Page 75 - Sugam Sarita

At just 460 kilometers (approximately 286 miles), its length is modest

in comparison with great Asian rivers like the Yangtze in China or
the Ganges itself. Nevertheless, through history, the Hooghly has
been a waterway of tremendous sacred and secular significance.
Europeans arriving on the Hooghly in the late 17th century were

fascinated by the position that the river occupied in local life, and
in particular its significance in Hindu religious practices and beliefs.
In many contemporary accounts, sacred rituals conducted using river
water are described. The water was considered so valuable that it was

bottled, transported, and sold to devotees across India who could not
visit and bathe in the river.

The river ghat is mostly used for household purposes like washing
and bathing and also for religious purposes like idol immersion in

Durga Puja. There were few catchment areas around most of the
river, where mostly fishing was the main activity. Katla, rohu, and
tilapia are the most popular fish found in Hooghly.

The water was malodourous, with water remaining stagnant most of

the time except during times of tides, since Hooghly is tributary near
the end of Ganga river the before merging in Bay of Bengal.

While agriculture is impacted adversely by the rising pollution of
rivers, it is also one of the reasons for contaminating waters. The use

of modern pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers is polluting our rivers.
Interestingly, this impacts the overall productivity of agricultural land
as river water contaminated by industrial effluents cannot be used for
irrigating crops.

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