Introduction:
Cartography is the science of drawing
maps and has always been a western science for Bharat. We never had researchers
drawing maps to portray our geography. To mention an example of the western
cartography, I must admit I am impressed by the Text Book of Indian History by
George Pope. The title mentions history but then, it accompanies a detailed
description of geography of British India. This book and many others by the
western researchers, was one of the reasons why British ruled so long.
Probably this is one of the reasons
as to why we have a colonial influence on the geography we learn today. In most
post-colonial theories, we have come across portrayal of Bharat as a
geographical continuum which got created due to imperial Britain. Our world
view was and is still infected with the western concept of nationhood, but if
we look at it differently it was a civilization and not a nation. These theorists
ignore the many facets of Bharat which depict the unity of the country and
signify that it is not just a land mass. So, personally I don’t see Bharat as
just a nation state but, an endless link of people, culture and borderless
unity. We can link the unity of Bharat to a variety of topics, however one of
the important points which I would like to focus on is about the importance of
Rivers in ancient Bharat and the transfer of knowledge in the form of mantras.
Bharatiya Cartography:
The foundation of Bharatiya culture is based on the motto of “milking
the nature and not exploiting it”. The same is conveyed through the below
shloka,
समुद्रवसने देवि पर्वतस्तनमण्डले ।
विष्णुपत्नि नमस्तुभ्यं पादस्पर्शं क्षमस्वमे ॥
The Devi
who is having ocean as her garments and mountains as her bosom
Who is the
consort of Sri Vishnu, I bow to you, please forgive me for touching you by my
feet.
This morning Shloka from the Dharmic
literature recited by many across the world signifies the respect and devotion
towards the nature by seeing the mother nature as Devi (Goddess). It depicts the
approach of our sages who wrote these shlokas and what they wanted to convey to
the people.
When we say rivers, I would like to
start with the morning shloka recited by many across the world.
गंगा सिंधु सरस्वति च यमुना गोदावरि
नर्मदा ।
कावेरि शरयू महेन्द्रतनया चर्मण्वती वेदिका ।।
क्षिप्रा वेत्रवती महासुरनदी ख्याता जया गण्डकी ।
पूर्णा: पूर्णजलै: समुद्रसहिता: कुर्वन्तु मे मंगलम् ।।
Oh, River Goddess Ganga, Sindhu,
Saraswati, Yamuna, Godavari, Narmada, Cauvery, Sharayu, Mahendratanaya,
Chambala, Vedika, Kshipra, Vetravati, Mahasurnadi, Jaya and Gandaki along with
the sacred sea, shower blessings on me.
I have been hearing this shloka since
my childhood, from my grandparents. However, I understood the significance of
the shloka only when I questioned on why should I recite this? Is it only
because, it's a ritual or there is a meaning behind it. I feel it reflects the
unity of India, depicts the culture of worshiping the life giver and conveys a
story through it.
If we go
by the literal translation of the mantra, it seeks for blessing from the rivers
of Bharat. We observe in the mantra that, irrespective of the location, the
rivers are considered holy and eventually become one when they complete their
journey and meet the Sagara (Indian Ocean). The entire geography of Bharat is
covered through this mantra right from the north to the south and east to the
west. It reflects the geography starting from the Himalayas at the top and
covering the entire area above the Indian Ocean which is the Indian Subcontinent
as we call it now & the Akhanda Bharat as Swatantryaveer Savarkar connoted.
A reference to the Vishnu Puran gives
us a description of the geography of Bharat which states,
उत्तरं यत्समुद्रस्य हिमाद्रेश्चैव
दक्षिणम् ।
वर्षे तव्दारतं नाम भारती यत्र सन्ततिः
।।
The
country that lies north of the Ocean and south of the Himalayas
That is
the land of Bharat, where the children of Bharata reside.
To continue with the Vishnu Puran,
another shloka describes the mountains in the land of Bharata which says,
महेन्द्रो मलयः सह्यः शुक्तिमानृक्षपर्वतः
।
विन्ध्यश्च पारियात्रश्च सप्रात्र कुलपर्वताः ।।
The shloka
includes the description of chain of seven mountain ranges in Bharat which are;
Mahendra, Malaya, Sahya, Suktimat, Riksha, Vindhya and Paripatra. Linking the
shloka to today we can infer that it includes the eastern ghats & western
ghats, Nilgiris, Sahyadris, Aravalis, Satpura and finally the Vindhyas thereby
covering the entire modern day Indian subcontinent.
