculously cute cubs howling adorably together is a moment that will require lots of rewind-and-replay.
The Hindoo Bishnoi community (who are famously devoted to Mahavishnu) are interviewed and their readiness to die in hundreds to protect the sacred, life-nurturing Khej(a)ri trees is remembered. Their protection of all wildlife in their area is recognised as having been the profound impetus behind the conservation and continued preservation of their region's indigenous animals and plants.
The cycle is completed when the blessed monsoon arrives and the animals, humans and all life receive sufficient waters again to tide them over for the next year.
2. Ganga:
Charts the course of the life-giving Ganga from its origins in the Himalayas as Bhagirathi to its tributaries running into the ocean, and all the wildlife and humanity living along its entire course, including how the Hindoo reverence for the river as their Goddess Gangaa Amman results in their reverence for its wildlife.
The reason for the river's ability to create prime fertile land is covered - rich minerals brought down by the river eroding the Himalayas - and Ganga's unique ability among rivers to self-purify and prevent itself from becoming putrid is also discussed: even diseased bodies sent on their way in this river do not result in disease outbreaks.
Animal wildlife starting at the source of the river in the Himalayas to its emptying in the river gets a look. Including migrating cranes that return to a village in north India every year, all the way from Russia and China and *over* the Himalayas tallest peaks: although the cranes are endangered in other places, once they reach their stay in the north Indian village they are fed generously by the Hindoos there who revere and admire them.
Also given some screentime are the cuddly Indian otters, who are uniquely social among the world's otters, including how some Hindoo fishermen have bonded with otter families for generations and use them in their fishing livelihood and in return feed them generously. Other sea creatures are also shown to be religiously fed by devout Hindoos. Endangered Gharial crocodilians now slowly increasing their numbers in Bengali regions, unique rare Indian dolphins, rare birds that fish in the river and more animals living on or in the Ganga get coverage.
The uniquely man-eating Bengal tigers of W Bengal living in the mangroves growing at Gangaa's edge are seen, and it's mentioned how they're nevertheless still respected by the Hindus. The Hindoo Bengali village with 1 cobra for every 2 people, and where the snake makes up a daily part of everyone's life and is revered not feared: the Hindoos worship their serpentine Amman MAnasA devI at the local temple whose poojari is also the one who carefully coaxes snakes out of people's homes. He alone is allowed to do this, since he will not hurt them. (Note for those Hindoos who may not otherwise have the chance to see this: there is a close-up darshanam of Manasa Devi during aarti.) There's also a brief coverage of an island called Ganga-Sagar in W Bengal - where the Ganga runs into the Sagar - where a huge number of Hindoos come together in the maha mela there on Makara Sankranti to celebrate.
3. Himalayan regions:
The entire Indian area at the Himalayas range from W to E (note, only the Indian parts are covered in the documentary). Coverage starts in a not so populated area. Extremely sure-and-fast-footed, wild, shaggy Himalayan mountain goats and their traditional predator - the equally beautiful and magnificent Snow Leopard with its padded feet and bushy rounded tail (IIRC, from another doco, Snow Leopards are extremely endangered in islamic TSP and sightings had become rare there, but they are fortunately more populous in Hindoo India) - are seen living at high Himalayan altitudes of about 5.5 kms high. Bird species with special adaptations for flying at high altitudes during their migratory treck past the highest Himalayan peaks are seen soaring.
Then more human-inhabitable parts are shown, beginning at a very northern portion in Ladakh, where the Tibetan refugees have been settled, including visuals of Tibetan Buddhist monks going about their daily religious routines and their stupas. The Tibetan Buddhist laity of dispersed nomadic animal shepherds have very shaggy goats and yak etc and their daily lives with these, in the extremely cold and somewhat arid Himalayan region are shown.
In contrast to the more arid-looking Ladakhi area where the Tibetan Buddhist nomadic shepherds reside, we get to see the extremely lush area around Nanda Devi peak and/or the Manas. Somewhere here, we get to look on the beautiful hapless Lesser Panda of India (name derived from "Ponya" as the Nepalese Hindoos call them): like China's Giant Panda, Red Pandas can't even properly digest cellulose so they are restricted to eating the low-energy source that's Bamboo almost all day long, and the females are fertile for only a 24 hour window in a year (as opposed to the IIRC 3-day window of Giant Panda of China). Glad these playful animals managed to survive at all in the face of more adaptable competitors and humanity.
