ABSTRACT
Despite state-promoted narratives that suggest that Sikkimese communities have always been “in harmony” with nature, histories of human-environment relations in the small multiethnic and multicultural northeast Indian state have always been more complicated. This chapter will outline the environmental history of the institution of Pemayangtse Monastery, a large influential Vajrayana Buddhist institution. Recently, Pemayangtse has been part of state anti-plastic conservation initiatives. But the historical environmental ethics practised by the monastery do not easily coalesce with contemporary conservation movements. From the 17th century onwards, the Buddhist community at Pemayangtse was responsible for maintaining relationships with the deities and spirits resident in Sikkim’s animated landscape. Monastic authorities also managed an estate that included forests, caves, and rivers. This management included supervising bans on the use of vivified materials that would otherwise be resources, such as trees, and overseeing pilgrimage routes and practices, as well as sanctioned forms of environmental exploitation by the monastery. Pemayangtse Monastery’s contemporary efforts often differ from the institution’s historical human-environment relationships. However, revivifying elements of these histories, especially those connected to the acknowledgement of the animated landscape, have inspired the cultivation of human responsibility towards, and interconnectedness with, Sikkim’s unique biodiversity for local communities.
