Volume-XII, Issue-II, March 2026 |
The Waterways of Precolonial Bengali Culture: An Ecocritical Study on Rivers, Folks and Literatures of Bengal Sobuj Sarkar, Independent researcher, Malda, West Bengal, India |
Received: 12.03.2026 | Accepted: 19.03.2026 | Published Online: 31.03.2026 | Page No: | ||||
DOI: 10.29032/ijhsss.vol.12.issue.02W. | |||||||
ABSTRACT | ||
Ecocriticism, emerged in the late twentieth century as a new field of literary and cultural studies, primarily focuses on the innate relationship between humans and the natural surroundings. An ecocritical study of water bodies explores how the civilizational growth, both intellectual and physical, interconnected with its surrounding water sources and ecology. This paper seeks to analyze the symbolic significance of water bodies in the evolution of pre-colonial Bengali literature and culture, through an ecocritical perspective, to develop an inclusive and holistic understanding how the Bengal is not only a land of rivers but rivers and water bodies are in its soul, shaping its civilizational development throughout the ages. This paper also can be considered as a foray into the new field of 'River Humanities,' analyzing how in the early and medieval times rivers were used as symbolisms related with divinity and divine activities, as well as portraying the contemporary socio-economic conditions of the land. By this analysis, the paper aims to connect the pre-colonial society with contemporary postcolonial Bengal to develop the essence of the shift in literature as well as the nature and to find the roots of Bengali literature and culture. | ||
Keywords: Environment, Culture, Tradition, Literature, Ecocriticism, Folklores |