Publications

Bihar is known as a state of rivers. Thirty-five rivers and their eighty-five tributaries criss-cross across this vast land, creating a maze of waterways. Historically, north Bihar has been called a `Nadi Matrik Desh'. The more well-known of these rivers in north Bihar include Kosi, Gandak, Budhi Gandhak, Kamla, Balaan, Mahananda, Ghaghra and Sursar. Kosi River flows from the highest mountain peak, Mt Everest and the Kanchenjunga ranges, and is revered in northern Bihar as a mother or Goddess. In this region never has the Kosi River been viewed as a river of sorrow by our ancestors, as they were well aware of nature's bounty, its set of rules, cyclic character, and its ebb and fall. They were in harmony with its character, learning to live in tune with its both bountiful and rapacious nature. Many of our ancient scriptures and folk tales are proof of the fact that since ancient times, people of this region have managed the floods, water and their land with traditional knowledge, natural resources, and inherited technical know-how, living along the banks in sync with the river.