Aghanashini; the virgin river of India
By Kiran S Nambiar
While I was pondering about what to write about next, one of my teammates told me about an amazing journey of a river in South India, which moved me deeply. I would like to share this story with our community. So here goes.
Water is considered to be the single most important element that powers all life on Earth. Without it, nothing survives. We are all made of it, yet we don’t truly understand how valuable this element is. Today we embark on a journey together with one of the only virgin rivers in the world, Aghanashini, meaning the Destroyer of Sins.
A virgin river is one that has not been deterred or deviated from its original path due to any external forces, in most cases human activities like farming, deforestation, etc.
Originating from Shankara Honda in the small town of Sirsi, it flows through many valleys and gorges before reaching the Arabian ocean. The locals also believe that the river’s birthplace might be from a sacred place in Manjaguni, a temple village south of Sirsi.
Why is this river so special? Allow me to explain.
Her Wonders
Aghanashini covers a distance of 124km before it hits the western coast of India. During this arduous journey, she reveals her generosity. This majestic river is responsible for sustaining immense biodiversity and human civilisation around it for centuries now. From amazing waterfalls to unique species of flora & fauna, it is also home to some of the most untouched rainforests anywhere in the country. This river is an embodiment of what an ecosystem can provide if you protect it.
The tropical rainforest that is looked after by this river has been there since the ages of the dinosaurs, housing some of the oldest kinds of trees you can find anywhere in the Western Ghats (a UNESCO World Heritage Center).
The Myristica swamp is a rare, ancient ecosystem. Similar swaps are found in the Ghat sections of Kerala, Karnataka and Goa. They experience erratic rainfall due to climate change, which led to their destruction over the years. The pristine ones next to Aghanashini, thanks to the efforts of many environmentalists and locals, have been protected from any major damage. While these swamps are unique in many ways, their key feature to retaining rainwater like sponges, helps the air remain cool during summers. It remains resolute as one of the oldest natural carbon sinks in the country.
This ancestral forest became a habitat for an array of birds, animals and reptiles endemic to this area; predominantly, the Lion-tailed Macaque. Considered an old-world monkey, this species has been living in these lands for aeons. They are crucial to the fruit-bearing trees that grow in these lands as much as they are dependent on them. They act as pollinators when they feed on the fruits and spit them out on the forest floor. This evolutionary act of kindness that they exhibit sows the seed for the next tree. They unknowingly act as the forest’s gardeners. The stand taken by the locals in the area, allowed these lands to remain intact and helped the population of these primates grow stronger.
While one species takes care of maintenance, another one detects signs of changes. Introducing the Foot-Flagging Frogs. These tiny reptiles were discovered by a group of researchers back in 2014 and are known for the way the male spreads its legs to assert dominance, mate and fight. These frogs are extremely sensitive and detect quickly if something is off with their ecosystem. This way they start showing signs of climate change or any other external factor that bothers the forest or the stream before anything else deteriorates around them. Just goes to show how nature works like a well-oiled, circular economy.
It doesn’t stop there, this forest also hosts a wide variety of fungi, the most unique being the Bioluminescent fungi. When its lights out at night, the forest lights up a carpet made of these fungi and glows in spectacular fashion.
By now you may have got an idea of what Aghanashini has to offer. This river is the reason why these ancient ecosystems thrive. Even when most of it turns muddy due to the monsoons, one of the tributaries, Benneholey, always run crystal, clear water. What’s special though? We get to witness something we don’t usually do with many rivers — a mesmerising sight of the muddy water and the clear water converging and flowing for a couple of hundred meters before uniting as one. As a result, the river turns salty as it flows down.
But how is this good? Well, that’s the beauty of nature, isn’t it? She is never wrong.
The saltwater flows downstream and deposits the nutrient-rich soil to create fertile lands beyond these forests. These fertile lands allow us humans to cultivate a variety of rice that’s again endemic to this area — Kagga.
Why, isn’t rice quite common in India? Yes, but this is one of few lands where the river’s saline water helps grow the crop. It's harvesting too is unique as the farmers have to travel by boat to reach the field and take it across to the market.
Kagga rice suits the health needs of farmers working in these saltwater paddy fields. It not only gives them the energy to work long hours, but also works as a coolant.
