Chiknai River

Chiknai River
Location
Country	Bangladesh
Division	Rajshahi
Districts	NatoreandPabna
Physical characteristics
Source	Khalshidingi River
Mouth	Atri River
Length	57 km (35 mi)

TheChiknai River(Bengali:চিকনাই), also known as the Dangha,is located inBangladeshin thebeelswest ofChatmohorinPabna District.

Early history

The Chiknai receives an excess of flood water from thePadmaduring the rains and falls into theBaralnear the village ofFaridpurin Pabna district. It is navigable in the rainy season, and in the dry season it forms a goodfishery,supplyingPabnaand other places with fish.

TheJamunaforms the eastern boundary of the district for a length of 130 kilometres (80 mi), separating Pabna from the districts ofMymensingh,TangailandDhaka.The present channel of the Jamuna is of comparatively recent origin and is due to the diversion of theBrahmaputrathrough the Jenai which was a small river, more or less, at the present position of the Jamuna.

When Rennell compiled his map ofBengaltowards the close of the 18th century, the main stream of the Brahmaputra bent sharply round the range of theGaro Hillsand flowed in a south-easterly direction across thedistrict of Mymensinghto join theMeghnajust belowBhairab Bazar.About the beginning of the 19th century the Brahmaputra having raised its bed and lost its velocity was no longer able to hold its own course against the Meghna mentioned above. So it left its old channel and broke to the west, capturing the waters of theTeestaon the way and cut out a new channel for itself, which is practically its present channel.

Even at the beginning of the 19th century, the original channel through the Mymensingh district had become of secondary importance, and at the present time, though it bears the name of Brahmaputra, it has dwindled into a mere watercourse navigable only during the rainy season. In 1850 British explorerJoseph Dalton Hooker,while travelling to Dhaka, described this great change as follows:

A few miles beyond Pabna we passed from a narrow canal at once into the main stream of the Burrampooter at Jaffarganj; our maps had led us to expect that it flowed fully seventy miles to the eastwards in this latitude; and we were surprised to hear that within the last twenty years the main body of that river had shifted its course thus far to the westward. This alteration was not effected by the gradual working westward of the main stream, but by the old eastern channel so rapidly silting up as to be now unnavigable, while the Jammul (the river referred to is the Jamuna) which receives the Teesta and which is laterally connected by branches with the Burrampooter become consequently wider and deeper, and eventually the principal stream.