Archive · 8 Aug 2026

Assam Artist Documents Vanishing Villages Along Eroding Brahmaputra

Assam Artist Documents Vanishing Villages Along Eroding Brahmaputra

An artist named Pallov Saikia grew up in a small village in Assam, India, right next to a huge river called the Brahmaputra.

A big earthquake shook Assam in 1950 and changed the land.

After that, the river started slowly eating away the soil and swallowing villages.

More than thirty villages disappeared under the water, including Pallov's own village, so his family had to move away.

Now Pallov makes art and takes photographs to remember the lost villages and the people who lived there.

He talks to older people and listens to their stories, like a man who spent sixty years traveling the river in his small boat.

He also follows a singer who knows old Bihu songs full of feelings about the river and the land.

He even draws the ghosts and folk characters that village people believe live near the river.

Pallov works with a group of artist friends called the Anga Art Collective to keep these old stories and knowledge alive.

He believes art should come from a person's own home, and he wants to care for his community and the environment.

Sources