Map of Akhanda Bharat:
Moving on to the
Jyotirlingas, the below shloka gives the geographical locations,
सौराष्ट्रे सोमनाथं च श्रीशैले मल्लिकार्जुनम्
।
उज्जयिन्यां महाकालं ओम्कारममलेश्वरम् ।।
परल्यां वैद्यनाथं च डाकिन्यां
भीमशङ्करं ।
सेतुबन्धे तु रामेशं नागेशं दारुकावने ।।
वारणस्यां तु विश्र्वेशं त्र्यम्बकं
गौतमीतटे ।
हिमालये तु केदारं घृश्नेशं च शिवालये ।।
एतानि ज्योतिर्लिङ्गानि सायं प्रातः
पठेन्नरः ।
सप्तजन्मकृतं पापं स्मरणेन विनश्यति ।।
This shloka describes the geography
of Bharat. The general belief is that there is a total of 50+ jyotirlingas
however, the important ones are described in the above Shloka which again
determines the same geography which we saw earlier in the shlokas of the Vishnu
Puran. The places mentioned in the shloka are located across Bharat covering,
South with Ramnathaswamy in state of Tamil
Nadu & Mallikarjuna in Andhra Pradesh, moving to the west there is Somnath,
Trimbakeshwar, Grushneshwar, Parali-Vaijanath, Bhimashankar, Aundha Naganath.
In Central and East Bharat, there is Mahankaleshwar, Vaidyanath, Omkareshwar
& Mamleshwar. And finally, the North is blessed with Kedarnath in
Uttarakhand & Kashi Vishwanath in Uttar Pradesh.
The shloka focus on specifying these
places, thereby telling the geography of the Bharat or Bharata Varsha as is
called in the Puranas.
Following the mention of Jyotirlinga, we now move
to the Shakti Peethas in Bharat. It is believed
that the Shakti Peethas reside alongside the Jyotirlinga and thus we have the
similar number of Shakti Peethas. The Shakti Peetha are located at the extremes
of the modern Indian Subcontinent. To the west we have the Hingula Shakti
Peetha located on the banks of Hingol River in Baluchistan province of Pakistan.
To the east we witness, Tripura
Shakti Peetha in Tripura & Trisrota Shakti Peetha located on the banks of
river Teesta in West Bengal. Again, to the east we have a few in the modern
state of Bangladesh, to mention a few of them, Sugandha Shakti Peetha located
on the banks of river Sunanda & Chattala Shakti Peetha located on top of Chandranath
Hill.
When we look at south we observe
Shakti Peethas at various locations in the modern Indian states of Tamil Nadu
& Andhra Pradesh, Srishaila Shakti Peetha located on top of Nallamalai
Hills, Godavari Tir Shakti Peetha at Rajahmundry, Devi Kanyakumari Shakti
Peetha located at Kanyakumari. To the extreme south barring the current geographical
jurisdictions we have one in Sri Lanka by the name Lanka Shakti Peetha.
We observe the same in the north,
where irrespective of the current country jurisdictions we have Shakti Peethas
in Tibet, in Nepal and in the current Indian jurisdiction. The names of Shakti Peethas
in the north are, Nepala Shakti Peetha located on the banks of River Baghmati, Manasa
Shakti Peetha in the region of Manasarowar lake in Tibet, Gandaki Shakti Peetha
again in Nepal located at the banks of river Gandaki.
Through all these shlokas and many
more in the Dharmic Literature our sages had created the Bharatiya methodology
of cartography which was not by drawing maps on paper but, by conveying the
geography of Bharat Varsha in the form of shlokas.
I consider this to be our long-lost
science, because though we remember and recite these shlokas there is no curiosity
in understanding the meaning of these shlokas. It is our failure that we could
not make use of our Dharmic literature.
Moving on we will spend some thought
on our pre-history and its link to the geography of Bharat. Due to the colonial
influence, we often call our pre-history as mythology, however when we consider
the references of the places in Ramayana or Mahabharata we realize it is in
fact our pre-history. In Ramayana, the references to places like Ayodhya,
Prayag (Allahabad), Chitrakoot, Nashik, Hampi, Rameswaram, then in the end
Lanka. We see all these places had years of glorious civilizations supported by
the very fact that all are located on the banks of the rivers. This chain of
places is also known as the Dakshinpath (Southern Highway). As we see in
Ramayana the depiction of the north-south connect, similarly we see in
Mahabharata the focus on portraying the east-west connect. Both these chapters
of pre-history occurred because of the civilizations created by the rivers. In
a way rivers acted as messengers and medium of transport for the people in
those times.
