Flatboat ferrying

If coracles take tourists for a fun ride, they also offer economical sustenance to many.

 Bamboo-coracle construction in Koppal

A regatta on Kamalapur lake, Hampi.

My heart jumped when I saw the coracles we were about to take to go along River Krishna near Raichur. We were on our way to the shrine of the sage Sripada Srivallabha, an incarnation of Dattatreya, on the wooded island of Kurugadde.

I wondered how these simple-looking bamboo baskets would take us across the raging waters.

With some trepidation, seven of us stepped into the waiting coracle and sat gingerly on the tyre kept at the centre of the craft’s flatbottom. Eschewing the makeshift tyre seat, the Irish teenager sat at the edge of the vessel, hanging her hand down into the lapping waters.

So it begins

Our boatman started steering the coracle using a single paddle.

Soon, there were warning shouts from other coracle boatmen who urged the teen to remove her hand from the water. As she heard the word ‘crocodile’, the girl quickly removed her hand.

I asked Narasimha, the boatman, if crocodiles attack a coracle. “By the guru’s grace, nothing like that has happened here,” he answered in Telugu.

Many languages are spoken by the boatmen, as pilgrims from Maharashtra, Andhra and Telangana as well as Karnataka visit the temple.

Narasimha told us that the coracle was made in Koppal, about 200 kilometres away, and cost him Rs 5,000 rupees. Made from interwoven bamboo strips and waterproofed by resin and tar, and reinforced with empty rice sacks for good measure, this round butti or Harigolu as it is called in Kannada, might well have carried Rama, Sita and Lakshmana across River Sarayu thousands of years ago!

The bottom of the coracle is constructed flat to spread the load evenly across the structure. The boatman steers the coracle with a single paddle, which he turns deftly with one hand to make it go in the direction he wants.

The coracle took us silently to the landing on the island in ten minutes. We could hear the melodious strains of a bhajan coming from the temple.

In the peace and calmness that prevailed over the island, we visited the 1,000-year-old banyan tree and the cave where the sage had meditated. My reverie was broken by a Telugu pilgrim who stood admiring the tiny pink and yellow wildflowers by the footpath. Coracles are undervalued just like wildflowers.

Unlike the motorboats, they do not need deep waters to sail. As the noisy motorboats take their place, the simple coracle may soon become extinct. It would be a pity if these silent, environment-friendly vessels are relegated to the scrap heap. The teenager observed, “So many people will lose their jobs if motorboats come here.”

At Rs 32 per head one way, a boatman can hardly make enough money to sustain him and his family. There is a glut of pilgrims on festival days and special occasions when the boatmen are busy.

On lean days, fishing sustains them. Many of the boatmen have small jobs in Raichur and other cities nearby.

By other names

The Irish girl told me that there were coracles in Ireland called curragh, used for fishing in rivers. Like our Harigolu, these coracles made of interwoven willow have also been in use for 2,000 years. Now coracle-making and riding are popular hobbies in the West. Coracles are also popular in Vietnam and Thailand.

In Karnataka, coracles are used as a tourist attraction, too. The coracle ride on River Kali at Dandeli is popular with bird-watchers.

Coracles at Muttatti and Shivanasamudram on Cauvery also cater to the tourist needs. The scenic ride on River Tungabhadra at Hampi is exciting enough to satisfy any thrill-seeker.

In Muttatti, my companion and I were treated to a fast swirl in the river before alighting from the coracle. Unfortunately, there have been accidents involving coracles, notably the one at Hogenkal, where water seeped into the overloaded craft causing four people to drown.

The coracle seems to be the most likely candidate to be relegated to history. I hope the powers that be see the advantages of this simple vessel.

It has all the qualities to be preserved and promoted — it is cheap, design-steady, made from locally available material, used by ordinary people, not unwieldy, and leaves no carbon footprint!