An ode to mother Cauvery

Karnataka celebrates abundant rains, honoring Mother Cauvery with traditional 'bagina' to ensure prosperity and water conservation.

Rain gods have finally smiled on Karnataka, soothing the parched lands, streams, and rivers, yearning for the elixir of life. Mother Cauvery has once again come to life in all her glory. She is brimming with water giving hopes of prosperity to millions of people in her path and quenching the thirst of the neighbouring State as well. It is my good fortune that I have the opportunity to offer the traditional ‘bagina’ to her on behalf of the people of the State.

The people of the Cauvery basin, including Bengaluru, were struggling for every drop of drinking water, let alone water for irrigation, thanks to severe drought in the State. Goddess Chamundeshwari has blessed us with copious rains and the smiles are back.

To pay our obeisance to Mother Cauvery, our government, led by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, will offer ‘bagina’ on Monday (July 29). It is an auspicious occasion for us to be paying respect to our lifelines at the Krishnaraja Sagar (KRS) and Kabini reservoirs.

Cauvery is not just a river for us. She is an emotion, and she is a devotion. Daughter of King Kavera and wife of Agasthya Maharshi, Cauvery took birth in the Brahmagiri hills of Kodagu. Kodavas revere the Cauvery as their mother and kula devathe. The Kodava culture is full of traditions and rituals praising her. Panje Mangesh Rao, a well-known poet from Kodagu, has praised her in his poems. Such is the importance of the Cauvery that great literary works such as the Kavirajamarga of Sri Vijaya identify Karnataka with her.

The Wadiyars of Mysuru highly revered Mother Cauvery. It was the monumental foresight, determination and effort of Maharaja Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar, Sir M. Visvesvaraya and others in the Mysuru kingdom that gave birth to Kannambadi or what is popularly known as the KRS. The construction of this reservoir started in 1911 and ended in 1932. More than 10,000 workers sweated it out to build this reservoir, which continues to water lakhs of acres and quench the thirst of crores of people.

Nadaprabhu Kempegowda laid the foundation for Bengaluru 500 years ago. Perhaps he was aware that it would go on to become a global metropolis. He built over 300 lakes to fulfil the water needs of the town. As the city grew, the lakes shrunk, and it was no more water self-sufficient. That is when Cauvery water was pumped to Bengaluru city from a distance of 100 km. Cauvery water quenches the thirst of more than a crore people of Bengaluru today.

The Cauvery isn’t just water; it is the lifeline of our region. The recent water crisis has demonstrated that every drop of water is precious. Given the uncertainties around climate change, it is our bounden duty to conserve water. Be it for drinking purposes or irrigation, we need to be mindful of the use of water. Our government is also creating awareness about water conservation.