Ramayana:
Various theorists have argued about
actual existence of Ramayana and it is said that it was just larger than life
story written by Rishi Valmiki. I won’t get into the debate on whether it was
real or fiction, however I would mention a few points which signify its link to
reality,
a) The Hampi
was the place where Shri Ram and Hanuman met the first time later we know the
Vanarsena joined Shri Ram in the battle against Ravana, we have seen references
of a monkey king ruling this same place in both Ramayana and Mahabharata.
b) The
references to the rivers Sarayu, Tamas, Ganga, Yamuna (Jamuna), Saraswati,
Mandakini, Godavari and not to forget the great Hindu Sagar (Indian Ocean).
These are still flowing barring a few which have become seasonal or as we say
about Saraswati in hiding.
c) It is said
that Ravana before becoming the king of Lanka was born in the Himalayas later
migrated to the Kingdom of Kuber (Lanka) out of sheer attraction of the place
and became the ruler.
d) There were
various rulers in Bharat Varsha but, each had approachable relations and the
same is visible in Sri Ram’s journey to Lanka. The feeling of being one country
always prevailed.
Mahabharata:
Mahabharata’s coverage is from the
east to the west of the Indian Subcontinent with references to places like
Gandhar (Kandhar, Afghanistan), Kurukshetra, Indraprastha (Delhi), Gurgaon,
Hastinapur, Dwarka, Vrindavan, Mathura, Kashi, North East India, Ujjain, etc. Again,
highlighting the geographical boundaries of the Bharat Varsha.
The points in Mahabharata which help
us link it to today’s age are,
a) The
Kingdom of Gandhar as we see references in Mahabharata to the Queen Gandhari
who was the daughter of King of Gandhar. This place Gandhar is today’s city of
Kandhar in Afghanistan. There have been references to the place in the Vedas.
b) Kurukshetra
located in Northern India is the place where the battle of Mahabharata took
place which is a small town in modern day Haryana.
c) Indraprastha
was known to be the capital city of the Pandavas located on the banks of River
Yamuna and is today’s city of Delhi.
d) Gurgaon
the bustling new city as we know has a reference to it in the Mahabharata. It
was the village of the Guru Dronacharya and thus the name Gurgaon (Village of
the Guru).
e) Dwarka,
Vrindavan & Mathura are linked to Sri Krishna
f) There are
references to places like Manipur where Arjuna marries Queen Chitrangada who is
the daughter of the King of Manipur.
We see a geographical range from
modern day Afghanistan to the North-East Region in Bharat.
If we consider the Ramayana and
Mahabharata as a sequence of events which happened in our prehistory, we see an
emphasis on describing the geography of Bharat Varsha in addition to conveying
the chronicle.
Civilizations and the role of rivers:
Indus Saraswati Civilization:
One of the oldest civilization by the
archaeological parameters is the Indus Saraswati Civilization. Over the period
of excavations and studies we have a huge collection of information which
relates to the civilization. The crux of this civilization are the rivers which
flow in this geographical area many of them still flowing perennially while
others lost in the way (Saraswati). We have references of trade links with
various other civilizations of the era to mention a few Magan (Yemen &
Oman), Mesopotamia (Egypt), Central Asia etc. (Henceforth, we refer the people
of the Indus Saraswati Civilization as the Harrapans).
The Harrapans made use of the river
system effectively for farming, trade, transport etc. We can infer that the
river worship culture what we see on the banks of our rivers in today’s day and
age is influenced from the Harrapans. If we consider the days of the civilization
the geographical coverage is huge. In the north, it covers parts of Afghanistan
and northern areas of today’s Pakistan (places like Takshashila / Taxila), to
the south it stretches up to Saurashtra (Gujrat) even further down south up to
the Dandakaranya (area below the north Maharashtra), to the east it almost
touches the banks of the river Yamuna (Western Uttar Pradesh) and on to the
west the archaeologists have found Harrapan sites in Baluchistan (Today’s Iran
& Pakistan border).
Even by today’s standards with faster
modes of transport we would take several days to cover this huge area, so the
best mode of transport for the Harrapans must have been the rivers and the
Hindu Sagar (Arabian Sea in the Indian Ocean).
