Governing the Commons with Traditional Knowledge and Practices: Lessons from the Bishnoi Community of India

In contrast to the law and policy-driven scientific management of CPR and forestry that have miserably failed, relevant becomes the role of community-based traditional knowledge systems, and conservation practices. Reliance on the traditional knowledge and practices entails a bottom-up approach, which is an alternative to the top-down approach of scientific management practices. Employing the theory of collective action by Elinor Ostrom, the paper explores community and religion's role in conserving natural resources. The study focuses on a case study from India involving the Bishnoi community of Rajasthan state. Bishnoi is a micro-Hindu religious sect, which has been the champions of nature conservation in and around its habitat. Based on the Bishnoi sacred literature /text and expert interviews, the paper examines the twenty-nine holy commandments of the Bishnoi community proposed by its founder Guru Jambheshwar ji in late fifteenth century. The paper's primary goal is to juxtapose the eight principles of Ostrom for governing CPR with the twenty-nine commandments of Bishnoi. It is found that the said Hindu religious sect is able to implement its twenty-nine principles successfully to govern the conservation of common property (natural) resources.