The Matsya Purana (critical study)
by Kushal Kalita | 2018 | 74,766 words | ISBN-13: 9788171103058
This page relates ‘Scope of the study and Methodology’ of the English study on the Matsya-purana: a Sanskrit text preserving ancient Indian traditions and legends written in over 14,000 metrical verses. In this study, the background and content of the Matsyapurana is outlined against the cultural history of ancient India in terms of religion, politics, geography and architectural aspects. It shows how the encyclopedic character causes the text to deal with almost all the aspects of human civilization.
Part 8-9 - Scope of the study and Methodology
Scope of the study:
Though there are some works dealing different aspects of the Matsyapurāṇa, as has been outlines in the Review of Literature section, the present study is not without any scope. It is already pointed out that the above mentioned works do not take into account all the aspects of the Matsyapurāṇa. In no work the literary aspect and traditional philosophies are dealt with. Ramachandra Dikshitar’ study deals with only a few topic of the Matsyapurāṇa. Agrawala’s work also follows the order of the topics discussed in the Purāṇa and does not make any systematic study. Though this book has stressed on the symbolic aspect of the Purāṇa, other aspects are not so much highlighted. S.G. Kantawala’s book is more extensive and social aspects of the Matsyapurāṇa are elaborately discussed here. I have not included most of these topics in my dissertation. But an exposition of the Matsyapurāṇa on the topic of literary, philosophy, history etc. in a systematic and critical manner showing comparisons with other similar works has not come to our notice till date.
So, the need is felt to conduct a critical study of the Matsyapurāṇa in those lines. The fundamental theme of the present work is to study the important aspects of the Matsyapurāṇa. As a result, the findings of this dissertation can be utilised to its fullest extent by future researchers in the field of other Purāṇas with the objective of exploring their hidden knowledge. Because of the synthetic nature of the subject, the scope of the present dissertation i.e., MatsyapurāṇaA Critical Study, is quite vast, for which, it may not be possible on the part of the author to complete the work unless the scope is clearly demarcated.
Methodology:
In this proposed study the descriptive as well as analytical methodologies are adopted. Analysis of the particular aspects of Matsyapurāṇa is made following the contents of the work. The philosophical part is discussed as per the rules of the philosophy established by the particular schools. In the literary part rules of some particular rhetoricians are followed.