Day 3
This morning looked weatherwise more friendly than the last couple of days. With first light the lines were cast off and the ship sailed downstream. I had gotten up early again and watched the river go by. The Captain pushed on – we had to catch up somewhat, because we stayed longer as planned in Majuli yesterday to watch some festival activities. But this close after the monsoon the water was fast and we made good time. By 09:30 we could start this morning’s excursion.
We visited a village of the Mishing minority located on one of the sandbanks. I do not even know the village name, to be honest. We had to take our country boat across and followed the eroding shore line for a while. Bamboo poles and concrete pillars had been fashioned into water breaking constructions to try and stop erosion … probably with little effect. Every year the area faces devastating floods. The recurrent floods reduce the scope for alternative livelihood. Villages are affected by riverbank erosion or sand deposition, reducing any possibility of agrarian or land-based livelihoods.
A few minutes later we reached a suitable landing spot and got off to start our walk through the village. The first houses were set relatively close to the bank of the river.
A traditional Mishing house is stilted. It has a thatched top and is patterned simply like the letter L. It is built usually with wooden posts, beams, truss and supporting forks, but bamboo is used extensively for flooring and roofing. The greater the number of family members living in the same house, the longer the L would be. On the stilts we could clearly see the marks of how high the water of the Brahmaputra had come during the past monsoon floods.
The granary is built close to the house and a pig shed too would not be far away. Mishing villages are generally large in size, consisting of around 50 to 60 households on average. The Mishing are an indigenous community inhabiting parts of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh with a population of approx 680000. Mishings are recognised as a Scheduled Tribe by the Indian government. They belong to the greater group of Tani people, who speak languages of the Sino-Tibetan family, which comprise many tribes of Arunachal Pradesh and Tibet. Agriculture is the lifeblood of the Mishings. But today a small percentage of their population have other jobs as well, especially in the public sector, small trading etc. as sources of income.
The Mishing grow different varieties of rice paddy, some of which they sow in spring for harvesting in summer, some others being transplanted during the rainy season and harvested in autumn. They also grow mustard, pulses, maize, vegetables, tobacco, bamboo, areca, etc. mainly for their own use, with the exception of mustard, which brings them some cash.
The women contribute to the income of the family by rearing pigs, fowls and occasionally goats. Traditionally, the bridal price is paid in pigs and therefore many pigs are usually around in the village.
Assam’s Mishing indigenous tribal community also has a rich tradition of weaving. A Mishing woman, despite being engaged in a myriad of household activities throughout the day, is likely to spend some time on her loom every day. It is an exclusive preserve of the Mishing woman, who starts her training in the craft even before she reaches her teens. According to tradition, it is essential for a girl to learn weaving before marriage. The women make garments mainly for everyday use on simple throw shuttle handlooms. They also weave classy products for special occasions. They weave in advance 5 to 10 sets of mekhela chador, the traditional women’s attire, to gift their daughters at the time of marriage.
Pretty much under every stilt house there was a traditional loom set up. Through a tedious process, the weavers produce wraps and stoles like gamosas besides some utilitarian items. They can weave both highly artistic cloths with complicated patterns for occasional use as well as simple and plain clothes for everyday use. Traditionally, weaving in the Mishing community was for their own use. But these days, Mishing handloom products are much in demand.
During my several visits here I had the good fortune to observe the set up of such looms in various stages. It is a complicated matter. The entire process of weaving is woman-centered – women do all the groundwork and preparations for weaving by themselves.
Often we saw women – mostly the grannies I would say – sitting on the porch of their stilt houses and wind market-bought yarn onto bobbins – either by hand using their feet or using some sort of the bobbin winding installation made out of a bicycle wheel. Some were spinning cotton or silk by hand as well.
Then the warping process starts. The length and breadth of the warp depends on the type and number of fabrics to be made. It also depends on the breadth of the loom – as the throw-shuttle looms made out of bamboo are not sufficiently wide the textiles have all the same width. The thread is prepared in the yard.
Then the loom is set according to the patterns the women want to weave. Warp and weft are the 2 basic components used in weaving. The lengthwise warp yarns are held stationary in tension on the loom while the transverse weft is drawn through and inserted over-and-under the warp.
