Geographical History in the Matsya Purāṇa (Introduction)

Geography is a branch of science that discusses all the information related to the world. Geography discusses the earth’s land, its structure and all matters related to the inhabitants of the world. The English word ‘Geography’ is derived from the Greek word which literally means “Discuss the descriptions of the earth.” (Harper, Douglas, “online Etymology Dictionary”. Etymonline.com, online Etymology Dictionary, collected in 10th November 2016). This word first used in the 2nd century BC by the learned Eratosthenes (276–194 BC) (Eratosthenes’ Geography, Roller, Duane W., Princeton University Press, ISBN 978069114672). The Geography is discussed about various things, as physical geography discusses the climate, land, water; the cultural geography discusses artificial manmade concepts such as countries, slums, communications systems, transportation and geographical environment etc.

The ancient Greek scholar Eratosthenes used the term Geography on the context to describe the world. ‘Geo’ means the Earth made by solid, fluid and aerobic material and ‘Graphy’ means description.

In Bengali, the term ‘Bhūgol ’ (bhūgola ) is used as a synonym for the word ‘Geography’ in ancient Hindu Purāṇa . Although the term ‘Bhūgol ’ does not express the meaning of Geography. Moreover, Geography is not defined by the definition of “Bhūgol ” (bhūgola ). Bengal Academy uses the word “Bhūgolvidya ” or ‘Bhubijñāna ” as a synonym of the term ‘Geography’ in the English–Bengali Dictionary instead of “Bhugol .” Geologists often divided this subject into 2 parts–(I) natural Geography (II) Human Geography. Natural Geography presents portray on the Earth, Rocks, Fossils, Water, weather, Vegetation and all the lives. On the other side there are about human being, politics, culture, society, economics and communication in the Human Geography.

The Purāṇas in Sanskrit play a serious role in designing the valuable heritage and old tradition of the country. The etymological meaning of the Purāṇas implicate that the role of Purāṇas to build the history of a civilization is also equally necessary. Some Purāṇas also enumerate the future based on which the human society takes preventive measures to get off any anomalous or undesired situation. Five important perspectives of the Purāṇas are identified as per the tradition, such as primary creation, secondary creation, genealogies, calculation of ages and the dynastic accounts. Besides this, so many other subjects such as river, locations of Mountains, climate, forest and forest production, climate changes and environment and also Indian medical system, engineering, human ethics and moral values have been described in the Purāṇas in a systematic and methodical manner. Geography scientifically deals with the subject of earth’s surface, physical features, products, population, divisions, Mountains, rivers, oceans, forests, lakes, climate and climatic changes etc. All these subjects have been in subsistence from time immemorial, especially from the starting of the creation because the creation depends upon these subjects for its victuals and succession.