MORAL ECOLOGY AND SYMBOLIC NATURE: AN ECOCRITICAL STUDY OF RAJA GIDH

Abstract

This study examines moral ecology and symbolic nature in Bano Qudsia’s Raja Gidh (1981) from an ecocritical perspective. It explores the relationship between human morality and the natural world by focusing on two central natural symbols in the novel: the vulture (gidh) and the kafoor tree. The study employs a qualitative interpretive method based on close textual analysis and draws upon the theoretical perspectives of Cheryll Glotfelty, Rob Nixon, and Holmes Rolston III. These frameworks help explain how nature in the novel functions not merely as a passive background but as an active moral presence that reflects, responds to, and judges human behavior. The analysis argues that the vulture and the kafoor tree operate as two interconnected elements of a moral ecosystem. The vulture represents the consequences of human wrongdoing, greed, moral corruption, and the accumulation of haram, while the kafoor tree symbolizes purity, warning, balance, and the possibility of moral restoration. The study also considers the symbolic significance of Qayyum’s name in relation to balance, continuity, and sustainability. Through these symbolic structures, Raja Gidh connects moral decline with ecological disorder and presents human greed as a force that disrupts both social and natural balance. Previous scholarship on Raja Gidh has largely focused on religious, psychological, cultural, and social interpretations, while its ecological dimensions have received comparatively limited attention. This study addresses that gap by interpreting the novel through moral ecology and environmental ethics. The findings suggest that Bano Qudsia presents nature as an active participant in the moral universe of the novel rather than as decorative scenery. The study further argues that the environmental concerns expressed in Raja Gidh can be read in relation to Sustainable Development Goals 13 and 15, particularly through its warning that moral corruption, excessive consumption, and human greed can lead to environmental destruction. In this sense, the novel contributes to South Asian Urdu environmental literary criticism by linking ethical responsibility with ecological consciousness.