Climate Change and Indian Literature: Ecology, Memory, and Environmental Consciousness

Abstract

Climate change has become one of the most pressing concerns of the twenty-first century, shaping political debates, social realities, cultural practices, and literary expressions across the world. In India, literature offers a particularly rich space for thinking about these changes because ecological relationships have long been part of the country’s cultural and literary traditions. This paper examines how Indian literature represents environmental degradation, climate anxiety, and displacement, and the ethical questions that arise from our changing relationship with the natural world. It brings together perspectives from ancient Indian traditions, postcolonial ecological writing, contemporary climate fiction, ecofeminism, and indigenous narratives. Particular attention is given to Amitav Ghosh, Arundhati Roy, and Vandana Shiva, whose writings highlight environmental exploitation and the close relationship between human well-being and ecological health. By reading literature as both a record of ecological memory and a space for reflection and action, this paper argues that Indian literary traditions can offer meaningful ethical perspectives on the climate crisis.