The Indian Rhinoceros - unique both as the heaviest and as more social than the other species of Rhinos in the world - and other giant fauna are covered (IIRC migrating elephants are seen in this and/or the Gangaa episode, and the remaining two episodes). Glimpses of wolves of the shaggier kind that I'm more used to seeing, tigers, and the predominantly "vegetarian" Indian black bear and its eating habits.
And the all-important northern monsoon due to the climate made possible by the sacred Himalayan range and its importance to life in India is once more stressed. (The mountain range of Himalayas is further specifically mentioned as sacred to the Hindoos, as mountains and hills tend to be. BTW, mountains and hills are also famously sacred to Shintos, who worship them.)
4. Western Ghats (the Sahyadris):
Footage of the immense and rare wildlife possible on the western side of the Sahyadri mountains, and discussion of the relationship between the heathens and the wildlife they revere. Humans are covered too. From the Toda - who worship their life-giving and nurturing Buffalo as children of their Buffalo Amman (c.f. the Rajasthani Hindoos who worship the rats at their rat temple as children of their Karni Mata Amman) and mention of the Toda milkman having the sacred task of poojari, to more mainstream Hindoo communities are seen (including some Hulivesha/pulivesham dancing). Hindoos dipping and splashing about happily in temple waters are shown, brahmanas doing their daily watery routines too. We just miss out on seeing a close up of a temple moolamoorti.
Note that *repeatedly*, only the still-heathen, unconverted among the populations living in the region are shown and are held up as living in harmony with their nature owing to their reverence for it as a living manifestation of the Gods and the sacred world of the Gods. (Christoislamics in Kerala naturally get no coverage.)
Elephants, rare primates and special giant squirrels living in the Ghats, as well as unique lizards are caught on camera. Native snakes scaring these primates, other mammals and lizards. The snake-eating super-venomous King cobra in action, and a wrestling match that looks like a dance between two King cobras to settle a territorial dispute.
There's a segment on modern-day Hindoo cobra catchers/relocators, invited to a Hindoo home where the inhabitants were living outside because a cobra had moved in. We see the cobra catchers doing their best to carefully coax a cobra out of its comfortable space in the human home, trying to get it into a sack and then releasing it further away from the village, closer to the sorts of wild spaces it is used to. Once again, just like the W Bengal section of the Gangaa episode, mention is made here too, that - despite snakes being feared and hated in a lot of other countries of the world - the Hindoos of India revere it (snakes being divine and all) and hence tend not to kill it.
The ancient formation of the Ghats in the pre-Asian Indian landmass - back when India was still moving toward Asia from Africa - is discussed, and so are the southern monsoon rains as a product of the front moving across the Arabian Sea and then colliding with the high peaks of the western Ghats (the highest being Aanamudi - elephant head) and resulting in a cycle of rainfall on the more tropical, western side. (Indra vs Vritra happens in the south too.)
And although the high range of the Ghats prevent the eastern side from getting this rainfall*, some of the collected waters however start trickling from these high mountainous areas forming into streams then rivers that then run down the slopes on the eastern side down through the lands there: the main rivers in southern India tend to run down from the Sahyadris/Western Ghats and therefore run in west-to-east direction to empty in the Bay of Bengal.
* Owing to the lower rainfall on the eastern side of the Ghats, the type of forests on this side are large leafy vegetation that drop their leaves when water availability is low.
Sadly, in the last 100 years or so, the increased land-grab for tea farming on the rich fertile slopes of the Western Ghats has been replacing its tropical forests and the strains this places on the wildlife there gets mention too (though no mention is made of the christian conspiracy against the Hindoo Western Ghats): the tigers held sacred and imitated in the hulivesham dancing, the native bear (?), and the migrating wild elephants and giant variety of bovine that are now forced to pass through human-managed lands and can come into strife with them. The wild or free giant bovine roaming about are shown as entering a mutually beneficial relationship with the human tea farmers (those shown in the episode are still marked with Hindu marks): since the Hindus don't use pesticides, they happily eat the weeds. IIRC the episode ends again with a summary of how the Hindoos revere this their natural habitat and how this is even seen in their tiger (huli-vesham) dancing.
