The riddle of the crane: Multispecies coexistence and the case of Dhanauri (Uttar Pradesh, India)

Authors

  • Stefano Beggiora Ca' Foscari University of Venice

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.13135/1825-263X/12052

Abstract

Metaphor of unconditional love, devotion, empathy and compassion, the giant Indian crane, or Sarus Crane, is a topos of Indian literature: its song is capable of evoking the plots of an aesthetic, lyrical and spiritual search. Sung in epic and myth, this animal today stands as a symbol of Environmental Humanities in India, despite its increasingly threatened conservation status. This article focuses on the case of Dhanauri Wetlands, illustrating the complexity of multispecies coexistence between endangered animals and a human society in full transformation. The Dhanauri oasis, not yet officially recognized as a protected ‘Ramsar’ site, stands as a bastion of environmentalism in a paradigmatic struggle for resilience against the rampant urbanization and industrialization of the Indian doab.

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Author Biography

Stefano Beggiora, Ca' Foscari University of Venice

Stefano Beggiora (Ph.D. in Civilizations of India and East Asia) is Associate Professor of Indian History, Environmental History and Humanities of India, History of Medieval Hindi Literature and Ethnography of Shamanism at the Dept. of Asian and North African Studies of the Ca' Foscari University of Venice. Specialized in the study of Asian shamanism, he has carried out more than twenty years of research among indigenous peoples and ethnic minorities mainly of the Indian subcontinent. He has published several books and scientific articles on the history and religions of the native (adivasi) communities of India, but also on the human rights of minorities, contemporary politics, economics and international relations in Asia. He is currently director of the STRADE series dedicated to anthropological and religious studies edited by Franco Angeli in Milan and of the international scientific review Lagoonscapes, The Venice Journal of Environmental Humanities.

Stefano can be contacted at: stefano.beggiora@unive.it

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Published

2025-07-21

Issue

Vol. 29 No. 2 (2025): For a multivocal history of the attitudes towards animals in South Asia: Concepts, ethics, practices, symbolism

Section

Tigers, snakes, and the forest

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