ROOTS OF WATER

     Originating from the peaks of Amarkandak in the Shahdol district in central India, the River Narmada reaches the Arabian Sea after a 1,300 mile journey through forests and fields spread across three states: Madhya Pradesh, Maharastra and Gujarat. The Indian Government's plan to build 30 large, 135 medium and 3000 small dams funded by the World Bank across the River Narmada and her tributaries wreaked havoc. In the name of development, thousands of indigenous people lost their homes and their way of life.

     Once, everything was open in the lives of these Adivasis (indigenous). Their lush lands had never seen a fence. Their fragile homes never had doors. These indigenous people of the River Narmada never locked themselves. Everyone was equal. Men wore exquisitely crafted earrings, women smoked hand-rolled cheroots. Men carried gifts to their bride's home. People planted trees in memory of the dead. They celebrated spring. They worshipped nature. They shared everything they had. But for salt and matches, they were a people who needed nothing from the outside world. But the world outside worked its way into their lives in a catastrophic manner. Narmada could easily continue living without them. But they cannot live without her.

      These pictures portray the story of a culture and lifestyle that has been submerged by the rising waters of the Sardar Sarovar Dam. These pictures tell a part of the brutal truth. The bald hills, the trees, the rugged landscape are all underwater. The people have been evicted and displaced from their homes. They now languish in resettlement camps. Their art and culture, their oral histories and earthy languages, their unique identity has been dumped deep down into the river. These pictures plead for the Adivasi (indigenous) people's right to live. They speak for a twenty-year struggle against injustice.

     This photographs is a result of two travel across 25 Adivasi villages in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh affected by the the Sardar Sarovar project dam.

Text: Meena Kandasamy