The Interconnection of Nature and Indigenous Spirituality in Kire’s When the River Sleeps

Abstract

The paper strives to explore Easterine Kire’s when the River Sleeps, which depicts a richly layered indigenous worldview in which nature and spirituality are inseparably interconnected. This paper seeks to examine spiritual ecology in the Naga cosmology, where rivers, forests, rituals and oral traditions function as a living source of knowledge and ethical principles. Kire portrays nature as a sentient entity and a spiritually charged presence that shapes human understanding. The text further captures the relationship between the human and natural world through the protagonist Villie’s journey towards ecological wisdom and spiritual belief. Through the depiction of medicinal herbs and their healing practices, the text highlights the significance of indigenous herbal practices as integral to both physical healing and sustaining the traditional ecological knowledge system. Thus, the study significantly contributes to the preservation of livelihood and the multigenerational indigenous knowledge of the Naga community.