A reed resembles a comb and is used to separate and space the warp threads, to guide the shuttle’s motion across the loom and to push the weft threads into place. The reed is securely held by the beater and consists of a frame with many vertical slits. A heddle is an integral part of a loom. Each thread in the warp passes through a heddle, which is used to separate the warp threads for the passage of the weft.
The women here use basic throw shuttle looms that consist of 4 parts which are fixed to the ground so as to make a rectangular shape. These are joined together at the top by cross beams. Preparation of the loom takes almost a month already and is a science in itself … and then the weaving process takes even longer. There is nothing mechanical on those looms, all is hard work my hand and feet.
Walking through the village we watched numerous women weaving colourful patterns and gamosas.
Of course, eventually – and on coaxing by our Guide Mohan – some of the women got out their already finished textiles for sale. Most of them weave for their own use and usually do not want to sell. But when they see the tourists start buying from the neighbours then they bring out their work as well. Even the children help.
Our guest bought quite a few pieces. The will probably use it as table clothes or such. At least they supported the local economy and the women directly. And the price is – considering all the hard work involved – more than reasonable.
Mishings are one of the most colourful of the various indigenous Tribal communities in Assam. They have their own religion named Donyi Polo – Donyi – Sun – is their god. They mostly assimilated with Animism and Hinduism and believes in supernatural powers. Animism is used in the anthropology of religion as a term for the belief system of many indigenous peoples, especially in contrast to the relatively more recent development of organised religions. Although each culture has its own different mythologies and rituals, animism is said to describe the most common, foundational thread of indigenous peoples’ spiritual or supernatural perspectives. The animistic perspective is so widely held and inherent to most indigenous peoples that they often do not even have a word in their languages that corresponds to animism or even religion.
The walk through the village was as always interesting, different and for some eyeopening. The people we met were friendly and open towards the foreigners. We encountered men repairing their fishing nets or women working with the rice harvest.
As usual during our village walks we were quickly surrounded by a bunch of children and women watching curiously. I think we were for them as much a distraction from the everyday life as they were for us an extraordinary encounter. I love those walks, because every time we meet different people and see different aspects of their lives. Here, life still rotates around the seasons. Some of them were more courageous towards the strangers and gave us huge smiles, others were wary and abserving with a serious expression.
But of course we met all kinds of villagers. Since we were always visiting in the morning, most able-bodied men were out at work … in the city, in the fields, where ever. Therefore, we mostly encountered women, children – at least those children who did not have school to attended, because sometimes classes start after lunch as well – and elderly men. Everytime I come here I am in photography heaven – weathered faces and children make extraordinary models. However, it is not customary to smile on portrait photos …
The huts had no running water, but there were hand pumps on strategic points in the village same as communal outhouses. Most houses had a traditional water filter in the yard, though. Those are simple, selfmade devices using gravel or small stones, clean sand and activated charcoal.
We also watched women prepare to make homebrewed smoked rice wine. Rice wine is an alcoholic beverage fermented and distilled from rice and the Northeastern region of India is a major hub for that. Actually, it is Rice Beer … but they call it Rice Wine … so I will too … Rice does not have the necessary enzymes to break down starch, therefore rice wine brewers have a different approach than for example Africans who for example brew Banana Beer. Most Assam tribes use a glutinous rice for the purpose of brewing wine – the Mishing people prefer to use a sticky rice, but fail to state which rice that is.
First they the yeast cakes called Apop pitha are prepared. For that between 16 to 39 different plants, herbs and twigs are gathered and cleaned. These can either be used immediately or sun dried for later use. Soaked rice and the plants are ground separately and then combined with some water to form a dough. This dough gets shaped into balls of about 3 cm x 6 cm and dried under the sun. Those yeast cakes can also be bought readymade in the market. I guess, it depends on the location and if they find the right plants and herbs for the taste in the area. Here they obviously had bought them.
A woman was boiling the rice in a huge pot over an open fire. This is the next step towards the Rice Wine.
Later the rice is laid out to dry. After which the yeast starter is ground and spread over the rice, which is then placed into the earthenware pots. Banana leaves are used to seal the vessel after it has been filled up with water.
Apparently the style of rice wine made in this village is called Poro Apong. For this, when the rice is laid to dry, an ash powder made from rice straw and husks is blended into it before the addition of the yeast starter. We watched women make this ash powder as well as mixing it with the rice and preparing it for fermentation.
This brew has to be left to ferment for about 20 days. After fermentation, it is filtered through a cone made from bamboo with additional filters of banana leaves within it. Some villagers distill the fermented product and still call it rice wine. They say the alcohol content after fermentation is somewhere between 3 and 8 % and can reach up to 18 % when destilled.
Apong is sort of the party alcohol for the tribes and batches of it are especially made during annual festivals, weddings and happy occasions. Folklores have said that the people of the Mishing tribe came together to drink the ceremonial wine to put an end to all their communal conflicts and restore peace and harmony. The rice wine is in fact considered a cultural heritage of the indigenous tribes of Northeast India.
We were so fascinated by that … I was anyway … that Mohan asked one of the women if we can taste the brew. She went inside her hut and returned with a bowl of some freshly fermented stuff.
It was clear and had a somewhat brownish greenish color. Of course none of the tourists had the guts to try it. Typical … all with big mouth, but when it comes down to it they back out … afraid of the health risk … but my credo is – Alcohol disinfects … from outside and inside … I did try it and surprisingly enough, it was not unpleasant. It did not have much alcohol content in it, though … maybe not yet. Mohan said later, they gave us not the strongest version they had … It tasted indeed smoky. And of course we made those women’s day! They definitely had fun watching me try it.
I am always for tasting local drinks. The first time I was travelling in Africa in 2002 my local safari guide in Tanzania took me to his friends house to drink Mbege – also known as Banana Beer – a traditional brew of the Chaga ethnic group of Tanzania located in the Kilimanjaro region – made from fermented bananas. The process of making Mbege is labor-intensive and time-consuming as the majority of the process is done by hand without the aid of modern technology. The bananas are mashed and then cooked over a fire for 6 hrs, then left to ferment for up to 7 days. The fermented mixture is strained through shredded grass and banana leaves, a thick porridge made from the flour of finger millet and water is added. It is then left to sit out for another day before it is ready to be consumed. It was definitely something … special … Not only the kids had much fun with me trying it straight out of a plastic bucket …
In 2008 I worked on SPV STARFLYER and we sailed in Polynesia. One time we visited the small Atiu Island of the Cook Islands Archipelago. One of the highlights of our excursion there was a tumunu or bush beer party. Bush-beer brewing is a two-century-old Cook Island tradition – the beer is made from fermented fruit, sugar, malt and hops. Technically illegal and banned ever since the missionaries arrived on these beautiful islands, the tumunu is a hangover from the old-time kava ceremonies. These drinking clubs are hidden deep in the jungle and named for fermentation barrels carved from the base of a coconut tree. Formerly women were not allowed in these places but this rule has been relaxed – fortunately for me. The barman had a miniature cup – the bottom part of a tiny coconut – and served the breezy, orange-scented homebrew to everyone from it – going around the full circle – everybody drinking from the same cup which got refilled for each person.
Travelling Ethiopia in 2014 I of course had to try Tella – a traditional beer brewed from various grains, typically teff and sorghum. Depending on the region, barley, wheat or maize may be used and spices can also be added. Dried and ground shiny-leaf buckthorn leaves are used for fermentation. Tella is often home-brewed and offered in tella houses where people – mostly men – meet and talk. We saw one of those on a market and I had to try it. I had to pay very little for the Kalebasse full of Tella and only took a few sips. I donated the rest to the guys there who thought it totally funny that a crazy German woman wanted to taste it anyway.
You can see … me willing to try out local brews has not changed over the decades … neither has the ability to make faces while doing so …
Our Walk led us through the Mishing village and then to the main market which is in the Assamese part of the village. Here the houses were somewhat different and of a more permanent kind. Not only bamboo huts, but also some brick/concrete houses we could see. Situated on obviously higher ground, the houses were not anymore stilted. The main road was lined with small shops of all kinds.
Snack stalls and vegetable shops, a book shop combined with an off-the beaten-track gas station … yeah, right, that is gasoline in those plastic bottles! … a couple of bicycle and motorbike repair shops were there.
While the women were all busy with work, some men were playing Carrom – a tabletop game of Indian origin. The game is very popular around here. It is usually played on a square board made of lacquered plywood – the edges of which are bounded by bumpers of wood.
