Introduction

Ambikasuthan Mangad is an Indian author from the state of Kerala, whose works are

prominently in the language of Malayalam. He was a professor at Nehru Arts and Science

College in Kanhangad, where he taught Malayalam. The areas that he focused mostly was on

short stories and novels, with over 40 books already written by him. Ambikasuthan Mangat is

a favorite writer and environmentalist of Malayalam. The novel Enmakaje was enough to

mark the writer and activist that he is. He got his MA and M.Phil degrees with ranks. He did

his Doctorate on the subject of “Time Conception in Story”. Mangad has written four

volumes of literary criticism, a folk idioms dictionary, two novels and few short stories. He

has won Ankanam Award, V. P. Sivakumar Keli Award, Ithal Puraskaram, Edasseri Memorial

Award and many more. The novel Enmakaje was written in Malayalam by Ambikasutan

Mangad and was translated to English by Dr. J. Devika as Swarga. She is an academician

from Kerala, social critic, feminist and a professor. Devika has translated many fictional and

non-fictional books of Malayalam and English.

The writer Ambikasuthan Mangat won the ‘Odakkuzhal’ Award in 2022 for his short

story collection ‘Pranavayu’ (The Breath of Life). The short story was published in 2015,

with it getting fame in 2021 during the Covud pandemic and how everyone was gasping for

air. In 2020, it was translated to English by Prasad Pannian, associate professor at the Central

University of Kerala in Kasaragod, and later in 2021 translated into Hindi by Dr Suma S,

assistant professor at Government Arts and Science College in Kozhikode. ‘Pranavayu’

written in 2015 tells the story of a dystopian world where people have to buy oxygen kits for

survival. It talked about the family of the protagonist not being able to find any oxygen kits,

and how crowds are vandalizing booths to steal the oxygen kits.
 The work ‘Swarga’ written by Ambikasuthan Mangat was translated into English by J.

Devika. The novel is based on the real life incident of the endosulfan tragedy that occurred in

Kasaragod district in the Northern part of Kerala. The government sets its eyes on Kasaragod

district of Kerala with extensive cashew plantations in 1978 in order to kill of “tea-

mosquitoes”. In the process of making the area cash-rich, they decided to spray the deadly

pesticide, Endolsulfan on the plantations year after year, killing the region’s biodiversity and

crippling its human population along with the mosquitoes. In 1979, media and farmers raised

their voice against this trouble. The study conducted in affected areas revealed that there was

a rising incidence of mental illness and deformities. This novel can be called a work of fact

and fiction.

The book ‘swarga’ takes the readers into surreal setting as it goes deep into the forest

in the region of Kasaragod. The couple has renounced the world they live in and has gone

into the surreal forest leaving behind their past and their connections with the world. They

have given up their name and identity taking a new start, living in solitude with each other.

First part of the novel is focused on the two lost souls who decide to escape in nature’s lap

into a ‘paradise’ near the mythical Jadahari hill, guarded by a spirit. Later the focus shifts to

the resistance of endosulfan. Author has made use of real events, characters and organisations

to narrate the epidemic of deadly pesticide.

The author Ambikasuthan, observers the relationship man has with nature, and how

the nature of the relationship is that man always takes from nature, so much so that he is

expecting it to be given to him, while he doesn’t give anything back to her. Man is the

exploiter, exploiting nature who is the victim. The beauty of nature is poisoned by man. The

novel traces the gradual transformation of a place called swarga which means heaven into

narka means hell. The translator J. Devika by calling it ’Swarga’ has unironically caused the
hypocrisy and duality of how a land that is called ‘Gods own country’ has become the literal

definition of hell.

