The Relevance of Eco-Criticism in Indian Regional Literature: An Eco-Critical Reading of K. P. Poornachandra Tejaswi’s Selected Works

Abstract

This research article examines the significant relevance of eco-criticism in Indian regional literature through a focused textual analysis of the works of the influential Kannada writer K. P. Poornachandra Tejaswi. Situated within the geographical and cultural context of the Western Ghats (Malenadu), Tejaswi’s literature departs from traditional anthropocentric narratives to construct an integrated worldview in which non-human subjectivities, including animals, insects, plants, and ecosystems, possess active agency. By analyzing his major novels, Carvallo and Chidambara Rahasya, as well as his descriptive accounts of the natural world, such as Parisarada Kathegalu, this article demonstrates that Indian regional literature provides a nuanced alternative to Western deep ecology. Whereas Western eco-criticism frequently idealizes nature as a pristine wilderness distinct from human civilization, Tejaswi depicts a complex socio-ecological network, where agrarian vulnerability, scientific inquiry, marginal livelihoods, and biological ecosystems converge. This study employs key concepts from eco-criticism, such as the critique of the Anthropocene, material eco-criticism, and environmental justice, to argue that regional literatures serve as essential sites for diagnosing environmental crises and envisioning local, sustainable models of coexistence.