Kali Bein is a

rivulet A stream is a continuous body of water, body of surface water Current (stream), flowing within the stream bed, bed and bank (geography), banks of a channel (geography), channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a strea ...

Punjab Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

that flows into the confluence of the rivers Beas and

Satluj The Sutlej River or the Satluj River is a major river in Asia, flowing through China, India and Pakistan, and is the longest of the five major rivers of the Punjab region. It is also known as ''Satadru''; and is the easternmost tributary of t ...

Harike Harike is a village in Patti Tehsil in Tarn Taran district of the Indian state of Punjab Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the north ...

Guru Nanak Gurū Nānak (15 April 1469 – 22 September 1539; Gurmukhi: ਗੁਰੂ ਨਾਨਕ; pronunciation: , ), also known as ('Father Nanak'), was an Indian spiritual teacher, mystic and poet, who is regarded as the founder of Sikhism and is t ...

attained enlightenment after taking a bath in the Kali Bein, and despite its religious history in Sikhism, the rivulet is not considered holy by the Sikhs in Punjab, as no bodies of water are considered holy in

Sikhism Sikhism is an Indian religion and Indian philosophy, philosophy that originated in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent around the end of the 15th century CE. It is one of the most recently founded major religious groups, major religio ...

aside from the Sikh Sarovars (pools of water within gurdwaras) of

Gurdwara A gurdwara or gurudwara () is a place of assembly and place of worship, worship in Sikhism, but its normal meaning is "place of guru" or "home of guru". Sikhism, Sikhs also refer to gurdwaras as ''Gurdwara Sahib''. People from all faiths and rel ...

s (Sikh Temples). In the wake of the

Green Revolution The Green Revolution, or the Third Agricultural Revolution, was a period during which technology transfer initiatives resulted in a significant increase in crop yields. These changes in agriculture initially emerged in Developed country , devel ...

and the rise of chemical pesticides, the Kali Bein became progressively polluted until it was cleaned and rejuvenated in a mass action led by Sant Balbir Singh Seechewal in the 2000s.

Etymology

Kali Bein literally means the ''Black Stream''. It is called Kali ('black') due to the black colour reflected by the minerals in its waters. The Punjabi word 'bein' derives from the

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

'veni' meaning a stream or a water body. Beins are a feature of the plains and are marked by their zigzagging course.

Course

The Kali Bein rises from a spring in the Dhanoa village of Dasuya tehsil

Hoshiarpur district Hoshiarpur district is a district of Punjab, India, Punjab state in northern India. Hoshiarpur, one of the oldest districts of Punjab, is located in the North-east part of the Punjab state and shares common boundaries with Gurdaspur district in ...

of Punjab, India. Odhra rivulet, and Mukerian Hydel Channel are the main source of water for Kali Bein. After flowing for 160 km, it merges at the confluence of the Beas and the Satluj at Harike Pattan. The Kali Bein is also called the Western Bein in Hoshiarpur and its course lies parallel to the Beas in the Hoshiarpur and

Kapurthala Kapurthala () is a city in Punjab state of India. It is the administrative headquarters of Kapurthala District. It was the capital of the Kapurthala State, a princely state in British India. The aesthetic mix of the city with its prominent b ...

districts. The Kali Bein is also thought to be the abandoned riverbed of the Beas and its depth varies from 1.5 to 3 metres. The Bein's spring was brick lined during the Emperor Akbar's reign. The Chhoti Bein is a

tributary A tributary, or an ''affluent'', is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream (''main stem'' or ''"parent"''), river, or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries, and the main stem river into which they ...

of the Kali Bein. The Kali Bein flows through the districts of Hoshiarpur, Kapurthala and

Jalandhar Jalandhar () is a city in the state of Punjab, India, Punjab in India. With a considerable population, it ranks as the List of cities in Punjab and Chandigarh by population, third most-populous city in the state and is the largest city in the ...

and there are several towns on its banks including

and Sultanpur Lodhi. The Mukerian Hydel Channel at Terkiana is a major waterworks on the Bein that controls the flow of water downstream. The Kali Bein has a

catchment area A catchment area in human geography, is the area from which a location, such as a city, service or institution, attracts a population that uses its services and economic opportunities. Catchment areas may be defined based on from where people are ...

covering 945 square kilometers.

