Sign Up For A Bengaluru Workshop Exploring The Civilisational Influence Of Rivers

"Darkness there was at first, by darkness hidden;
Without distinctive marks, this all was water;
That which, becoming, by the void was covered;
That One by force of heat came into being."

— Rigveda 10.129.3 (Nasadiyasuka, The Hymn of Creation)

The Nasadiyasukta — also known as the 'Hymn of Creation' — is one of my favourite pieces of Vedic poetry. Even though it appears late within the Rigvedic cycles, it represents one of humanity's earliest contemplative inquiries into the great cosmic mystery of creation. And what did the Vedic poets conclude? That while even the gods may not know how it all came into being, before there was anything else in the universe, there was water.

From the Rigveda and the Popul Vuh, the mythology of the ancient K'iche' people of Guatemala, to the Bible, the Quran, and ancient Egyptian and Mesopotamian mythologies, this is an idea that appears in many early texts across the world. Our civilisations emerged and evolved around rivers, and rivers shaped our civilisational imagination of the world and its mysteries.

In India, where both floods and droughts are common, rivers are seen as both sources of life and causes of death. Like many Old World cultures, India's religious, political, and commercial centres of power — like Mumbai, Benares, and New Delhi — developed near or around water-bodies like rivers and seas. Here, rivers became both symbols of society's intimate social and spiritual connections to rivers, and stark reminders of the unjust caste system which dictates access to both essential water resources and the sacred sites surrounding it.

Rivers have had a tremendous influence on the landscape, empires, cultures, and religious and artistic practices of the Indian subcontinent. They were once held as sources of the sacred and inspired mystics, poets, and artists alike. However, their contemporary reality as sites of extraction, control, and disposal have confined them into the late-Capitalistic logics of economy and technology.

'River Landscapes: A New Glossary', a transdisciplinary workshop of fluvial landscapes organised by Science Gallery Bengaluru is an attempt to disrupt the pre-existing narratives about river landscapes. Through this five-day transdisciplinary workshop, the organisers intend to create new ways to conceptualise our relationship with river landscapes, foreground their role as mediators of art, culture, and social practices and acknowledge the rights of living beings that thrive and transform them.

The workshop, to be held in Science Gallery Bengaluru from February 10-14, 2025, aims to pay particular attention to the story of the Kaveri river and its civilisational influence on South Indian cultures, empires, and peoples. Not only does the Kaveri provide much of modern Bengaluru's water supply, it has had a profound influence on the ecological, political and socio-cultural landscape of the region since the beginning of civilisation. Through the workshop, participants will situate the historical and contemporary realities of Kaveri in the larger technocratic and socio-cultural imagination of river landscapes in the form of writing, graphic/art, photographs or other media.

The deadline to apply to participate in the River Landscapes Workshop is 19 January 2025. Selected participants will be intimated on 25 January 2025.

Learn more about the workshop and apply here.

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