Kopai River

The Kopai River (also called Sal River) is a tributary of the Bakreshwar River.[1][2] It flows past such towns as Santiniketan, Bolpur, Kankalitala, Kirnahar and Labhpur in Birbhum district in the Indian state of West Bengal.[3] It is a small river in dry season but overflows its banks during the monsoon.[4][5]

Kopai River
River Kopai at Ballavpur, Birbhum
Location
CountryIndia
StateWest Bengal
CitiesSantiniketan, Kirnahar ( Mirati ) , Labhpur
Physical characteristics
Discharge 
 • locationMayurakshi River
Basin features
Tributaries 
 • leftBakreshwar River

Literary association

The area around the river quite often has purple soil, which forms ravines on the river bank with weathering and is popular as the khoai. It has inspired literary figures in the area.[4] It is described by Rabindranath Tagore as follows –

amader chhoto nadi chale banke banke
baisakh mase taar hantu jal thake[6]
Our small stream moves forward in bends and curves
In the month of Baisakh it only has knee deep waters

The local name of a sickle-shaped, channel like curve in the river inspired the title of the novel Hansuli Banker Upakatha (Story of the Sickle-shaped Curve) by Tarasankar Bandyopadhyay, made into a film by Tapan Sinha.[7][8]

Archaeology

Microliths of crystalline stone and petrified wood from about 1250–1000 BC are found in many places in the Ajay-Kunur-Kopai river system.[9]

See also

References
  1. "Rivers". West Bengal Tourism. Archived from the original on 9 November 2009. Retrieved 14 February 2009.
  2. "River System". Birbhum district administration. Retrieved 14 February 2009.
  3. "Birbhum". bangalinet. Retrieved 14 February 2009.
  4. Halder, Ritam (4 July 2008). "Next weekend you can be at ...Santiniketan". Calcutta, India: The Telegraph, 4 July 2008. Retrieved 14 February 2009.
  5. "Kopai River". india9.com. Retrieved 14 February 2009.
  6. Sahaj Path by Rabindranath Tagore
  7. Mukhopadhyay Manabendra, Tarashankarer Birbhum, Paschim Banga, Birbhum Special issue, pp. 259–268, February 2005, Information and Culture Dept., Govt. of West Bengal.
  8. Hansuli Banker Upakatha at IMDb
  9. "Ancient Bengal in Ancient India". Retrieved 14 February 2009.


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