The contemporary world described variously as ‘modern’, ‘globalized’, ‘neo-liberal’ etc. is without exception seen as an improvement over what had gone before, the ‘pre-literate’, ‘pre-industrialized’ and the ‘ pre-civilized’. A long discarded theory that of ‘social evolution’ had provided a meta-narrative for humanity to evaluate, judge and rank societies without rationale or logic. This lack of rationality has however been misrecognized as rationality of the highest order, based on ’technological’ advancement, urban growth, unchecked domination over nature, a false pride in being ‘human’, of being the only species with the capacity to think, to have a creative brain and power for understanding the world through a complex screen of conceptualizations. While in evolutionary terms, the large brain size, the capacity for creative and imaginative thoughts had been put in place right when humans became a species; the social and cultural manifestations of these capacities never actually progressed beyond that point, only a false consciousness about ‘being human’ set in. This ‘irrationality’ and its consequent establishment as a global system of values, has been traced by many scholars, to the beginning in Europe of an age known as ‘Age of Reason’ , where a particular world-view received recognition as the only system of knowledge, as ‘universal science’ and as a system of uncontested and more importantly, ‘ uncontestable’ truth. The latter claim is politically and historically more important, as it inhibited and thwarted any attempts at a critical assessment since it was accompanied, or rather made possible by the highly coercive and violent process of colonization, a process by which the population of Europeans expanded to cover a large part of the globe. This massive takeover was possible only through the development of certain technologies that according to anthropologist Marshall Sahlins (1960), was a mechanism of adaptive radiation, a technology that gave the advantage of rapid expansion and domination, but was not necessarily ‘adaptive’. By adaptation it was meant that a species would find an ecological niche for survival and reproduction. Most animal species do it within an ecosystem, by forging symbiotic relationships with the other species in that niche, so that the survival of each is ensured through mutual interdependence. 
Through the process of ‘radiation’; humans disturbed this systemic balance, causing positive feedback effects, where real changes began to take place in the human relationships globally, humans with other humans and humans with the non-humans. This lop sided ‘development’ has begun to cause havoc, manifesting itself in ‘climate change’, ‘global warming’ and a thousand other unwanted and unwelcome changes that are causing havoc on the millions of species globally, where many are getting extinct at an unwarranted rate and others, including the humans are getting pushed to the brink. Because, unlike the previous stages of extinctions, this particular phase is driven, not by natural forces but by humans through their illogical and irrational actions; it is also known as the Anthropocene, the age of humans. 
This age however does not give any credit to the human species, but contrarily lays the entire blame of global climatic and environmental disaster, squarely on their shoulders. The anthropocentric viewpoint, driving western scientific thought, where experimentation on animals and extreme cruelty were dubbed as ‘scientific objectivity’, actions taken in the pursuit of truth, where the human needs and greed were prioritized over even the survival of the other species, where even today, any number of species are being sacrificed for nothing more than a distorted and sadistic sense of pleasure in mindless activities like hunting and trade in animals; is now recognized as ‘irrational’ and ill-informed.
As Mark Hobart (1993) had pointed out, the western domination over knowledge, recognized by Foucault as nothing else but a power domination, a nexus between power and knowledge having no basis for its claim to truth value, except being backed by raw force and naked aggression, in the form of racism, colonization and now neo-colonization of the capitalist market system; led to the demolition of many existing and functioning systems of knowledge as ‘ignorance’. Centuries of wisdom were discarded into the trash cans as superstition, lack of rationality and simply as ‘primitive’, ‘uncivilized’ or ‘undeveloped’. 
A large section of people so demoted, so dehumanized were those who stubbornly rejected the onslaught of this civilization, who refused to enter into an exploitative relationship with nature and treat non-humans as existing simply for the satisfaction of human greed; the people we recognize today as ‘indigenous’, ‘tribal’, ‘First Nation’ and so on. These were the people dubbed as being at the bottom of the ladder of human evolution, of being ‘irrational’ and ‘illogical’ as they rejected or did not appreciate the benefits of ‘modern technology’ and development. 
