“Rescuing The Stolen River:” Capturing Vaishnava Environmental Activism: Journal of Vaishnava Studies

Abstract

Four young Brajabhasis stand on the banks of the river Yamuna at Delhi’s Okhla Barrage in the midst of piles of garbage, plastic bags, and decaying animal corpses. The water’s surface is covered with mounds of white foam, about six feet high, as if it just came out of a giant washing machine. The stench is indescribable, the whole sight is sickening, and it pushes them to the brink of vomiting.
A family of five arrives. They undress, pay their respects to the river, and nudge the floating plastic bottles and the foam away to create a little circle, just enough to be able to submerge themselves from head to toe in the black water. When the parents dunk their little boy, barely two years old, under the water, Vrindavan
Vinod cannot help but ask them: “Why did you come to bathe here? Don’t you see how filthy the water is?” “Today is Shiva-ratri,” the father replies. “We come here during every holiday. The Yamuna is pure, irrespective how dirty it is. It is sacred water.” Text appears on the screen: “According to UNICEF, 23% of the children living in the Yamuna area suffer and die from lead and arsenic poisoning.