Luit Bhotiai: Stories Along the Brahmaputra

                                                                         Secret of a River

 

 

“Have you also learned that secret from the river; that there is no such thing as time? That the river is everywhere at the same time, at the source and at the mouth, at the waterfall, at the ferry, at the current, in the ocean and in the mountains, everywhere, and that the present only exists for it, not the shadow of the past nor the shadow of the future.”

 

~ Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha.

এটা বহল কোঠালীৰ মাজত অৰণ্য এখন দেখো    ছবিৰ অৰণ্য ফালি  হাতৰ তলুৱাত নৈ এখনৰ ৰেখা টানো   কিতাপৰ দ'মবোৰৰ পৰা পাত ফালি নাও সাজি উটুৱাই দিওঁ    তেওঁলোকৰ হাতত   মই আৰম্ভ কৰিছো নতুন অধ্যায়  কৃদন্ত পদৰ ৰূপ

In a wide room I see a forest   Tearing the forests of images I draw the line of a river on the palm of my hand   From the piles of books I tear out pages make boats and let them drift   In their hands   I’m beginning a new chapter on a grammatical form

 

The Brahmaputra is a metaphor for life, death, and transformation.

As one of Asia’s largest rivers, and the largest in India, it is fed by many tributaries and is magnificent in its presence and aura. The only “male” river in the Indian subcontinent (Brahma –Hindu God of creation; Putra-son), this transboundary river traverses about 2,900 km through three countries, assuming different names, forms, and avatars during its journey. It originates in the north of the Himalayas in Tibet as Yarlung Tsangpo, flowing south as Siang/Dihang in Arunachal Pradesh, Luit/Brahmaputra in Assam, and finally merging with the Ganga where it becomes Jamuna in Bangladesh before spilling into the Bay of Bengal. 

The Brahmaputra has and continues to play a vital role in the livelihoods of millions, serving as a source of water, transportation, and sustenance. The various indigenous communities and habitats live in harmony with nature along the river.

Water is a constant flow of energy. The combination of the water and air creates Shakti i.e. energy. To further the metaphor–the land here is responsible for the intensity of flow and the air (hot/cold), which changes every season is responsible for the quantity of flow. 

 

In this study, we consider water as the Brahmaputra and land as the three different encounters it has – the city of Guwahati, the island of Majuli, and Kaziranga National Park, home to a vast biodiverse ecosystem. As the topography changes, the shift in energy affects the flow of water as is the case with the wind. For instance, the Southwest winds bring rainfall during the monsoon causing water levels to rise significantly, and each of the three aforementioned topographies respond differently.

 

Here, time also plays an important part in shaping the river’s role as creator, nurturer, and destroyer. Over the centuries, as creator, the Brahmaputra has been responsible for the establishment of villages, towns, and cities along its banks. As nurturer, it provides an abundance of fish and rich Himalayan soil, and finally, as destroyer (during the monsoon) it subjects these settlements to massive floods and land erosion.

The first encounter of the river is the island of Majuli. There is an inseparable bond between the river and Majuli’s Mishing community which is apparent in their traditions. 

 

The Mishing have, over the centuries, developed techniques that help them coexist with the river which swells and floods the island during the Monsoon and recedes after. They have a belief that the river is an older brother who comes to meet the villagers each year in the form of floods providing a bounty of fish and fertile land.

 

The Mishing thrive and live in harmony with nature. They build houses with bamboo, wood, and thatch (recently replaced by tin sheets). The houses are raised on stilts to provide shelter for livestock and to stave off flood waters during the monsoon (when livestock is usually sheltered in the houses).

 

Majuli is also home to monasteries built in the 16th century. The island used to measure 1,250 square kilometers in 1890 but the Brahmaputra’s waters have eaten away at the land. Now, it is a mere 515 square kilometers. The Majuli Island Protection and Development Council, a local non-profit agency, projects that the island could disappear entirely in the next 15 to 20 years. So, this begs the question:

 

Will Majuli disappear? If so, what can be done to mitigate this disaster? 

 

The Mishing community has begun adapting to new ways of stacking soil bags at the edge of the river. But there is another way – the freshwater mangrove, called “Kanchan” that helps retain the soil during floods.

An incredible natural habitat, Kaziranga is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Brahmaputra proved to be an ideal ground for the animal kingdom and the numerous migratory birds that live or visit this nature reserve. 

 

The changing course of the river rejuvenates the grasslands, but it is a force of destruction when it submerges over two-thirds of the region in a flood every year. The animals have learned to reach safety by making their way to higher grounds on the Karbi-Anglong plateau. Unfortunately, a national highway and tea estates along the route often hinder their escape route, resulting in several of them perishing. 

 

In 2017, the state of Assam faced its worst deluge in three decades with over 200,000 people displaced, and over two million affected. Over 85% of Kaziranga National Park, famous for its one-horned rhino, was inundated with water that killed hundreds of animals. This also increased poaching as 148 out of 188 anti-poaching camps were submerged.

Guwahati, a major city in North East India, grew as a result of the Brahmaputra. But the river has been forgotten somewhere between the concrete jungle and underneath the bridges in the city. 

 

The overexploitation of the river and its resources led to the deterioration of water quality. In 1985, water research was done by D.C. Goswami, who declared, that the Bharalu River turned into a drain, which now only carries polluted water and untreated sewage from the city. Furthermore, the city also depends on underground septic tanks to manage its sewage, which is a threat to the groundwater quality.

 

One of the tributaries of the Brahmaputra, Bharalu, that flows right through the main Guwahati city,  carries stormwater, often mixed with a large chunk of untreated sewage, and empties it into the Brahmaputra River and Deepor Beel, a wetland and Ramsar site. The river system sustains various aquatic species, including fish, and migratory birds. 

Guwahati suffers from poor urban planning. The destructive power of the river, the floods, and the resulting water contamination have played no part in designing an effective sewage system.

 

It must be noted that this piece is not about taming the Brahmaputra. Instead it is an exploration of how human beings can survive and thrive when in balance with nature. 

 

In Assam, it is a given that floods are inevitable.. The government needs to understand the nature of the river and establish new possibilities that can improve the quality of life.

This research was an extension of the Summer School (2023) course titled “Making Room for Rivers: Learning from the Dutch Experience”. It was organised by CEPT University in collaboration with Delft University of Technology (TU-Delft) as a part of the Water4Change project.

 

Water4Change is a five-year (2019-2024) research project to help formulate an integrative and fit-for-purpose water-sensitive design framework for secondary Indian cities. Out of the four work packages, CEPT University (Ahmedabad) and the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands lead the work package on spatial-ecological water sensitive planning and design.
 

The Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India, and the Dutch Research Council (NWO) provided joint funding to “Water4Change”. The DST, Government of India, supports the Indian Water4Change activity to CEPT University under sanction order number F. No. DST/TM/EWO/WTI/NWO/2K19/02 (C2) and G(2) dated 1 October 2019.

 

 

About the Author

Namrata is currently a graduate student at CEPT University. She has a deep fascination for the role of water in our environment. She has formally worked with many communities through the Office of Emergent Practice, an architecture firm in Assam, India. Namrata's professional and academic journey has been driven by an appreciation for how water not only shapes landscapes and supports ecosystems, but also holds profound cultural and historical significance.