During the colonial period, these were the most persecuted of peoples and often subjected to genocide. In India, the tribes have been the subject of internal colonization that actually came in the wake of British colonization, when due to their greed for more and more resources, the British moved into hitherto unchartered territories. The British administration exerted control over the forest dwellers and the relatively ungoverned tribes who had a relationship of loyalty with the local rulers, but were never directly under their sanctions. The Hindus accepted them as different jatis, and left them alone. But as travel and stay in these areas became safer as well as lucrative under British rule, non-tribes, especially Hindu entrepreneurs moved in to take advantage of newly exploitable resources such as forests. In the post-colonial era, these areas are under even more pressure to yield their wealth of minerals, forests and coal reserves. As industrialization is progressing and the capitalist market imposing itself into all earlier marginal areas, the tribes are facing increasing hostility and there are attempts by the state itself to take over their lands and resources, depriving them of their age-old lifeways in the name of so-called development. 
The tribes, not being passive have not taken things lying down. They have fought every inch for their dignity and self-respect, their life ways and their gods and sacred places (Damodaran 2006). During the colonial period there have been many tribal uprisings, men and women have faced bullets, imprisonment and torture, but not given up easily on their life ways and all that they believe as sacred. Even today, what is known as the ‘Red Corridor’ passes through predominantly tribal areas. The relationship of the tribes with the state has been turbulent (Channa 2020). At the same time, there is also the perception of them as ‘irrational’, ‘non-logical’; not developed and not ‘civilized’. Most of civic society regards them as ‘junglee’, or savages. 
Let us now examine this paradox that a way of life that has survived over many centuries, which has maintained a healthy relationship with the environment, technologies that have not led to erosion and depletion of natural resources, are being dubbed irrational in contrast to the industrial technology and a market driven life-style that has, within the span of a few hundred years, brought the world on the brink of an extinction. Unlike the earlier phases of mass extinction, the present age is driven by anthropocentric forces, and some cultural geographers have named it as the Anthropocene, rather than its official name, Holocene. 
Let us examine this in a little more detail. The scientific age began with the axiom that men have complete right over nature as they have intelligence and a capacity for rational and logical thinking, denied to non-humans and to some extent to women, non-whites and non-Europeans in general. This paradigm, as is well known justified both geopolitical colonization, as well as mass genocide of so-called savages. But after about three hundred years, around the middle and certainly towards the end of the last century, there was overall realization, at least among the scientific community, academics and the environmental activists, that something is not quite right. While many were suspecting that serious changes were taking place in the environment, not in a positive way, the discovery of the hole in the ozone layer, exposed the real state of affairs that humankind as a whole was under threat from deleterious environmental changes brought about by human activities. Unchecked industrialization, urbanization, uncontrolled expansion of a market based economy, spiraling consumer demands and all that was considered as a ‘developed’ way of life, was not really the rational and logical way to a good life. 
Gro Brutland’s report, on sustainable development, the lack of concern for our future generations, excessive greed and consumerist values showed up the flip side of a much touted ‘civilization’, just as at the same time it exposed its racist underlying values. People began turning their attention to the words of indigenous elders, healers and the entire notion of indigenous knowledge, entered into academic discourse. What was trashed as ‘superstition’ and illogical thinking was reconstructed as wisdom and knowledge, based on the evidence, that what has sustained humankind through many centuries was probably more rational than an alternate that seems hopelessly unworkable. Yet a large portion of the global population still looked up to the USA as role model, everyone aspired for an urban lifestyle and more and more technology is still being seen as the remedy for all ills. 
Then came the pandemic, in 2020, from January onwards, the entire western civilization seemed to be under collapse. Several lessons were learned from the pandemic, the death and devastation and the lockdowns and restrictions. 
