Kosi
Kosi, 1908
(or Kusi). — River of Nepal and North Bengal, rising among the eastern Nepal Himalayas (26 degree 27' N. and 87 degree 6' E.), in the country known as the Sapt KosikI, or 'country of the seven Kosis,' of which the most important and best known is the San Kosi. It first takes a south-westerly course for about 60 miles, then flows south and south- east for 160 more, during which it receives on its left bank its two great tributaries, the Aran and Tambar. It leaves the mountains at Chatra in 26 degree 44' N. and 87 degree 6' E., in a series of cataracts and rapids, and after a southerly course touches upon British territory in the extreme north-east of Bhagalpur District, in 26 degree 35' N. and 87 degree 5' E., at which point it is a large river nearly a mile wide. It here assumes the character of a deltaic stream, and runs south with many bifurcations and interlacings, till, after receiving another considerable tributary, the Ghugri, on its left bank, it finally falls into the Ganges in 25 22' N. and 87 17' E., in Purnea District, after a course within Bengal of about 84 miles.
According to Hindu legend, this river is KausikI, the daughter of Kusik Raja, king of Gadhl. Although the daughter of a Kshattriya, she was the wife of a Brahman ; and, on giving birth to a son who preferred the warlike exploits of his mother's race to the sacred duties of his father's, she became a river.
The Kosi is notorious, even among Bengal rivers, for its vagaries, and remarkable for the rapidity of its stream, the dangerous and uncertain nature of its bed, and the desolation caused by its floods. Tracts inundated by it lapse into sand and jungle, and in this way it has made a wilderness of about half the Madhipura subdivision of Bhagalpur. In the early part of the eighteenth century the river passed below Purnea town, but it has since worked westwards, across about 50 miles of country, as indicated by now deserted channels. The Kosi carries a small amount of boat traffic in the lower half of its course through Purnea; but navigation is at all times of the year a matter of much difficulty, as the channels are constantly changing, new ones being yearly opened up and old ones choked by sandbanks, while the bed is full of sunken trees or snags. Moreover, owing to the great velocity of the current, boats have frequently to wait several days for a favourable wind to drive them up some of the reaches, and they require a pilot to precede them and select the channel to be followed. The Kosi has recently been spanned by a fine railway bridge near Katihar, and is also crossed higher up by a ferry from Anchra Ghat to Khanwa Ghat on the west bank, both of which connect the Bengal and North-Western Railway with the Bihar section of the Eastern Bengal State Railway.
This article has been extracted from THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908. OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS. |
Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts. Some units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.
