Rivers in Indian Literature 1

Historically, it was flowing water sources that made ancient civilisations thrive, not merely human intervention. All the great civilisations and human habitations were located along the rivers. Agrarian and artisan communities needed them for sustenance and traders, for transportation. Very early, these rivers proved highly inspirational to the writer. While inspiration brought about glorious fiction and fantasy, facts gave us detailed historical works.

Right from the Vedas and Epics, Indian Literature has found ample space for rivers. It’s not just the metaphorical usage of riverine characteristics that have inspired writers and poets, but river as central to narrative. To life, conflict, romance and more.

Rivers have offered tremendous narrative scope. The strip of water has provided effective division between communities in bitter conflict; building up to angry waters rising and swallowing up people, in the climax. Love never used other geographical features as effectively as the river. Crossing a river meant hope; especially when the protagonist took a boat across to a distant city, to earn and fend for his impoverished family. The river brought in good cheer, through the trader - the harbinger of news, while he sold trinkets to giggling little girls. Right from the legendary Saraswati to the mighty Ganga to the scenic Bharathapuzha, in Kerala to the fictional Chevathar (David Davidar’s The House of Blue Mangoes), Indian writers have found in rivers a grounded reality for all ages and sexes unlike the narrative the mighty ocean offers.
The river...
...She flows through Indian Literature with such ease. And, we’ve all experienced the glorious use of several river settings.

 Contribution by Suresh Yesuthasen