The objective of the game is to use a striker disk with a flick of the finger to make contact with and move lighter object disks called carrom men, which are thus propelled into one of 4 corner pockets. The aim is to pocket one’s 9 carrom men and the queen before one’s opponent does.
When we were here in March around Mahashivaratri Festival our guide Mohan went to the small Shiva Temple in the village and brought us the special milk drink which is offered there during the festival – Thandai. Mahashivratri is celebrated in the honour of Lord Shiva. One of the most important offerings served to Lord Shiva on this day is Bhang – Cannabis made out of Hemp leaves. Thandai is a refreshing cooler traditionally distributed by Hindus during this festival and is prepared with a mixture of almonds, fennel seeds, watermelon kernels, rose petals, pepper, vetiver seeds, cardamom, saffron, milk, sugar and infused with bhang. Bhang is commonly made from the leaves and flowers of the female cannabis plant and is also called the Nectar of the Gods.
And before you ask … No … not even I tried it! I have a grand respect of anything associated with cannabis. Once, when I was living in Thailand I did try spiked Toffee Banoffee Cake – I just ate the topping because the spike was only in the crust … nevertheless … I did make it back to my bungalow, but ended up sleeping stoned in the hammock on my porch, because I could not move anymore. Since then I stick to alcohol! This one here did not have alcohol in it … so I did not try it …
Walking through another part of the village back to the river bank, we encountered more friendly people. We all had a laugh when somebody shouted out – Look! Look! A tiger! … Yeah right … somebody had painted stripes on a dog …
In one of the back yards was a huge tree – Dillenia indica – commonly known as Elephant Apple. Its branches are used to make good firewood. Its characteristic round fruits are large, greenish yellow, have many seeds and are edible. The fruit is a 5–12 cm diameter aggregate of 15 carpels and is accessible only to the megaherbivores. Asian elephants appear to have a particular fondness for the fruits and hence the name. The fruit pulp is sour and used in Indian cuisine in curries, jam and jellies.
And there were Indian Tulip Trees – Thespesia Populnea – commonly known as Portia Tree or Pacific Rosewood. It is a fast-growing evergreen tree with a dense, broad crown which can grow up to 20 m tall. A multipurpose tree – it can provide food, medicines and many other commodities for local use. The plant is especially valued for its beautiful richly-coloured dark wood and grows best in areas where annual daytime temperatures are within the range 20 – 30°C in moist to wet, lowland tropics and warm subtropics. There are heart-shaped leaves and cup-shaped yellow flowers. Each flower has a maroon eye that apparently ages to purple. The flowers are followed by apple-shaped fruits. Young leaves, flowers and flower buds and even the fruits are edible. Ground up bark can be used to treat skin diseases, dysentery and haemorrhoids. Leaves are applied to inflamed and swollen joints. But I am not sure, if in this region any of this applies … I just like the flowers and had already seen them in other parts of the world …
Near the village was a pond overgrown with blooming Water Hyacinth – Eichhornia crassipes – an aquatic plant native to the Amazon basin and often a highly problematic invasive species outside its native range. It is a free-floating perennial aquatic plant with broad, thick, glossy, ovate leaves which may rise above the surface of the water as much as 1 m. An erect stalk supports a single spike of 8–15 conspicuously attractive flowers, mostly lavender to pink in colour with 6 petals. One of the fastest growing plants known, mats of it can double in size in 2 weeks.
We watched fishermen put some sort of net underneath the plant mat and pull up the entire bunch to catch the fish that were hiding below it in the long roots of the plants.
After an eventful 2 hrs walk around the village we eventually reached the river bank again and our boat was waiting to pick us up again.
The river channels are ever changing on the Brahmaputra and this time the ABN CHARAIDEW II was moored a little further away than usual. Our country boat had to sail along the banks passing a ferry. I especially liked the holy cows in the clouds there.
But of course some holy cows – or maybe not so holy cows – were also taking the ferry across the river … along with motorbikes and people and whatever.
ABN CHARAIDEW II was waiting for us at anchor. It was brandnew. The maiden voyage was just in the end of January this year and I sailed on it the first time in February. A beautiful ship it is.
Soon enough we were back on board and the ship immediately sailed further downstream. It was lunchtime for us.
