Once There Was A River Poem by Namita Rani Panda

Once there was a river
Supremely pious and pure
As if a fountain of elixir
Most venerated as a holy mother
Her ambrosial milky water
Granting boons to millions of sinners

Once there was a river living and breathing
Her crystal-clear water gleefully gurgling
With boundless joy dancing and swirling
Descended from heaven as a saviour
For Bhagiratha's penance for a thousand years
To provide nirvana to his forefathers
cursed and charred by sage Kapila's anger

Once there was a river so pristine and divine
Believed to be the crossing point between earth and heaven
Most sought after as a place of pilgrimage
To have her holy water at home a religious privilege
It's stored for years to use in rituals and offerings
Just dropping a drop in the mouth of the dying
Or flowing a handful of ash in her water after cremation
A sure way of attaining salvation



But now she is pungently stinking
With half burnt and rotten corpses constantly floating
A stream of lethal chemicals freely flowing
As if a scary serpent spitting in fury just before dying

She is now slim, frail and seriously sick
Like her blacken water her fate is bleak
Mercilessly she's overexploited by sceptics
Sprawling towns on her banks at their highest peaks

Her fate is ever brutally sealed
For humans' sickening insatiable greed
She has lost her unique quality
Her adorable self-cleansing ability
And very high oxygen retaining capacity

Once there was a river renowned as a saviour
Is cursing herself for being carcinogenic and contaminator
Pleading painfully to give her back her lost grandeur
To save her from being lost in the pages of history forever
Can you guess her name, O' my dear?
Her heart wrenching cry can't you hear?

Note: Ganga is the most sacred of all rivers in India, enjoying an undeniable position in the holy scriptures and practices of Hinduism. The great mythological king Bhagiratha penanced for a thousand years to bring the holy river Ganga from heaven to earth for the salvation of his ancestors who were charred to death due to the curse of sage Kapila. Once venerated as a saviour is now a significant threat to human health and environment as it is severely polluted with human wastes and industrial contaminants. To save her from pollution is now a national concern.