Clean and Sustainable Groundwater in

India 1st Edition Dipankar Saha

Visit to download the full and correct content document:
https://textbookfull.com/product/clean-and-sustainable-groundwater-in-india-1st-editio
n-dipankar-saha/
More products digital (pdf, epub, mobi) instant
download maybe you interests ...

The Information Game in Democracy 1st Edition Dipankar

Sinha

https://textbookfull.com/product/the-information-game-in-
democracy-1st-edition-dipankar-sinha/

Strategies in Sustainable Tourism, Economic Growth and

Clean Energy Daniel Balsalobre-Lorente

https://textbookfull.com/product/strategies-in-sustainable-
tourism-economic-growth-and-clean-energy-daniel-balsalobre-
lorente/

Theatre and National Identity in Colonial India

Formation of a Community through Cultural Practice
Sharmistha Saha

https://textbookfull.com/product/theatre-and-national-identity-
in-colonial-india-formation-of-a-community-through-cultural-
practice-sharmistha-saha/

Clean Energy for Sustainable Development Abul Kalam

Azad

https://textbookfull.com/product/clean-energy-for-sustainable-
development-abul-kalam-azad/
Sustainable Biofuels Development in India 1st Edition
Anuj K. Chandel

https://textbookfull.com/product/sustainable-biofuels-
development-in-india-1st-edition-anuj-k-chandel/

Sustainable Urbanization in India Challenges and

Opportunities 1st Edition Jenia Mukherjee (Eds.)

https://textbookfull.com/product/sustainable-urbanization-in-
india-challenges-and-opportunities-1st-edition-jenia-mukherjee-
eds/

Population and Sustainable Development in India Aalok

Ranjan Chaurasia

https://textbookfull.com/product/population-and-sustainable-
development-in-india-aalok-ranjan-chaurasia/

Sustainable Smart Cities in India Challenges and Future

Perspectives 1st Edition Poonam Sharma

https://textbookfull.com/product/sustainable-smart-cities-in-
india-challenges-and-future-perspectives-1st-edition-poonam-
sharma/

Clean C++: Sustainable Software Development Patterns

and Best Practices with C++ 17 1st Edition Stephan Roth

https://textbookfull.com/product/clean-c-sustainable-software-
development-patterns-and-best-practices-with-c-17-1st-edition-
stephan-roth/
Springer Hydrogeology

Dipankar Saha
Sanjay Marwaha
Arunangshu Mukherjee Editors

Clean and
Sustainable
Groundwater
in India
Springer Hydrogeology
More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/10174
Dipankar Saha Sanjay Marwaha
•

Arunangshu Mukherjee
Editors

Clean and Sustainable

Groundwater in India

123
Editors
Dipankar Saha Arunangshu Mukherjee
Ministry of Water Resources, River Ministry of Water Resources, River
Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Development and Ganga Rejuvenation
Central Ground Water Board Central Ground Water Board
Faridabad, Haryana Faridabad, Haryana
India India

Sanjay Marwaha and

Ministry of Water Resources, River
Development and Ganga Rejuvenation CAWTM
Central Ground Water Board Manav Rachna International University
Faridabad, Haryana Faridabad, Haryana
India India

ISSN 2364-6454 ISSN 2364-6462 (electronic)

Springer Hydrogeology
ISBN 978-981-10-4551-6 ISBN 978-981-10-4552-3 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-4552-3
Library of Congress Control Number: 2017937522

© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2018

This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part
of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations,
recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission
or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar
methodology now known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this
publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from
the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this
book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the
authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or
for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to
jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Printed on acid-free paper

This Springer imprint is published by Springer Nature

The registered company is Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
The registered company address is: 152 Beach Road, #21-01/04 Gateway East, Singapore 189721, Singapore
The chapters included in the book were presented in
Bhujal Manthan–2015.
Foreword by Dr. Amarjit Singh

Ensuring clean and sustainable groundwater development in a sustainable manner

would be one of the most challenging tasks for the professionals, policy makers,
researchers and other stake holders. The beginning of Green Revolution during the
1970s brought in a significant increase in groundwater extraction, which has con-
tinued and increased rapidly ever since, with consequent manifestations of adverse
environmental impact in the form of declining water levels, dwindling well yields
and reduction in sustainability of irrigation wells. Besides, groundwater in several
pockets of the country has become unfit for drinking due to contamination,
attributed to both natural and anthropogenic causes.
In order to evolve strategies for better groundwater governance and management
through wider consultations among various stakeholders, Ministry of Water
Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation has initiated a National
Dialogue “Bhujal Manthan”. In the first year in 2015, this was organized at
Kurukshetra University, Haryana, and was inaugurated by Honourable Minister
Sushree Uma Bharati. It was aimed primarily at emphasizing the need for a col-
lective interaction among various stakeholders engaged in groundwater resource
development and management to attain synergy and harmony with the ecology for
ensuring the long-term sustainability of this precious resource. The themes delib-
erated during the Bhujal Manthan were geogenic groundwater pollution—special
reference to arsenic and fluoride; anthropogenic groundwater pollution—mitigation
measures; groundwater stressed areas—management interventions for sustainable
use; groundwater mapping and application of recent techniques; water conservation
and conjunctive use of surface and groundwater in an efficient manner; groundwater
system response to climate change and strategies; efficient use of groundwater and
peoples’ participation for its sustainable management. A total of 20 papers bringing
out the finer nuances of the key issues around groundwater were presented during
the technical sessions.
The present compilation is an outcome of selected papers from wide spectrum of
disciplines. The editors have undertaken painstaking efforts and have carried out a
wonderful task to edit and compile the papers. The fragrance of the interdisciplinary
fusion can be felt as one goes through this enriching volume. I am sure that this

vii
viii Foreword by Dr. Amarjit Singh

book will help in understanding and tackling emerging issues related to governance
of groundwater so as to facilitate effective management of the competing demands
and efficient use of this invaluable resource.