Firstly, that the technology, that at least two generations have had complete faith in, was no protection from a virus that wreaked havoc over the most ‘developed’ countries of the world. Human civilizations most prized achievements, centrally air-conditioned buildings, totally artificial environments protecting you from all the vagaries of weather, the years of medical research, the best available infrastructure of hospitals, doctors and medical staff, medicines and intensive care units; nothing seemed to work in front of nature’s fury; a pandemic causing virus. Interestingly this virus had exactly the same effect and numbers of casualties like the one that had come more than a hundred years earlier, the Spanish Flu. It meant that more than a hundred years of medical research and scientific advancement had done nothing to give greater protection to humans. 
The very globalization that we now see as icon of our age, the intensive communication networks and intensive mobility made possible by advanced technology, actually served to intensify the pandemic, allowing it to reach magnified proportions not achievable a hundred years back. The very advancements in global mobility, made it possible for the virus to spread to every corner of the globe in a very short time period.  Modern lifestyles did not make things easier. High rise buildings, closed in apartments, lack of exercise, contaminated foods that lowered immunity and so on. There were millions dead in the most advanced countries of the world, and the medical systems collapsed under the weight of the dead and the sick. 
Secondly, when under lockdown for extended periods, the value of human relationships suddenly acquired new meanings. Families bonded on one hand, while relationships collapsed under the weight of too much closure. The ‘space’ that individualistic personalities, nurtured by the corporate lifestyle, craved for, was no longer available, leading to increasing instances of domestic violence and psychological break downs.
The institutional support garnered over years to replace family and kinship, suddenly disappeared as schools and offices closed down. The vast network of entertainment collapsed and mobility was seriously curtailed. People had to fall back on families and households, when suddenly it was realized that a large family or extended kin group living under one roof or a close knit village community was a better option than a truncated household living by itself in an apartment that they found too big to maintain without external help. 
Thirdly people realized that the consumerist lifestyle they had been nurturing for long was meaningless to provide any solace or any protection from loneliness and suffering. When there is nowhere to go, closets full of clothes and shoes are meaningless. People revived values of charity, spirituality and love of nature. Community feelings were seen as better option to individualism, kinship better than professional colleagues, and simple household interactions more healthy than superficial entertainments.
Then one looked back on the marginalized and the ones that were still maintaining a healthy relationship with the environment. While doctors in the cities advised people to spend more time outdoors, to live in more desolate places, avoid crowds and avoid central air-conditioning, to open doors and windows and lead a life more in tune with nature than in tune with gadgets. The tribes have always valued kinship and personal relationships above transactional economic relations, even their political institutions and relationships are set within their lineage and kinship orders. They have valued nature and the relationship with nature, giving respect to non-humans, having what Palsson (1996) has described as a communal relationship with them, instead of an exploitative or paternalistic one. Their rituals and world-view look upon the sacred as inscribed into their landscape like the Bhotiyas of Uttarkashi who treat the forest as a temple, and the Deodar trees as gods (Channa 2013). Most tribes do not confine the sacred inside a man- made structure and install images; rather they worship the living nature, the sacred landscapes and prefer the outdoor life to the indoors. 
In the wake of recurrent environmental disasters and now a global pandemic, it is becoming more and more difficult to believe in the efficacy and rationality of what passes as modern scientific knowledge. No doubt humans have made incredible progress in terms of scientific knowledge but in most cases it is remedial rather than preventive actions that are privileged. For example, at present action is taken after a disaster happens but nothing is done to prevent it in the first place. Most indigenous cultures however believe in more of preventive than simply remedial actions. A core of most tribal world-views is about balance and harmony and a kind of universal justice system inclusive of all beings on this earth. They develop what E.P Thompson (1975) has called a system of ‘moral economies’, where there exists a system of interlocking relationships of mutual support and exchange, where rights of all beings are respected and flexibility applied whenever necessary. A Bhotiya traversing the higher altitudes of the Himalayas understands that he must not disturb the forest gods, the spirits of the water and so on, and treads cautiously and respectfully. The result is that centuries of such moral economies allow the survival of all species including the humans as exemplified in the notion of sacred spaces and sacred forests found in many parts of the world, especially South and East Asia ( Garcia and Pascal 2006). 
