Gaia is the the primal Greek goddess personifying the Earth. Gaia is a primordial deity in the ancient Greek pantheon and considered a Mother Goddess.
Etymologically Gaia is a compound word of two elements. Ge, meaning “Earth” and ‘aia’ is a derivative of an Indo-European stem meaning “Grandmother”.
This epical name was revived in 1979 by James Lovelock, in ‘Gaia: A New Look at Life on Earth’ which proposed a Gaia hypothesis. The hypothesis proposes that living organisms and inorganic material are part of a dynamic system that shapes the Earth’s biosphere, and maintains the Earth as a fit environment for life. In some Gaia theory approaches, the Earth itself is viewed as an organism with self-regulatory functions. Further books by Lovelock and others popularized the Gaia Hypothesis, which was widely embraced and passed into common usage as part of the heightened awareness of environmental concerns of the 1990s.
Gaia has been widely held throughout history and has been the basis of a belief which still coexists with the great religions. Today the very word ‘Gaia’ has come to mean ecology and sustainability.
There is a thriving green community which runs the portal Gaia.com.
Interestingly, in India the cow is known as ‘Gai’ and Vedic literatures have similar words, ‘Gau’ or ‘Gava’.
The word Gaia has been derived from these words. If we go to Nirukta, the earliest book of etymology from India, and look up its meaning, the two primary meanings of the word ‘gau’, from which ‘gava’ is derived, are given in the following order:
1.The planet earth
2.The animal, cow.
By using interchangeable words for cow and Earth, Vedas, the oldest repository of knowledge, emphatically state that cow is a symbolic representation of the planet Earth itself. In almost all Indian languages, cow is knows as gai or go-mata.
Therefore cow has a serious significance for saving a planet in crisis. Of all the man-made crises, probably the worst is the destruction of top soil and desertification of fertile lands.
The history of preceding civilizations and cultures indicate the imbalances that have developed when minerals have been permanently transferred from the soil. There are only a few localities in the world where great civilizations have continued to exist through long periods and these have very distinct characteristics.
It required only a few centuries, and in some profligated systems a few decades to produce so serious a mineral depletion of the soil that progressive plant and animal deterioration resulted. In such instances, regular and adequate replenishment was not taking place.
In nature’s program, minerals are loaned temporarily to the plants and animals and their return to the soil is essential. In the case of a forest system, this replenishment is made by its plant and animal life automatically. But in case of agriculture, we have to make a conscious effort to do it. A few intelligent civilizations have done it but the balance of the cultures have largely failed at this point.
One such civilization was Indian (or Vedic) Civilization. According to the available historical records, they have successfully farmed and protected the topsoil for at least 50 centuries. And the entire credit for this goes to humble cow.
But this all has changed in last few decades. Indian government, especially in the post-independence era, has made great efforts to promote cow slaughter and beef export. Their efforts finally paid off when this year India topped the list of beef exporting countries.
But this ‘accomplishment’ has come with a big price tag. The whole agriculture sector is dying out in a country where 70% of the people directly depend on small farm holdings. This is evidenced by rising food prices of food and a spate of farmers’ suicides.
Etymologically Gaia is a compound word of two elements. Ge, meaning “Earth” and ‘aia’ is a derivative of an Indo-European stem meaning “Grandmother”.
This epical name was revived in 1979 by James Lovelock, in ‘Gaia: A New Look at Life on Earth’ which proposed a Gaia hypothesis. The hypothesis proposes that living organisms and inorganic material are part of a dynamic system that shapes the Earth’s biosphere, and maintains the Earth as a fit environment for life. In some Gaia theory approaches, the Earth itself is viewed as an organism with self-regulatory functions. Further books by Lovelock and others popularized the Gaia Hypothesis, which was widely embraced and passed into common usage as part of the heightened awareness of environmental concerns of the 1990s.
Gaia has been widely held throughout history and has been the basis of a belief which still coexists with the great religions. Today the very word ‘Gaia’ has come to mean ecology and sustainability.
There is a thriving green community which runs the portal Gaia.com.
Interestingly, in India the cow is known as ‘Gai’ and Vedic literatures have similar words, ‘Gau’ or ‘Gava’.
The word Gaia has been derived from these words. If we go to Nirukta, the earliest book of etymology from India, and look up its meaning, the two primary meanings of the word ‘gau’, from which ‘gava’ is derived, are given in the following order:
1.The planet earth
2.The animal, cow.
By using interchangeable words for cow and Earth, Vedas, the oldest repository of knowledge, emphatically state that cow is a symbolic representation of the planet Earth itself. In almost all Indian languages, cow is knows as gai or go-mata.
Therefore cow has a serious significance for saving a planet in crisis. Of all the man-made crises, probably the worst is the destruction of top soil and desertification of fertile lands.
The history of preceding civilizations and cultures indicate the imbalances that have developed when minerals have been permanently transferred from the soil. There are only a few localities in the world where great civilizations have continued to exist through long periods and these have very distinct characteristics.
It required only a few centuries, and in some profligated systems a few decades to produce so serious a mineral depletion of the soil that progressive plant and animal deterioration resulted. In such instances, regular and adequate replenishment was not taking place.
In nature’s program, minerals are loaned temporarily to the plants and animals and their return to the soil is essential. In the case of a forest system, this replenishment is made by its plant and animal life automatically. But in case of agriculture, we have to make a conscious effort to do it. A few intelligent civilizations have done it but the balance of the cultures have largely failed at this point.
One such civilization was Indian (or Vedic) Civilization. According to the available historical records, they have successfully farmed and protected the topsoil for at least 50 centuries. And the entire credit for this goes to humble cow.
But this all has changed in last few decades. Indian government, especially in the post-independence era, has made great efforts to promote cow slaughter and beef export. Their efforts finally paid off when this year India topped the list of beef exporting countries.
But this ‘accomplishment’ has come with a big price tag. The whole agriculture sector is dying out in a country where 70% of the people directly depend on small farm holdings. This is evidenced by rising food prices of food and a spate of farmers’ suicides.
