Decline of Bhagirathi-Hooghly Channel - The Ganga: Water Use in the Indian Subcontinent - page 61

In 1919, H. G. Reaks, River Surveyor of Calcutta Port wrote in his study of 'The
physical and hydraulic characteristics of the rivers of the delta' that the Ganga and
the Brahmaputra which contributed to the formation of the western portion of the
delta, originated within about 160 km of each other but on the other side of the
Himalayas and brought into Bengal the combined discharge from both slopes of
the watershed, including the discharge from melting snows. As ascertained from
early traditions, existence of old beds and from the histories of noted towns on
its banks, the main Ganga stream flowed down south into the present Bhagirathi
to about the vicinity of Triveni where three rivers separated. This, he wrote, was
the most natural and direct course to the sea. At Triveni, the Saraswati branched,
south-west, and flowed into the present Hooghly at Sankrail in Howrah and then,
as Captain Sherwill and Ferguson say, flowed through Garden Reach and Tolly's
Nullah (also known as Adi , or original Ganga) in south Kolkata and past Baruipur
in south 24-Parganas into the Sattaramukhi and Channel Creek, or Buri Ganga, to
Ganga Sagar.
Captain Sherwill who was deputed in 1857 by the Government of India to ascer-
tain the condition in the Hooghly was of the view that the Ganga flowed on the
present bed of the Bhagirathi-Hooghly from Rajmahal Hills to Saugar Island in
olden days, then far from being an insignificant branch as now. The present course
along the Padma was of recent origin, formed by the opening out of the left bank
of the Ganga near Shibganj in Malda. This occurred not slowly but as result of
a catastrophe which he attributed to the sudden collapse of the left bank, made of
loose yellow sand. He drew the conclusion from the Ramayana legend of sage Jahnu
swallowing the Ganga in retaliation of her washing away his holy utensils. Captain
Sherwill took it to be a symbolic presentation of the collapse at Shibganj, which
Sages Jahnu and Valmiki might have witnessed.
According to S. C. Majumdar, there were two major river systems before this
diversion, building up, more or less independently, a deltaic tract in western part
of Bengal, west of Madhupur jungle. The Ganga did this in central Bengal and the
Teesta in north Bengal. At an earlier stage, the Teesta was reinforced by the water
of the Mahananda and the Koshi and before these probably of the Brahmaputra
too before it flowed eastward to the Meghna and then merged with the Tsan Po of
Tibet. These North Bengal rivers travelled to the sea together, probably through the
Meghna estuary. Mr. Majumdar relied on Rennel's map, prepared several centuries
after the diversion when the Padma channel was fully settled. The map shows this
combined outfall as Hoorsagar river, meeting the Padma, or the present Ganga north
of Goalanda, slightly north of the present confluence of the Yamuna with the Ganga.
The Padma probably existed then and might have existed much before too, being
the easternmost branch of the Ganga and flowing, more or less, along the course, as
shown in Rennel's map, i.e., following the course of the Bhubaneswar, or the Arial
Khan, as its lower portion is now called. It might have also had a connection with the
combined outfall of North Bengal rivers, as also shown in the map. He mentioned
that gradually, the Koshi and then the Mahananda broke off from North Bengal
rivers and directly flowed into the Ganga higher up. Not only did this considerably
weaken the combined outfall but also reinforced the Padma, which could then assert