'Land of Seven Rivers' a book on the historical account of India's geography

Updated on: Monday, December 24, 2012

Why do Indians call their country Bharat? How did Britishers build the railways across the subcontinent? Why was the world's highest mountain named after George Everest? Did the great flood of Indian legend actually happen?

'Land of Seven Rivers' published by Penguin books is a historical account of Indiaâ€™s geography in which author Sanjeev Sanyal, an economist by profession has tried to explore the above questions.

'History' and 'Geography' according to the author are two widely different subjects and he has attempted to explore the relationship between the two in a manner different than a scholarly treatise on the subject and takes into account the questions about Indian history that are rarely asked.

"Much has been written about Indian history but almost all of it is concerned with sequences of political events which revolve around the rise and fall of empires and dynasties, battles, official proclamations and so on," Sanyal said at the book launch function held in the capital recently.

"However, history is not just politics but it is the result of the complex interactions between a large number of factors and Geography is one of them," he added.

Asked about why he was interested in the subject the author says that one cannot understand the flow of Indian history without appreciating the drying up of the Saraswati river, the monsoon winds that carried merchant fleets across the Indian Ocean and the Deccan Traps that made Shivaji's guerrilla tactics possible.

Citing examples of some of the questions which always made him curious, Sanyal writes in the book, "It was in a deer park at Sarnath, just outside the city, that the Buddha delivered his first sermon. As an important crossroads the place was already an established hub of commercial and intellectual activity by this time, which is precisely what attracted him to it."

"Similarly, like many people today, I used to wonder why the British would name the highest mountain in the world after the Surveyor General of India rather than after royalty or even a Viceroy. However, having read about the sheer scale of the Great Trigonometrical Survey of India, I can see that it was not so odd after all since the mission started by William Lambton was completed by George Everest" he says.

According to Sanyal, the book is an attempt to deeply explore the changes in India's natural and human landscape, about ancient trade routes and cultural linkages, the rise and fall of cities, about dead rivers and the legends that keep them alive.

"Great monarchs and dynasties are still important to such a history but they are remembered for the way in which they shaped geography. The book also talks about geography of India's history and civilisation", he says.

Starting from the genetics and tectonic of history to discovering contours of modern India the book also talks about the journey from Gondwana to Gurgaon.

"It is remarkable how the artefacts of this long history sit juxtaposed and piled up next to each other. The brand new city of Gurgaon is being constructed next to Aravali ridges, the oldest discernible geological feature on this planet", he says.

However, Sanyal claims that after he was done with his research for the book which included going through ancient texts and scores of academic papers, the perception he formed about Indian history and geography was "just as geography effects history, history too effects geography", an idea which he says shaped the entire book.

'Land of Seven Rivers' a book on the historical account of India's geography

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