Ecology, Myth, and Indigenous Ethics in Easterine Kire’s When the River Sleeps: An Ecocritical Study

This paper undertakes an ecocritical reading of Easterine Kire's When the River Sleeps, foregrounding its articulation of an indigenous ecological ethic rooted in Naga cosmology. Drawing upon ecocritical frameworks such as deep ecology, indigenous ecocriticism, and eco-spirituality, the study examines how the novel reimagines the relationship between humans and the natural world beyond anthropocentric paradigms. Nature in the text—particularly the river and the forest—emerges not as a passive backdrop but as a living, moral presence endowed with agency, capable of testing, guiding, and judging human conduct. Through myth, folklore, and spiritual belief systems, Kire constructs an ecological worldview grounded in restraint, reciprocity, and communal responsibility, where exploitation of nature is met with ethical consequences. The paper further argues that When the River Sleeps implicitly critiques modernity's extractive impulses and the erosion of indigenous environmental knowledge systems, positioning storytelling itself as a form of ecological resistance. By foregrounding indigenous ways of knowing and being, the novel challenges dominant Western models of development and offers an alternative ecological imagination based on coexistence rather than domination. Situated within the broader discourse of postcolonial ecocriticism, this study highlights the relevance of Northeast Indian literature in contemporary environmental debates, particularly in the context of the Anthropocene. Ultimately, the paper contends that Kire's novel contributes significantly to ecocritical thought by affirming the ethical necessity of listening to nature and respecting its intrinsic value.