Life of a River

Myths, Customs and Festivals - BANGLADESH

Notations

Myths are essentially ‘re-told tales,’ “beliefs,” and ‘difficult-to-discontinue practices.’ No civilization can exist without them. In fact, one can argue that the greater the civilization the greater would be the depth of myths. This is true as much to the inanimate substance like heroic deeds and technological feats as to the animate substance like life and living, including nature. Myths relating to a river are no exception. And if that river is as mighty as the Tsangpo- Brahmaputra-Jamuna-Meghna, flowing through not one but two age-old civilizations, then the entrenchment of myths is all the more natural.

In many ways myths get expressed through customs and festivals. This can be profoundly diverse, not only geo-spatially or locationally but also socially and culturally. More interestingly, such customs and festivals are not limited to bygone days but tend to incorporate newer ones as more and more people come to interact with the nation and beyond. Indeed, if this comes to include religious festivals, including songs rendered by the bauls, on the banks of the Brahmaputra, Jamuna and Meghna River there is also the display of dress, gastronomic delight and dance that are more secular in nature.

Points

1. Rivers are part of civilizational history. Being hub of three civilizations, Brahmaputra- Jamuna essentially has numerous lining of untold and re-told myth, stories that shapes up various customs, process and progress, some even develops into festivals. They also have appeared in various forms in mythological stories, sometimes as male or female, or as tree, or sometimes as god and goddess.
2. Brahmaputra is the only river named after male deity in India and Bangladesh. All other rivers are named after goddess or female deity. Rivers like Padma, Jamuna are named after mythological characters, god and goddess (Ashok Biswas, Encyclopedia of Rivers [Nodikosh], p.283).Bengal.
3. Brahmaputra has conflicting mythological stories of its origin. One is the story of Lord Brahma and his son named Brahmaputra. A tenth-century text called Kalika Purana tells the story of the birth of Brahmaputra. A famous ancient sage Shantanu, along with his beautiful wife Amodha, began a long meditation in an ashram near this area. Lord Brahma, the creator of Universe, amazed by Amodha’s beauty, proposed to make love with her that she refused. Brahma realized that Amodha was the right person to bring forth his own son whom he wanted to create for the benefit of humanity. Later, with the intention of Shantanu, Amodha gave birth to a son and he is called Brahmaputra. The child took the form of water. Shantanu placed the child right in the middle of the four great mountains – Kailash, Gandhamadana, Jarudhi and Sambwartakka. He grew into a great lake, the Brahmakunda (http://www.nih.ernet.in/rbis/Mythology.htm#Brahmaputra and Bangladesh: Fairs and Festivals, Published by Ministry of Foreign Affairs, pp.45- 47).
4. Another legendary story is of Jamadgani, his wife Renuka and their son Parshuram. Renuka was from a royal family and she had sacrificed the luxuries of life for her husband. One day she got so engaged seeing the dancing of heavenly angels in the river that she forgot to bring water back for her husband. Jamadgani got furious and ordered his sons to kill his mother. Pashurum, the fifth son, took an axe and killed his mother on his father’s order, but for his sin, the axe got stuck in his hand. To remove the axe from the hand, Parshuram visited several holy place and bathe at their water to get rid of the curse of his mother. Then he came to know about the great Brahmaputra, prayed and washed there. Only then the axe got separated from his hand. ( In an interview with Selim Raihan, a river Expert in Mymensingh) Later holy bath festivals have developed from this myth and are celebrated in Bangladesh till date (Dhanshaliker Desh [The Country of Rice and Mynah], Bangla Academy, p.114).
5. Jamuna, according to mythology is the daughter of Sangya and Surya (sun). Sangya is daughter of Biswakorma. Jamuna is sister of ‘Jam’, according to Markendeya Puran or Myth. According to many historicists, Jamuna comes from the name of his brother Jam (zom). She has been illustrated as an indomicible character in mythology. Jamuna is a female deity who is daughter of Sun (father) and Sangya (mother). Bring born at the mountain of Kalinda, Jamuna used to flow away freely in various communities. Balraam was impressed seeing her free flowing beauty and send proposals to marry her. Jamuna rejected the proposal. As the name implies, ‘Bal’ +’Raam’ (plough) = the plough of Bal; Balraam had his plough and he tries to dig canal to force Jamuna to his direction. She got afraid and requested to forgive her telling that she has been waiting for someone else. Listening to this, Balraam let her go (Dhanshaliker Desh [The Country of Rice and Mynah], Bangla Academy, p. 212).
6. Padma is the Sanskrit for Lotus, the flower. There is no mention of Padma as a river in Purans. In Ramayan, Padma is considered to be the goddess Lakshmi. Some people also think Padma is names after ‘paddo muni’ as mentioned in Ramayan.
7. There is no historical record on what Meghna River was named after. But there are a number of stories on this. One state that, when the sky gets cloudy, and wind flows heavily, Meghna turns destructive with large waves and it is very dangerous to travel at vessels at that time. ‘Megh+na’=Meghna; If there is cloud in the sky, do not flow your boat in the river. This restriction to travel at Meghna when there is cloud (megh) is the origin of the name (Dr. Ashok Biswas, Encyclopedia of Rivers of Bangladesh [Bangladesher Nodikosh], p.285).
