‘River’ as a
metaphor of Resistance: A Study of River of Stories in Environmental
Context
Malabika Sinha,
Assistant Professor,
Department of English,
Ananda Chandra College of Commerce,
DBC Road, Jalpaiguri, India.
Abstract: Eco criticism
refers to the intrinsic relationship between human and nature and how
literature responds towards environmental degradation, climate change,
anthropocentric approach and how our planet is severely affected that results
in the imbalance of biodiversity and ecological disruptions. In an Anthropocene
era, materialistic pursuits ultimately lead to ecological degradation,
displacement, ill-effect on the lives of indigenous community. Orijit Sen is a
pioneering figure and cultural critique who through his visual art and
storytelling technique creates a graphic narrative that contests prevailing
discourse of ‘development’. River of
Stories is a seminal text of Sen that challenges the state-imposed
decision for the sake of development within the graphic realm. This paper will
try to analyze ecocritical perspectives, the intertwined relationship between
human and nature, how Sen projects Anthropocene approaches in this graphic
novel as well as building of dam on the river Rewa which creates a negative
impact on the lives of indigenous people who are closely linked with the river
and the brilliant synthesis of myth, folktale, environmental degradation,
ecological awareness and the resistance
of indigenous communities whose lives are changed for the sake of development
and this paper also highlights the relevance of this graphic novel in present
context of environmental as well as global crisis and sustainable development
for all.
Keywords:
ecocriticism, capitalism, ecological awareness, oral tradition, resistance
Orijit Sen's River of Stories is considered as a
first graphic novel published in 1994 set against the backdrop of the Narmada
Bachao Andolan, a social movement. The visual storytelling technique projects a
critique of the construction of Narmada dam, the much debated issue that creates
uproar as this project has far-reaching impact on environment and the lives of
the indigenous people. Eco criticism refers to the intrinsic relationship
between human and nature and how literature responds towards environmental
degradation, climate change, anthropocentric approach and how our planet is
severely affected that results in the imbalance of biodiversity and ecological
disruptions. In an Anthropocene era, materialistic pursuits ultimately lead to
ecological degradation, displacement, ill-effect on the lives of indigenous
community. Orijit Sen is a pioneering figure and cultural critique who through
his visual art and storytelling technique creates a graphic narrative that
contests prevailing discourse of ‘development’. River of Stories is a
seminal text of Sen that challenges the state-imposed decision for the sake of
development within the graphic realm. This paper will try to analyze
ecocritical perspectives, the intertwined relationship between human and
nature, how Sen projects Anthropocene approaches in this graphic novel as well
as building of dam on the river Rewa which creates a negative impact on the
lives of indigenous people who are closely linked with the river and the
brilliant synthesis of myth, folktale, environmental degradation, ecological
awareness and the resistance of indigenous communities whose lives are changed
for the sake of development and this paper also highlights the relevance of
this graphic novel in present context of environmental as well as global crisis
and sustainable development for all.
Ecocritical works share a common theme that most of the
global catastrophes are the consequences of human activities and we are at the
threshold of environmental limits. As Donald Worster comments:
We are facing a global crisis today, not
because of how ecosystems function but rather because of how our ethical
systems function. Getting through the crisis requires understanding our impact
on nature as precisely as possible, but even more, it requires understanding
those ethical systems and using that understanding to reform them. Historians,
along with literary scholars, anthropologists, and philosophers, cannot do the
reforming, of course, but they can help with the understanding. (27)
Ecocriticism is the study of the relationship between
literature and the environment and it has an earth centered approach to
literary studies. The term was first coined by William Ruckert in 1978 in his
essay entitled “Literature and Ecology: An Experiment in Ecocriticism” which
refers to the application of ecology and ecological concepts to the study of
literature. The ecological criticism shares a fundamental notion:
Despite the broad scope of inquiry and
disparate levels of sophistication, all ecological criticism shares the
fundamental premise that human culture is connected to the physical world,
affecting it and affected by it. Ecocriticism takes as its subject the
interconnections between nature and culture, specifically the cultural
artifacts of language and literature. As a critical stance, it has one foot in
literature and the other on land; as a theoretical discourse, it negotiates
between the human and the nonhuman.