Finally, Aghanashini’s flow from through the valleys is not without any waterfalls. She has tons, the most prominent being Unchalli. The wonder about this waterfall may not be on how high it falls but rather something that happens very rarely anywhere in the globe. On full moon nights, if you are lucky, this waterfall hosts a moonbeam, which is a rainbow caused by the moonlight. This phenomenon is very rare and only a lucky few have been able to witness it in person.
The next question that arises is how have the local community here were able to save these lands and maintain them in the best way possible? Well, it’s not entirely true, but for now, enjoy the beauty of this river in all its glory once more before you read on, I’ll wait.
Her Challenges
Like any other river on our planet, Aghanashini too faces a lot of issues that need to be addressed globally. While efforts from environmentalists, religious and local communities around the area helped in halting deforestation of the forest lands to an extent, there are still pressing problems concerning this holy river.
The first is deforestation by the local community/government.
The villages around the forest rely heavily on firewood and this need takes them to these pristine lands. This was on the rise up until recently when the forest department took on the issue head-on and came up with a solution for the villagers. Since the forest land has some of the rarest trees in the country, they afforested mostly Acacia trees on barren lands for the single purpose of cutting them down for the villagers to use. Acacia is commonly used by locals and is a favourite choice because it sprouts within a couple of years. This helped the villagers to fill their needs as well as helped protect the forest canopy, partly solving the issue. Talks of selling the land to private firms for building resorts and other recreational centres always float around. Any such decision will not only hurt the creatures living inside the forests but will affect the livelihood of people around here substantially.
The second challenge was the proposal of a multipurpose all-weather port construction at the Tadadi estuary of Aghanashini.
This estuary is home to more than 200 hectares of mangroves, thriving biodiversity and fishermen. Successfully contracting this port would mean death to this entire estuary, leading to major repercussions. Aghanashini might not remain India’s only virgin river, who knows? The good news however was that after multiple on-ground protests and interventions from people around the Karnataka State Small Industries Development Corporation (KSSIDC) delisted the project. The localites still live in fear of their prized land coming in harm’s way. Let’s hope the government takes the right call and move the port away from this life-bearing estuary.
Last but not the least, is climate change.
The global rise in temperature will eventually see her running dry for a few hot months in the years to come. The erratic rainfall pattern has flooded the river in the recent past, the damages were minimal this time. The solution here is to prevent it before a major catastrophe hits. In order to do so, we need to accelerate and mobilize on-ground impact projects rapidly to help build climate resilience for the local community at risk. These on-ground actions will be led by the community there and they will have access to multiple green jobs like never before.
The challenges the community face to protect this river have been monumental, but so has their resilience. The entire sustenance of a community relies on this river being alive throughout the year. Without it, everything that we see in that 124km-stretch, be it a bird, tree, or human will struggle to survive.
Her World
As human beings, our egos continue to make us believe that we are the most dominant specie on this planet. It’s true, our population has grown multifold over centuries and we have managed to improve our standard of living from being foragers hunting in the wild to screen-addict living inside a bubble.
We, as kids in India, were always taught to worship nature. The majority of them here worship gods who resemble animals. We have century-old trees that are worshipped by millions all around the year, to this day. It’s not false to state that religion has in many ways helped us not reach a point of no return. Not convinced, let me share an example from the forests of Aghanashini.
These idols were found in the section of the forest called the Sacred grove. No tree was ever cut down here. The terracotta figures found in the grove bear striking resemblance to the figurines at the Indus Valley Civilisation, which goes to show how our ancestors worshipped nature always. The grove was also home to black pepper which ancient Romans relished.
According to the locals, gods have been protecting this land and the river that gave birth to it for ages. The only thing left for us to do is to preserve and protect this from being destroyed at our own hands. Every action you take as an individual reflects down on your society, the changes may not be visible to the naked eye, but believe me, they soon will be.
Aghanashini is just one of many wonders we have on our planet. A river that breathes life into everything its water touches. It's her world and we are just mere travellers. Maybe it’s time to revisit what we actually refer to as wonders of the world and replace them with actual, natural wonders.
The region around Aghanashini falls within Atlantis’ new pilot project in Gokarna. Over the coming months, we will empower the local communities in these regions, equipping them with the necessary tools to deal with the challenges and opportunities that will come with rising climate change.
Follow us on Twitter as we cover more bioregions around Gokarna and talk more about how Atlantis is powering a thriving green economy in this region.
If you feel like contributing to our pilot programme in rural India, feel free to check out our Gitcoin grant page here.