River Hooghly

RIVER HOOGHLY

River of Life River Hooghly Before the city of Calcutta was established, when it was still a collection of three villages by the Hooghly (a distributary of the Ganges), wild animals used to inhabit the Maidan, the vast open area in the heart of present-day Calcutta. These animals included tiger, estuarine crocodile and wild boars.

The Hooghly is part of the Ganges delta system. This is the largest delta in the world and has the largest mangrove forest on earth, the Sundarbans. Mangrove forests are the most biologically productive and fragile ecosystems in the world.

By far the largest of the mammals found in the delta is the Royal Bengal Tiger, and the concentration of tigers here is the largest in the world. The unique adaptation of the tiger in the Sundarbans area is quite remarkable. Tigers here swim from one island to another and even eat fish as part of their diet. According to local belief, the Sundarbans tiger’s consumption of brackish water (since sweet water is not available) makes it even more aggressive than tigers elsewhere.

While the rhinoceros may have disappeared from the delta region and the tiger is under threat, there still is a wide range of fish and animals found in and around the river today.

Very little is known about the eleven species of amphibians in the delta. What we do know is that they play an important role as food for the higher vertebrates and as predator of lower animals. Only 27 species of reptiles have been recorded in the delta including Soft Shelled Turtle and Marsh Crocodile. Most of the reptiles found in the region are now critically endangered animals. The Marsh Crocodiles are threatened owing to unregulated hunting for skins in the past. Turtle meat, unfortunately, is considered a gastronomical delicacy among local people. Monitor lizards still survive, though in reduced numbers, again due to their previously being hunted for skin.

River Hooghly was compiled by Adrian Evans from text by Bonani Kakar in 2007 Rivers of the World is a Thames Festival project delivered in partnership with the British Council Connecting Classrooms with support from HSBC Global Education Programme www.riversoftheworld.org

RIVER HOOGHLY

River of Life Ganges Dolphin Altogether eleven species of mammals have been recorded from different stretches of the delta. One of the rarest and endangered mammals is the Ganges Dolphin. It is estimated that there are only about 2,000 dolphins to be found in the Ganges. Different species of otters may still be found in the area, again in reduced numbers owing to exploitation of the populations for skin trade in the past.

The river dolphins go by several names.

They are commonly called Susu, but may also be known as Hihu, Bhulan, Blind dolphin, Side-swimming dolphin, Ganges Susu, and Gangetic Dolphin.

River dolphins are considered to be much more primitive than their saltwater cousins.

They are small, usually no longer than nine or ten feet. Their neck vertebrae are not attached, to allow for free movement of the head. This assists them in capturing prey, navigating in narrow waterways, or in scanning their surroundings with echolocation. All have very small eyes, because of poor visibility in the turbid waters, and their vision is poor. The Ganges is one of five rivers that is home to the river dolphin, the others being the Indus (Pakistan), Amazon (Peru and Brasil), Yangtze (China) and the Irrawady (Burma).

Amazingly, you can still spot the Ganges Dolphin against the backdrop of the Howrah Bridge in central Calcutta as a million people cross it over the Hooghly every day.

Ganges Shark is a rare species of fresh water shark that dwells in the Ganges River. In its external appearance, the shark is a typical requiem shark. It is stocky, with a broadly rounded snout and small eyes. The pectoral fins are broad. The shark tends to have a uniform gray to brownish colouration, with no discernible pattern or markings.

The Ganges Shark, as its name suggests, is largely restricted to the rivers of the Indo-Western Pacific zone, particularly the Hooghly River. The shark is extremely endangered and rarely sighted. According to India’s Wildlife Protection Act of 1972 and provisions of the country’s criminal penal code, poaching or possessing body parts of the Ganges Shark will earn a poacher or trader 10 years ‘rigorous imprisonment’ and a fine of 10,000 rupees.

River Hooghly was compiled by Adrian Evans from text by Bonani Kakar in 2007 Rivers of the World is a Thames Festival project delivered in partnership with the British Council Connecting Classrooms with support from HSBC Global Education Programme www.riversoftheworld.org

RIVER HOOGHLY

River of Life Fish and Birds Although the number of fish species is high (378), just 20% of these (75 in number) have been identified as having high commercial value. The population of most of the economically important fish, including the Indian Major Carps, has dwindled in recent years. However, the number of catfish has been found to increase. Migratory fish, such as Hilsa, are confined primarily downstream of the Farakka barrage. These, too, have shown a sharp decrease in numbers since the construction of the Barrage as well as due to overfishing.

The decline of fish can broadly be attributed to five causes: 1. competition for water 2. habitat alteration 3. pollution 4. introduction of exotic species 5. commercial exploitation.

The most significant of these problems is the introduction of alien species in the Ganges. Introduced species occasionally replace native ones in natural habitats through competition or predation, but most replacement occurs in altered environments that provide the introduced species an ecological advantage. Thai Magur and Chinese Grass Carp are two of the introduced species in the Ganges river system. The Physa (Haitia) mexicana, a North American snail, was first noticed in the river in 1998 and now seems to be flourishing.

The Hooghly is a tidal river and it would, therefore, attract shore birds such as the common sandpiper, red shank, brown-headed gulls and black-headed gulls. Since the decline of fishing on the river, gulls have almost disappeared, since they can no longer get pickings off the fishermen’s catch. Today, only the common sandpiper is seen occasionally, scurrying on the mud flats at ebb tide.

Upstream, near the Palta waterworks, large numbers of migratory pin-tailed ducks and colonies of open-billed and painted stork are not an uncommon sight.

Interestingly the Mangrove Whistler, a small and nondescript bird, totally confined to mangrove forests of south and southeast Asia, was first described in the 1840s as coming from Calcutta.

Mangrove vegetation used to be present along the cuty stretch of the Hooghly but when the mangroves vanished so too did the Whistler.

River Hooghly was compiled by Adrian Evans from text by Bonani Kakar in 2007 Rivers of the World is a Thames Festival project delivered in partnership with the British Council Connecting Classrooms with support from HSBC Global Education Programme www.riversoftheworld.org

RIVER HOOGHLY

Polluted River Organic Waste When the banks of the Hooghly were inhabited by a few villages or even a few settlements, the water in the river seemed quite satisfactory for the agricultural and drinking water needs of the population. An account from a missionary in the 1820s describes water carriers, bhistis (see left), who used to earn four rupees per month carrying drinking water to households.

A large pond in the heart of the administrative area, Laldighi in today’s Dalhousie Square, was “secured� by the East India Company and used as a source of drinking water. Despite this, water-borne diseases were rampant and drinking substitutes, such as alcoholic beverages, were a common recourse for the English settlers.

But as paddy fields turned to engineering factories and jute mills took over what were open fields along the riverside, the pollution load on the river grew enormously. Power plants, paint factories, foundries and ship building and repairing yards spewed industrial and domestic waste and started to destroy the very water that had brought life and livelihood to its surroundings over the years. A city that had been planned for 200,000 people saw its residents multiplying to ten and twenty times that number.

