Prof Lama to chair Yale University Conference in US

Prabin Khaling & agencies: Prof Mahendra P Lama, Professor of South Asian Economies at the School of International Studies in Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi has been invited as the Chairman of a session in the Conference on “Himalayan Connections : Disciplines, Geographies and Trajectories” organised by the world renowned Yale University in USA on 9-10 March 2013. Prof Lama will chair the session on “Everyday Religion and Environment”. This Conference will be attended by a large number of experts on the Himalayan region from various parts of the world. The Yale Himalaya Centre is headed by Prof Mark Turin. 

This workshop aims to interrogate the notion of Himalayan Studies writ large, foregrounding connections between academic disciplines, local geographies, and trajectories of study over time. 

"Our collective considerations will highlight links across the landscapes of Himalayan research while considering the often-contested nature of “Himalaya” as an analytical category. We hope this attention to the diverse interests that comprise contemporary Himalayan Studies will lead to new insights and collaborative research platforms." , states the website of the Himalayan Connections. 

It is funded by the Edward J. and Dorothy Clarke Kempf Memorial Fund, the Council on East Asian Studies, and the South Asian Studies Council at Yale University; with additional support from the Department of Anthropology, Department of Religious Studies, the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, and the Yale Himalaya Initiative Organized in conjunction with the India China Institute, The New School.

Prof Lama who is on a long tour of America these days, also spoke at the New School University in New York on 7-8 March 2013. He made a presentation on “De-mystifying ‘Chokho Pani’ as the Interface between Society, Religion and Environment in Darjeeling and Sikkim”. This paper is based on a research protect on water management in Darjeeling and Gangtok town undertaken by Prof Lama along with Roshan Rai of Prerna in Darjeeling and Arun Chettri and Samar Sinha of Sikkim University. A large number of experts and widely recognized scholars on the hill and mountain from across the world areas are participating in this conference on “Everyday Religion and Sustainable Environments in the Himalayas” organised by the India-China Institute at the New School University in New York. 

Prof Lama will be visiting several other Universities and institutions in course of next 10 days including the Joan B Kroc Institute at Notre Dame University where he was the first Ford Foundation Fellow from India in 1997 and Stimson Centre in Washington in which he was a member of the Committee to write a Report on Indus River Water sharing between India and Pakistan during 2011-2012. He is also likely to address the expatriates and non-resident Indians in the US on the issue of why the people of Darjeeling and Dooars in India deserve a Separate State in India.

Prof Lama and his team in their presentation in New School University highlighted as how people and communities in Darjeeling and Gangtok have started organizing themselves as various Samajs in order to access drinking water and also conserve nature. They did a field study of 4 dharas (springs) in Mangalpuri Gram (village) Samaj; Giri Dhara ; Mantulal – Triveni Parivar and Jawahar Gram Sudhar Samity in Darjeeling and Pani dhara at Chandmari; Bishal dhara; Jor dhara and Tambutar in Gangtok/Ranipul areas.

Their paper also mentions the following : 

“People learnt so much from their own surroundings and communities ? Day-to-day social and religious practices have so much to do with the conservation of heritage and nature. When we were children we drew water from a Dhara (natural spring) at Chilaonedhura, Longview Tea Estate at Pankhabari in Darjeeling. All the villagers were literally prohibited to climb over to the area where the spring water actually originated. We were told that it is “Devithan”, an abode of Gods and Goddesses, so one could not go up at all and do anything that will dirty the area and disturb the plants and bushes. Hence nobody went there and not going there actually was a conservation practice that has saved this spring till today. This is how they ensured clean drinking water and chokho pani. No government and municipality have reached there till today. 

The same “Devithan” today, in the popularly used scientific parlance, is “watershed”. However, the invoking gods and goddesses were only a deterrent to inject both fear and respect for the unknowns. In the hindsight, it was a voluntary and costless deterrence and conservation practice. So what we call watershed management today has been actually a crucial element of every day social and religious practices in the mountain region. 

This was a beautiful combination of spiritualism, science and education. “Devithan” was spiritualism, not to disturb the origin of spring water was science and telling us the children about such practice and make us abide by the same was education. Our communities did it so well without studying botany, physics and geology, and without seeing any drinking water development agents. They were so well versed with watershed management and in the understanding of how nature works and what it demands from us to give us back something priceless. This is a traditional wisdom which touched every member of the community and was respected by the entire community.”