A STUDY ON ENVIRONMENTAL AND RESOURCE ETHICS IN THE RIGVEDA AND THEIR RELEVANCE TO SDGs

Ms. Ranjani N. Mishra

Thakur Ramnarayan College of Arts and Commerce

Abstract : This paper examines environmental and resource ethics in the Rigveda — the oldest layer of Vedic literature — and evaluates how those ethical ideas map onto the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Close reading of representative hymns (notably the Nadistuti/Nadi-sukta and hymns to Apas, Prithvi, Agni and the Soma ritual context) reveals recurring values: reverence for water, earth and vegetation; an ethics of restraint and gratitude toward resources; recognition of interdependence (expressed via the principle of Ṛta (ऋत), or cosmic order); and ritual practices that encode limits on resource use. Secondary scholarship interprets these hymns as proto-ecological knowledge embedded in social and ritual practice. Drawing on textual examples and modern scholarship, the analysis links Rigvedic attitudes to SDGs such as Clean Water and Sanitation (SDG 6), Life on Land (SDG 15), Climate Action (SDG 13) and Responsible Consumption and Production (SDG 12), arguing that Rigvedic ethics can enrich contemporary sustainability discourse by supplying cultural narratives that encourage stewardship, intergenerational responsibility, and locally grounded resource governance. The paper ends with policy implications for integrating indigenous and classical wisdom into modern sustainability education and practice.

Keywords:Ecological Interdependence; Environmental Ethics; Indigenous Knowledge Systems; Resource Ethics; Responsible Consumption; Rigveda; Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); Sustainability and Cultural Traditions; Ṛta (Cosmic Order); Water Stewardship.