Irrawaddy Dolphin, the Evanescent Beauty of Marine Life: An Ecocritical Study of Amitav Ghosh’s The Hungry Tide Emblazoning SDG 14 and Blue Humanities

Abstract

“But man is a part of nature, and his war against nature is inevitably a war against himself.” – Rachel Carson. Unknowingly, human beings have waged war against nature when, out of a sense of supremacy, they disrupted the harmony with nature by creating the most developed and powerful human civilization, violating and destroying nature mercilessly. The anthropocentric approach makes human beings insensitive to other lives on this planet. Uncontrolled anthropogenic activities are responsible for the decline of Mother Earth’s atmosphere. Consequently, in the 21^st century, with frequent natural disasters and calamities, nature is fighting back against all the injustices and cruelties done to her. Therefore, climate change has become a global issue that poses a significant threat to human existence. Hence, to address the crises of the present world, in 2015, the United Nations declared Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs, 2015-2030), which include 17 global objectives concerning the well-being and harmonious co-existence of human beings and nature. The 14^th goal of the SDG is for “Life below water” to protect marine ecosystems.

The Irrawaddy dolphin, or Orcaella dolphin, is an oceanic dolphin. The oceans, rivers, and lakes of Southeast Asia are the original habitats of this dolphin, but in 2005, Cambodia declared it an endangered species. This species is protected in our country under the Indian Wildlife Protection Act. Ocean life will lose its ecosystem in the absence of this species. The celebrated Indian novelist and environmental activist Amitav Ghosh foresees the need for the protection of “Life below water” by placing the Irrawaddy dolphins at the centre of his adventurous novel The Hungry Tide (2004). Piyali Roy, an American marine biologist of Indian descent, comes to Sundarbans to research the endangered Irrawaddy dolphins. Under the guidance of a local fisherman, Fokir, Piya undertakes her journey in search of dolphins. She envisages different challenges during her research, yet she does not yield. Eventually, her love and care for dolphins won out when she could turn her dream project into a reality. This paper aims to study how this novel contributes to ecocritical concerns by exploring the assorted perspectives of environmentalism, the human-nature relationship, sustainable approaches, and Blue Humanities.