Adi Ganga - History

History

The earlier course of the lower Ganges as it flowed through the Bhagirathi channel was somewhat different from what it is in the beginning of the 21st century. At Triveni, near Bandel, it branched into three streams. The Saraswati flowed in a south-westerly direction, past Saptagram. The Jamuna (not the same river as in north India or many streams of that name in eastern Bengal) flowed in a south-easterly direction. The Hooghly flowed in the middle. The Hooghly glided down to around the place where Kolkata now stands and then flowed through the Adi Ganga, past Kalighat, Baruipur and Magra to the sea.

In the 16th century, the main waters of the Bhagirathi, which earlier used to flow through the Saraswati, began to flow through the Hooghly. The upper Saraswati is a dead or dry river and the Hooghly has abandoned the Adi Ganga channel and adopted the lower course of the Saraswati to flow to the sea.

In his Manasamangal, Bipradas Pipilai has described the journey path of Chand Saudagor, the merchant, as going past Chitpur, Betore, Kalighat, Churaghat, Baruipur, Chhatrabhog, Badrikunda, Hathiagarh, Choumukhi, Satamukhi and Sagarsangam. The description of Bipradas Piplai tallies to a large extent with Van den Brouck’s map of 1660.

Some quarters ascribe the virtual drying up of Adi Ganga to its being artificially linked to the lower channel of the Saraswati, whereby that became the main channel for ocean going ships and the Adi Ganga became derelict. This feat is ascribed by some to Nawab Alivardi Khan.Others thinks that there was only a tidal creek connecting the Saraswati and the Hooghly, near the point where the Adi Ganga branched off. It is rumoured that the Dutch traders re-sectioned this tidal creek to let sea-going vessels come up the Bhagirathi.