In North Bihar, rivers are both a blessing and a burden. They carry rich soil from the Himalayas that feeds farms and supports millions of people. At the same time, they arrive with a force that can wipe out homes, fields and entire villages in a matter of days, leaving families struggling to rebuild their lives year after year.
Among all these rivers, one has become a symbol of repeated suffering because of how often and how severely it floods the region. Over generations, people have come to associate it not with its geography, but with the pain and losses it brings. That river is the Kosi.
The Kosi is one of the most complex river systems in the region. Its journey begins far away, high in the Tibetan Plateau, and travels through multiple climatic and geological zones before finally reaching the plains of Bihar. Along the way, it passes through towering mountains, fragile hills and low-lying areas, collecting enormous volumes of water and sediment.
A key reason behind its unpredictable nature lies in its many sources. One of its major branches alone contains dozens of glaciers and hundreds of glacial lakes, making the river extremely sensitive to melting ice and heavy rainfall. When monsoon rains combine with glacial melt, the river’s water levels can rise rapidly.
Several large rivers from Nepal merge to form the Kosi system. These rivers come together at a point known as Triveni, after which the combined flow cuts through a narrow gorge before entering the plains. Once it leaves the hills, the river spreads across flat land, where controlling its flow becomes difficult despite embankments and barrages.
The Kosi’s floods return almost every year, drowning fertile farmland, destroying crops, damaging houses and pushing already vulnerable rural communities deeper into hardship. Over time, this cycle of destruction has shaped its reputation as a river that brings sorrow as often as it brings life, reminding people in Bihar of the fragile balance between nature’s generosity and its fury.
