IKS Seminar: "Truce with the Tusker - Environmental Governance and Political Economy in IKS"
On the 11th of December 2025, Department of Statistics, Mathematics, Economics and Psychology in collaboration with the Internal Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC) of the college organized a seminar on Indian Knowledge System, which focused on the relationship between environmental protection and political economy by using elephants as a symbol of power while highlighting their relevance in political strategizing historically as well as in modern times. The seminar titled, "Truce with the Tusker: Environmental Governance and Political Economy in IKS" featured an illustrious presentation by Dr. Anindya Bandyopadhyay, Assistant Professor, Department of Sanskrit, University of Kalyani.
The session highlighted the crossroads of nature, power, and economy by describing how, historically, elephants have been indicative of power and necessary for the survival of an empire or state. The elephant was presented not merely as an animal but as a strategic force that played an important role in the political and ecological economy of India.
Environmental governance from Kautilya's Arthashastra was discussed to illustrate how elephants were taken care of and were key in environmental policymaking. This importance was also shown to be prevalent in Mesopotamian architecture as well, from the Harappans to the Aryans. Elephants were culturally salient and evidential of novelty, to the extent of being referenced as gods in Vedic texts.
The session contrasted elephants with fully domesticated animals, noting that elephants remain psychologically wild. Ancient kings were described as protecting forests strategically to build future armies using elephants, to the extent that poaching elephants was considered a crime against the state. It was ensured that elephants were captured only at their prime working age, and proper separations were made between female and war elephants, along with scientific feeding methods including carb separation.
The seminar was informative and relevant in understanding the relationship between ecology and politics. The audience, which included students from the organizing departments, found it engaging and pertinent to their respective fields of study, as it included aspects of history, psychology, economics, statistics, mathematics and politics beautifully combined in a single presentation.
The session concluded with the statement that "age might change its weapons but should never forget its forests". The audience expressed appreciation for the insights shared and expressed their interest in having more such enriching and academically stimulating sessions in the future.
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