Dr Rajan Kotru
In May, 2017, Daily Excelsior Newspaper presented a contribution on River Devika of Udhampur, reminding us of its religious and cultural significance. Based on its mythological and historical narratives, it ranks as the “River of Faith” and thus manifests holiness that takes our dead near and dears to their last journey on this material planet. We do this because we want the soul of deceased to get a divine send-off so that his/her soul rests in peace. In a nutshell, we are inspired by its sanctity, sacredness and divinity. All religions revere rivers and water in their scriptures as well as in their daily life. Thus, in Hinduism rivers symbolically represent, inter alia, motherhood, purity, source of life, cleansing power, forbearance, destruction, change, movement of time, and so on. Within the Islamic context the key elements of flowing water, shade and exuberant foliage powerfully convey ideas of both spiritual and physical refreshment. All water bodies and rivers come from Allah’s treasure of mercy. But on a more profound level it suggests the nurturing of the ‘garden within’ by the ever-flowing waters of the spirit which purify the soul. Indeed, water is symbolic of the soul in many sacred traditions, reflecting the soul’s ability to renew itself while remaining true to its source. Given the above facets of divinity, our rivers, one would think,signify that we humans will not only nourish our souls and physical needs but also nurture and conserve these with undiminished faith. However, that is a very simplistic display of our faith and love for our rivers. That these lifelines of our lives are not conserved and nurtured is evident from the fact that in 2017 “Rally for Rivers” campaign (initiated by Isha Foundation’s Sadhguru) was launched to trigger our national attention towards our dying rivers.
That we are losing the sanctity of our divine river “Devika” was very much acknowledged by our Central Government. The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change, after prolonged consultations with the Central Water Commission and the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir, sanctioned Devika River Project at Udhampur under National River Conservation Plan (NRCP), at an estimated cost of Rs 186.74 crore. A time-limit of 30 months was fixed for the completion of the scheme before 31st March 2021. However, due to COVID Crisis obviously works could not be completed within the given time. The recent visit to the Core Site of Devika Temple, more or less confirms that even if you have one more year to complete, it is less likely that the divine glory we are proud of, will be restored. The situation is just similar to COVID Crisis our country is undergoing. Despite incessant reminders to our society that prevention is the best defence against the Virus, we did not seriously bother about masks, social distancing or sanitization. That Devika temple premises and the flowing river is sick, stenchy and filthy beyond comprehension repeats such deja vu. This can be viewed from different angles. Socially, we have failed to respect the sanctity of the core site and the river itself. It is evident from the fact that one body after another is put to flame without even thinking whether our dead deserve a send-off to the next world from a filthy platform. Environmentally, the piles of solid waste and liquid pollution greets us with dark waters enriched with biological and chemical wastes, and with heavily odorous atmosphere and scavenger birds and animals that relish on filth. In spiritual terms, the legend of Baba Pani Nath who is believed in ancient times having meditated here and even fixed the demon that was devouring humans and animals here, would hardly recognise the place should his soul fly past. Spiritual and religious places in ancient times had a customised architecture that used to be in sync with the nature within which these wereconsecrated. With the set of numerous structures built helter-skelter and concretization of the holy premises to the hilt, -divine river known as the elder sister of Ma Ganga River of our national esteem- it is astounding how we are degrading our sacred sites minute by minute unconcerned.
Therefore, more than the project that is deservingly expected to rejuvenate the grace of this “River of Faith” we have to revisit our mindsets as a society that is so proud of telling and believing in folklore of Lord Shiva and Mata Parvati associated with “Devika”.
It is time to transform our collective attitude by a theory that renowned international professional and change-maker Dr Kamal Kar uses in over 70 Countries to stop open defecation. We call it, “Theory of Disgust” in which we prove to people who do not change their behaviour of open defecation, that they are actually eating not only their own faeces but also that of others. As indicators for bad hygiene and sanitization we deliberate on the prevalence of diarrhoea and intestinal worms and several other diseases (e.g., Typhoid, Hepatitis etc.) in the society they live in. Technical concepts of the above-mentioned project may see the light of the day at an appropriate time but “Our Mindset Change” will need prolonged bit of awareness-building and communication to all the key stakeholders of “Devika” that desecrating of holy places and rivers will neither wash away our sinsnor it will give a warm send-off to departing souls. “We must begin thinking like a river if we are to leave a legacy of beauty and life for future generations (David Browerq)”. Therefore, we need to be very conscious on the fact that our rivers are lifelines for our culture, and physical and spiritual wellbeing. Further, how we preserve and manage our holy sites reflects on our character as a nation. So let us not pollute, let us not litter. And let us not fritter away precious and unparalleled cultural legacy.
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