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Paper short abstract

This paper attempts to interpret how the narratives associated with the river Brahmaputra and its tributaries reverberate the folklore, culture and ethos of people living in the Brahmaputra valley of Assam in Northeast India.

Paper long abstract

The Brahmaputra, flowing through three countries carries with it a flow of narratives ranging from creation myths to folklore connecting everyday history. Besides crafting Assam’s landscape, the river has been sustaining a multiplicity of ethnic entities since prehistoric times.

Rivers in India bear female names, but the Brahmaputra – ‘son of Brahma, the Hindu god’-- is male, claim the myths and legends. The old Sanskrit name for the river is Lauhitya—blood red—but it is fondly called Barluit or Luit in Assamese. The name Brahmaputra is also said to be a Sanskritized form of ‘Bullam-buthur’, which in the Bodo language means ‘making a gurgling sound’. Testifying its diversity in association with various ethnic cultures, it bears different names in different parts of its course. The million meanders of Brahmaputra conceal many myths and numerous tribal lores. The enigmatic river has also remained the fitting metaphor for the authors and artistes to narrate stories of love, joy, yearning, anguish, and suffering.

Such are the influences of the Brahmaputra on the life, beliefs and cultures of the people who live on its banks that each and every group of people, tribal or non-tribal, has myths and legends associated with the river. Each group has rich treasure of folk-songs and folk-literature associating, adoring, appeasing, and even worshipping the river.

This paper attempts to interpret how the myths associated with the river and its tributaries reverberate the folklore, culture and ethos of people living in the Brahmaputra valley.