In 1818, in order to provide clean drinking water to Calcutta, a treatment plant drawing water from the Hooghly was set up in Palta. It produced 6 million gallons of water per day. Today, this figure has reached 230 million gallons. To augment this piped water supply, there are 12,000 tube wells and 14,000 stand pipes drawing ground water.

Untreated river water was drawn by pumps and through hydrants used for non-drinking purposes, such as washing streets and fighting fires. While the hydrants have been clogged with silt over the years, plans are being formulated to resuscitate the system.

Calcutta is blessed with a couple of unusual gifts of nature. First, the Ganges is a tidal river. This means that the ebb and flow of the water twice a day produces a cleaning action that results in the river water being flushed and recharged. Second, the slope of the land in the city is away from the river and toward the marshy wetlands on the eastern side. This enabled the city to take advantage of the gentle gradient in setting up a sewage and storm water disposal system that moved waste into the wetlands rather than into the Hooghly. Industrial waste, however, as well as dumping of domestic waste by other municipalities along the river, continues to inflict severe damage on the river.

River Hooghly was compiled by Adrian Evans from text by Bonani Kakar in 2007 Rivers of the World is a Thames Festival project delivered in partnership with the British Council Connecting Classrooms with support from HSBC Global Education Programme www.riversoftheworld.org

RIVER HOOGHLY

Polluted River Ganges Action Plan In recent times, owing to dumping of factory and municipal waste, religious paraphernalia, carcasses, sewage and other such substances in the river, the Hooghly had become extremely polluted, lowering the level of oxygen present in the water and critically endangering the existing biota. The government, in order to combat these problems, launched the Ganges Action Plan (GAP) in April 1985. This plan has now been in existence for over twenty years and has cost nearly 5 billion rupees. While some environmentalists are of the opinion that in terms of ground realities, the plan has been unable to lower the pollution load in the Ganges, data shows that there have been some improvements and that the quality of the water is such that it can support aquatic life but is unsafe for human consumption.

Under the GAP, clean-up efforts are at two levels: industrial effluents are monitored and acted upon by the Pollution Control Boards in each state.

In West Bengal, there are several water monitoring stations, starting upstream at Berhampore and going down to the southernmost point in Diamond Harbour, and the monitoring is done at both high and low tide. Enforcement has produced results and lowered the chemical load in the river Ganges.

The second level of clean-up under the GAP aims at reducing household waste.

Here the enforcement has not been as successful, partly because waste treatment plants in the municipalities along the river have not yet been set up.

Since arsenic has been found in groundwater in various locations in West Bengal and the number of such locations is growing, clean drinking water from the river (uncontaminated surface water) gains greater importance in assuring the health of the people.

One of the positive offshoots of greater consciousness about a cleaner river has been the recognition that the river banks also need to be improved. Thus, in Chandanagore, a verdant park has been created in the compound of the sewage treatment plant. This park has become an educational center for visitors as they learn about water treatment and the effects of pollution. It is intended that the entry fee should make the park self-financing.

Another example of environmental improvement around the river is Millennium Park on Calcutta’s riverside. Derelict buildings and rubble that had occupied the bank of the river for many years were cleared away to open this park in 2000. Five thousand trees were planted to create a 9 acre haven from where the river can be viewed during spectacular sunsets. The park gets a peak visitor load of over 50,000 per day, despite the 5 rupee entry fee. The number of visitors on an annual basis has averaged between 1.3 to 1.4 million.

River Hooghly was compiled by Adrian Evans from text by Bonani Kakar in 2007 Rivers of the World is a Thames Festival project delivered in partnership with the British Council Connecting Classrooms with support from HSBC Global Education Programme www.riversoftheworld.org

RIVER HOOGHLY

Resourceful River Wind and Rain In 1737 a vicious cyclone and earthquake wreaked havoc in Calcutta and this took a huge toll on the settlements and shipping around the Hooghly. One report of the event goes as follows: “On September 30th last, happened a furious hurricane in the Bay of Bengal, attended with heavy rain which raised 15” of water in five hours, and a violent earthquake which threw down an abundance of houses, and as the storm reached 60 leagues up the river, it is computed that 20,000 ships, barks, sloops, boats, canoes, etc., have been cast away.

A prodigious quantity of cattle of all sorts, a great many tigers and several rhinoceroses were drowned, even a great many caymans were stifled by the furious agitation of the waters and an innumerable quantity of birds were beaten down into the river by the storm. Two English ships of 500 tons were thrown into a village about 200 fathoms from the bed of the river Ganges, broken to pieces, and all the people drowned pell-mell amongst inhabitants and cattle. Barks of 60 tons were blown two leagues up the land over the tops of high trees. The water rose in all 40 feet higher than usual. The English ships that were driven ashore and were broken to pieces...and the Pelham is missing.” However, the official account of this event, to be found in the Consultations of the Fort William Council, just said: th ”On the 30 September, there was a great storm which drove several ships ashore.”

Every year, the deforestation in areas like Nepal increases and as a consequence, more water runs off the mountain slopes and the level of the Ganges rises by several inches.

Bangladesh is worst hit by the resulting floods but they can also hit Kolkata too. In September 2000 at least 210 people died in the city when victims were swept away by the swirling flood waters or drowned when their mud and thatch homes collapsed. Helicopters dropped food packets and pouches of drinking water in the worst affected areas. Soldiers used boats to ferry people who had been left stranded on rooftops.

Some predict that global warming will increase sea levels by half a meter by 2100. This will have devastating effects in low-lying Bangladesh and the Sundarbans and if the global warming increases the rate at which the Gangotri Glacier melts then there will be a higher risk of flooding along the whole length of the Ganges.

River Hooghly was compiled by Adrian Evans from text by Bonani Kakar in 2007 Rivers of the World is a Thames Festival project delivered in partnership with the British Council Connecting Classrooms with support from HSBC Global Education Programme www.riversoftheworld.org

RIVER HOOGHLY

Resourceful River Trade The Ganges has influenced not only the geography of its deltaic area but also all human activity, particularly trade. This is, after all, the largest delta in the world, the only region in the entire Indian subcontinent that stretches from the Himalayas to the sea. Its location between the middle Ganges plains and the Brahmaputra valley provides regular access to the Ganges basin in the west and the northeastern part of India. The delta opening out to the Bay of Bengal makes the region the only outlet of the landlocked Ganges valley to the sea.

The port of Hooghly was established by the Portuguese and became one of the major trading posts for Europeans in India. In 1685 Job Charnock became chief agent for the British East India Company at Hooghly. Being besieged there by the Mughal viceroy of Bengal, he put the Company's goods and servants on board his light vessels and dropped down the river 27 miles to the village of Sutanati, a place well chosen for the purpose of defense, which occupied the site of what is now Kolkata (Calcutta). Around the 16th century, the three villages of Sutanati, Kalikata and Gobindapur were combined to form the city of Calcutta. Thus the city of Calcutta came up as a trading settlement for the East India Company.

