Shagun Sharma with his boat at Kachchi Dargah. Picture by Sankarshan Thakur

Kachchi Dargah, Sept. 3: A village of boatmakers that has supplied vessels through the centuries, from the Mauryas to computer czar Bill Gates, is on the verge of extinction as business has dried up.

The Microsoft founder, whose philanthropic organisation runs several projects in Bihar, had used a boat made by the artisans of Kachchi Dargah, on the fringes of Patna, to cross the turbulent Kosi river and reach the inaccessible Gularia village in Khagaria on May 14 last year. The village also figures in Chanakya’s Arthsashtra for supplying vessels for merchandise to naval forces of the Mauryan kings.

The monsoon season, which is treated as the best for the boat business as there are more orders owing to floods, hardly offers any hope. Shagun Sharma (60), the lone boat-maker left in the village, situated on the bank of the Ganga about 30km away from Patna on its eastern outskirts, said: “I have got orders for only 12 boats, small and big included, this year, which is an all-time low.”

“I used to get orders from Farakka in Bengal to Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh till the 1970s and early 80s from big merchants and also some saints who lived along the river. But my clients are now limited to sand contractors around the rivers Ganga and Gandak,” Shagun said ruefully while working on a big boat in the making. During the halcyon days, Shagun would get orders for 50-60 boats during the monsoon season.

Makeshift shops selling towels, bed sheets, vests, saaris besides rugged kiosks of sweets and fruits have come up on what were home to the boat-makers once. “Some boat-makers migrated to other states to earn a livelihood and others opened clothes and sweet shops for their survival after boat-making became a loss-making business,” said Bhola, who helps Shagun in making the boats.

But Shagun, among the last of the dying breed of specialised boat-makers, still has an emotional attachment with the trade he learnt from his forefathers. “Mere baap dada mujhe nav banana sikhaye the. Mujhe doosre aur kaam mein man nahin lagta (I learnt the art of boat-making from my father and grandfather. I do not like doing other work),” said Shagun, recalling how a famous saint, Hans Baba, had once approached him for a boat.

“The boat has been a vehicle of kings, warriors, merchants and saints. I will die making boats for I don’t find any other job as prestigious as the one I have inherited,” Shagun said while recounting hand-me-down tales of his forefathers supplying boats to the naval forces of the Maurya rulers, Sher Shah and also the Chinese traveller Hiuen Tsang for crossing the Ganga to reach Vaishali, a place associated with Gautam Buddha.

Chanakya Gufa (the place where Chanakya lived) is situated only a kilometre away in Patna City area from Kachchi Dargah.

According to Shagun and his aides, a big boat now costs Rs 60,000 to Rs 65,000 while a small one has a tag of around Rs 20,000. The boat-makers are usually paid the amount in instalments by the buyers.

“A big boat takes, at least, six months to complete. We are left with a margin of around Rs 10,000 to Rs 12,000 on a boat, which is too meagre an amount to survive on. The smaller boats fetch even less,” said Shagun.

Most of the boats sailing on Bihar’s rivers, including Ganga, Gandak, Sone and Kosi, have been supplied by Shagun and his team. They said the vessel in which Bill Gates crossed the Kosi to reach Gularia had been sold by them to a boat-owner who was in the business of ferrying people, cattle and sands in the Kosi.

The villagers said the construction of several bridges on the Ganga, Kosi, Gandak and other rivers and the proliferation of cars and two-wheelers since the seventies and eighties have sent boat riding out of fashion.

Shagun hoped he would be able to live his life by making and supplying boats which were still needed during the time of floods and for ferrying sand. Shagun’s two sons have moved to Mumbai to do other jobs. He remains the last surviving proponent of a dying art linked to Bihar’s — and India’s — rich heritage.