The book follows the characters of Devyani and Neelkantan while they try to escape

from human beings. They decide to live together without getting married. Neelkantan

believes the world is unfit for life because it’s corrupted. Other characters are Dr. Arun

Kumar, Sreeram Bhatt, Jayarajan, Leelakumari Amma and Sadananda. All of them join the

struggle against the endosulfan. The book goes deep into the idea of myth and reality that is

connected with the forest and the hills. The mythical/mythological part of Swarga focuses on

the deities of Hindu mythology like jadadhari bhoota, the local deity; story of Sivolli

Brahmins performing black magic to trap the bhoota in a copper pot; the truth steps, if you

climb them, you must tell the truth; water flowing in thousands of water channels and the

story about Basava. The Mahabharata characters like Aswatthama, Krishna, and Pandavas

etc. are also cited. It also tells us about the uniqueness of serpent hill, Jadadhari hill and

Janghri Cave.

The reality is that with the spraying of endosulfan caused a lot of people got affected

severely due to heavy intoxication of water bodies in Enmakaje. “The abundance of water

which made this place heaven is what’s making it hell now”. Due to poisoning, no leopard,

no snakes, no bees were visible in Enmakaje. Beekeepers struggled to get honey as bees were

getting killed by poison.

Devyani decided to adopt a kid who is considered to be a “baby monkey” , who looks

like a the-month old while he is seven. He is described as having their body full of sores, their

hair being grey, the lip cut, and when he does produce a sound – it is of someone writhing in

agony. The parents of the kid killed themselves after looking after him for seven years. The

doctors or the vaids had no cure for the disease. The villagers believe that the curse of the
Jadadhari Bhoota has engulfed him, and them. The child is adopted into a reluctant home

with the parents Devyani and Neelkantan who wanted to shut themselves from the human

world to spend the rest of their lives unknown and deep in the jungle where they won’t be

disturbed. They wanted to live as ‘Man’ and ‘Woman’, in the place where they thought to be

Swarga (Heaven).

The two were treated poorly by the world and that escaped into the jungle for

protection. Here we are able to see the idea of seeking motherly protection from nature. The

world has left the Woman with just one breast, and they now have to come back into the

world that took their life from them and make peace with the past, for the sake of the child

and for humanity as a whole. When looking at the cover of the book, it shows a cashewnut

tree with the leaves being healthy and full of veins, similar to the cashew apple which show

different stages of the life cycle, the leaves also show it too. The flowers and the bee, show

the process of pollination that should be taking place, but with the bees not being present,

won’t happen. The picture is what the trees should be looking like, drawing as comparison

with how it is now. The bee on the cover signifies the pollinators that are crucial to the

ecosystem. Pesticides often harm bees and other insects, leading to a decline in pollination

and broader ecological consequences. The bee’s presence underscores the interconnectedness

of all species and the far-reaching impacts of environmental contamination. The detailed and

beautiful depiction of the cashew tree contrasts with the book’s underlying theme of

environmental degradation. This juxtaposition serves to highlight the hidden dangers lurking

beneath the surface of seemingly thriving agriculture.

Then, looking at the subtitle “When the skies rain poison and our world turns into a

wasteland”. The concept of the poison is raining from the sky, eventhough representing how

it was sprayed, also shows also the commentary between rain which is live giving and
nurturing, similarly the pesticide which was used to help people is now poison. The line “our

world turns into a wasteland” highlights the stark contrast between the fertile, productive land

that once existed and the desolate, toxic environment that results from the pollution. This part

of the subtitle speaks to the devastating aftermath of prolonged pesticide use. The once fertile

and vibrant land is transformed into a barren wasteland, highlighting the environmental

degradation and loss of biodiversity.

In the beginning of the novel, Neelakantan was against the decision made by Devi

about keeping the abandoned child but later he realizes that life is filled with deep sorrow and

pain. He sees human suffering everywhere and starts caring for nature. The oppressive forces

try to suppress his voice. He sees himself in the people and nature, he understands that he

can’t stand idly by while people are destroying nature and people’s life as a whole. Other than

Neelakantan and Devi, people like Leela Kumari Amma who is an agricultural officer faced

several threats from her department for raising her voice. Similarly Neelakantan and Devi

also got death threats from the henchmen of the local leader and the minister of that region.

They were branded as naxalites and extremists for ruling up the people in the villages and

convincing them of protesting against the state power.