The Portuguese built their community in Chittagong and established mercantile colonies in and around Dhaka. The port of Hooghly flourished with amazing rapidity under the Portuguese. They exported a wide variety of merchandise from Bengal, such as cotton goods, gingham and silks, as well as sugar, ghee, rice, indigo, long pepper, saltpetre, wax, lac and other articles which were abundant in Bengal. Rice formed one of the chief articles of Portuguese export to other parts of India and the East Indies. But the golden days of the Portuguese trade in Bengal came to an end in 1632 when Shahjahan's governor, Qasim Khan, captured Hooghly after inflicting a crushing defeat on them.

According to records of travelers the articles imported by the Portuguese from 'southern India' were large quantities of worked silks, such as brocades, cloth, velvets, damasks, satins, taffetas, muslins, etc. They also brought cloves, nutmegs and mace, and highly precious camphor from the Isles of Borneo. From the Maldives they imported cowries (sea shells). Pepper came from Malabar and cinnamon from Ceylon (Sri Lanka). They also brought from China great quantities of porcelain, valuable pearls and jewels, many kinds of gift articles such as bedsteads, tables, boxes, chests, writing desks, etc. From the kingdoms of 'Salor' and 'Timor' they imported great quantities of sandalwood, both red and white varieties, which in Bengal was a precious commodity.

River Hooghly was compiled by Adrian Evans from text by Bonani Kakar in 2007 Rivers of the World is a Thames Festival project delivered in partnership with the British Council Connecting Classrooms with support from HSBC Global Education Programme www.riversoftheworld.org

RIVER HOOGHLY

Resourceful River English & Dutch The English and the Dutch began their Bengal trade from around the middle of the 17th century with the establishment of their factories on the Hooghly. In the early period the European attention focused mainly on the spice trade and both the Dutch and English wanted to procure spice from the so-called Spice Islands.

The companies went to these islands to buy spices in exchange for cheap and coarse Indian calico that was in demand there. So they came to India for textiles to exchange for spices in the Indonesian archipelago. The companies eventually turned their attention to Bengal. It was the largest producer of coarse and cheap calicoes. Also, Bengal silk was a highly lucrative and profitable commodity for the companies as there was a growing demand for it in Europe, replacing Italian and Persian silk, because of its lower price and good quality.

Moreover, a third lucrative item for trade was saltpetre, in high demand in Europe and which could also be profitably used as ballast for Europe-bound ships.

The Armenians had played a significant role in Bengal trade and commerce in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The Armenians first came to Bengal following the footsteps of the Persian adventurers. Initially they did business in Bengal on behalf of their Persian masters and in course of time they had formed their own community in Bengal. Their assertive presence, however, began to decline from the beginning of British rule. The European maritime companies were keen to enlist their partnership locally because of their close association with the ruling classes. All European Companies used to engage Armenian lawyers to represent them and their cause to the court. They played a very significant role in Bengal trade and politics from at least around the early seventeenth century. Due to their business acumen and their close relationship with the Bengali ruling classes, the Armenians could compete successfully with not only the Indian and other Asian merchants but also with the European East India Companies trading in Bengal. There were many important Armenian merchants and traders in the flourishing settlements of Saidabad (a suburb of the capital Murshidabad), Hooghly, Calcutta, Kasimbazar, Dhaka and Patna.

Trade in saltpetre was a lucrative one as it was a commodity which was much in demand in Europe, as it was a key ingredient in the manufacture of gunpowder.

The Armenians initially held a monopoly in this trade before the East India Company forced them to give it up. Saltpetre was transported in the form of ballast from Hooghly as well as other major ports. Since it occurred naturally in large parts of present day Bihar and parts of Bengal, Hooghly port was nearest to the mines and provided an ideal mode of transportation.

River Hooghly was compiled by Adrian Evans from text by Bonani Kakar in 2007 Rivers of the World is a Thames Festival project delivered in partnership with the British Council Connecting Classrooms with support from HSBC Global Education Programme www.riversoftheworld.org

RIVER HOOGHLY

Resourceful River Opium & Indigo Bengal was known for its profusion of crops and their export to overseas destinations cannot be overlooked. Bengal was already well known for the cultivation of ‘dhan’ (paddy) and ‘tila’ (sesame). Bengal became so famous for the plantation of sugarcane that the very term ‘sugarcane’ became synonymous with Bengal’s name.

Sugarcane was in strong demand in European countries and it was transacted in great amounts in early India.

Around the 15th century the residents of Persia and India began consuming opium, a practice that made opium a major item in an expanding intra-Asian trade. Indeed, under the reign of Akbar (1556-1605), the Mughal state of north India relied upon opium land as a significant source of revenue.

Cultivation was concentrated in two main areas – upriver from Calcutta along the Ganges Valley for Bengal opium and upcountry from Bombay in the west for Malwa opium. Although the last of the Europeans to enter the trade, it was the British who finally completed the transformation of opium from luxury good into bulk commodity. Marching inland from their port at Calcutta, the British conquered Bengal in 1764 and soon discovered the financial potential of India's richest opium zone. About this time, the demand for opium from countries such as China saw an immense increase. They transported Indian opium to China and exchanged the drug for items such as Chinese silk and tea. Through these European efforts, the problem of opium addiction became so serious in China that the Emperor had it banned in 1729. This led to the First Opium War, which the Chinese lost. The trading post of Hooghly was considered to be the hub of the opium trade, as the richest opium was produced in the neighbouring areas of Bengal.

Indigo is a naturally occurring dye obtained from a plant. The best soils for growing indigo plants were those subject to annual inundation by the Ganges, such as in Bengal and parts of Bihar. In Bengal indigo was widely cultivated during the early nineteenth century when British planters made large investments in it. The dye was extremely popular and rare in Europe and fetched huge profits to the cultivators. By the late nineteenth century farmers preferred to cultivate rice and jute, since indigo wasn’t profitable any more and the cultivation of indigo ruined the inherent fertility of land. When coerced by planters to cultivate indigo, farmers organised a resistance movement during 1859-60. As a result indigo cultivation gradually disappeared from Bengal.

River Hooghly was compiled by Adrian Evans from text by Bonani Kakar in 2007 Rivers of the World is a Thames Festival project delivered in partnership with the British Council Connecting Classrooms with support from HSBC Global Education Programme www.riversoftheworld.org

RIVER HOOGHLY

Resourceful River Jute, Silk & Tea Jute has been grown in the Indian Subcontinent for centuries. It was produced for domestic consumption in the villages of East Bengal. However, hand-made Bengali jute fabrics were exported to American markets as early as the eighteenth century. In 1793, the Bengal Board of Trade sent a jute fibre sample to the United Kingdom strictly for experimentation related to mechanical processing. The breakthrough came in 1833, when jute fiber was spun mechanically in Dundee, Scotland. This was the harbinger of the world jute era. A jute industry soon mushroomed all over Western Europe. Jute was spun mechanically in Europe, while raw jute was cultivated in Bengal and sent via the Hooghly. The first Indian jute mill was constructed in 1855 at Calcutta. By the early 1900s the Calcutta jute industry surpassed the European one.

