"Water- Sacred bond with her people"- Kopai and Shantiniketan
- Amit Bhattacharya, Samya Halder, Sayak Nag
- Dec 6, 2015
- 2 min read
The river Kopai has a strong bond with the local people around and an inseparable part of their daily lives, thus creating an example of a connection between water and local human population.
The Kopai River (also called Sal River) is a tributary of river Mayurakshi, It goes through towns like Santiniketan , Bolpur , Kankalitala and Labhpur in Birbhum district in West Bengal. It is a small river in the dry season, but overflows during the monsoon.
The area around the river quite often has red soil, which forms ravines on the river bank with weathering and is popular as the khoai. It has inspired literary figures in the area.[1] It is described by Rabindranath Tagore as follows:
“amader chhoto nodi chale anke bankey boisakh masey taar hantu jal thakey”[2]
(Our small stream moves forward in bends and curve
In the month of Baisakh it only has knee deep waters)
The river creates interfaces with the people around- their crops, huts, forest…every dots of day to day life are befriended with the flowing stream. Through the green wilderness, usual red soil, mustard fields showing their bright colors yellow and green, through our own interpretation of
"Gram chhara oei ... maatir ranga poth - the red route that takes you away from the village” [3]
The romance of life can be felt everywhere in Shantiniketan. The banks of Kopai River glide from Tagore’s one song to another, as it sways through the lives of local tribes. We might find the traces of this strong coherent bond along the river edges – the collage of their lives within which they find their peaceful abode.
“Yours is the earth and everything that’s in it…” [4]
[1] Halder, R. (2008-07-04). "Next weekend you can be at Santiniketan". Calcutta, India: The Telegraph, 4 July 2008
[2] Sahaj Path by Rabindranath Tagore
[3] Gitanjali by Rabindranath Tagore
[4] Poem written by Rabindranath Tagore
Author: Amit Bhattacharya;School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi
Members: Samya Halder; Master of Urban Planning ; School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi , Sayak Nag; Master of Transport Planning ; School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi
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