Titas River

The Titas River, seen from Brahmanbaria.

Titas River (Bengali: তিতাস Titash) is a trans-boundary river of eastern Bangladesh. It originates in the state of Tripura in India where it is known as Haora River in Bengali and Saidra in the local Kokborok language. Flowing near Agartala, (India), it enters Bangladesh through Akhaura Upazila in the Brahmanbaria District of Bangladesh, then merges with the Meghna River to the south near Ashuganj Upazila. The length of the river is about 98 km. There is another river of the same name which starts as a distributary of the Meghna and flows back into it.^[1]

Legends

Many legends about Titas and Meghna traverse from generation to generation in world's largest deltaic country Bangladesh. One such legend says that Titas is the daughter of Meghna, who has been carrying her progeny to the Bay of Bengal since time immemorial. Amazingly enough, the two streams never commingle, and they keep a conspicuous demarcation line between them. While many hydrographers attribute this phenomenon to the difference in water properties of the two rivers, the people cherish to think of them as mother-daughter.

Links to the river in other spheres

Titas Gas, the biggest natural gas reserve of Bangladesh located in Brahmanbaria, which supplies gas to capital Dhaka, is named after this river. One of the offshoots of the Meghna river is also named as the Titas which branches out from the Meghna at Chatlapur and again meets the Meghna at Nabinagar Upazila ^[1] Titash Ekti Nadir Naam (A river called Titas) is a powerful story in Bengali by Advaita Malla Barman turned into a touching film by Ritwik Ghatak. It is depiction of the tragic lives of a fishing community dependent on this river.^[2]

Bridges

In 2010, a railway bridge over this river was proposed.^[3]

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Titas River.

Coordinates: 23°42′N 90°45′E / 23.700°N 90.750°E / 23.700; 90.750