Coming back to the question of rationality and logicality, what appears more logical, to sustain a future for one’s progeny or to push the world towards an untimely end? What constitutes knowledge, a deep and qualitative understanding of the complex interdependence that sustains the bio-sphere or a superficial greed for more and more unnecessary goods? 
For several centuries now the tribes have been dubbed as ‘irrational’, savage and primitive but looking back into time and examining what is happening in the present, to re-examine constructs such as knowledge and useful skills. Since the latter half of the twentieth century, there has been a turn back towards the indigenous systems of knowledge and a critical appraisal of western scientific knowledge, especially in terms of its political location in certain power structures more than in authenticity (Harding 1993). As Deloria (1998: 141) writes, the increasing realization of the importance of the body of knowledge of Native Americans has made the living Native Americans more important, culturally as well as politically. More people are getting interested in the lives of the still surviving indigenous people and the wisdom they have to offer. 
We are all familiar with the fight of the Lanjhia Saoras of Orissa against the corporate giant Vedanta, in saving their god, Niyam Giri. While most look at it as a triumph of tribal culture and way of life; what is even more important to know is that this mountain, and mountains in general are extremely important aqua ducts for the entire region and the rain water they catch and circulate as underground watering channels, sustains agriculture and fertility over a large area. Destruction of the mountain for mining would have caused desertification at a very large scale, and caused all round distress. The spiritual relations of the tribes with the natural world is now being translated into the contemporary trend towards spiritual ecology. 
The Covid-19 pandemic is a serious reminder to urban populations, that mindless urbanization and movement away from nature and a healthy relationship with the living and non-living non-human world, is essential for human survival. The concept of sacred, as used by the indigenous people implies a degree of respect as well as distance. What we should exploit, what we should leave alone, what to avoid and what to consume, are often part of tribal worldviews and practices. The pandemic has also shown the importance of boundaries, of discretion and carefulness in dealing with nature. Nature is also sentient, as believed by most people living in close association with it. Overstepping boundaries can cause havoc and if in the past, the narratives of the tribes about ‘nature’s revenge’ was taken skeptically, a good way into the twenty-first century, we have every reason to believe in it. We also have reason to believe that tribal life ways are at least as rational as the modern industrial societies if not even more in terms of long term sustainability and survival of the human species. However this should not be misinterpreted to mean that we turn the clock back and go back to living in the forest, that would be ridiculous, but what we can do is to respect cultural pluralism, alternate modes of knowledge, and alternative ways to development, not always trying to fit everything into one size. There are ways in which the tribes can be brought to interact on an equal footing, their advice and wisdom given respect and they should be given an equal voice on policy and planning. 
Changes are occurring globally as post-colonial power relations have made hitherto silenced voices audible. We need to open up our hearing more and become more sensitive and inclusive in our approach to other humans and non-humans alike. 

References Cited

Channa, Subhadra Mitra 2013 The Inner and Outer Selves: Cosmology, Gender and Ecology at the Himalayan Borders, New Delhi: Oxford University Press
Channa, Subhadra Mitra 2020 Anthropological Perspectives on Indian Tribes, Hyderabad: Orient BlackSwan
Damodaran, Vinita 2006 ‘Indigenous Forests: rights, Discourses, and Resistance in Chotanagpur, 1800-2002’ in G. Cederlof and K. Sivaramakrishnan (eds.) Ecological Nationalisms: Nature, Livelihoods and Identities in South Asia, pp 115-150
Deloria, Philip J 1998 Playing Indian, Yale University Press
Garcia, Claude A and J.P. Pascal 2006 ‘Sacred Forests of Kodagu: Ecological Value and Social Role’ In G. Cederlof and K. Sivaramakrishnan (eds.) Ecological Nationalisms: Nature, Livelihoods and Identities in South Asia, pp 199-232
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Sahlins, Marshall D 1960 ‘Evolution: Specific and General’ In Marshall D Sahlins and Elman Service (eds.) Evolution and Culture, Ann Arbor: Michigan University Press, pp 12-44. 
Thompson, E.P. 1975 Whigs and Hunters: The Origin of the Black Act, New York: Pantheon