In the afternoon the ship reached the area of the Kaziranga National Park. All afternoon we sailed along the coastal boundery of the park – sometimes the navigable channel was closer to the park banks, sometimes further away. Everybody was on the sundeck keeping an eye out for any wildlife that might be appearing along the river banks. In January, on the last cruise with the old ABN CHARAIDEW we had only 6 guests and everybody had a front row seat for this passage …
Kaziranga National Park is a national park with a sanctuary hosting two-thirds of the world’s Great One-Horned Rhinoceroses. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Kaziranga is also home to some of the highest density of Tigers among protected areas in the world and to large breeding populations of Asian Eephants, Wild Water Buffalo and Swamp Deer. Kaziranga is a vast expanse of tall elephant grass, marshland and dense tropical moist broadleaf forests, criss-crossed by 4 major rivers, including the Brahmaputra.
I have done this cruise now several times and every time we pass we spot different animals. There are almost 478 species of birds – both migratory and resident – at the park. The first time I was here we spotted some Common Crane – Grus grus – also known as the Eurasian Crane – on a sandbank in the river. This species is found in the northern parts of Europe and Asia. The heart of the breeding population for the species is in Russia where possibly up to 100000 cranes of this species can be found seasonally. It is a long distance migrant predominantly wintering in northern Africa, but also in the northern half of Indian subcontinent.
A very common bird to spot along the river banks is the Grey Heron – Ardea cinerea – a long-legged predatory wading bird, native throughout temperate Europe and Asia and also parts of Africa. It is resident in much of its range – a bird of wetland areas – it feeds mostly on aquatic creatures which it catches after standing stationary beside or in the water or stalking its prey through the shallows. Standing up to 1 m tall, adults have a white head and neck with a broad black stripe that extends from the eye to the black crest. The body and wings are grey above and the underparts are greyish-white, with some black on the flanks. The long, sharply pointed beak is pinkish-yellow and the legs are brown.
A very common sight are also Great Egrets – herons which have white or buff plumage. The distinction between a heron and an egret is rather vague and depends more on appearance than biology. The word egret comes from the French word aigrette that means both silver heron and brush, referring to the long filamentous feathers that seem to cascade down an egret’s back during the breeding season. The Great Egret has a slow flight with its neck retracted which distinguishes them from storks, cranes, ibises and spoonbills which extend their necks in flight.
And then we spotted our first Grey-Headed Fish Eagle – Haliaeetus ichthyaetus. The large stocky raptor with a dark brown upper body, grey head, lighter underbelly and white legs was first sitting right on the bank of the river in good sight. Then it flew off and eventually landed in the top of a tree. The ship kept sailing along the banks and we passed it again.
During blooming season before the onset of spring the shore line was coloured by the Flame-of-the-Forest – Butea Monosperma – and the Red Silk Cotton Tree or Kapok Tree – Bombax Ceiba. Until January, there is nothing show-stopping about the trees for only dull-brown branches and nondescript leaves are visible. It is only in February that scarlet blooms set the forest on fire. The flowers of the Flame-of-the-Forest are bright orange-red. It is said that the tree is a form of Agni, the God of fire and war. It was a punishment given to Him by Goddess Parvati for disturbing her and Lord Shiva’s privacy. These flowers are often used in the worship of Lord Shiva on occasion of Shivaratri. The Kapok Tree added a dash of red – it produces beautiful red flowers blooming in March/April. Now in November the forest wasnot coloured, but of many lush shades of green.
There were also Grey Pelicans – Pelecanus philippensis – which breed in southern Asia from southern Pakistan across India and east to Indonesia. It is a bird of large inland and coastal waters especially large lakes. We watched a pair fishing in the shallows.
A very common sight were also flocks of Ruddy Shelducks – Tadorna ferruginea – known in India as the Brahminy Duck. It has orange-brown body plumage with a paler head, while the tail and the flight feathers in the wings are black, contrasting with the white wing-coverts. It is a migratory bird, wintering in the Indian subcontinent and breeding in southeastern Europe and central Asia.
And then it happened … there was a shout across the deck … Elephant! … Elephant! … Sure enough we had spotted our first Elephant! The Asian Elephant – Elephas maximus – is distributed throughout the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, from India in the west, Nepal in the north, Sumatra in the south and to Borneo in the east and is the largest living land animal in Asia. Since 1986, the Asian Elephant has been listed as Endangered. In Kaziranga National Park there live some 1100 of them nowadays.
