See through our eyes, not your ears.

Story of Kosi

The Ganga begins as a glacial stream from Gangotri high in the Himalayas and tumbles down the mountains, flowing majestically through the Indo-Gangetic plains. Along the way, many tributaries — big and small — meet the Ganga.

They contribute to the vast volumes of water that the river finally empties into the Bay of Bengal. As the legend goes, Ganga is the daughter of Lord Shiva, and has seven tributaries — seven sister rivers.

This is a story of one of the naughtiest, the river Kosi. It flows in a curve, draining the mountains of Nepal into the plains of North Bihar, and joins the Ganga after travelling more than 400 km.

Formerly Kau?iki (named after sage Vi?v?mitra because Vi?v?mitra is said to have attained the status of Vedic Rishi (Vedica sage) on its banks; Vi?v?mitra was descendant of Ku?ika and was called Kau?ika in Rigveda), in Nepal and Bihar in northern India is a major tributary of the Ganges (one major tributary of the Koshi is the Arun, a major part of whose course is in Tibet). This river is mentioned in the epic Mahabharata as Kau?iki. Seven Koshis join together to form the Saptakoshi River/Sapt Koshi which is popularly known as the Koshi (or Kosi).

Kosi is also the lifeline of the Mithila region, today spread over more than half of India’s state of Bihar, and parts of adjoining Nepal and it forms the basis of legend and folklore of the region; the legend of Mithila extends over many centuries.

The Kosi is very mischievous. Every year during monsoons she causes havoc in the plains of North Bihar. She swells up to several times her normal size and breaches her banks, flooding peoples’ fields and homes. She gushes down the fragile mountain slopes like an uncontrolled coil of water, carrying all the monsoon water that rains on these lands, eroding the soil and causing landslides. Rocks, boulders and lands are pounded and smashed to smithereens and, along with the top soil, are washed away. Despite her bad behaviour, the people living along her banks in the hot, moist plains of Bihar welcome these muddy, silt-laden floodwaters every year.

They create fertile alluvial plains on which bumper crops grow. They have learnt to live with this unpredictable river. A river that has jumped and shifted its course on more occasions than can be remembered.

Who can control this wild river? Legend has it that a daredevil once tried. Kosi was said to be a very beautiful and attractive young woman.

A huge and mighty demon called Rannu Sardar got attracted by her beauty and fell in love with her. Bewitched, he asked Kosi to marry him. Kosi was amused and surprised. She obviously had no intentions of marrying him. So she very cleverly put forth a condition that if he could contain her (the river) between the Himalayas and her confluence with the Ganga in one nights’ time, she would accept. But, if he failed then the demon would be killed.

The demon agreed and set about his task. With an enormous spade that weighed more than a ton, he began cutting the banks of the river to contain her flow. Without a break he went on working through the night. As the work progressed Kosi got nervous seeing the pace of the demons’ work. It was midnight and he had already finished half the work.

So, she went running to her father in the Himalayas and explained her plight. He told her not to worry. Agreeing to help her and save the situation, he went, disguised as a rooster, to the place where the demon was working and started crowing. The demon got nervous on hearing the rooster and thought that morning was approaching.

Fearing for his life, he threw his spade and ran away. And the Kosi has since continued her unruly flow unchecked.

Even today, the boat people on the Kosi believe that Rannu Sardar is trying to achieve his task in the hope of marrying Kosi one day.

That’s how they explain the continuous erosion of the sand banks of the fast flowing river.

This is a myth. But even today, there are Rannu Sardars — in the form of modern engineers, who are trying to contain the Kosi and her erratic ways. Their intentions may be good — to harness her waters and save people from floods —  but in trying to tame the river, they have caused more problems than they can solve. Should we try to conquer nature or learn to live in harmony?

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