Ecocriticism can be further characterized by distinguishing it from
other critical approaches. Literary theory, in general, examines the relations
between writers, texts, and the world. In most literary theory “the world"
is synonymous with society – the social sphere. Ecocriticism expands the notion
of “the world” to include the entire ecosphere. If we agree with Barry Commoner's
first law of ecology, “Everything is connected to everything else,” we must
conclude that literature does not float above the material world in some
aesthetic ether, but, rather, plays a part in an immensely complex global
system, in which energy, matter, and ideas interact. (Glotfelty and
Fromm xix)
Hydrocolonialism is a term that refers to destructive
effects on ecosystem but not for any particular place rather it is
transregional. As Pramod K. Nayar comments in this respect:
In their emphasis on resistance, protest and resilience,
whether in the form of River of Stories’ representation of the anti-dam
campaign or in Bhimayana’s representation of Ambedkar as a reviving elixir of
life, water is also the reason for insurgency and activism. The (re)turn to
myth in Finding My Way, Water and River of Stories even offers up a
different mythos to the dominant urban one of scarcity, regulation and
commodification – one in which there is a greater respect and dependency that
mark the human-nature relationship. Invoking myth, history, legends and stories
conjoins the contemporary practices of development – which are instantiations
of humanity’s colonization of nature – with precolonial (but not necessarily
romanticized) histories of the people, especially forest dwellers and the
tribals. Within these histories, the author-artists locate a different
worldview, even a means of resistance and rebellion. (63)
River of Stories as the
metaphor of resistance:
In the context of anthropocentric approaches and
sustainable development, this graphic novel narrates capitalist and materialistic
pursuits. The story is about ‘development’ and the consequences caused by
building a dam on the river Rewa. It shadows the story of building Sardar
Sarovar Dam on the Narmada river despite the protest against it. In the
‘Forward’ of River of Stories Arundhati Roy comments:
Today, almost three decades later, that story
continues to be current, urgent and perhaps the most important story we need to
hear and understand. As this new edition of River of Stories goes to
press, the newspapers carry photographs and reports of what has happened to the
Narmada. Downstream of the dam, the once mighty, ethereally beautiful river
barely exists.
No longer does she rush to meet the sea.
No longer does the sea open its arms to greet
her.
No longer does that unique estuary exist in
which sweet water and the salty sea mingled to create a magical breeding place
for fish and flora.
No longer do the tens of thousands of fisher
folk whose livelihood she provided for – over generations –turn to her for
sustenance.
Downstream of the dam, the Narmada is now a
twenty-foot wide stream that you can wade across in the dry season. Cars are
often parked on her dry, sandy riverbed.
River of Stories is a smooth pebble that you might stub your toe on as
you wander among the parked cars. Bend down and pick it up. Cherish it. You
might hear the murmur of rushing water. (3)
Sen’s graphic narrative is a ground breaking work that
unfolds voices, stories, myths, their spirited resistance – and all are woven
together making it a landmark that needs to be read and relevant also for
today’s generation. In the ‘Forward’ of River of Stories, Paul Gravett
makes a comment:
Comics are narratives in fixed images. Their
fixity cannot be overstated. In today’s “attention economy", in our
endless torrent of fast-breaking news coverage, a significant story can come to
us live, moment-by-moment; but often in an instant it is gone and forgotten,
replaced by the next story, and the next… The images and words in printed
comics, however, do not go away. You can’t swipe or scroll them out of sight
and switch to something else, you can’t click for them and jump to another
report or website, you can’t change channels. This is a real strength of the
medium. These stories, these voices, these ideas, these questions persist –and
they resist, and they insist. Orijit Sen’s landmark work of graphic reportage
is all the stronger for being in comics form, because he has fixed these events
and ideas into drawings and texts printed onto paper, for more and more people
to learn from.
Twenty-five years later and more urgent than
ever, they continue to flow with us into the future. (Sen 5)
Thestory is about river, the metaphor of fluidity of life
and resistance. It tells the story of the tribal people, their exploitation,
agonies, protest against injustice in the environmental context. The fluidity,
the continuity of life capture the essence of the narrative:
This is the story of a river…
and the story itself is a river.
A river that welled up from
the deepest, oldest springs
of consciousness.
