Would planners follow their own scriptures to avert disaster in a state headed by a monk chief minister Yogi Adityanath, who is passionately pursuing his dream project of building religious circuits and corridors in Uttar Pradesh. Environmentalists feel the CM, well-versed in scriptures, would understand the need to follow ancient wisdom. While announcing a 30,000-crore master plan for Mathura, CM had said the “double-engine” government was committed to uninterrupted flow of a clean and pure Yamuna.

Significantly, on March 21, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) while hearing a case on the demarcation of flood plain zone of Yamuna falling in Delhi from Wazirabad to Palla (a stretch of 22 km) had ruled: “The river Yamuna being tributary of Ganga, the floodplain corresponding to its greatest flow or with a flood frequency once in 100 years, is required to be demarcated.”

The river’s fury spares none

Close to the Sangam, the confluence of the Ganga, the Yamuna and mythical Saraswati in Prayagraj, stands the majestic Allahabad Fort, built by Mughal Emperor Akbar in 1583, where one of the oldest temples of Vishnu, Patalpuri, is situated. This underground temple is never submerged by floods.

On the other side of the Sangam, there is a famous Hanuman temple. It is perhaps the only temple in the world in which the idol of Hanuman is in a reclining position. The idol is 20 feet long and about 8 to 10 feet below the surface. The idol gets partially submerged every monsoon and is completely inundated during the floods.

Legend describes the inundation of the idol as “the bathing of Hanuman by the holy Ganga”. Hence, devotees consider it as auspicious. They assemble there on the first day the water enters the temple and welcome it with chants. However, when the temple is completely submerged and is inoperative, a smaller idol of Hanuman is placed at a safer place for daily prayers.

Perhaps, for this reason, the authorities have never planned any fortification of the temple to protect it from floods, though it was renovated before the Mahakumbh early this year.

The environmentalists, however, suggest flood protection measures for the temple and its statue as the rain pattern is changing along with the intensity of the floods.

Religious Circuits

January 22, 2025 was a special day for chief minister Yogi Adityanath, who led his team of about 50 ministers to the Mahakumbh for a special cabinet meeting in the Mela area. The cabinet took a holy dip at the Sangam and later a beaming chief minister announced several projects, including the development of a religious circuit of seven districts of Eastern UP, comprising Varanasi, Prayagraj, Jaunpur, Chandauli, Gazipur, Mirzapur and Bhadohi; five of them have the Ganga flowing close by.

The chief minister said the Mahakumbh had opened five spiritual tourism corridors namely Prayagraj-Mirzapur-Kashi, Prayagraj-Gorakhpur, Prayagraj- Chitrakoot, Prayagraj-Lucknow-Naimisharanya and Prayagraj-Mathura-Vrindavan.

The religious city of Chitrakoot is facing a flood-like situation with the Mandakini river damaging several temples on its banks. Similarly, several temples on the banks of Yamuna in Mathura get impacted by floods. The government is also working on the Mathura corridor project on the lines of Kashi Vishwanath corridor.

In all, the plan is to develop about 12 spiritual circuits in the state as religious tourism is the latest money-spinner after the Kashi corridor, Ayodhya and Mahakumbh fetched the state millions.

What the environmentalists are saying

But, is anybody listening to the environmentalists who had raised concern over the pollution of the Ganga-Yamuna after millions arrived at Kumbh and left filth on the banks. The Mela area is beyond recognition today as the Ganga and the Yamuna have inundated a large expanse of the area, submerging the temporary and semi- temporary structures that were raised there for the Mahakumbh.

While the officials believe the initiative to develop a religious circuit of seven districts would help in the preservation of temples, rituals, and traditions, ensuring that the region’s cultural heritage remained intact amid modernisation, the environmentalists, who have been emphasising on green temples and blue landscapes, have a different take as they worry about the health of rivers and their ecosystem.

They quote scriptures to prove their point.

“Indian religious traditions regard all rivers as sacred. The Rig Veda and other ancient Veda collections lavish praise on such holy rivers as the Yamuna, the Saraswati, the Indus, and the Ganges. No ceremony, from birth to death, is seen by Hindus as complete and perfect without Gangajal, or water of the Ganges. A number of annual Hindu religious bathing fairs and festivals are held on the banks of the Ganges, including Somwati Amavasya, Kartik Poornima, Shravan Poornima and Ganga Dussehra,” states the Alliance of Religious Consecration (ARC) and the Bhumi Project in its Guide for Green Hindu Temples.

Significantly, major temples in the country have started focusing on following ecological footprints to the extent possible like use of solar energy and ban on plastic in the complex.

Shiva Temples

Historically, Shiva temples were constructed either on or near the river bank for two reasons – the association of Shiva with the Ganga and the sacredness of rivers. However, thousands of these small and big temples get damaged or are swept away by floods.

On August 15, an ancient temple was swept away by the Sharda river. As the river changes its course, some Shivalingas are recovered too. In Shahjahanpur, water has to be pumped out for devotees to offer their prayers in Sunasirnath temple on the banks of Gomti.

Venkatesh Dutta, professor of environmental sciences at the Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University in Lucknow, has earned the sobriquet of riverman because of his passionate campaign for treating “rivers as living beings.”

“There are thousands of Shiva temples on the river banks, and many Shivalingas have been damaged or submerged in floods,” he says.

He also says that originally temples were built on river banks and the offerings also came from local vegetation.

Dutta appeals for no change in the land use of the floodplains as the rivers decide their own territory. Instead, pillars should be put up to earmark the land of the river and its encroachment should be non-negotiable.

No NOCs

Thus, while developing religious corridors and circuits, it is important to involve environmentalists as engineers lack both knowledge and sensitivities involved or they are not guided by ecosystems. Often, the practice of taking an NOC from the environment department has become a routine exercise.

As Prof Dutta says, “ Saving rivers would save habitats, including ancient temples. Even development of the river fronts such as “rejuvenation” and short-term planning were detrimental to the health of rivers.

That’s ancient wisdom !