The lower delta region of the Ganges is noted for the best variety of muslins, which were a major item of export from the Bengal coast. Records refer to trade in Thinae (Chinese) silk floss, yarn and cloth, which went to the Dravida country in far south India via the Ganges. While muslin was a locally manufactured item of Bengal, the transaction in Chinese silk, an extremely costly product, belonged to the category of re-export trade. It was actually the big boom in the export of Bengal textiles from around the early 1680s that revolutionized the pattern of the Asiatic trade of the companies.

This was, in fact, in response to a revolution in the consumer taste in England and Europe where suddenly Indian cotton and muslin, especially the textiles from Bengal, had become the irresistible fashion and consequently there followed an unprecedented demand for Bengal textiles. As a result, Bengal became the most dominant partner in the Asiatic trade of the companies and from around the1680s until the mid-eighteenth century, the Dutch and the English East India Companies played a significant role in Bengal's maritime and international trade.

Accidentally discovered in 2727 BC by the Chinese Emperor Shen-Nung, tea became extremely popular in Europe around the 17th century, and spread rapidly to all classes. This tea was procured by European merchants from India and China. Though Chinese tea was preferred, the tea grown in the northern parts of Bengal was also extremely popular and provided lucrative trade. This led to the creation of a number of plantations in north Bengal, from where the processed tea was sent to Calcutta. The famous tea auctions took place in Calcutta, where merchants and traders from Europe put in their bid for the chests of tea. Once bought at the auction, the tea was shipped from the port of Hooghly to European countries, where it was in great demand.

River Hooghly was compiled by Adrian Evans from text by Bonani Kakar in 2007 Rivers of the World is a Thames Festival project delivered in partnership with the British Council Connecting Classrooms with support from HSBC Global Education Programme www.riversoftheworld.org

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Resourceful River Other Trade Inscriptions of the period from 8th century onwards occasionally record the plantation of both betel nuts and betel leaves, both of which must have been transacted. Coconut plantations also figure in inscriptions of the same period, particularly in those coming from coastal tracts. .

Bengal was also associated with the availability of excellent aloe wood, according to Arab accounts from the 13th centuries. Arab authors labeled it as Qamaruni aloe wood, available at ports located near modern Chittagong.

The importance of Bengal in the trade of horses, especially warhorses has been underlined in recent decades.

The best quality of war-horses were however generally not indigenous to India and were brought from Central Asia to north India through the northwestern frontier region and shipped from Bengal.

Among imported items to Bengal mention may be made of cowries, which were profusely used as a medium of exchange in Bengal, particularly during the 750-1300 AD phase. The best quality cowries were, however, not native to Bengal. These were brought from the Maldives. The cowry must have been transported in bulk, almost in the nature of ballast. It logically follows that cowries were integral to the overseas trade network in the Indian Ocean.

Gold and silver, used for minting coins, appear to have been brought to Bengal from elsewhere. One of the possible sources of silver could have been the area around Arakan and Pegu, in Burma.

The situation today is that the Hooghly has a number of industries which are dependent on it. Amongst these are the Garden Reach Ship Building companies, the idol makers of Kumartulli, the flower markets near Howrah and the dry docks at Kidderpore. The Calcutta port, which was one of the busiest ports in the country, has now declined to a great extent and is not a major port anymore. The main reason for its decline is the excessive siltation caused by the construction of the Farakka Barrage in 1975.

River Hooghly was compiled by Adrian Evans from text by Bonani Kakar in 2007 Rivers of the World is a Thames Festival project delivered in partnership with the British Council Connecting Classrooms with support from HSBC Global Education Programme www.riversoftheworld.org

RIVER HOOGHLY

Working River Boats The Hooghly, in early times, formed the lifeline of Calcutta; in fact, one of the main reasons for the foundation of Calcutta was the presence of this river. The navigability that this river afforded small vessels was of vital importance and ultimately led to the European settlements all along its banks. Not just Calcutta, which the British made their home and later their headquarters. The French set up their colony at Chandanagar, also on the Hooghly. So did the Portuguese, who had a settlement in Bandel, north of Calcutta. The Ganges also attracted merchants from other European countries such as the Dutch and the Danish.

Boats on the river were used for a variety of purposes such as trade, transportation of people and warfare.

Boat-making and shipbuilding industries were found in India since ancient times.

In the Vedic period, the sea was frequently used for trade. The Rig Veda mentions "merchants who crowd the great waters with ships". The Ramayana speaks of merchants who crossed the sea and brought gifts for the king of Ayodhya. In some of the earliest Buddhist literature we read of voyages ‘out of sight’ of land, some lasting six months or so.

Early Bengali literature paints pictures of huge hulking ships with great masts, helms, oars, sails, towing ropes, rafts for short journeys and the cowry shells used to pay the boatmen for their labors. Accounts also speak of the poorer section of the people, ones who couldn’t afford boat rides, crossing the river by hanging on to the tails of their cattle!

Country boats like that pictured left, were simple, often crudely crafted and made locally. These were simple craft covered with bamboo; some sporting passenger cabins as well, bamboo cabins thatched with straw. Perched on a bamboo seat over the roofs were the boatmen maneuvering their oars, which were also bamboo poles with circular boards fitted at the ends. For steering they used a longer oar while a flimsy canvas or two, hoisted from a tall mast, served as sails. Though they lacked the finish that characterized foreign vessels, these boats were extremely sturdy and used extensively for transportation. According to some estimates, around the eighteenth century Bengal’s fleet of country boats employed nearly 30,000 people.

The shipping industry was a major source of employment at a time when Bengal was the hub of Indo-European trade. A small crew manning a country boat could consist of as many as 30 people. The British referred to all Asian seamen as ‘Lascars’, which is a shorter version of the term ‘lascarim’ that comes from the Persian term Lashkar (army). The term was originally used to denote nonEuropeans who served on British ships under 'lascar' agreements. These agreements allowed ship owners more control than was the case in ordinary articles of agreement. Lascars, for instance, could be transferred from one ship to another and retained in service for up to three years at one time.

River Hooghly was compiled by Adrian Evans from text by Bonani Kakar in 2007 Rivers of the World is a Thames Festival project delivered in partnership with the British Council Connecting Classrooms with support from HSBC Global Education Programme www.riversoftheworld.org

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Working River River Industries Clusters of industries on the Hooghly grew around maritime trade, passenger traffic and shipbuilding.

