RAS question
The Damodar River is called the 'Sorrow of Bengal' because of:
Correct answer: (A) Its devastating floods in the lower course.
The Damodar River was called the Sorrow of Bengal because its lower course produced frequent and devastating floods in the Bengal plains.
Explanation
The name Sorrow of Bengal points to the river's flood behaviour, not to its size or cultural status. In the lower Bengal plains, the Damodar was associated with repeated destructive floods, which is why flood control became central to planning in its basin. The India-WRIS Ganga Basin Report places the Damodar within the Lower Ganga plain drainage system and notes that the river joins the Hugli near Kolkata. It also records that the Damodar has been tamed through the DVC multi-purpose project. The Damodar Valley Corporation was set up in 1948, modelled on the Tennessee Valley Authority, to control floods and support basin development.
Why the other options are wrong
- (B) Length does not explain the epithet; Sorrow of Bengal refers to repeated destructive floods in the lower Bengal plains.
- (C) Religious significance is not the basis of this name, which refers to the river's damaging flood history.
- (D) Pollution levels are a modern environmental issue, whereas the historical epithet arose from recurrent floods and the later need for flood-control planning.
Concept
This tests Indian drainage and river-valley management, especially how river behaviour shapes regional planning. RAS often asks such epithets because they connect physical geography with institutions such as the DVC.