Religion, the Environment, and Global Modernity in the Land of Krishna: A Review Essay of Three Recent Books.

The three books under review are all detailed studies of the religious landscape of Braj in northern India. From the early sixteenth century Braj has been understood by Hindus to be the land in which Krishna was born and grew up. According to a popular saying, "Braj is Krishna and Krishna is Braj." It is the very epitome of an embodied sacred landscape. Scholars in history, religion, and culture have studied Braj extensively; the religious emphasis on the land itself, coupled with increasing awareness of climate change in this era of the Anthropocene, have now brought environmental studies into the analytical picture. David L. Haberman looks at the worship of the stones of Mount Govardhan, the low hillock in the center of Braj, and juxtaposes the Hindu practice of decorating these stones to depict (and embody) Krishna and his consort Radha with scholarly criticisms of such anthropomorphism. These criticisms show the problematic dual roots of the study of religion in Protestant theology and Enlightenment scientific materialism. John Stratton Hawley documents the transformation of Braj in recent decades, as economic and transportation changes have made what used to be a quiet pastoral region into a part of the Delhi megalopolis. He laments many of these changes, such as the environmental degradation of the Yamuna riverbank, the development of flashy new religious centers in the region Hawley dubs "The Mall of Vrindavan" on what used to be the outskirts of the town, and the planned development of a seventy-story skyscraper. He ends by lauding the work of Shrivats Goswami, a well-known scholar-activist from a family with long ties to the region. Sugata Ray provides a longer historical depth to these studies of Braj as he looks at how environmental changes in the period of the Little Ice Age from 1550 to 1850 are reflected in changes in painting and architecture. His introduction of theoretical concepts from geoaesthetics and eco art history greatly enriches the multidisciplinary analysis of the sacred land of Braj that the three books collectively encourage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]