Steamers transported military and non-military passengers who paid a considerable amount of money to book their berths and traveled in great comfort with many servants dancing in attendance. The pilots were usually local rivermen who would have to be content with whatever they could get. It was a while before the authorities decided that it would be beneficial to have trained pilots accompanied by manjhees and thus save boats from damage as well as save time.

Increased trade on the river brought about the need for a ship protection force and by 1840 again the administration had in place a corps of marine sipahees (soldiers) under havildars (sergeants). They were armed with muskets and bayonets and when not guarding the vessels they would guard the Kidderpore dockyard and foundry.

At the Hooghly ship repair yards there were craftsmen, mostly Hindus, pounding on the anvils and sawing timber. At the boat office, Bengali babus battled with ledger and pen while ruminating on paans. The upper caste Bengalis, who were literate and could even read some English, looked down upon the darker, more angular featured stokers from Bihar and the coolies from upper India as they stripped to their waists and with no more than a loin cloth laboured hard, eating parched grain. Supervising them at times were some in marine sepoy uniforms.

In the dockyard workshop, village barhais (carpenters) and lohars (blacksmiths) were taken on as artificers in teakwood, iron, brass, copper, lead and tin. Men working on metals were trained to punch iron plates, cast rivets, countersink rivet holes, fashion bumpkin irons, hatch bars, knee bolts, axle trees, capstan hooks, marline spikes and hundred of other steamboat parts. It was usual for carpenters and caulkers, braziers and painters, joiners and sawyers to work in teams. So important was the industry around shipping, that in the mid-1830s there was a suggestion that a dozen boys between the ages of 13 and 15 from the government’s Marine School Ship and from Calcutta’s indigent families be taken in as boarding students and be taught everything about ship-building.

River Hooghly was compiled by Adrian Evans from text by Bonani Kakar in 2007 Rivers of the World is a Thames Festival project delivered in partnership with the British Council Connecting Classrooms with support from HSBC Global Education Programme www.riversoftheworld.org

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Working River Kumartuli Directly connected with the river because of the raw material they used and quite unique in the sophistication of their craft were the clay image-makers of Bengal.

Kumartuli, the clay model-makers’ guild, is older than Calcutta; their history can be traced back to Krishnanagar in South Bengal. To begin with, near the middle of the seventeenth century, potters in search of better livelihood came from Krishnanagar to Gobindapur, a prosperous village on the banks of the river Bhagirathi to make a living by producing earthenware pots, clay toys and cooking utensils for household use. When the land at Gobindapur was requisitioned by the East India Company for building Fort William, the inhabitants migrated further up the river to Sutanuti. The potters moved in to their new destination, colonized a vast area and named it Kumartuli, the term "Kumar" meaning a potter and "tuli" a locality.

A journal of 1707 AD gives an account of the presence of Kumars who occupied 75 acres of land in Sutanuti, which is a constituent part of present day north Calcutta. Even today, almost 80% of the community puja images in Calcutta are made at Kumartuli by lesser-known artisans, who strive to make something new and innovative in their sphere of endeavor. Realizing the uniqueness of the craft, the Calcutta Metropolitan Development Authority, the city’s planning body, is helping the community by redesigning their work and living environment.

River Hooghly was compiled by Adrian Evans from text by Bonani Kakar in 2007 Rivers of the World is a Thames Festival project delivered in partnership with the British Council Connecting Classrooms with support from HSBC Global Education Programme www.riversoftheworld.org

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Working River Steamboats The invention of the steam engine by James Watt ushered in the era of the steamboat. Though the Nawab of Oudh is said to have imported the first steamboat in 1819 for private use, it was actually two years earlier that a steamboat with an 8-horse power engine had been imported by the British and later used to dredge the Hooghly. It was a steamboat named Diana that was first pressed into service for passengers in July 1823, launched by Kyd and Company, much to the delight of the Bengalis who thronged on the shores of the river to watch the interesting manoeuvres.

Over time the Diana was joined by the Forbes, the Telica, the Comet and the Firefly, which were all used for transportation purposes. The steamboats were later converted to war vessels and used to wage war against Burma, which was when the Burmese started referring to the Diana as the ‘fire devil’. The Diana was replaced by the far sturdier Enterprise that arrived in December 1825.

One of the most famous steamships was the Hooghly. It was this ship that attempted the first ever journey from Calcutta to Allahabad. She set sail on September 8 from Calcutta and reached Allahabad on October 1. The return journey took only two weeks, as the ship was then travelling with the current.

Though the majority of ships were owned by Europeans (mainly the British), there were a few wealthy Indians who owned large fleets of ships and boats and used these to travel in style. Indian voyages were mainly between holy cities along the Ganges, especially between Calcutta and Benaras. Rani Rashmoni owned a fleet of about 24 ships that were used for periodic voyages to Benaras with family, relatives and servants.

River Hooghly was compiled by Adrian Evans from text by Bonani Kakar in 2007 Rivers of the World is a Thames Festival project delivered in partnership with the British Council Connecting Classrooms with support from HSBC Global Education Programme www.riversoftheworld.org

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Working River Situation Today To maintain the navigability of the river channels, the waterways must be cleared from time to time. This procedure, though disruptive to the living beings in the water, is often necessary to allow the movement of river traffic. The process is carried out by a number of specialized vessels that are specially equipped to remove mud from the bottom of the river and dump it outside the waterways. These boats are called dredgers. The popular dredgers are the ‘Grab Dredger’ and the ‘Bucket Dredger’. Though dredgers are not seen near Calcutta, they are used extensively at Ghusury, upriver from the city.

At a time when the pollution caused by vehicular traffic is playing havoc with the environment in India, the eco-friendly inland waterways mode of transport can be of some help. Unfortunately this important mode of transport has not been developed. The Central Inland Water Transport Corporation is the only public sector undertaking which has been engaged in the transportation of cargo through inland waterways in the country.

As the course and contours of the river change over time, so have the people associated with it. With the silting of the river, large ocean-going ships can no longer come into the port. Smaller vessels, though, are still guided skillfully around the Sandheads by pilots in tugboats. Stevedores continue to load and unload cargo at the Kidderpore docks, despite the new port of Haldia that has opened downstream. With the Indian economy booming and greater attention being paid to bringing ports to world standards, the people along the river once again peer into the future with anticipation and excitement.

At its peak in the mid-twentieth century, Calcutta was the largest port in the country and the hub of India’s manufacturing activity. But now, Calcutta port has become a shadow of what it used to be. There are a number of reasons for this decline. The development of faster modes of transportation, lack of navigational aid, lack of infrastructure to support it and siltation of river channels are only some of the problems faced by Calcutta port.

The Hooghly still plays an important role in the lives of commuters who live across the river from Calcutta and work in the city. Every morning, thousands of people use the ferry service to cross the river for a small fee of 3 rupees. The ferry is preferred by most to the alternative, the local trains. Besides this the river is still used to transport a small quantity of goods. Boat rides on the river in modern day launches are also quite popular.