Flowing over the hills of experience
and forests of memory,
it carried with it colouredstones
of wisdom polished and rounded. (Sen 12)
The narrative covers the journey of a reporter Vishnu who
uncovers the story within the story and the conflict between cultures – the
ideologies of modernization in the postcolonial world and the socio, political
critique highlighting numerous displaced individuals. Relku, who works at the
house of Vishnu is a displaced and migrant worker leaving behind her native
village and land for the sake of development, the building of a large dam over
the river Rewa:
It was like a big snake, from whose belly
emerged the traders from the bazar. Earlier, no bazaria would have come into
our forest even by mistake. But the road changed that… They started by setting
up small shops and businesses near the road… Slowly, they began to take over
our land, sometimes even by force… One by one… so many lost their homes. We did
not know that our turn would also come soon. (Sen 24-25)
Relku’s journey from a happy family to a landless
labourer reveals the exploitative methods of the civilized society and the
representatives of it. Here, we find the role of Gupta who plays a negative
role against her family; his words are against them who had all necessary
papers and the adhikaris are on his side. An accident happened and a great fire
devastated everything of her family:
I will never forget that time, Vishnubhai. One
day we were happy cultivating our own land… living in a house my father and
uncles had built with their own hands… and the next day we were on the way to
Ballanpur to work as landless labourers… with no money and possessions. The
rest of my family still lives there. But after I married, my husband found work
in the city, and I left with him… My life is like a river, mother… And on it I
float away to the big city. I hear the sirens of the factory, father… Calling,
beckoning. I leave your world far behind… (Sen 33)
The narrative revolves around the environmental issues,
ecological consciousness and the loss of biodiversity due to flawed development
projects and the consequence leads to submerge of lands and displacement of numerous
people:
According to official figures, the dam's
reservoir will submerge land and forests, affecting about 100,000 people…
Around 375 square kilometers of forest and farmland will go under water… Even
if you add another lakh of people to be displaced by the irrigation canal
network, it’s still nothing compared to the benefits the project will bring. (Sen
40)
The building of the dam has the history of displacement
of tribal communities. The oral tradition, myth, folklore and the issue of
displacement are blended in an excellent way. They protest against injustice,
they want to preserve the ecosystem of their place. Here, the legendary figure
of Malgu Gayan and the myth associated with his name are heard. The belief is
that Malgu's song now will be heard by all. The indigenous communities and
their knowledge, oral tradition as well as their relation with Mother Nature –
all are woven together:
They have many legends and songs about folk
heroes who fought for their freedom. You’ll hear some of those songs later.
That same spirit of resistance is alive today, and it’s growing… People know
that their struggle against the dam is a fight against injustice, and they’re
determined to defend their land, their way of life, their identity. It’s almost
as though the legendary Malgu Gayan has picked up his rangai and begun to sing
–calling out to his people to unite and rise up again! (Sen 48-49)
Sen gives importance to the indigenous knowledge of the
villagers, how the farmers protect the catchment, plant right trees and crops
to improve the quality of the soil, how they have their own method of
harnessing water, old system of catching and storing water for future use and
thus they enrich the environment. Their protest is cultural as well as
spiritual protest emphasizing the preservation of nature and their age old
beliefs, traditions and indigenous knowledge for the future generations. The
marginalized communities raise their voice of protest against the hegemonic
power structure. Nature posits an active and significant role in the artistic
creation. But how modernization, urbanization, scientific development and
technical advancement create a massive impact on the environment as well as on
the marginalized sections are manifested in literature as we should not forget that
literature can be instrumental by raising consciousness about the endangered
environment and we are already at the threshold of global catastrophe:
The tradition of nature writing in English
literature is a description or depiction of particular landscape or seasonal
changes. It is generally considered that it is a kind of monologue, which
remains alienated from the rest of the world. Literature always leads us away
from the physical world and never back to it. In fact, in the last part of the
20th century, there has been a growing sense of discomfort in the
academic world that critics have failed to respond to natural world and that
they have failed to enter into a dialogue of natural diversity as manifested in
the plurality of human culture. There is, therefore, a need to engage the
