Strength and sorrow of Assam: Almighty Brahmaputra
The Brahmaputa river is very important to the people of Assam from irrigation to transportation. However, it's gives sorrow during flooding but also gives strength to the people to live.
The Brahmaputra river originates in the Chemayungdung mountain range which nearly sixty miles southeast of Mansarovar lake in the Mount Kailash range in southern Tibet at an elevation of 5300 m. The Brahmaputra called 'Yarlung Tsangpo' in Tibet, 'Siang'/'Dihang' river in Arunachal Pradesh and 'Luit', 'Dilao' in Assam. It's flow through Tibet, India, Bangladesh before its join Bay of Bengal. The Brahmaputra river is the third largest river in the world and biggest in India.
This is evident in the name of river, for instance Brahmaputra is named after son of 'Lord Brahma' and regarded as the only male river in India while all the other major rivers carry female names.
In Assam Brahmaputra river is also known by several other names i.e., 'Luit', 'Siri Luit', 'Bor Luit', 'Bor Luit' for the people of Assam.
Source of life:
The lives of many millions of Indian and Bangladesh Citizen are reliant on the Brahmaputra river.
The Brahmaputra river is the lifeline of Assam and Its economy. From the dawn of civilization the Brahmaputra in Assam had been providing livelihood and sustenance to the people through agriculture on its alluvial soil. The soil of the river is rich in iron content naturally this gives the color red to the river with high concentration of sediments of red and yellow soil. The people live on the back of river are depends on the water resources of the river like irrigation, fish, drinking water, washing clothes and bathing etc.
Means of communication:
It is also served as a means of transportation and communication of merchandise and people to Assam. Many years before when there is no means of transportation people used waterway for trading and traveling.
The battle of saraighat:
Assam has faced several invasion and one of them is the battle of Saraighat, which was a Naval battle fought in 1671 between Mughal Empire and the Ahom kingdom on the Brahmaputra river at Saraighat now in Guwahati, Assam. And this is one of the reasons why Brahmaputa is so important to the people of Assam.
Brahmaputra as a Sorrow and strength of Assam:
The Brahmaputra is a symbol of great pride due to its moving ocean size but this also ignites fear when it rises to its strength during floods and because of the turbulent river Brahmaputra often called the sorrow of Assam due to its tendency of flood.
But this river is also the source of strength for the people of Assam. Every year during monsoon people of Assam face flood and many people loss their homes, live, agriculture etc. Time and again, they have expressed their unity as ‘Luitporia’ or ‘people from the banks of Luit’. The famous cultural icon of Assam, Jyoti Prasad Agarwala wrote in 1942 during Indian Freedom movement “Luitor parore ami deka lora, moriboloi bhoi nai (we are the youth from the banks of Luit and we don’t have any fear of death)”. For another legendary cultural icon, Dr. Bhupen Hazarika who is known as the bard of Brahmaputra, the river’s power of destruction was the source which will awaken the people. In his famous song “Bistirno parore” he asked the river – “Sahasro barishar, unmadonar, avigyotare, pangu manobok sawal songrami aru agrogami kori nutula kiyo (with your maddening experience of thousand monsoons, why don’t you arouse the disabled human beings for struggle and progress)”.
Which shows that how people of Assam get strength from a river even if it's give them sorrow it also gives them strength to live. Live again and again.
Reference :
https://sandrp.in/tag/brahmaputra-river-and-people/