5. The tropical forests of the north-eastern states of India:
This episode covers the 7 sister states of northeast India at the south of the Himalayas (though I think only Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Nagaland get specific mention, not sure I heard any section focus on Tripura, Manipur and Mizoram). It speaks of how this region is so fertile, and so tropical-rainforest-green owing to the large amounts of near-perennial rainfall.
Coverage is given not only to beautiful and colourful native birds, the intriguing "spectacled monkey", as well as a rare species of *ape* with a distinctive call heard throughout the region - called <something> gibbon, the intimidating Indian python, Indian sloth bear(?), elephants migrating through Assam and/or Arunachal Pradesh, and other animal wildlife is shown, and rare plant life too: trees that formed natural bridges over gorges that humans then further cemented as bridges. But the episode also covers *heathen* communities living in these regions and their traditions related to the wildlife: how they hunt, what animals are in their diet, etc. The narrator mentioned how the native people - often not seen by western populations - are steeped in their (heathen) traditions.
Brief shots of some people in Meghalaya playing about in the water owing to plentiful rainfall and mention is made of their traditions of using the natural bounties in their habitat. Highlighted in some more detail are first the traditions of a specific heathen community in Arunachal Pradesh (can't remember the name, starts with an A) such as their weddings, ritualistic sacrifice of chickens etc (not easy to watch), and mentions of their "shamanistic" rituals.** Next is rare footage of the few surviving, still-heathen Naga communities (i.e. non christianised) and how they have replaced their older practice of head-hunting of neighbouring communities with games mimicking this, and how their men hunting large boar as a meal for their village ends with them leaving a part of the boar as a sacrifice to their Gods (note the plural: these are not christian Nagas) and IIRC mention is made of their "shamanistic practices".**
I think one community was mentioned as hunting primate. Another still-heathen community in some northeastern state is captured on film doing ritual dances, dressed in the plumage and what looks like the bill of beautiful rare birds unique to the region and which birds they revere (can't really remember the name of it, but it could be called horn billed something or other). Nowadays, because the bird is rare, this heathen community only use naturally-shed feathers of the bird and artifical imitations in place of the bill for their special dress for dancing, rather than trying to acquire these from the (living) rare birds themselves.
** Either the heathen Nagas that were shown, or the particular heathen Arunachal Pradeshi community that was mentioned, or else the heathens seen dancing in bird plumage, are shown as carrying out oracling practices using the entrails of birds. Exactly like Korean heathens do today, and ancient Greeks and Romans.
There's also a section following migrating wild elephants. They're seen splashing about with water and mud, and we follow the group's trek, their long-distance infra-sound calls to keep in contact with elephants 100 kms away, and their discovery by domesticated elephants ridden by mahouts. This section may be in Assam or Arunachal Pradesh I think. Anyway, the mahouts regularly look out for young wild elephants to capture and domesticate. Turns out it's not as bad as it sounds nor as bad as it would were this some other country: the elephant may be primarily taken to help with ploughing/agriculture, but there is a much closer relationship than that between domesticated animals and humans elsewhere: each mahout takes care of his own elephant like a dear family member (bathing it, feeding it well and petting it) and shares a special bond with it, the elephant grows to love its human back so that - despite being released each evening to join up with wild elephant herds - the elephant returns back in the morning to be with its human again.
This post was on -
Recommended viewing:
Wildest India, a documentary series by Animal Planet, of 5 episodes at ~50 min each:
The Thar Desert, Ganga, Himalaya, Sahyadris/Western Ghats, Tropics of Northeast states
Shows some of the major natural, wild spaces left in India, and how the rare creatures and plants have survived there, with especial and respectful coverage of how there is a special bond and balance between these and the native heathens, due to the *heathens* revering them as Gods or part of the divine world.
Three particular aspects of the series stand out:
- the respectful coverage of heathenism in India. Coverage actually verges on admiration.
- the continuous tying back of both preservation and conservation of the native wildlife to the heathenism of the native heathens of India: i.e. the series stresses repeatedly that it is the still-heathens' heathenism that results in their reverence for the world they live in and its animals and that this is what has caused them to actively persevere in maintaining it, against heavy odds
- the practically exclusive focus on heathens instead of on converts to christoislam. Even in the episode on northeastern states, even in the section on Nagas, featured are only those native communities still following their ancestral (i.e. heathen) religion.