River Hooghly was compiled by Adrian Evans from text by Bonani Kakar in 2007 Rivers of the World is a Thames Festival project delivered in partnership with the British Council Connecting Classrooms with support from HSBC Global Education Programme www.riversoftheworld.org

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River City Kolkata The first recorded mention of Calcutta (or Kolkata as it is now known) was found in the Ain-i-Akabari in 1596. The Bysacks, traditional weavers of Bengal, and the Seths, merchant bankers, had established Sutanati, which, as the name implies, was the weaving centre of Bengal.

The Portuguese started their settlement at Bandel and were followed by the French, the Dutch and the Danes, all of whom established colonies on the western side of the River Hooghly: the French at Chandanagar, the Danes at Serampur and the Dutch at Chinsurah. What brought them there was tea, indigo, cotton and silk, all of which were abundantly available for trade in and around the length of the river in Bengal. What made trade possible was the navigability of the river by small ocean-going vessels, despite sandbars and tidal currents. In fact, to this day, the Hooghly is a rare river in that it has pilot vessels guiding ships around the Sandheads as they enter from the Bay of Bengal. The modern container port of Haldia, however, being located on the lower reaches of the Ganges, does not need the guided entry that the old port at Calcutta required.

The first formal British presence in India was registered with the advent of the East India Company. It was formed on 31 December 1600, with a group of merchants incorporating themselves into the East India Company and given monopoly privileges by Royal Charter of Queen Elizabeth I for all trade with the East Indies (India). The company's ships arrived at the port of Surat in 1608. Gradually the British ousted the Portuguese and rapidly expanded operations over India.

In 1690, Job Charnock, an agent of the East India Company chose what was to become Calcutta as a place for a British trade settlement. The site was carefully selected, being protected by the River Hooghly on the west, a creek to the north, and by salt lakes about two and a half miles to the east. There were three large villages along the east bank of the river Ganges, named Sutanuti, Gobindapur and Kalikata. The British bought these three villages from local landlords. The Mughal emperor granted the East India Company freedom of trade in return for a yearly payment of 3,000 rupees.

Just over a decade after that, in 1702, the Union Jack was first hoisted in India along the banks of the river Ganges in the Fort William, then located where the GPO now stands. In 1717, the Company received a royal firman (order) from the Mughal Emperor exempting it from paying custom duties in Bengal. Trade flourished and many industries came up, using the Hooghly berthing facilities, as did their ancillaries. Real estate, too, developed to house the people of local and foreign origin, virtually replicating the banks of the Thames along the Hooghly.

Thus did trade set into motion developments that led eventually to the emergence of Calcutta as the second city of the Empire.

River Hooghly was compiled by Adrian Evans from text by Bonani Kakar in 2007 Rivers of the World is a Thames Festival project delivered in partnership with the British Council Connecting Classrooms with support from HSBC Global Education Programme www.riversoftheworld.org

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River City Temples The origins of Calcutta can be traced back to the goddess Kali and the temple built to her at Kalighata in the village Kalikata.

The temple was built by a family who were the jagirdars of Calcutta, on the banks of the adi Ganga, where the original course of the river used to be. At the time it was built, the temple was well outside the area inhabited by the ‘natives’ – they were concentrated in the northern part of the city – and certainly also well beyond the ‘white town’ of central Calcutta.

But it was by the river and the remote location added to the spiritual satisfaction of the believers. Today, the city has spread tightly around the temple and well beyond it. The adi Ganga is virtually dry. But that has not lessened the fervour of the devout followers of goddess Kali. To many of them, the temple is where the city begins and ends.

Several miles north of the Kali temple and again on the bank of the river, stands another beautiful and important temple. This one has a story associated with it. In 1847, Rani Rashmoni was about to embark on a pilgrimage to Benaras when she saw the goddess Kali in her dream. The deity forbade her from going to Benaras and told her instead to install her statue in a beautiful temple on the banks of the Ganges and to arrange for her worship there. “Then I shall manifest myself in the image and accept worship at that place." Rani Rashmoni immediately purchased land and began construction of the Dakshineshwar temple. Built between 1847 and 1855, it had as its centerpiece a shrine of the Kali and temples dedicated to Shiva and Radha-Krishna. A scholarly and elderly sage was chosen as the head priest and the temple was consecrated in 1855. Rani Rashmoni, while being a devotee of the goddess Kali, could also muster the fire and strength that was associated with Kali. A good example of this was her protest against the British decision to levy tax on fishing in the river. The Rani put a chain across the river from Howrah (on the western side) to Babughat (on the eastern side) and thereby successfully disrupted the movement of all boats in the river.

This novel protest forced the British to back down and withdraw the tax.

Forty kilometers from Calcutta on the banks of River Hooghly, lies Bandel with the oldest church four centuries old, which is a pilgrimage center for the worshipers of Mother Mary. Bandel Church is the oldest place of Christian worship in Bengal.

The story of Bandel Church begins with the first Portuguese settlements in Bengal. According to historical records, in 1537 an Admiral Sampayo entered the river Ganges with nine Portuguese vessels to support Mahmud Shah, the Pathan Nawab of Gaur who, being hard pressed by the famous Sher Khan, had asked the Portuguese representative in Goa for assistance. As a reward for their efforts the Nawab allowed the Portuguese to set up a factory at a spot close to the present Ganges Jail. They soon secured the services of a small band of Augustinian Friars, then the largest religious body in Goa. About the year 1580 a certain Captain Pedro Tavares, a great favourite of the Moghul Emperor Akbar, obtained from him full liberty to preach the Christian faith publicly and to erect churches. In 1599 a monastery was established at Bandel, a village about a mile from the factory. In a short time two other churches were built within the limits of the factory; a military chapel was added to the fort; and an alms-house under the title of 'Santa Casa da Misericordia’, which provided help to the poor, was also used as a school.

River Hooghly was compiled by Adrian Evans from text by Bonani Kakar in 2007 Rivers of the World is a Thames Festival project delivered in partnership with the British Council Connecting Classrooms with support from HSBC Global Education Programme www.riversoftheworld.org

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River City VIP Visitors Among the many visitors that the ships brought up the river were great educationists and scholars coming from England: One of them was Sir James Princep, who came to Calcutta to work at the Company mint. Unable to read the script on existing Indian coins, he started to record every symbol and over time put together the inscriptions on coins and pillars across the sub-continent, the three-lion motif or the chakra (wheel) motif, among others. He came to the conclusion that the inscriptions were royal proclamations and he succesfully deciphered them. After his demise in 1843 The Princep Ghat was constructed by the city in memory of the Sir James Princep.

Besides scholars and teachers, the ships also brought prominent representatives of the Crown. These included Governor Generals, who would disembak only at the Chandpal Ghat near the General Post Office at a special jetty for such important visitors. They would be received with great pomp and show.

