Tracing Ecological Degradation from Mythological Antiquity to Post-Colonial Reality in Indian English Literature

Abstract

Ecological degradation in literature frequently operates as more than just a background setting. It often mirrors or actively facilitates the physical trauma inflicted upon marginalised human bodies. This paper argues that contemporary Indian cultural narratives portray a direct parallel between the systemic exploitation of the natural environment and the physical trauma inflicted upon the female and subaltern body. While ecocriticism is widely applied to specific modern authors, it is rarely in conversation with mythological retellings or capitalist critiques. This creates a gap in understanding how ecological and bodily exploitation form a continuous historical narrative. By analysing Aravind Adiga’s The White Tiger (2008), Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s The Palace of Illusions (2008), and Arundhati Roy’s The Ministry of Utmost Happiness (2017), this study traces this parallel across different literary modes. The paper contrasts the sacred yet disrupted relationship with nature in the mythological framework with the polluted, extractive environments of modern capitalist and militarised wastelands. This research answers how post-2000 Indian literature aligns environmental collapse with the systemic abuse of vulnerable populations.