Wildest India: a documentary series by Animal Planet, of 5 episodes at ~50 min each.
Shows some of the major natural, wild spaces left in India, and how the rare creatures and plants have survived there, with especial and respectful coverage of how there is a special bond and balance between these and the native heathens, due to the *heathens* revering them as Gods or part of the divine world. The first episode already introduces India as "90% Hindus" and the series throughout continues to discuss and give examples of how it is these native heathens - and their innate Hindoo-derived/-based reverence for and close relationship to their natural habitat and nature in general - that has allowed India's native wilderness to survive for so long, despite the numerous setbacks it has faced. The conclusions one unavoidably comes to at the end of the series is that the further the natives depart from their traditions, the more progressive and urbanised they become, the more certain that the delicate balances between humanity and wildlife in India will become unhinged and Indian wildlife will suffer for it (as it has already started to).
The episodes are on:
1. the Thar Desert in the far north-west of Bharatam,
2. the Ganga throughout its course from source to end in the Sagar on the W Bengal side,
3. the Indian part of the Himalayan range from west-to-east,
4. the Western Ghats mountain range in India's south and how it's a main source of life on both sides of the range,
5. both the tropical jungles and the dwindling heathen religio-culture of the as-yet-unsaved heathens of India's 7 northeastern states.
Three particular aspects of the series stand out:
- the respectful coverage of heathenism in India. Coverage actually verges on admiration.
- the continuous tying back of both preservation and conservation of the native wildlife to the heathenism of the native heathens of India: i.e. the series stresses repeatedly that it is the still-heathens' heathenism that results in their reverence for the world they live in and its animals and that this is what has caused them to actively persevere in maintaining it, against heavy odds
- the practically exclusive focus on heathens instead of on converts to christoislam. Even in the episode on northeastern states, even in the section on Nagas, featured are only those native communities still following their ancestral (i.e. heathen) religion. E.g. only those Nagas still unconverted and therefore still worshipping their Gods (and their worship of their Gods - in plural - is specifically mentioned by the narrator, as is their "shamanistic" practices like oracling based on the guts of sacrifical birds. <- What the Greeks and Romans like even Philosopher Emperor Marcus Aurelius did, as also what native Korean heathens still do).
The following are some of the elements from each of the episodes. Best not to read the following if there's any chance to watch the series instead.
1. Thar Desert:
A desert that's orders of magnitude more life-infested than the Sahara owing to the mutual relationship between humans and their animal relatives.
Examples given are Langur monkeys and how the Hindoos' reverence of Hanuman has allowed these monkeys to survive during the dry periods. Even when the city monkeys' antics in stealing food from humans during hard, dry times becomes too much, Hindoos only bring in the Monkey Catcher, who then releases the monkeys back into their ancestral Aravalli Hills, where they initially look bemused. The Hanuman Langur species also gets a look, and the narrator mentions how this species of primate is also understandably held in high regard by Hindoos as having an even more direct kinship with Hanuman.
The mutual relationship between rare carion fowl vultures and Hindoos, since the remains of naturally-deceased cows are left for these rare vultures to feed on who in turn ensure that the cadavers don't rot and result in disease.
The Rat temple in Rajasthan, where the Hindoos worship the rats as their brethren, the children of Karni Mata. The episode mentions that despite rats being frequently being bearers of fatal epidemics, no outbreak ever occurred at the temple and surroundings.
Another notable example is the fact that the region's Indian lion population fell down to 20 (owing to hunting for sport under christoislamic rule), but a Hindoo community that worships Narasimha gave up their usual livelihood to ensure the Indian lions' survival and so now the numbers are up to 500.
And more examples. Beautiful large Indian antelope (black buck or something) and other native animals, including I think tigers and definitely an Indian bear type (sloth bear?), the Marwari horses that are unique for their stamina as they don't require so much water and have an intimate relationship with their human communities as do the camels, but also the wild desert wolf of this Indian landscape which are not-so-shaggy owing to the temperature. These are considered sacred too by the Hindoos there and who therefore tend not to kill them even in extreme situations. The ridiculously cute cubs howling adorably together is a moment that will require lots of rewind-and-replay.