Sikhism

Janamsakhi series painting depicting the search-and-rescue mission launched to recover Guru Nanak from the Kali Bein

Guru Nanak Dev Ji, the founder of

, is believed to have attained enlightenment after taking a dip in the Kali Bein. Guru Nanak Dev Ji is said to have disappeared while bathing in the Bein only to reappear three days later. Guru Nanak Dev Ji then proclaimed that "There is no Hindu and there is no Musalman. There is only one God and all are equal before Him". The moolmantra of Sikhism,

Ik Onkar Ik Onkar, also spelled Ek Onkar or Ik Oankaar ( Gurmukhi: or ; ); literally, "one ''God''", hence interpreted as "There is only one God or one Creator") is a phrase in Sikhism that denotes the one supreme reality. It is a central tenet of Sikh r ...

, originated from this experience. The Gurdwara Sri Ber Sahib, where Guru Nanak Dev Ji used to meditate under a ber tree, is located on the Kali Bein's banks in Sultanpur Lodhi.

Ecological concerns

Kali Bein plays a key role in recharging the

water table The water table is the upper surface of the phreatic zone or zone of saturation. The zone of saturation is where the pores and fractures of the ground are saturated with groundwater, which may be fresh, saline, or brackish, depending on the loc ...

and in flood management in its watershed. It is also a key source of irrigation for the agricultural fields there. The Kanjli Wetland, a

Ramsar site A Ramsar site is a wetland site designated to be of international importance under the Ramsar Convention,8 ha (O) *** Permanent 8 ha (P) *** Seasonal Intermittent < 8 ha(Ts) **

Ramsar Convention The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance Especially as Waterfowl Habitat is an international treaty for the conservation and sustainable use of Ramsar site, Ramsar sites (wetlands). It is also known as the Convention on We ...

), is supported by the Kali Bein. As a result of the Green Revolution, the use of industrial and

agricultural chemicals An agrochemical or agrichemical, a contraction of ''agricultural chemical'', is a chemical product used in industrial agriculture. Agrichemical typically refers to biocides (pesticides including insecticides, herbicides, fungicides and nematicid ...

and the exploitation of groundwater led to the drying up of the Kali Bein along parts of its course and the contamination of groundwater leading to diseases and the drying up of farmlands.

Clean up

The clean up of the Kali Bein was led by Sant Balbir Singh Seechewal who organised a ''kar sewa'' and roped in the Government of Punjab. Seechewal's efforts involved the clearing of

water hyacinth ''Pontederia crassipes'' (formerly ''Eichhornia crassipes''), commonly known as common water hyacinth, is an aquatic plant native to South America, naturalized throughout the world, and often invasive species, invasive outside its native rang ...

and other weeds from the Bein, the building of bathing ghats and the construction of a road along the Bein. The kar sewa began in 2000 and till 2003 focused on cleaning up the Kali Bein near Sultanpur Lodhi after which the focus shifted to cleaning up the Bein between Dhanoa and the Kanjli wetland. Seechewal often referred to the

Guru Granth Sahib The Guru Granth Sahib (, ) is the central holy religious scripture of Sikhism, regarded by Sikhs as the final, sovereign and eternal Guru following the lineage of the ten human gurus of the religion. The Adi Granth (), its first rendition, w ...

and its verses exhorting the preservation of natural resources in his appeals for cleaning the Bein. 3000 volunteers a day worked under Seechewal for three and a half years to accomplish the revival of the Bein. It directly led to a rise in the water table and the reusability of hand pumps that had remained dry for several decades. Further, these efforts have contributed to eliminating the problem of water logging in the Kali Bein's upstream areas and improved the availability of water in its downstream areas resulting in improved irrigation and better crops. Despite Seechewal's success, the Kali Bein has continued to suffer in recent years. Inadequate release of water from Mukerian Hydel Channel, the flow back of polluted water from Harike and the failure of sewage treatment plants led to the mass death of fishes in the Kali Bein in 2013. On 17 July 2022, while on a visit to mark the 22nd anniversary of the river's cleaning, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann consumed a glass of water directly from the river in Sultanpur Lodhi. Two days later he was admitted to a hospital, reportedly, suffering from a stomach infection. He was discharged a day later. While it was speculated that his visit to the hospital was caused by a stomach infection from drinking polluted water, official sources denied this and claimed it was a routine health check-up.

References

{{coord missing, Punjab (India) Rivers of Punjab, India Tributaries of the Indus River