Copyright © 2026 Authors retain the copyright of this article. This article is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

@article{194199,
        author = {Sujadha Radja. R and Dr. H. Marie Evangeline},
        title = {Ecological Consciousness in the Thirukkural: An Early Indian Environmental Ethic},
        journal = {International Journal of Innovative Research in Technology},
        year = {2026},
        volume = {12},
        number = {10},
        pages = {2896-2902},
        issn = {2349-6002},
        url = {https://ijirt.org/article?manuscript=194199},
        abstract = {This paper will explore the Thirukkural as a foundational text that elucidates an early Indian ecological ethic that was founded upon moral philosophy as opposed to scientific environmentalism. Thiruvalluvar critiques nature not just as a passive resource but also as a force in itself that maintains life, society, and morals. This textual analysis show that, there is a rational ecological construct that revolved around rain as a regulating life force, agriculture as a moral mode of subsistence, non-violence towards all forms of life, and control as a viable regulative principle. Rather than reiterate existing literature on Indian environmental philosophy that more or less critiques the failure of Indian environmental thought, it shall argue that there was a proto-ecological construct in the Thirukkural that was founded upon the principles of interdependence, compassion, and control. Such an ethical ecology foreshadows contemporary environmental concerns while being located within classical Tamil moral reasoning. The paper positions Thiruvalluvar as one of the important early ecological thinkers whose ethical system provides enduring environmental wisdom bereft of the imperative of modern scientific abstractions.},
        keywords = {Thirukkural, Thiruvalluvar, ecological ethics, Tamil philosophy, non-violence, agrarian ethics, moral ecology},
        month = {March},
        }