Char Landscape of the Brahmaputra Riverine Tract, Assam: Elements of Evolution and Cultural Ecology

The sand bars, locally known as chars and chaporis, constitute integral parts of the immediate floodplain of the Brahmaputra River in Assam. Most of the chars are, however, temporary in their size and spacing. Interestingly, some of them are spacious enough and relatively permanent, favouring the growth of certain riparian vegetation and seasonal cultivation in places. These areas continued to remain uninhabited till the first decade of the twentieth century when peasants from East Bengal started migrating to Assam in search of cultivable land. Subsequently, some Nepali people also came to occupy parts of the riverine areas that are rich in grass resources for the purpose of grazing their domesticated animals. Thus, the process of transformation of the Brahmaputra riverine areas started to evolve landscapes that reflect some peculiar kind of interaction between nature and human culture. This paper attempts to deal with the basic characteristics of these emerging landscapes in the char areas of the Brahmaputra River from cultural ecological perspectives. The study is primarily based on the field works done in the concerned areas and secondary data collected from different government and other sources. This study explores some of the less known issues pertaining to human–environment relationship prevailing in the marginal areas of the Brahmaputra riverine tract within Assam.