Asian Elephants inhabit grasslands, tropical evergreen forests, semi-evergreen forests, moist as well as dry deciduous forests and dry thorn forests in addition to cultivated and secondary forests and scrublands. The single male we spotted first was eventually walking across the sandbank and the Captain turned an extra circle to give us more time to watch it.
Another big Elephant stood in the bushes right next to the river a little further on and seemed to stare back at us as curious as we did stare at him.
On a former cruise we had even spotted an entire herd of Elephants walking along the edge of the forest close to the river bank.
When the navigable channel left the immediate forest bank there were huge sand banks on each side. A large herd of Wild Water Buffalo – Bubalus arnee – also called Asian buffalo – decided to head for the bushes when they saw or heard the ship approach.
The Wild Water Buffalo has been listed as Endangered since 1986, as the remaining population totals less than 3500 of which 3100 live in Assam – some 1950 of them in Kaziranga National Park. A little further on one of them did not care and continued to take his bath in the Brahmaputra.
Today we even spotted some Assam Roofed Turtles – Pangshura sylhetensis – an amphibian species found in the Brahmaputra-Meghna drainage in Assam and parts of eastern Bangladesh. In the cooler months of the dry season, from December to February, it basks during most of the day. The turtle is shy and never basks on river banks, but only on emergent logs or rocks. At the slightest disturbance, it will dive quickly to the middle of the river, hiding between rocks. We were quite lucky somebody spotted them before they disappeared.
And we saw a big Asian Water Monitor – Varanus salvator – a large lizard native to South and Southeast Asia where it lives close to water. They are the world’s second-heaviest lizard, after the Komodo dragon. Their bodies are muscular with long, powerful, laterally compressed tails. Water monitors are often defined by their dark brown or blackish coloration with yellow spots found on their underside – these yellow markings have a tendency to disappear gradually with age. These monitors have very long necks and an elongated snout.
Just before sunset a large herd of Barasingha – Rucervus duvaucelii – commonly known as Swamp Deer – stood grazing close to the northern river bank. The Swamp Deer differs from all other Indian deer species in that the antlers carry more than three tines. Because of this distinctive character it is designated bārah-singgā – meaning Twelve-Horned in Hindustani.
They frequent flat or undulating grasslands and generally keep in the outskirts of forests. Sometimes, they are also found in open forest. Today, the distribution is much reduced and fragmented due to major losses in the 1930s–1960s following unregulated hunting and conversion of large tracts of grassland to cropland. Swamp Deer now only occur with a few surviving in Kanha National Park of Madhya Pradesh, in Assam’s Kaziranga and Manas National Parks and in Uttar Pradesh. They are regionally extinct in other parts of the Indian Subcontinent. With some 900 of them Kaziranga National Park has apparently the world’s largest surviving population of them.
And then a Pallas’s fish eagle – Haliaeetus Leucoryphus – a large, brownish sea eagle – made an appearance as well. It breeds in northern India, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Bhutan and is as well listed as Endangered. It is partially migratory wintering in northern India. The global population of it is estimated at less than 2500 individuals.
We did not quite reach our destination before sunset, though. The Captain stopped for the night just before sunset mooring the ship at a sand bank again. We were pretty much in the midst of the National Park. The boundaries of the park include the ever changing sand banks of the Brahmaputra, because the animals regularly cross the river channels to find grazing land.
The sunset was once more breath taking and off course it called for a proper sundowner. Cheers to a fantastic day!
Day 4
Early in the morning, just after sunrise the anchor was lifted and the ship sailed towards Vishwanath Ghat – or Bishwanath Ghat – depending on who you ask. Bishwanath Charali is a small town on the north bank of Brahmaputra River overlooking Kaziranga Forest on the south bank. It has a very important historical significance. It formed the borders between the Kamata kingdom and the Chutiya kingdom – and later between the Koch kingdom and the Ahom kingdom. We did not visit the main town, though, but rather Bishwanath Ghat – also called Gupta Kashi – named after an ancient Bishwanath mandir. The Ghat has a cluster of temples of different gods. Landing with our country boat on the sandy banks, the boat boys put out our bamboo gangway and off we went to explore the ancient temples.
Especially in spring after the festival season there are many of the clay idols of various gods sitting close to the water and on small rocky outcrops around here.
