Volume V Special Issue IV October 2025

Name of Author : Rituraj Anand, Shreya Chakraborty, Sidhi Narula

Title of the paper : Rituals and Resilience: An Ecocritical and Ecopsychological Study of Selected Tribal Verses

Abstract: Songs, rituals, dances, and myths have long reflected the ecological consciousness of human societies. In the Indian context, tribal oral literature is crucial for transmitting ecological wisdom and cultural memory across generations. These expressions function not only as art but also as communal archives of emotion, resilience, and psychological coping. This paper critically analyzes Adi, Kondh, Oraon, and Munda tribal songs and dances that embody themes of birth, death, celebration, healing, and renewal. The paper extends Wilsons Biophilia Hypothesis 1984, according to which humans are born with a connection to nature. It also draws on Glotfelty and Fromms Ecocriticism 1996, which sees nature as the cocreator of meaning in literature. Kondh songs reflect agricultural balance through ritual sacrifice, Munda songs link fertility to celestial cycles, and Oraon songs invoke harvest prayers. Archetypes from Jungs collective unconscious appear in these traditions sun, moon, spirits, and healing herbs. These tribal verses serve as dynamic, living, and ever evolving systems of ecological and affective knowledge. Ecopsychology Roszak, 1992 and Affect Theory Ahmed, 2004 Massumi, 2002 place these traditional tribal verses and rituals at an intersection of renewal of hope, preservation of ecological memory, and transformation of grief into catharsis inducing equilibrium.

Keywords : affect theory, ecocriticism, ecopsychology, tribal songs, oral tradition

DOI :

Page Number : 79-86