creative writers, critics and audience in a dialogue keeping in view the
natural, ethical, aesthetic and global perspectives of literature. (Chandra and Das 11)
Arundhati Roy, a renowned writer and social activist,
reflects multidimensional issues like capitalism, influence of corporate world,
globalization and state policies with negative consequences on the ordinary
mass in her non-fiction book An Ordinary Person’s Guide to Empire. The
essay “The Road to Harsud" is about building the Narmada Sagar Dam and the
adverse effects on human and non-human. Harsud, a seven hundred years old town
in Madhya Pradesh, is submerged by the reservoir of Narmada Sagar Dam and a
catastrophe leads to destruction of ecological balance and the loss of
biodiversity of that place. The displacement causes a havoc impact on the lives
of ordinary people:
In New Harsud there’s no water, no sewage
system, no shelter, no school, no hospital. Plots have been marked out like
cells in a prison, with mud roads that criss-cross at right angles. They get
water from a tanker. Sometimes they don’t. There are no toilets and there is
not a tree or a bush in sight for them to piss or shit behind. When the wind
rises it takes the tin sheets with it. When it rains, the scorpions come out of
the wet earth. Most important of all, there’s no work in New Harsud. No means
of earning a livelihood. (Roy 258)
In The Nutmeg’s Curse: Parables for a Planet in Crisis,
Amitav Ghosh reflects on the interconnected relationship between colonial
exploitations and ecological disruptions and how the present problem of climate
change is deeply rooted with the history of power, exploitation, conflict and
geopolitics. The colonial domination of the West over a large segment of the
world posits a threat on the existence of others and creates a sense of
vulnerability. The Bandanese Archipelago is a place of precious nutmegs. The
commodification of nutmegs leads to violence, aggression, domination and extermination
of the whole tribe by the Dutch. The capitalistic attitude and materialistic
pursuits of the West leads to exploitation of native populations and the
intrusion into the natural world. They perceive nature only as a resource and
natural resource extraction causes devastating effects on the ecosystem and the
balance in the biodiversity of the whole island is deeply affected:
Here, Ghosh refers to climate crisis and the adverse
consequences upon the ordinary mass:
In other words, the phenomenon of climate
change and the research that surrounds it have come to be almost totally
identified with each other. Arguably, there exists no other sphere of
contemporary life in which there is so great an overlap between a phenomenon
and the credentialed literature that frames it. In discussions of the economy,
for instance, it is not assumed that only economists or academic experts can
speak of the subject. It is generally accepted that workers, shopkeepers,
factory managers, stockbrokers, and others who have no acquaintance with the
expert literature may have valid perspectives of their own.
Climate change is a much vaster phenomenon
than the economy, yet the voices and perspectives of those who are affected by
it – farmers, fisherfolk, migrants and so on – very rarely figure in the
discussion. And when they do, it is usually merely as victims, whose voices
fill the blanks in a script that has already been written by specialists. (148)
River of Stories is a
powerful critique of materialistic and Anthropocentric approaches. By focusing
on the issues of displacement, loss of cultural identity, this novel also
reflects holistic approach to modern development and advocates inclusion of
indigenous communities and their knowledge for sustainable development. This
graphic novel challenges dominant paradigms, the mainstream discourse on
modernization and development by centering on complex social, political and
environmental issues:
River of Stories is about the struggles of the characters that occupy the
foreground of its 500-odd panels, but their stories are told as much through
the backgrounds, for at one level they are all about living, changing
landscapes. As my Adivasi companions of the Narmada Valley might say: “You city
folk will learn to live in peace with Mother Earth only when, like true
children, you sit and listen to her stories.” And so Malgusings on… (Sen
75-76)
Works Cited
Chandra, N.D.R, and Nigamananda Das. Ecology, Myth and Mystery: Contemporary
Poetry in English from Northeast India. Sarup and Sons, 2007.
Ghosh, Amitav. The Nutmeg’s Curse: Parables for a Planet in Crisis. Penguin Random
House India, 2021.
Glotfelty, Cheryl. “Introduction: Literary
Studies in an Age of Environmental Crisis.” The
Ecocriticism Reader: Landmarks in Literary Ecology, edited by Cheryll
Glotfelty and Harold Fromm, University of Georgia Press, 1995, pp. xv-xxxvii.
Nayar, Pramod K. Vulnerable Earth: The Literature of Climate Crisis. Cambridge
University Press, 2024.
Roy, Arundhati. An Ordinary Person’s Guide to Empire. Penguin Books, 2005.
Sen, Orijit. River of Stories. Blaft Publications Pvt.Ltd., 2022.
Worster, Donald. The Wealth of Nature: Environmental History and the Ecological
Imagination. Oxford University Press, 1993.