Dr. Amarjit Singh

Secretary, Ministry of Water Resources
River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation
Government of India
Foreword by Dr. Mihir Shah

Groundwater is arguably India’s single most important natural resource. It is the

foundation of the livelihood security of millions of Indian farmers and the main
source of drinking water for a vast majority of Indians in rural and urban India. The
prospects of continued high rates of growth of the Indian economy will depend
critically on how judiciously we are able to manage groundwater in the years to come.
Over the past three decades, India has emerged as by far the single largest
consumer of groundwater in the world. Even as groundwater has made the country
self-sufficient in food, we are now faced with a crisis of depleting water tables and
water quality. The deep drilling by tube wells that was once part of the solution to
the problem of water shortage now threatens to become a part of the problem itself.
We, therefore, need to pay urgent attention to the sustainable and equitable man-
agement of groundwater.
In this context, it is heartening to note the renewed emphasis being placed on
groundwater management by the Government of India. The National Aquifer
Management Programme (NAQUIM) is the most ambitious such programme ever
launched in human history. The commitment by the Government towards a par-
ticipatory approach to groundwater management is most welcome. Bhujal
Manthan is a landmark initiative in the direction of deepening dialogue across a
wide spectrum of stakeholders who urgently need to come together to make
groundwater management a success in India. I was delighted to browse through the
papers put together in this volume, which will carry much further our understanding
of the issues involved in and the approaches necessary for making groundwater
management a people’s movement in our country.
I congratulate the editors of the book, Ministry of Water Resources, River
Development and Ganga Rejuvenation and the Central Ground Water Board for
bringing out this volume.

Dr. Mihir Shah

Distinguished Visiting Professor, Shiv Nadar University

ix
Contents

Groundwater Resources and Sustainable Management Issues

in India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Dipankar Saha, Sanjay Marwaha and Arunangshu Mukherjee
Fluoride Contamination in Groundwater: A Pilot Study
on Dug Well Recharge System for In situ Mitigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
L. Elango and G. Jagadeshan
Deciphering Freshwater/Saline Water Interface in and Around
Northern Chennai Region, Southern India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
M. Senthilkumar, D. Gnanasundar and E. Sampath Kumar
Geogenic Fluoride Contamination in Two Diverse Geological Settings
in West Bengal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
S. Brahma
Petro-Geochemical Analysis and Their Correlation for Genesis of
Fluoride Contamination in Groundwater of District Sonbhadra, U.P.,
India. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
H.K. Pandey, S.K. Srivastava and Prashant Pandey
Hydrochemical Evaluation of Fluoride-Rich Groundwater in
Cherlapalli Watershed, a Fluorosis Endemic Area, Nalgonda District,
Telangana State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Pandith Madhnure, P.N. Rao, K.M. Prasad, A.D. Rao and J.S. Kumar
Uranium Contamination of Groundwater in Southwest Parts
of Punjab State, India, with Special Reference to Role
of Basement Granite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
K. P. Singh, Naval Kishore, Naresh Tuli, R. S. Loyal, Mandeep Kaur
and Jasbir Kaur Taak

xi
xii Contents

Conjunctive Use of Surface and Groundwater in Efficient

Manner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
D.K. Chadha
Efficient Conjunctive Use of Surface and Groundwater Can Prevent
Seasonal Death of Non-Glacial Linked Rivers in Groundwater
Stressed Areas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Shashank Shekhar, Suman Kumar, Rajiv Sinha, Sanjeev Gupta,
Alexander Densmore, S.P. Rai, Manoranjan Kumar, Ajit Singh, Wout Van
Dijk, Sunil Joshi, Philipa Mason and Dewashish Kumar
Specific Yield of Unconfined Aquifers in Revisiting Efficiency
of Groundwater Usage in Agricultural Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Himanshu Kulkarni, Uma Aslekar and Dhaval Joshi
Toward a Managed Aquifer Recharge Strategy for Gujarat, India:
An Economist’s Dialogue with Hydro-geologists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Tushaar Shah
Co-solving Groundwater Depletion and Seasonal Flooding Through
an Innovative Managed Aquifer Recharge Approach: Converting
Pilot to a Regional Solution in the Ram Ganga Sub-basin. . . . . . . . . . . . 173
Prasun K. Gangopadhyay, Bharat R. Sharma and Paul Pavelic
Impact Assessment of Demonstrative Project on Artificial Recharge to
Groundwater in Gangavalli Block, Salem District, Tamil Nadu . . . . . . . 191
A. Subburaj, E. Sampath Kumar, S. Suresh, V. Elanchelian
and K. Rajarajan
Soil Infiltration Test in Hard Rock Areas—A Case Study . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
S.S. Vittala, G.R.C. Reddy, K.R. Sooryanarayana and G. Sudarshan
Peoples’ Participation for Sustainable Groundwater Management . . . . . 215
Bishwadeep Ghose, Harshvardhan Dhawan, Himanshu Kulkarni,
Uma Aslekar, Siddharth Patil, M.V. Ramachandrudu, