Majuli at the Crossroads: A Study of Cultural Geomorphology

Abstract

Although well established elsewhere, cultural geomorphology has not yet been well-grounded in Northeast India where a perceived dearth of studies in this sub-branch of geography exists. The Brahmaputra valley, which has a long physical and cultural history, is a unique laboratory, which offers opportunities to study anthropo-geomorphologic, achaeo-geomorphologic and cultural landscapes. The Majuli river island, ostensibly the largest island in the world, houses traditional art crafts and dances, despite being continually under the siege of a plethora of physical obstacles such as flooding, bank erosion, etc. The present study aims at studying how the physical processes that constantly reshape the map of the island exert their influence on the socio-economic and cultural milieu of the region. The paper further analyses why despite all odds Majuli thrives and continues to preserve and maintain its rich natural and cultural heritage, in ways that are perhaps unparalleled in the region or even elsewhere in the globe.

EFFECT OF DOPANT CONCENTRATION ON STRUCTURAL PROPERTIES OF CHEMICAL BATH DEPOSITED Mn-DOPED PbS NANOCRYSTALLINE THIN FILMS

“…The average calculated grain sizes of PbS nanocrystals shown in Fig.8(a) are found to be in the range 32-46 nm which are greater than the average X-ray diffraction result 21 nm. Thisdifference may be due to the difference in the thickness of the samples, since the TEM grid requires very thin layer deposition on the carbon coated grid, but for XRD characterization thicker film is deposited on the glass substrate[34]. The HRTEM image shown in Fig.8(b) depicts lattice fringe with d-spacing of 0.30 nm corresponding to (200)plane which is in good agreement with the lattice constant for the PbS cubic structure (JCPDS Data No.…”

“…8 (a) are found to be in the range 32-46 nm which are greater than the average X-ray diffraction result 21 nm. Thisdifference may be due to the difference in the thickness of the samples, since the TEM grid requires very thin layer deposition on the carbon coated grid, but for XRD characterization thicker film is deposited on the glass substrate [34]. The HRTEM image shown in Fig.…”

Political Ecology in Merbeel: A Power Play Around Past and Present Wetland Resource Management

“…The idea was to simplify and democratise spiritual practice from the erstwhile ritualistic patterns of institutionalised religiosity to selfeffacingly utter various names of God to attain salvation. This form of democratisation of religious patterns was aimed to create a common platform-the naamghars-as a site of socio-cultural and sectarian confluence to form syncretic assimilation (Sahariah et al, 2013;Sarma, 2016;Sharma and Singh, 2016). Sri Ram Ata established the Shri Shri Bareghar Chaliha Namghar, a famous place of worship of the Vaisnavas of Assam in an adjacent area of the wetland.…”

Developing a cultural geomorphology of hazards for heritage conservation: reflections from Majuli Island of India

“…and is the worship of Lord Vishnu and his reincarnation Lord Krishna. The Originally there were 65 Satras on Majuli and every inhabitant of the island is associated with a Satra (Sahariah et al 2013). The Satra becomes a part of a person's life and is involved in every culture, social or religious event of that person's life (Chetry 2020).…”

“…River Brahmaputra has in many instances eroded the land where Satras were built (Singh & Goswami 2011;Sarma 2014). Some of the larger and resource strong Satras like the Auniati Satra, Uttar Kamlabari Satra and Dakhinpat Satra have changed their location multiple times and are still operating (Sahariah et al 2013), albeit from a smaller area, but other poorer and smaller Satras have been unable to relocate and have thus shut down. While there were historically 65 Satras that operated in Majuli, currently there are only 22 active Satras (Sahariah 2013;Bharasa & Gayen 2020).…”