The Hindoo Bishnoi community (who are famously devoted to Mahavishnu) are interviewed and their readiness to die in hundreds to protect the sacred, life-nurturing Khej(a)ri trees is remembered. Their protection of all wildlife in their area is recognised as having been the profound impetus behind the conservation and continued preservation of their region's indigenous animals and plants.
The cycle is completed when the blessed monsoon arrives and the animals, humans and all life receive sufficient waters again to tide them over for the next year.
2. Ganga:
Charts the course of the life-giving Ganga from its origins in the Himalayas as Bhagirathi to its tributaries running into the ocean, and all the wildlife and humanity living along its entire course, including how the Hindoo reverence for the river as their Goddess Gangaa Amman results in their reverence for its wildlife.
The reason for the river's ability to create prime fertile land is covered - rich minerals brought down by the river eroding the Himalayas - and Ganga's unique ability among rivers to self-purify and prevent itself from becoming putrid is also discussed: even diseased bodies sent on their way in this river do not result in disease outbreaks.
Animal wildlife starting at the source of the river in the Himalayas to its emptying in the river gets a look. Including migrating cranes that return to a village in north India every year, all the way from Russia and China and *over* the Himalayas tallest peaks: although the cranes are endangered in other places, once they reach their stay in the north Indian village they are fed generously by the Hindoos there who revere and admire them.
Also given some screentime are the cuddly Indian otters, who are uniquely social among the world's otters, including how some Hindoo fishermen have bonded with otter families for generations and use them in their fishing livelihood and in return feed them generously. Other sea creatures are also shown to be religiously fed by devout Hindoos. Endangered Gharial crocodilians now slowly increasing their numbers in Bengali regions, unique rare Indian dolphins, rare birds that fish in the river and more animals living on or in the Ganga get coverage.
The uniquely man-eating Bengal tigers of W Bengal living in the mangroves growing at Gangaa's edge are seen, and it's mentioned how they're nevertheless still respected by the Hindus. The Hindoo Bengali village with 1 cobra for every 2 people, and where the snake makes up a daily part of everyone's life and is revered not feared: the Hindoos worship their serpentine Amman MAnasA devI at the local temple whose poojari is also the one who carefully coaxes snakes out of people's homes. He alone is allowed to do this, since he will not hurt them. (Note for those Hindoos who may not otherwise have the chance to see this: there is a close-up darshanam of Manasa Devi during aarti.) There's also a brief coverage of an island called Ganga-Sagar in W Bengal - where the Ganga runs into the Sagar - where a huge number of Hindoos come together in the maha mela there on Makara Sankranti to celebrate.
3. Himalayan regions:
The entire Indian area at the Himalayas range from W to E (note, only the Indian parts are covered in the documentary). Coverage starts in a not so populated area. Extremely sure-and-fast-footed, wild, shaggy Himalayan mountain goats and their traditional predator - the equally beautiful and magnificent Snow Leopard with its padded feet and bushy rounded tail (IIRC, from another doco, Snow Leopards are extremely endangered in islamic TSP and sightings had become rare there, but they are fortunately more populous in Hindoo India) - are seen living at high Himalayan altitudes of about 5.5 kms high. Bird species with special adaptations for flying at high altitudes during their migratory treck past the highest Himalayan peaks are seen soaring.
Then more human-inhabitable parts are shown, beginning at a very northern portion in Ladakh, where the Tibetan refugees have been settled, including visuals of Tibetan Buddhist monks going about their daily religious routines and their stupas. The Tibetan Buddhist laity of dispersed nomadic animal shepherds have very shaggy goats and yak etc and their daily lives with these, in the extremely cold and somewhat arid Himalayan region are shown.
In contrast to the more arid-looking Ladakhi area where the Tibetan Buddhist nomadic shepherds reside, we get to see the extremely lush area around Nanda Devi peak and/or the Manas. Somewhere here, we get to look on the beautiful hapless Lesser Panda of India (name derived from "Ponya" as the Nepalese Hindoos call them): like China's Giant Panda, Red Pandas can't even properly digest cellulose so they are restricted to eating the low-energy source that's Bamboo almost all day long, and the females are fertile for only a 24 hour window in a year (as opposed to the IIRC 3-day window of Giant Panda of China). Glad these playful animals managed to survive at all in the face of more adaptable competitors and humanity.
