The River of Life, Death, Livelihood and Pilgrimage: An Assessment of Ganges in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh

Abstract According to Hindu mythology, Ganga is the only river brought from heaven to earth for livelihood security, resettlement and well-being of entire human civilization. Varanasi erstwhile renowned as Banaras and even before famous as Kaashi. It is the land of Lord Shiva, the son of Ganga, land of mystics, guru and mahaguru. The dynamics of change and time rarely shake the rich heritage, resilient capability and capacity of mother river since immemorial times. Life on land and below water in Varanasi is getting under threat because of several anthropogenic activities like sewage discharge, mining and others. These activities are negatively impacting bacteriophage cleaning capacity of mother Ganges. The basic objective of the study is to identify and analyse livelihood security, psychological wellbeing and indigenous knowledge in making ghats resilient from social, political and economic dimensions. A household survey was conducted in Ghats of Varanasi district, Uttar Pradesh in 2021. Both primary and secondary data were used for data collection, while Livelihood Vulnerability Index (LVI) method was used for desired outcome. After the analysis, it was concluded that livelihood security of people is under threat due to several factors like decline in Ganges water level along ghats in Varanasi. Further, it has impacted aquatic habitat and there is need to be more concerned about their habitat than ever before as these hazards will become disasters in time to come. Though, recent coronavirus pandemic has given temporary relief to the river thereby, significant improvement has been observed in her water quality, flow and aquatic flora and fauna.