Since time immemorial, rivers hold a sacred place in the Indian civilisation being worshipped as a holy divinity by millions of pilgrims. Hindus, who worship their Gods and Goddesses in the form of clay idols, practice idol immersion as an important aspect of their culture. The ceremony marks the farewell of the deities to their abodes and is accompanied by the belief that, after being worshipped, the idols must be immersed in water because only Mother Earth can bear their power and energy. This practice is seen in the worship of almost all Hindu deities.
But those rituals and religious practices have become a major reason for river pollution. Historically, idols were mostly made from clay and treated at the time of the rituals with turmeric and other herbal products to avoid pollution of the water bodies. However, with the passage of time, non-clay materials and even metals have come into use in idol preparation. Paints used to colour these idols contain various heavy metals such as mercury, cadmium arsenic, zinc, chromium and lead. Consequently, their immersions are leading to significant water pollution throughout the country and have become a serious health concern for humans, local aquatic ecology and the environment.
This year a directive had been issued by the National Mission for Clean Ganga to chief secretaries in 11 Ganga basin states. which states that no idol immersion into river Ganga and its tributaries and on their banks is allowed. While here in Assam not nearly as many idols get immersed in the Brahmaputra like there are in the mighty Mother Ganga, here at Bishwanath we saw many idols sitting on the rocks.
Maybe they just got dunked in the river and then set to overlook the river. I am not sure … but with the next monsoon flood they would be washed away anyway. Today for sure there were none of those idols we saw in spring on the rocks anymore.
Close to the ghats was the small market of the settlement. Often we saw fishermen there selling their catch. The Brahmaputra River is one of the largest rivers in the world and different fishing gears including cast net, seine-haul net and drag net as well as fishing traps are employed to collect fishes here. A total of 67 fish species including 63 indigenous and 4 exotic/alien species have been recorded in the river. Mohan wanted to buy fish, but in the end he backed out, because the price was too high and the fish too small for him.
Bishwanath Ghat and its temples are well maintained. There is a walking way to the temples along the shore line overlooking the mighty Brahmaputra River. A Gupt Kashi Shiva Temple from the 6th century was located at the confluence of Bridhaganga River with Brahmaputra right there. It did not survive a series of earth quakes in the 19th century, however. Now only some stone posts, beams and other ruins are left. During the summer monsoon floods the temple remains under water. Only in winter worship is done by constructing a temporary shed on the spot on the rocks in the middle of the confluence. A new temple had been constructed on the river island of Umatumuni. It draws lot of local tourists and pilgrims.
We had funs observing the goat ferry shuttling the animals across the confluence to greener pastures. The goats did not seem to mind the boat ride, they were probably used to it. The water level of the Brahmaputra receded with the coming of winter and gave way to riverine sand beaches and brought out most of the rocks in the small bay which made for a nice view.
We walked along to visit the Bishwanath Temple – which is a Siva Dol dedicated to Lord Shiva. The oldest part of the temple has beautiful and very well preserved – or maybe restored – reliefs on the surrounding fence posts. They apparently depict scenes from the annual processions. The monks playing the drums looked a bit like aliens to me, though.
The temple is famous for the festivities held annually during Rongali Bihu – a festival marking the beginning of the Assamese New Year. It usually falls into the second week of April and historically signifies the time of harvest. The third day of the festival, known locally as Goxai Bihu, becomes a big affair here as devotees gather in large numbers and take out a religious procession through the town.
Leaving the temple we walked around the village towards the next temple. Of course the village life was for many guests more interesting than visiting temples … We often see women preparing the hand looms here as well. It is a very complicated and time consuming work before they can start the actual weaving process.
And a flying salesman was around on his scooter advertising his goods with continuous honking.
We watched women use the old style rice mill or husk lever – Dhenki. It is usually made of hard wood and has a fulcrum supporting a weight. Due to the force of the weight upon the rice in the pods, the rice and the golden brown husks separate. Dhenki is used to be operated by women to produce rice from paddy and grind rice to powder.
Some of the houses were done in timber-frame style. I said to Mohan – They were probably inspired by the English who in turn were inspired by the Germans … But he smiled and said … Maybe the English were inspired by the Assamese! … We had a good laugh anyway.