The Indian Rhinoceros - unique both as the heaviest and as more social than the other species of Rhinos in the world - and other giant fauna are covered (IIRC migrating elephants are seen in this and/or the Gangaa episode, and the remaining two episodes). Glimpses of wolves of the shaggier kind that I'm more used to seeing, tigers, and the predominantly "vegetarian" Indian black bear and its eating habits.
And the all-important northern monsoon due to the climate made possible by the sacred Himalayan range and its importance to life in India is once more stressed. (The mountain range of Himalayas is further specifically mentioned as sacred to the Hindoos, as mountains and hills tend to be. BTW, mountains and hills are also famously sacred to Shintos, who worship them.)
4. Western Ghats (the Sahyadris):
Footage of the immense and rare wildlife possible on the western side of the Sahyadri mountains, and discussion of the relationship between the heathens and the wildlife they revere. Humans are covered too. From the Toda - who worship their life-giving and nurturing Buffalo as children of their Buffalo Amman (c.f. the Rajasthani Hindoos who worship the rats at their rat temple as children of their Karni Mata Amman) and mention of the Toda milkman having the sacred task of poojari, to more mainstream Hindoo communities are seen (including some Hulivesha/pulivesham dancing). Hindoos dipping and splashing about happily in temple waters are shown, brahmanas doing their daily watery routines too. We just miss out on seeing a close up of a temple moolamoorti.
Note that *repeatedly*, only the still-heathen, unconverted among the populations living in the region are shown and are held up as living in harmony with their nature owing to their reverence for it as a living manifestation of the Gods and the sacred world of the Gods. (Christoislamics in Kerala naturally get no coverage.)
Elephants, rare primates and special giant squirrels living in the Ghats, as well as unique lizards are caught on camera. Native snakes scaring these primates, other mammals and lizards. The snake-eating super-venomous King cobra in action, and a wrestling match that looks like a dance between two King cobras to settle a territorial dispute.
There's a segment on modern-day Hindoo cobra catchers/relocators, invited to a Hindoo home where the inhabitants were living outside because a cobra had moved in. We see the cobra catchers doing their best to carefully coax a cobra out of its comfortable space in the human home, trying to get it into a sack and then releasing it further away from the village, closer to the sorts of wild spaces it is used to. Once again, just like the W Bengal section of the Gangaa episode, mention is made here too, that - despite snakes being feared and hated in a lot of other countries of the world - the Hindoos of India revere it (snakes being divine and all) and hence tend not to kill it.
The ancient formation of the Ghats in the pre-Asian Indian landmass - back when India was still moving toward Asia from Africa - is discussed, and so are the southern monsoon rains as a product of the front moving across the Arabian Sea and then colliding with the high peaks of the western Ghats (the highest being Aanamudi - elephant head) and resulting in a cycle of rainfall on the more tropical, western side. (Indra vs Vritra happens in the south too.)
And although the high range of the Ghats prevent the eastern side from getting this rainfall*, some of the collected waters however start trickling from these high mountainous areas forming into streams then rivers that then run down the slopes on the eastern side down through the lands there: the main rivers in southern India tend to run down from the Sahyadris/Western Ghats and therefore run in west-to-east direction to empty in the Bay of Bengal.
* Owing to the lower rainfall on the eastern side of the Ghats, the type of forests on this side are large leafy vegetation that drop their leaves when water availability is low.
Sadly, in the last 100 years or so, the increased land-grab for tea farming on the rich fertile slopes of the Western Ghats has been replacing its tropical forests and the strains this places on the wildlife there gets mention too (though no mention is made of the christian conspiracy against the Hindoo Western Ghats): the tigers held sacred and imitated in the hulivesham dancing, the native bear (?), and the migrating wild elephants and giant variety of bovine that are now forced to pass through human-managed lands and can come into strife with them. The wild or free giant bovine roaming about are shown as entering a mutually beneficial relationship with the human tea farmers (those shown in the episode are still marked with Hindu marks): since the Hindus don't use pesticides, they happily eat the weeds. IIRC the episode ends again with a summary of how the Hindoos revere this their natural habitat and how this is even seen in their tiger (huli-vesham) dancing.
