The Politics of Seeds and the Aesthetics of Resistance: A Study of the Short Story Gandhitharu

Abstract

This article examines Rajesh Monji’s short story Gandhitharu through the theoretical perspectives of ecocriticism, Gandhian environmental ethics, political ecology, memory studies, and posthumanism. Centered on the symbolic relationship between the seed and the tree, the story presents nature not merely as the background of human existence but as a living presence endowed with memory, agency, and historical continuity. The seed passed down from Ammunniamma to Jayaseelan Mash and later generations symbolizes ecological memory, indigenous knowledge and collective responsibility. Trusteeship, non-violence, Gram Swaraj and simplicity are re-read through eco-systems to counter mainstream consumerism and exploitative modes of development using new technologies. The story also critiques institutional environmental education and symbolic ecological activism by articulating lived responsibility versus ritualized forms of eco-practice. Also, the anthropomorphic first-person narrative of the tree subverts human-centred literary forms and highlights both non-human agency as well as ecological subjectivity. Gandhitharu, this study argues, will convert the issue of local environmental degradation from an ecological problem to a cultural and political question which is shaped by development, memory and power. The narrative contextualizes the story as a seminal eco-political work in modern Malayalam literature embodying environmental justice and cultural memory for ethics of coexistence.