On one of my former visits we watched a man climb an Areca Palm – Areca Catechu – which is commonly referred to as Betel Nut so it is easily confused with actual Betel – Piper Betle – leaves that are used to wrap it in. Well in fact, in Assam, where Betel Nut is traditionally offered as a mark of respect and auspicious beginnings, to invite guests to wedding receptions and to guests after the end of every feast, an Areca Palm is found in almost every back yard. And to make it easier, the evergreen Betel vine with glossy heart-shaped leaves is planted right at the foot of the palm since it needs a compatible tree or a long pole for support in any case. In India – the largest consumer of Areca Nut – the preparation of nut with or without betel leaf is commonly referred to as paan. Back in January, just ahead of the non-religious Bhogali Bihu – also called Magh Bihu – a harvest festival marking the end of harvesting season, that man had much to do and did not leave many leaves behind. The bamboo pole was his ladder, by the way …
The news that foreign tourists are in town always spreads like a wildfire around here. And before we even reached the main street to the next temple, the women had already pulled out and put on display their textiles for sale. Some of those were indeed handmade here, but some they also buy in the market and re-sell here. Well, everybody tries to make a living.
Almost every house had a small private shrine as well in the yard. The houses here are all brick and concrete houses and so are the shrines.
In some of the yards women had set up their hand looms and were weaving. Mostly they were doing Gamosas – the Assamese shawl. Here they had looms a step ahead of the ones we saw yesterday in the Mishing village. Replacing the throw shuttle loom with the advanced fly shuttle loom brought down the cost of production, because it is much faster than weaving on the throw shuttle loom. The flying shuttle employs a board, called the race, which runs, side to side, along the front of the beater, forming a track on which the shuttle runs. The lower threads of the shed rest on the track and the shuttle slides over them. At each end of the race, there is a box which catches the shuttle at the end of its journey and which contains a mechanism for propelling the shuttle on its return trip. Finally, the flying shuttle is generally somewhat heavier, so as to have sufficient momentum to carry it all the way through the shed. The weaving is much faster and the rhythmic cluck cluck cluck of the flying shuttle echoed in every yard.
At one time we met a young man who was drawing the pattern for a new loom set up on graph paper. It looked like a very tedious work.
Of course all along the way we were once more the attraction of the day. Our guests always turn their eyes on me when I tell them in the beginning of the cruise absolutely not to give any presents to the kids we meet in the villages – no pens, no candy, no money, nothing. That is for a reason – here in a region very few foreign tourists are ever visiting, nobody is spoilt yet by the foreigners. Neither kids nor adults beg here or ask for anything. They are as curious as they come and nobody has brought the absolute bad habit of “Pen, pen!” or “Money! Money!” to these parts yet.
So it is absolutely refreshing when the kids are curiously staring with huge eyes at the white-noses and some even hide behind grandma’s skirts because they are afraid of the strangers.
Our next temple to visit was the Bordol Shiva Temple constructed by Ahom King Rajeswar Singha in 1751-69. The well maintained compound is perhaps the most magnificent temple to be seen here. This temple has the same architectural design of the famous Shiva Dol temple of Sivasagar and is a great example of the Ahom style of architecture. The inner sanctum was small and dark with a simple Shiva Lingam set up.
Walking back to the ghat to catch our boat, we took the main street completing our circle in the village and passing some of the local shops. Of course, people watching along the way is always a main objective …
On the beach Mohan contacted a couple of the fishermen. He was determined to buy fish to take home – he lives somewhere near Kaziranga National Park. Today he was lucky – the catch of the day was good. One of them had caught a huge Chitala Chitala – a knifefish found in the Indus, Ganges, Brahmaputra and Mahanadi River basins which can reach a maximum length of up to 120 cm. It usually has a series of golden or silvery bars along the back, resulting in a faint striped appearance. This one was almost 1 m long – a very big one and Mahan bargained hard and bought it.
A second fisherman had a medium sized Catfish – named for their prominent barbels, which resemble a cat’s whiskers. The Bagarius Bagarius is known from the Ganges River, Chao Phraya and the Mekong drainages as well as the Brahmaputra River. This fisherman was funny, though. He had his fish on a leash and let it swim in the shallow as so to prove it is still alive and freshly caught. Mohan bought that one as well …
For us it was then time to get back on the ship and have lunch while we sailed the short distance to Silghat. This afternoon we would visit Kaziranga National Park!