The most important visitor that the river brought to the city was the Prince of Wales, who disembarked at the Princep Ghat. At that point in the river’s history, the ghat was much closer to the river than it is today and, was therefore a suitable disembarkation point for such a high-level visitor.

Calcutta’s docks, the first in the country, would have had an explosive fate had the Japanese been better marksmen. During WWII, an attempt was made by Japanese fighter planes to bomb the ammunition dump and dockyards; fortunately, the attempt failed because the invaders missed the target, despite it being a daytime raid.

River Hooghly was compiled by Adrian Evans from text by Bonani Kakar in 2007 Rivers of the World is a Thames Festival project delivered in partnership with the British Council Connecting Classrooms with support from HSBC Global Education Programme www.riversoftheworld.org

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River City Bridges In 1874 the first fixed crossing across the River Hooghly was provided by a pontoon bridge near Howrah railway station. In 1932 the river was bridged further upstream near Dakshineshwar by a multi-span steel bridge, now known as Vivekananda Setu, to provide a road-cum-rail link between the Calcutta port and its hinterland.

Over a period of time, it was found that the two bridges, Rabindra Setu and Vivekananda Setu, were not able to cater to the need of growing trans-river communication, hence a high-level road bridge at Princep Ghat, a site about 1.5 kilometer downstream of Rabindra Setu, was conceived. Thus came into existence the third bridge across the Ganges, the Vidyasagar Setu.

In 1871, the Government of Bengal passed the Howrah Bridge Act. Sir Bradford Leslie's famous floating pontoon bridge, the earlier avatar of the modern Howrah Bridge, was initially set up in 1874, almost coinciding with the establishment of the port of Calcutta in 1870. The 1,530-foot bridge was built on floating pontoons and was popularly called the ‘Pontoon Bridge”. In 1906, the Committee instituted to maintain the Pontoon Bridge noted, “"bullock carts formed eight-thirteenths of the vehicular traffic”. Owing to technical difficulties, a portion of the bridge had to be made in England and shipped to Calcutta, where it was assembled on site. While it was being constructed, the bridge was partially destroyed by the great cyclone of 20 March 1874. The Egeria, a steamer, broke from her moorings in the river, and collided with the bridge, damaging and sinking three pontoons, and completely destroying 200 feet of the superstructure of the bridge. The bridge was opened for traffic on 17 October 1874. It was described at the time as a structure of much novelty and originality in its design, execution and materials.

With the phenomenal increase in city traffic and to partially release the pressures on the Rabindra Setu, another bridge was constructed to connect the two sides of the river. This was the largest cable stayed bridge in Asia and was constructed by Braithwaite Burn & Jessop Co. under German technical consultancy. The bridge was commissioned in 1992. This bridge was named "Vidya Sagar Setu", after one of the country's great educationist-reformers and freedom fighter, Ishwar Chandra Vidya Sagar. The bridge is a toll bridge for vehicles. It has a main span of a little over 457 metres, and a deck 35 metres wide. It is one of the longest cable-stayed bridges in the world.

Also known as Bally Bridge, this bridge links the city of Howrah at Bally to its twin city of Calcutta at Dakhineshwar. The bridge provides both road and rail links: a rail connection to Delhi and a road connection between the Grand Trunk Road (on the Howrah side) and Barrackpore Trunk Road (on the Calcutta side).

River Hooghly was compiled by Adrian Evans from text by Bonani Kakar in 2007 Rivers of the World is a Thames Festival project delivered in partnership with the British Council Connecting Classrooms with support from HSBC Global Education Programme www.riversoftheworld.org

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River City Howrah Bridge

Though the Port Trust of Calcutta was already planning the construction of Howrah Bridge as early as 1906, the construction of the bridge had to be postponed because of outbreak of the First World War (1914 - 1918). The contract for the construction of the bridge was awarded to the British firm of Cleveland Bridge and Engineering Company Ltd. on the basis of a global tender invited during 1934-35.

Though the lowest bid came from a German company, owing to the imminent threat of the Second World War, the British Government refused to award the contract to the German firm. The construction of the new bridge commenced in 1936.

It was completed in 1942 and opened to public in February 1943. It consumed 26,500 tons of steel of which 23,000 tons were provided by Tata Steel Company and the remaining 3,500 tons were imported from Europe. It is 97 metres high and 705 metres long. It was constructed at an approximate cost of 250 lakh rupees or ÂŁ2,463,887. Completed in August 1942, the bridge was opened to the public on 3rd February 1943. There was no formal opening, no pomp and show, even though the bridge was a unique structure in India. The affair was low-key due to the threat of lowflying Japanese planes fighting WWII. Still, the inauguration was unusual: under cover of darkness, a tram trundled across, making it the first vehicle to cross the river.

In 1965, the Howrah Bridge was rechristened as the Rabindra Setu in honor of the country's first Nobel laureate, Rabindranath Tagore. It currently bears a daily load of about 1-lakh (100,000) vehicles and about a million pedestrians, thus registering a proud world record for itself as the busiest bridge in the world. Plans are now afoot to light the entire bridge in a manner befitting an icon of the city.

River Hooghly was compiled by Adrian Evans from text by Bonani Kakar in 2007 Rivers of the World is a Thames Festival project delivered in partnership with the British Council Connecting Classrooms with support from HSBC Global Education Programme www.riversoftheworld.org

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River Culture Mother Ganga Perhaps there is no better way to start describing the customs surrounding the Ganges, or Ganga as she is known in India, than to quote the first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru: “The Ganga, especially, is the river of India, beloved of her people, round which are intertwined her memories, her hopes and fears, her songs of triumph, her victories and her defeats. She has been a symbol of India's agelong culture and civilization, ever changing, ever flowing, and yet ever the same Ganga.�

The fascinating story of how the Ganges came to earth is carved into a rock temple at Mahabalipuram, outside Madras (now Chennai) on the southeastern coast of India. It is believed that King Bhagirath had an extravagant ancestor who fathered 60,000 sons. With a progeny so large, he soon conquered the world and invaded the nether regions, home of the hermit, Kapila.

The latter, furious at his meditation being disturbed by the brash young men, in a moment of divine wrath, reduced every one of them to ashes with a single glance.

The souls of the 60,000, denied the purification that only water can give, clamored for peace, haunting Bhagirath's every waking hour and banishing sleep. By dint of prayer, meditation and penance, the king gained the favour of the gods, asking but one boon, the descent of Goddess Ganges, whose waters alone could reanimate the souls of his ancestors and give them peace in the afterlife. The gods pleaded Bhagirath's cause but the Divine Lady was adamant. She had no desire to leave the heavens and, if compelled, she would destroy the earth. The gods were helpless and advised Bhagirath to go to Shiva, the Lord Destroyer, who, if he wished, could prevent the threatened destruction. As the matter was of considerable gravity, Bhagirath begged Parvati, Shiva's wife, for her help. Parvati convinced Shiva to receive the powerful torrents unleashed by the tempestuous goddess on his head and divide the fall of the waters into myriad streams through his hair. After which it was relatively easy to guide the river to the centre of the earth, revive the 60,000 and lead Ganga to the ocean.

