Cultural History in the Matsya Purāṇa (Introduction)

Culture is actually a matter of the attitude of a society or can be called a life building strategy. Culture is an artistic expression of human life, a transparent mirror social life. Looking in the mirror of this culture, one can see the reflection of the way of life, feeling and outlook of the people of any society. In other words, the culture of a society is born out of the way of life, attitudes and perceptions of the people.

But culture is not something that, once created, will never change. On the contrary, it changes with the passage of time and social life. Even when a new culture comes in contact with each other, a new culture can be borne by adopting new elements. That which is direct, that which is tactile, that which has shape and form fall into material culture. And non-material culture includes dance, song, acting etc. Many people think that only dance, song, drama and acting are culture, which is a misconception. Culture is the expression of a person’s way of life, way of income, music, dance, literature, theater, social relations, religious customs, education etc. culture is the strategy of survival. Humans are the only cultured creatures in the world. Culture depends on more features including geographical, social and biological.

The word ‘Culture’ in English comes from the Latin word ‘Colere’. The ancient Roman orator Cicero first used the term modern culture in his book ‘Tusculanae Disputations’. Francis Bacon was the first to import the word culture in English literature. ‘Sanskriti’ is the embodiment of this culture in Bengal. The term was first used in Bengal in the 1920s with the help of Sunitikumar Chattopadhyay by Rabindranath Tagore.

In 1966, the philosopher Edward S. Casey Worte,

“The word culture basically means to cultivate land in Middle English. In Latin, the word means to live, to care, to cultivate, to pray and to believe in religion.”

According to the anthropologist Sanje—

“Culture is the combination of the traditional customs of society and the individual’s approach to these characteristics.”

According to Malinowski,

“Culture is a combination of man-made techniques for means by which he satisfies his purpose, and according to scientists, the various behavioral qualifications known as members of society, and knowledge, beliefs, art, principles norms and laws.”

Religion and culture are not one. Religion has internationalism but culture has nationalism. Culture belongs to one region and religion belongs to the whole human race. So there is no conflict between religion and culture. There is no problem in practicing one’s own culture by keeping religion in place of its own. For example, there are differences in the religions and festivals of India. Durga Puja of Hindus, Buddhapuranima of Buddhists, Christmas of Christians, Muharram of Muslims, Mahabir Jayanti of Jainas etc. So a nation may have many religions but ethnically culture will be one.

Many people are confused about the relationship and difference between these two concepts of society and culture. Many persons think about society and culture as one. Again many have the idea that society and culture complement each other. In fact, these two concepts have their own identity, that is, two completely different concepts. There are, of course, some differences between the two. These two terms are commonly encountered in the writings of sociologists and are also used in everyday life. A society means a group of people live and interact with each other. Culture on the other hand is the way of life of these people. These two concepts include norms, values, customs and traditions.

The history of culture is the study of art and human imagery in society. It replaced social history in the 1980s and 1990s. It is basically an integrated form of anthropology and history where language, popular cultural interpretations of historical events are provided. It examines documents and descriptions of people’s knowledge practices, customs and art in the past. How people held their memories in the past is a major topic of discussion in cultural history (The first word dictionary of images: Laurent Gervereau (ed.), ‘Dictionarire mondial des images,’ Paris, Nouveau monde, 2006, 1120p, ISBN 978-2-84736-185-8.)

India’s language, religion, art, architecture, costumes, dances are different in each region. But even then a sense of oneness prevailed among all Indians. Indian culture is a combination of these thousands of ancient Indian customs and rituals. Indian civilization is about eight thousand years old (Arnelt, Robert (2006-07), India Unveild, Atman Press, 2006, ISBN 0965290042). Indian religions, yoga and Indian food–the main components of Indian civilization. These elements have been able to have a profound effect on the whole world. In ancient times many languages and ethnic groups came and settled in India, resulting in diversity in Indian culture. But the Aryans were the first to come and settle in India and from then on the ‘Indian culture became the way of life and customs of the Aryans. This Vedic Aryan civilization is the father and life force of ancient Indian culture. Land the Vedas , Purāṇas , Aranyakas, Brahmins etc. have been created as evidence of this culture. So we get a lot of information about Indian culture from all these books.

Here is a discussion of the patterns of that culture in Matsya Purāṇa .