Preserving the Purity: The Role of Religious and Ethical Thoughts in Early Indian Water Stewardship

Water is an essential element for living organisms and its preservation has been crucial aspect of human civilization. As the contemporary world grapples with the challenges of non-cooperation and unawareness regarding the significance of water, it is time to revisit, analyze and incorporate the useful ancient wisdoms in modern day life. The heavy dependence of humans on water has led both to the crisis of sustainability and to the invention of various methods of its preservation and management. This work includes the analytical study of ancient literary sources to understand the religious, ethical, and environmental consideration of water. The day-to-day contact with aquifers has led to the integration of ethical and cultural codes for safeguarding its nature and properties. The early Vedic texts suggests that the people of the period were conscious of the importance of natural resources, be it water, air, earth(land), forests, etc. and they tactfully placed the preservation methods in rituals, totems and traditions, which were regarded as the duty granting spiritual merit. The current situation of water bodies is dilapidated and is worsening day by day. Increasing demography, lack of resources, non-cooperation, etc. are obviously some primary reasons but the ethical degradation on both individual and community level is the most prominent though overlooked factor. KeyWords: Aquatic Psychology, Reservoirs, Environmental ethics, Apah.