That, then, was how the Ganges and its many tributaries found their place on earth. The story is central to the widely held belief in India (principally among those of the Hindu religion) that the river Ganges is holy. This, in turn, set the basis for many of the customs around marriage, death and ancestors that people have been following for centuries – and still do to this day.

River Hooghly was compiled by Adrian Evans from text by Bonani Kakar in 2007 Rivers of the World is a Thames Festival project delivered in partnership with the British Council Connecting Classrooms with support from HSBC Global Education Programme www.riversoftheworld.org

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River Culture Holy River Hindus believe that the Ganges is a holy river and use its water for a variety of purposes. Lord Vishnu himself, one of the Hindu trinity and known as the Preserver, is said to have bathed in its waters. The Ganges waters are considered so holy that it is believed that sins as great as the murder of a Brahmin may be washed away by bathing in her waters. Hindus to this day use the water of the Ganges to cleanse any place or object for ritual purposes.

Bathing in the Ganga is still the lifelong ambition of many of India's believing masses, and they will congregate on its banks for the tremendously overcrowded Sangam and Sagar Mela which are held on auspicious dates every few years.

Water from the Ganga has the recursive property that any water mixed with even the minutest quantity of Ganga water becomes Ganga water, and inherits its healing and other holy properties.

Also, despite its many impurities, Ganga water does not rot or stink if stored for several days. A curious result of this was that in the late ‘80s, when the government of India was trying to get community participation in its efforts to clean up pollution in the river, many people refused to participate because they simply could not accept the premise that a river that is holy can be polluted.

According to Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose, the scientist, in its course from the Gangotri glacier to the plains the Ganga collects certain minerals and chemicals. These are beneficial to the human body and are effective in killing common bacterium associated with humans. Jagadish Chandra believed that early Indians knew of the healing powers of the Ganga’s waters and thus the Ganga was afforded such an elevated status in Hindu society.

River Hooghly was compiled by Adrian Evans from text by Bonani Kakar in 2007 Rivers of the World is a Thames Festival project delivered in partnership with the British Council Connecting Classrooms with support from HSBC Global Education Programme www.riversoftheworld.org

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River Culture Rituals & Customs An invitation to the Ganga, or Nodi Nimontronno – invitation to the river – is a common marital custom among the Bengalis, residents of the Indian state through which the Ganges flows before entering the ocean at the Bay of Bengal. According to this custom, the day before a wedding, three or five married women from the bride’s family go to the banks of the river bearing gifts such as ‘paan’ (betel leaves stuffed with betel nuts), ‘sindoor’ (vermillion) and ‘misthi’ (sweets) and flowers. One of the women wades into the water and using a knife ‘cuts’ the water before offering the river the gifts and extending an invitation to the river to come and bless the couple. The next morning the women come and collect water from the river and use it during the course of the marriage for ceremonial purposes.

According to Hindu religion, this custom is carried out to please Ma Ganga, the river Goddess, so that she blesses the couple and allows holy water from the river to be used for the wedding.

Ideally, the ashes of cremated Hindus should be disposed of in the Ganga, as it is believed that having one's ashes disposed of in the Ganga after death may improve the next life or even allow Moksha (salvation) to be attained sooner.

However, there are two exceptions to this rule: the bodies of great sadhus are not cremated, they are simply immersed in the river, while the bodies of those who die due to snake bites are also treated the same way as it is believed that they have dishonoured the serpent-deity, Manasa, in some manner and have thus incurred her wrath and hence are unfit for cremation.

Another custom common mainly among Bengalis and closely linked to the Ganga is the custom of remembering one’s forefathers through river customs. According to Hindu religion, a person’s soul never dies and thus must be remembered and pacified from time to time. According to this custom, a man who has lost a parent remembers his parent as well as his forefathers by bathing in the river and offering her holy waters to their souls to pacify and satisfy them.

This is literally, the "birthday or descent of mother Ganges-Ganga Ma".

Throughout India this festival lasts ten days beginning on the Amavasya (dark moon night) and going through to the dasami tithi (tenth phase of the Moon). On this day, if a devotee is unable to visit and bathe in the river Ganga, then Ganga jal (water) kept in most Hindu homes is used for purification.

The largest fair in the state of Bengal, Gangasagar Mela, is a three-day celebration held in mid-January, on the occasion of Makar Sankranti, at Sagar Dwip. Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims come for a holy dip at the confluence of the Ganga and the Bay of Bengal.

River Hooghly was compiled by Adrian Evans from text by Bonani Kakar in 2007 Rivers of the World is a Thames Festival project delivered in partnership with the British Council Connecting Classrooms with support from HSBC Global Education Programme www.riversoftheworld.org

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River Culture Durga Puja Durga Puja is arguably Bengal’s largest festival.

During this period of about five days, all offices, schools, colleges and other institutions remain shut as the state celebrates. It is believed that during this time the Goddess Durga leaves her husband’s (Shiva) house in the Himalayas to make the journey to her parents’ house, along with her children: Ganesh, Saraswati, Laxmi and Kartik. She stays with her parents for the period that the festival is celebrated and then returns to her husband in the Himalayas. The Goddess returns to her husband by water and thus, after the festival is over, traditionally the idol is immersed in the holy waters of the Ganga. It is estimated that between 9 and 10 million idols are immersed in the Ganges on the last day of the pujas, Dashami (the tenth day). Every idol is immersed with great pomp and show, with large processions accompanying it to the river. The idol is immersed along with garlands, flowers and other such offerings for the Goddess and her children.

The British had, in fact, once banned these processions on the ground that they disturbed the peace. The ban was lifted only when a major figure of nineteenth century Bengal, Rani Rashmoni, came out in open defiance against it.

Rani Rashmoni was born of a poor agriculturist family in 1793 and at a young age she was married into a wealthy zamindar family of Calcutta. She was a nationalist and her heroic deeds and confrontations with the British in India were legendary. When the Puja processions were stopped by the British on the plea that they disturbed the peace, the Rani came forward in open defiance of the orders and the British had to withdraw the penalty imposed on her in the face of a public upsurge in her support.

Though this festival has been celebrated for the past 250 years or so, in recent times, due to the toxic and heavy metal-based paints used, the Ganges and its residents are being adversely affected by the immersions.

River Hooghly was compiled by Adrian Evans from text by Bonani Kakar in 2007 Rivers of the World is a Thames Festival project delivered in partnership with the British Council Connecting Classrooms with support from HSBC Global Education Programme www.riversoftheworld.org

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River Hooghly was compiled by Adrian Evans from text by Bonani Kakar in 2007 Rivers of the World is a Thames Festival project delivered in partnership with the British Council Connecting Classrooms with support from HSBC Global Education Programme www.riversoftheworld.org