The effects of the pesticide is given in detail, about how the poison had gone so deep

into nature, that the milks of cows were poisoned, resulting in the calves to die. The poison

had been in soil for so long that it started affecting men’s sexual organs, woman’s menstrual

cycles and also resulted in the rapid changes in their DNA genetically. Hence, poison was not

just in their blood but also in the milk that the women produced. The poison, didn’t just

wreak havoc on their generations, but decimated any chance of a good life their future

generations might have. The novel also highlights future threats of how similar chemical

pesticides are being manufactured in other forms and under different brand names for
plantations of acacia forests in Kerala turning Kerala into desert. Such a harmful plant

increasing acidity of soil is allowed to grow in the land of Enmakaje.

When looking at the theory of Ecocriticsim we can see that it is a critical approach

that looks into the relationship between literature and nature. It emerged in the 1970s where

the focuses was on the literary texts and how it portrayed nature, with the aim being creation

of awareness on environmental issues and how human interactions with nature. The word

“Ecocriticism'' can be divided into two where the first part of ‘eco’ comes from the Greek

root word 'oikos’ which etymologically means household or earth, thus will mean the

criticism of the environment as shown through literature.

Eco criticism takes its bearing from American transcendentalism of the 1840s.

Meanwhile Jonathan Bate’s Green Studies, which is the British version of Ecocriticism, takes

its bearings from British Romanticism of the 1790s. As Ecocriticism (American) was

celebratory in nature, green studies (British) was 'minatory' in nature, where it warned about

the threats which are environmental that can occur due to governments, industries and various

commercial and neo-colonial forces. Eco-critics rejects the idea that everything is

linguistically or socially constructed where the outside world is connected to the discourse,

instead they believe that there is something beyond our understanding that should not be

constricted to a concept, but instead is something that affects us and which we can affect if

we don't pay attention to them.

Ecocriticism sheds light on societal inequalities and environmental degradation.

Through ecocritical theory, a deeper understanding of nature and the human role in

environmental preservation is realized. An essential aspect of Ecocriticism lies in questioning

the constructs of human vs. Non-human, nature vs. Non-nature, and challenging these

dichotomies. The movement emphasizes a shift in perspective from internal battles to

external realities, urging a deeper understanding of environmental issues and our

interconnectedness with the world around us.

The concept of anthropocentrism, viewing humankind as the central element of

existence, is a focal point within ecocriticism, challenging traditional perspectives on

humanity’s relationship with nature. The movement prompts a re-examination of cultural

interpretations of the environment and advocates for a more balanced and symbiotic

connection between humans and nature. By critiquing societal structures that perpetuate

inequality and environmental degradation, ecocriticism aims to foster a deeper understanding

of humanity’s role in preserving the environment.

Ecocritics look into how humans perceive the idea of what wilderness is, and how it

has changed throughout history. It also looks into whether or not current environmental issues

are accurately represented or even mentioned in popular culture and modern literature. Not

only do ecocritics find the actual meaning of texts about nature writing, but they use those

texts for analysing the practices of society in relation to nature. They also critique visions that

are human-centred and man/male centred. Scholars in ecocriticism look into questions

regarding anthropocentrism, and the “mainstream assumption that the natural world be seen

primarily as a resource for human beings as well as critical approaches to changing ideas in

“the material and cultural bases of modern society”.

The idea of how we regard humankind as the central or most important element of

existence is what is called anthropocentric and this attitude is seen when people are seen

enshrined, this idea is seen in Leonardo da Vinci’s painting of ‘The Vitruvian man', where it

is seen in such a way that the proportions of the human body (which is seen when the human

is placed both horizontally and diagonally inside a circle and a square) are what the different
geometric shapes are based upon, and thus are considered as beautiful. For this Protagoras a

Greek philosopher said: “Man is the measure of all things” and thus putting us on a pedestal

at the center of everything making us the symbol of beauty and perfection The “challenge”

for ecocritics is “keep[ing] one eye on the ways in which ‘nature’ is always culturally

constructed, and the other on the fact that nature really exists”. Ecocriticism asks us to

examine ourselves and the world around us, critiquing the way that we represent, interact

with, and construct the environment, both “natural” and manmade.