The river of life, death, livelihood and pilgrimage

The dynamics of change and time rarely shake the mother river's rich heritage, resilient capability and capacity since immemorial times. However, life on land and below water in Varanasi is increasingly under threat due to several anthropogenic activities, particularly sewage discharge. These a...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor: Jamal, Shahid|||0000-0002-9066-3152
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2026
País:España
Institución:Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
Repositorio:Dipòsit Digital de Documents de la UAB
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:dnet:uabarcelona_::ff079d2c82952ec1b8fd00c607e8db79
Acceso en línea:https://ddd.uab.cat/record/327711
https://dx.doi.org/urn:doi:10.5565/rev/indialogs.360
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Livelihood security
Anthropogenic activities
Threat
Resilient
Indigenous knowledge
Seguridad de los medios de vida
Actividades antropogénicas
Amenaza
Resiliente
Conocimiento indígena
Descripción
Sumario:The dynamics of change and time rarely shake the mother river's rich heritage, resilient capability and capacity since immemorial times. However, life on land and below water in Varanasi is increasingly under threat due to several anthropogenic activities, particularly sewage discharge. These activities are negatively affecting the bacteriophage cleaning capacity of the Ganga River. The primary objective of the study is to identify and analyse livelihood security, psychological wellbeing and indigenous knowledge in enhancing the resilience of the ghats from social, political and economic dimensions. A household survey was conducted in Ghats of Varanasi district, Uttar Pradesh. Both primary and secondary data were used, and ethnographic methods were employed to achieve the research objects. The findings indicate that the livelihood security of people is under serious threat due to several factors, notably the declining level of the Ganga water level along the ghats of Varanasi. Although the recent coronavirus pandemic provided temporary relief to the river, significant improvements were observed in water quality, flow and aquatic flora and fauna.