We must consider it the failure of
our educational system that when anyone calls the name of Indus Saraswati
Civilization / Indus Valley Civilization the first thing which comes to the
mind is the excellent sewage system of the Harrapans. The question to ask is do
we want to restrict the legacy of our ancestors to only sewage system?
Later in History we have many kings
and various kingdoms which was the result of the Harrapan Civilization and
their migration to the various parts of the Bharat.
We had many illustrious kingdoms over
the period in all directions of the Bharat, battling each other for the land,
still the essence of being one nation was always there.
Maurya Empire:
Chandragupta Maurya founded the
Maurya Empire under the guidance of Chanakya / Kautilya (author of
Arthashastra). The Maurya Empire had its capital at the banks of river Ganga at
Patliputra (modern day Patna the state capital of Bihar). The Maurya Empire
stretched from the modern Afghanistan in the north west, to the east up to
Bengal to the south almost up to the southern tip of Bharat. Later in life
Chandragupta Maurya accepted Jain religion and became a monk and moved to
Sharvanbelagola in Karnataka. Here we observe the north south connect where the
King of a northern kingdom gets inspired by monks in South and then decides to
leave all his powers and possessions. Yet again we see the same geographical
area under one rule.
It is said that the southern tip of
the Chola Empire was not part of the Maurya Empire however, both these empires
had friendly relations and trade ties which were based on strong river and
ocean trade network.
Chola Empire:
The founder of Chola Empire was
Vijayalaya Chola. The capital cities of the Empire changed over the period
however, the main location of the empire was in and around the banks of river Kaveri. The illustrious period in the
Chola Empire is the reign of Rajendra Chola who expanded the kingdom to the
South-East Asia and increased the Bharatiya influence in various parts of the
world. Chola Empire had a strong navy and these naval expeditions were not just
restricted to the East but, to the west as well with Maldives being an example.
The trade was the major economic booster for the kingdom with trades to the
west with Arabia to the east with South east Asia, covering a geography from
modern day Morocco, Oman, Yemen to the west and Malaysia, Cambodia, Vietnam to
the east.
Vijayanagara Empire:
As a continuation to the strong
Bharatiya influence we had the Vijayanagara Empire. Vijayanagara Empire as it
is called is known by the capital city of the Empire which is the Vijayanagara
which literally means the city of victory. This city is located on the banks of
river Tungabhadra in the modern state of Karnataka. This Empire though
restricted only to the southern part of Bharat is one of the glorious period in
the history of Bharat. The founder of the Empire Harihara Raya and then an
illustrious list of monarchs who ruled the empire. Vijayanagara / Hampi has its
reference in the Ramayana mentioned above. In its times Vijayanagara was one of
the biggest cities in the world, which can be felt when we visit the modern-day
UNESCO world heritage site at Hampi. The place is majestic and the visitor can
imagine how big the city was in its times. We see a similarity in the
structures at Hampi and the ones at the Harrapan sites. This again links the
two and conveys the message of One Nation – Bharat.
Ahom Kingdom:
The North-Eastern kingdom of Ahom
founded by Sukaphaa. It covered the parts of modern day north eastern states
and parts of modern day Myanmar. The kingdom was located on the banks of river
Brahmaputra. Again, we see a kingdom emerging with the support of a river. The
Ahom Kingdom ruled this area for almost 600 years later becoming part of the
British India. Not much is known about the Ahom Kingdom again a defeat of the
educational system of current state of India.
Kingdom of Kalinga:
Prehistory (Mahabharata) has
references to Kalinga. During Kharavela’s reign Kalinga became an illustrious
empire and he was known as Kalingadhipati. It was during the times of the
Maurya empire that in a battle between the two kingdoms (Kalinga War) this part
was annexed with the Maurya Empire. The region covered is mostly the modern
state of Odisha and some parts of Andhra Pradesh. Yet again we have the rivers
Godavari and Mahanadi influencing the empires and creating & supporting the
civilizations. We have historical references of trade relations between Kalinga
and the South-East Asia (Bali). The tradition is continued till today, there is
a festival named Bali Yatra which means journey to Bali and has its roots in
the trade relations in the past. Celebrations start on Kartika Purnima and
though there is no actual journey, children float toy boats in the river
Mahanadi as a tribute to the past.
All these civilizations and empires
were at same or different points in time nevertheless, their approach was similar,
of worshiping the rivers and not to forget the Hindu Sagar. All these kings and
kingdoms were fighting against the invaders from outside the geography of
Akhanda Bharat mentioned above.
