Calcutta University Readership Lectures. The Changing Face of Bengal - A Study in Riverine Economy

The eastward march of the Padma and the decline of the Nadia rivers hang on the western detour of the Kosi and the Damodar. [...] The deterioration of the Bhairab, the Jabuna and the Kobadak, and the rise of the Gorai and enlargement of the Madhumati-Baleswar are connected with one another. [...] Similarly the decline of the Atrai, the Karatoya and the Dhaleswari, the emergence and south-eastern trend of the Tista, the westering of the Brahmaputra and the eastering of the Padma, with the formation of the new channels of the Kirtinasa and the Naya Bhangini for uniting the waters of the Brahmaputra-cum-Padma and the Meghna, all hang together. [...] Not merely the contrasts of wheat and rice cultivation, but also the differences of race, as for instance, between the Jats and the Gujars, on the one hand, and the Kurmis, the Ahirs and the Bhars, on the other, have entered into the determination of the type of village settlement. [...] In the active delta the smallest details of cultivation and human establishment are arranged, as in Egypt,' not merely in spite of but in expectation of the rise of the Ganges (or Padma) and the Jamuna, and in fact the fear of the people is lest the Padma, the Jamuna and the MegICna remain in their beds and the periodic flood of red-water should not rise high enough to submerge their fields.