Can Lord Shiva help us with scientific water conservation?
By: Rajen Makhijani
Tags: Religion, Development, Adventure, Water Conservation, Indian Culture

A Management Consultant and his 7 year old, on an adventure in tribal MP, discover a surprising mix of science & religion coming together for water conservation.

Ireceive an invite from an ex-colleague to a unique social movement called ‘Shiv Ganga’ that focuses on rain water harvesting and water table conservation efforts in tribal areas of Jhabua, Madhya Pradesh.

With all that’s going on in the name of religion these days, I am skeptical. I mean, what’s Shiva got to do with rain water harvesting and aquafer restoration?

But since it is a weekend of shram-daan (voluntary labour), alongside 12,000 tribals from 250+ villages, it will be worth the experience! I decide to also make it a father-son adventure. Thankfully, my 7 year old is excited! He sees it as an adventure!

The Father-Son Adventure begins

Two train changes, a missed connection, some ticketless travel, and finally a Tata Sumo ride into Jhabua, we are there. The MP Toursim Department lodge is quaint. There is instant respect upon knowing that we have come for Shivganga.

A shower and quick nap later, we are in the dusty sports ground of the local college. Huge pandals house a large make-shift canteen. My 7 year old is enthralled by the mountain pile of 5000 poories! A continuous stream of pick-axe and shovel wielding Bhil tribals make their way in.

The place is teeming. A group of IIT students is there too. A boy enthralls the group, particularly the girls! An ex-Governor and High Court Judge, senior appointees in important national institutions, SME business owner discuss the politics. An organisation called ‘Empathy Connects’ has brought in ~25 young change makers as a part of an immersive learning journey. Some of them know me. They ask me to conduct an impromptu workshop under the open sky. One of them baby-sits my 7 year old. Thank God for mobile-phone games!

One of the young change makers is himself a tribal from Jharkhand. He has intense, angst filled eyes. As a tribal, he sees the Hindu imagery as a forced imposition. Tribals have their own Gods. Many don’t even identify themselves as Hindus. Could the ‘good’ be a ‘soft sell’ of the faith? I don’t know. The question on my mind still is, ‘What’s Shiva got to do with it anyways?”

Slogans fill the air “Gaanv gaanv mein jaayenge, Shankar Jattaa banaayenge!” — we shall go to every village and make Shiva’s Hairlocks!” I wonder what that means? We are now marching through the narrow market streets of the town. The loudest are the firebrand IIT students. Bhils respond by raising their pickaxes in the air. Terrifying memories from my childhood, come back to me — “Hum Mandir wahin banaayenge!” the ‘Kar Sewaks’ had chanted in 1992. The bloody riots thereafter are a painful memory. My grip over my 7 year old tightens. I wonder if I am being an irresponsible father and this is an adventure gone too far?

But this is when I learn how they operate, and the answer to my question: ‘What’s Shiva got to do with it?’

The Ganges that comes from heaven, every year!

Legend has it that after severe penance for a thousand years, Lord Brahma finally ceded to King Bhagirath’s request — of bringing the celestial river Ganga to the earth. But the deluge would wash away the earth itself. Only Lord Shiva’s thick matted hair could absorb the impact and soften her journey on the earth, making it productive.

The Shiv Ganga initiative recounts this story in every village. And reminds them — even now, every year, Ganga descends from the heavens, right into their village, in the form of rain! But where are Lord Shiva’s locks to stop her waters from washing away?

“Will you do Lord Shiva’s work? Will you build Shankar jatta or Shiva’s hairlocks?”, asks the charged orator! “Yes!!!” they respond! And so off they go, to train themselves in simple but scientific ways to build the ‘Shankar Jatta’ — embankments, trenches, small check dams etc — to preserve soil, store water and recharge water bodies and the aquafer!

Beyond water, ecological restoration needs afforestation. Once again, the good friend called ‘religion’ can help!

A ‘Maata nu van’ or ‘Forest of the Goddess’ along with an idol existed at the periphery of every village. Over the years, the little forests and surrounding ecosystems vanished. But you still find a small Mata temple.

“The divine mother stands here naked! Is that okay for you? Will you give her back her dignity?” asks the charged orator! “Yes!!!” they roar! And off they go to get trained in scientific afforestation that regenerates the lost ecosystems.

Religion as the opium of the masses? You must be smoking!

“Oh, that’s a nice way to manipulate the illiterate, simple folk into doing the right thing! I mean, unlike us, they won’t get it through science, or just humanist ‘non-religious’ approaches”, some of us ‘educated urbans’ might think.

But let me ask you this — despite knowing the science of it, how many of us have actually done something about it — be it rain water harvesting, composting, ecological restoration, reduction, reuse and recycling of our waste, and the like?

Contrast that to the 12,000 Bhils, who travelled miles, some even on foot, to do voluntary labour that day. They go back to their villages and inspire thousands more! They self-organise and donate labour to build these ‘public goods’ for their villages; for theirs and others’ farms.

With 1.2 lakh working days every year of voluntary labour, has recharged 6,000+ water bodies/structures in 225 villages, created a cover of 20,000 trees, Shiv Ganga has now become the research interest of IIT’s and Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS). Personally, I’d prefer these results, aided by religious imagery; than scientific progress that doesn’t translate in society.

Our myths, stories and scriptures are our collective experience of unravelling the inner spiritual path, as well as of running our external world. Religious radicals sully these with their dogma and destroy both inner and outer worlds in the name of God! But if we unravel and apply the true meaning behind the imagery — we learn to live harmoniously with nature, and with each other!

This is not a glorification of Hinduism, or Indian traditions. The underlying principle of Islamic Finance of “avoid speculative investing” could’ve saved us from the Global Financial Crisis of 2009! As a McKinsey consultant, I had the privilege of working on Islamic Finance. I learnt from scholars in Bahrain, who unpacked Sharia for me in surprising and useful ways.

Religion and science must come together to create mass participatory movements — of the people, for the people and by the people!

Just as adventure writing can come together with parenting, water conservation, social movements, or tribal lifestyles — like it did, in this father-son adventure tale!

Originally published at http://www.businessworld.in on May 21, 2018.