From folklore to future: How Indigenous practices are steering climate solutions in India and beyond
In ancient Tamil thought, land was not just a setting for human life but a living companion. Sangam literature used the idea of Thinai to describe an ecological and cultural landscape where people, land, climate, emotions, and livelihoods were seen as one connected system. The five Thinais, Kurinji (mountains), Mullai (pastoral forests), Marutham (farmland), Neithal (coastal life), and Palai (arid land), were not just terrains but ways of living in balance with nature.