8. Some also mention that the old name of Meghna was Meghnad. Jatindramohan Ray in his book ‘History of Dhaka’ has named Meghna River as Meghnad. Meghnad is a mythological character of Ramayan, the other name of the Indrajit, son of Raban. During his birth, Meghnad cried so loud that it sounded like heavy lightening and heavy rainfall. According to this myth, Meghna is basically the tear that flew from the eyes of Meghnad. Karotoya, one of their main distributaries, originated from ‘Kor’ means ‘hand’ and ‘Toy’ means ‘Water’. When Shiva, the God, married Parbati, the daughter of Himalaya, water was poured in the hands of Shiva. This flow of water from the hands of the God is said to be the source of Koratoya River. It is termed as sacred water in Marabharat (Dr. Ashok Biswas, Encyclopedia of Rivers of Bangladesh [Bangladesher Nodikosh], p.315).
9. Apart from these Hindu myths, there are also myths among the people of Muslim community. Because of the wide presence of ‘majhar’ culture, that is, concretizing the graveyard of pious persons and praying to Allah via them, these myths have taken up new shape. As observed in Jamalpur, it is believed that the existence of ‘grave or majar’ of Hazrat Jamal (R.) (over whom the town Jamalpur was named) will save the people of the district from wrath of Brahmaputra. (Observed during a visit to Jamalpur in October, 2013). Such practice is also common in Sirajganj, Chandpur and districts where Brahmaputa-Jamuna-Meghna flow through the main towns and is highly prone to riverbank erosion.
10. Festivals are an integral part of river. It reflects the cultural and social value and significance of a river. Rivers and surrounding areas are best for arranging fairs and festivals in Bangladesh both from religious and socio-cultural perspectives. Especially among the Hindu community rivers are considered as sacred place that increases its significance in particular.
11. The glory of Brahmaputra in the festivity of Bangladesh is related to its old channel that flows through Jamalpur-Mymensingh-Langalbandh. The entire course of Brahmaputra is considered as sacred water where numerous devotees take holy bath.
12. Teesta, one of the major tributaries of Brahmaputra, is also considered a sacred river and worshiped by many people. Among other districts, Langalbandh, a place near Narayanganj on the bank of old Brahmaputra, is particularly significant for festive-value.
13. 13. Every year on the 8th day of the lunar month during the Bengali month of Chaitra, religious minded Hindu devotees take a holy bath in the river. The festival is known as Astami-snan (a holy bath on the 8th day of lunar month). It is also called Langalbandh fair or Gur-Pukur’s fair, one of the major religious festivals of Hindu community in Bangladesh. The belief of the devotees is that the holy or sacred bath will please the lord Brahma, provide salvation from their sins and will lead to their mental purification. For this, devotees devote flowers and worship to Brahma.
14. There a list of mythological stories that traces back to the origin of Langalbandh fair and bathing festival. The myth of Brahmaputra’s origin is linked with the emergence of Langalbandh as a holy site. The myth of ascetic Jamadgani, his wife Renuka and their son Parashuram speaks that, when Parashuram decided to bring the holy water of Brahmaputra for common good and attached his axe to a plough (langal), the water flowed down and the plough got stuck at the place which was named as Langalbandh (where the plough stopped). The myth goes further according to some historicists, where it is stated Lord Brahma wanted to get his son Brahmaputra married to Shitalakkhya (another River). He wanted to establish his son as the king of pilgrimage (Tirthoraj). Knowing this, Brahmaputra went to visit Shitalakkhya without informing his father. Seeing Brahmaputra coming, Shitalakhya presented herself as aged and Elderly River. When Brahma learnt this, he became angry and cursed his son, Brahmaputra requested him not to curse and upon his request Brahma cooled down a bit. He then stated to his son Brahmaputra, ‘I wanted to establish you as the king of pilgrimage for the whole year. But now I will make you the king of pilgrimage only for one day. People earn piety my having holy bath at Ganga. Is people bathe at the west bank of you during the Bengali month of Chaitra, they will earn the same piety. Since then the place emerged as a sacred site (Dhanshaliker Desh [The Country of Rice and Mynah], Bangla Academy, 1997).
15. Another myth affirms, Haldhar Balram from the famous Yadhav clan, during his pilgrimage, visited the Brahmaputra River and bathed there. He felt enormous peace after the bathe and decided to introduce the sacred water to people. Then he took up plough and began digging. The place where his plough got stucked, is known as langalbandh. According to the Buddhist community, Manju Ghosh is the person who brought Brahmaputra River from hilly to plain land (Dhanshaliker Desh [The Country of Rice and Mynah], Bangla Academy, 1997, p.320).
16. Apart from this place, sacred bath also take place during different time of the year at different places. Fairs are commonly attached to this kind of bathing festivals. Holy bath takes place in the river at Sherpur during the Bengali month of Baishaksh for seven days. There is also Madaikhal Fair that takes place in Kurigram, mainly a holy bath festival, during the month of Baishkah. There is also the ‘bathing fair of Baruni’ (baruni snaner mela) that takes place near Aricha in Manikganj where Jamuna meets Padma (compiled from chart in Dhanshaliker Desh [The Country of Rice and Mynah], Bangla Academy, 1997).
17. A fairly common festival in rivers of Bangladesh is boat rowing festival. Generally, boar rowing competition is arranged in the Bengali months of Bhadra-Ashwin, during the autumn season. It holds a significant place in the local native culture of Bangladesh. It is basically a recreational competition.
18. In Brahmaputra River, during the months of monsoon and autumn or followed by yearly floods, boat rowing competition is arranged. At a place named Aastradhar in Mymensingh, where Brahmaputra is still wide and deep, this game is arranged every year (in an interview with Selim Rayhan, river expert in Mymensingh in October, 2013).