Studies in the Geography of Ancient and Medieval India c26.1

c26.1

There is no special word in Sanskrit for ‘a map’. The word *nakshā* (from Arabic *naqshah*) has been adopted in most modern Indian languages in this sense, although it also signifies ‘a picture, a plan, a general description, an official report.’ In Eastern India, the word *māna-citra* has been coined to indicate the English word ‘map’. The absence of any special Sanskrit word raises the question whether map-drawing was at all known to the Indians of old. There is, however, reason to believe that in ancient India a map or chart was regarded as a *citra* or *ālekhya*, *i.e.* ‘a painting, a picture, a delineation’. It will be seen that the Sanskrit word *citra* and its synonyms have practically the same meaning as the Arabic word *naqshah*.