Kali Bein rivulet: Significance for Sikhs

Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann was admitted to Delhi’s Apollo hospital, two days after he drank water from Kali Bein rivulet in Sultanpur Lodhi.

Significance of Kali Bein

• The 165-km rivulet starts from Hoshiarpur, runs across four districts and meets the confluence of the rivers Beas and Sutlej in Kapurthala.

• There are around 80 villages and six towns along its banks and wastewater from here flows into the rivulet.

• Kali Bein means black stream and it got its name because of the black minerals in its water.

• However, another report says that waste water from cities as well as industrial waste used to flow into the rivulet via a drain, turning its waters black, hence the name Kali Bein (black rivulet).

• Bein is the Punjab world for a stream, which is derived from the Sanskrit word veni.

• According to Sikh mythology, Kali Bein is where Guru Nanak gained enlightenment.

• When Guru Nanak Dev was staying at Sultanpur Lodhi with his sister Bebe Nanki, he would bathe in the Kali Bein. He is said to have disappeared into the waters one day, before emerging on the third day.

• The water of Kali Bein was polluted with all the sewage and industrial waste flowing into it. Grass and dense weed grew around it.

• In the year 2000, environmentalist Baba Balbir Singh Seechewal started cleaning Kali Bein with the help of a few followers.

• The cleaning of Kali Bein was among the first instances of a people’s movement in India, where a water body was revived and hence it is celebrated every year.

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