GEOMYTHOLOGY

GEOMYTHOLOGY, THE NEW BRANCH OF SCIENCE There are many myths carried forward by generation to generation, which may have some substance, not necessarily as described in the stories. In India, there is the story that Bhageerath brought Akashganga to the plains of Uttar Pradesh. Once upon a time, during the last ice age, the whole of the Himalaya region was covered in perpetual snow. When the snow melted, the water in the Khatmandu valley in Nepal exerted such tremendous pressure that it broke through the mountains and flowed into the plains below. This possibility cannot be ruled out. In living memory, I can mention two events that may not find a mention in the books. One is the cyclone, which devastated areas in Trichur district of Kerala State in 1940 -41 The damage caused is still remembered by my elders. Another one is only mentioned by the generation before me. It is referred to as the flood of 99, meaning the Malayalam era 1099, corresponding to 1923-24, ten years before I was born. The next year or so, our ancestral home was partitioned. Recently, I was told that R. Kurumalipuzha once flowed by the Koodalmanikyam temple of Bharat at Irinjalakuda, till it got diverted northward, following a huge flood, more than a millennium ago. There is one aarattu (dip in the river) of the deity in this river once in a year, which cannot be explained otherwise. A new branch of science has come into existence in America, to establish scientifically, the authenticity of a myth or to refute it. This is Geomythology.