In all the mentioned kingdoms and
others, we observe trade boom through the rivers for inland connectivity and
the Ocean trade through the Hindu Sagar and covered a vast geographical area
from Morocco to Vietnam. Although there were many rulers the civilization was
one and had no borders per se. We can conclude that the feeling of togetherness
always existed in the land of Bharat.
Present day:
An important legacy from the
Harrapans is river worship, which we have also seen in the various kingdoms
over the years. The climatic conditions have changed and we observe depletion
in our holy rivers; a frequently discussed example is of the river Saraswati. If
we connect the dots we will see that the drying up of the unofficial Saraswati bed led to
migrations by Harrapans, to the various places across Bharat and further, we
observe the name Saraswati to many other rivers in the country. We have three
official Saraswati rivers and an unofficial one which is the Ghaggar. It shows
that though migrations take people to different places still their river
goddess shadows them and showers blessings on its devotees. But then, this is a
way of consoling the pain of losing a rich civilization.
If we continue with the destruction
of our rivers the way we have done till date, we will be forced to search for
new ways to remember our holy rivers through some other medium like we did with
Saraswati. If this goes on in no time we will have a long list of rivers who
will accompany the holy Saraswati in the list of lost rivers and we would be
forced to find ways to keep it alive in some other form. I am aware that it is
not just the man-made destruction which led to extinction of Saraswati, but
then we can at least avoid the man-made destruction & exploitation of our holy
rivers.
Being an agrarian society water is an
important resource. In this age, we see the states quarrel over the use of
resources, fighting battles in courts over the share of resources. Exploitation
of water for individual interests, destruction of forest cover leading to lower
rainfall and again impacting our river system.
The change in climate, exploitation
of natural resources and other reasons has led to the imbalance of resources
across Bharat. We see droughts in some areas and floods in others.
Examples of man-made problems a way
of exploiting the resources:
1. Sutlej
river dispute: The Sutlej water dispute between the modern states of Punjab
& Haryana is a case under litigation over the use of water from Sutlej
River. This is exploiting the river resources for personal / political gains.
This makes me feel we haven’t learnt anything from our past.
2. Cauvery
river dispute: Another similar case between the modern states of Karnataka and
Tamil Nadu is the Cauvery water dispute and has been a long drawn fight.
A recent example of the flooding of
the Brahmaputra resulting into havoc in the north-eastern region of Bharat and
on the other hand, there are droughts in the south & central region of
Bharat. These can be solved by the river linking project. The government has
taken baby steps towards this direction by the recent linking of Krishna and
Godavari, but then we need to support this initiative for a better tomorrow.
Today we have few new researchers
doing a great service to the people by helping us understand the dharmic
literature. I see this as their way of showing gratitude to our ancestors.
However, it is such a huge ocean of information that a few researchers won’t be
enough for the task.
Conclusion:
As the saying goes, the best reason
to learn history is to avoid repeating the mistakes from the past but, the
question is, are we learning anything?
Do we follow the foundation principle
of, “milking of the nature & not exploiting it”?
As mentioned earlier, rivers have
always been an important pillar of Bharatiya culture. The river linking project
mentioned earlier is the way of optimising our resources, thereby avoiding the
clashes between the various states over the use of water from our holy rivers.
This is help avoid the droughts and floods and thus bringing back the
ecological balance.
Dharma teaches us to bow down to the
nature and it is still considered to be an integral part of Bharatiya culture.
Yet again we have forgotten the spirit behind the worship of nature. Due to our
ignorance to the Shlokas, we have failed to progress in the science of
cartography, which to my mind was the biggest advantage to the invaders. The
new generation should be made aware of this long-lost science of Bharatiya
cartography from our Dharmic literature. It is our responsibility to do our bit
to improve the situation and spread awareness of the messages from the Dharmic
literature. I will restate my earlier point, the shlokas are not just limited
to the cartography but, it is an ocean of knowledge and a legacy from our
ancestors.
Bibliography
The Lost River – On the
Trail of the Saraswati by Michel Danino
The Land of Seven Rivers –
Sanjeev Sanyal
The Puranas, Ramayana,
Mahabharata
The Ocean of Churn –
Sanjeev Sanyal
Text Book of Indian History
– G U Pope
References
Map from the Museum Ship
HMS Belfast - London
Wikipedia
