Few other things could equal the ethereal quality of a boat journey on the mighty Brahmaputra river undertaken on a clear, winter day fast wearing away into twilight hours. As the sun goes down yonder horizon, you invariably feel the urge to reach out for the digital camera and take your own photograph against the setting sun.

At the end of the thrilling ferry ride starting from Neamatighat in Jorhat, lasting almost one hour (less or more depending on the water route and the ghat on the opposite side), you practically land at one of the most beautiful places on the earth — Majuli, the ‘crowning glory’ of Vaishnavite culture. On reaching Kamalabari Ghat itself, you are initiated to the pristine living conditions in the river island. Shabby huts on stilts straddle the embankment, doubling up as a road, as you ride across on a motorcycle to Kamalabari, one of the two major towns (the other being Garamur).

When you are in the emerald island, you constantly feel the nearness of the river caressing the land mass. The swathes of sandy tracks glistening in the morning sun, the numerous beels (natural water tanks) and swamps filled with hyacinth and the long stretches of greenery with scattered settlements as you travel across Kamalabari and Garamur will give you an idea about the unadorned paradise that Majuli is amid the concrete jungle that most of us live in.

Of course, on a conducted tour, you will be taken to the major ones of the 20-odd satras which still dot the landscape, withstanding the unabated land erosion caused by the Brahmaputra down the years. Repositories of ancient relics, handicraft, utensils, jewellery, weaponry and other memorabilia, these seats of neo-Vaishnavite culture and learning are also centres of performing arts. The aesthetic Satriya dance, gayan-bayan, ankiya naat, bhaona and Raas Leela have prospered at the precincts of these monasteries, the offshoots of the epoch-making rendezvous between Assamese patron-saint Srimanta Sankaradeva and his celebrated disciple Madhabdeva, referred to as the ‘Moni-Kanchan Sanjog’ in folklore.

Moving ahead, you can also marvel at the exquisite pottery work, a major means of livelihood, in Salmora. The place is also known for its boat-making enterprises. Row and engine boats made in Salmora find buyers in the neighbouring Dhemaji and Lakhimpur districts.

For nature lovers, there cannot be a better place than Majuli with so many eye-catching sights. Migratory birds find a perfect roosting place in the numerous water bodies in the island. These avian guests, which include the exotic temmincks stints, green shanks and white-faced teals and the resident lesser whistling teals and greater whistling teals, can be seen in the beels, marshes and chars (sandbars).

The best time to visit the island is during the autumn, winter and early spring seasons (October to March) when the skies are filled with the twitter of birds and the landscape turns into a melting pot of ethnicity with several religious and folk events, including the Raas, Paal Naam and Ali-ae-Lrigang (a harvest festival of the Mising community which dominates the 1.50 lakh-strong population of the island), taking place.

No wonder foreign tourists are flocking to the island, enamoured of its natural beauty and cultural heritage. The French, for instance, have taken a fancy to Majuli in a big way. The steady flow of tourists from that country since the last few years is a testimony to this. The connection started with the visit of French writer Nadine Delpech whose book on the ‘dancing monks’ living in the satras became a sought-after account of Majuli’s Satriya culture abroad. She even floated an NGO, Preserver Majuli, with countryman Mathius Coulange to promote the art forms in the island.

One of the three subdivisions of Jorhat district, Majuli is plagued by floods, erosion, communication bottlenecks and skeletal healthcare infrastructure. Under the constant onslaught by the lapping waters of the Brahmaputra, the island has shrunk in size over the years. This has threatened the very existence of Majuli, seeking the coveted status of a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the rich culture and traditions which throb in the island.

The pace of development can be gauged from the fact that a strategic bridge over the Doriadubi channel, which divides Kamalabari and Garamur, is nearing completion only now after a long gap of eight years. The foundation of the bridge was laid twice, once in January, 2001 by the then Assam Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta on the Garamur side of the channel and then again in February, 2004 by the then PWD minister Sarat Borkotoki in the Tarun Gogoi-led Congress Government on the Kamalabari side.

For the islanders “living next door to the river”, the floods do not pose as much a threat as erosion does. The work done by the Brahmaputra Board and other government agencies in controlling erosion has not been found foolproof by the residents.

Jitu Chnagmai