5. The tropical forests of the north-eastern states of India:
This episode covers the 7 sister states of northeast India at the south of the Himalayas (though I think only Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Nagaland get specific mention, not sure I heard any section focus on Tripura, Manipur and Mizoram). It speaks of how this region is so fertile, and so tropical-rainforest-green owing to the large amounts of near-perennial rainfall.
Coverage is given not only to beautiful and colourful native birds, the intriguing "spectacled monkey", as well as a rare species of *ape* with a distinctive call heard throughout the region - called <something> gibbon, the intimidating Indian python, Indian sloth bear(?), elephants migrating through Assam and/or Arunachal Pradesh, and other animal wildlife is shown, and rare plant life too: trees that formed natural bridges over gorges that humans then further cemented as bridges. But the episode also covers *heathen* communities living in these regions and their traditions related to the wildlife: how they hunt, what animals are in their diet, etc. The narrator mentioned how the native people - often not seen by western populations - are steeped in their (heathen) traditions.
Brief shots of some people in Meghalaya playing about in the water owing to plentiful rainfall and mention is made of their traditions of using the natural bounties in their habitat. Highlighted in some more detail are first the traditions of a specific heathen community in Arunachal Pradesh (can't remember the name, starts with an A) such as their weddings, ritualistic sacrifice of chickens etc (not easy to watch), and mentions of their "shamanistic" rituals.** Next is rare footage of the few surviving, still-heathen Naga communities (i.e. non christianised) and how they have replaced their older practice of head-hunting of neighbouring communities with games mimicking this, and how their men hunting large boar as a meal for their village ends with them leaving a part of the boar as a sacrifice to their Gods (note the plural: these are not christian Nagas) and IIRC mention is made of their "shamanistic practices".**
I think one community was mentioned as hunting primate. Another still-heathen community in some northeastern state is captured on film doing ritual dances, dressed in the plumage and what looks like the bill of beautiful rare birds unique to the region and which birds they revere (can't really remember the name of it, but it could be called horn billed something or other). Nowadays, because the bird is rare, this heathen community only use naturally-shed feathers of the bird and artifical imitations in place of the bill for their special dress for dancing, rather than trying to acquire these from the (living) rare birds themselves.
** Either the heathen Nagas that were shown, or the particular heathen Arunachal Pradeshi community that was mentioned, or else the heathens seen dancing in bird plumage, are shown as carrying out oracling practices using the entrails of birds. Exactly like Korean heathens do today, and ancient Greeks and Romans.
There's also a section following migrating wild elephants. They're seen splashing about with water and mud, and we follow the group's trek, their long-distance infra-sound calls to keep in contact with elephants 100 kms away, and their discovery by domesticated elephants ridden by mahouts. This section may be in Assam or Arunachal Pradesh I think. Anyway, the mahouts regularly look out for young wild elephants to capture and domesticate. Turns out it's not as bad as it sounds nor as bad as it would were this some other country: the elephant may be primarily taken to help with ploughing/agriculture, but there is a much closer relationship than that between domesticated animals and humans elsewhere: each mahout takes care of his own elephant like a dear family member (bathing it, feeding it well and petting it) and shares a special bond with it, the elephant grows to love its human back so that - despite being released each evening to join up with wild elephant herds - the elephant returns back in the morning to be with its human again.
This post was on -
Recommended viewing:
Wildest India, a documentary series by Animal Planet, of 5 episodes at ~50 min each:
The Thar Desert, Ganga, Himalaya, Sahyadris/Western Ghats, Tropics of Northeast states
Shows some of the major natural, wild spaces left in India, and how the rare creatures and plants have survived there, with especial and respectful coverage of how there is a special bond and balance between these and the native heathens, due to the *heathens* revering them as Gods or part of the divine world.
Three particular aspects of the series stand out:
- the respectful coverage of heathenism in India. Coverage actually verges on admiration.
- the continuous tying back of both preservation and conservation of the native wildlife to the heathenism of the native heathens of India: i.e. the series stresses repeatedly that it is the still-heathens' heathenism that results in their reverence for the world they live in and its animals and that this is what has caused them to actively persevere in maintaining it, against heavy odds
- the practically exclusive focus on heathens instead of on converts to christoislam. Even in the episode on northeastern states, even in the section on Nagas, featured are only those native communities still following their ancestral (i.e. heathen) religion.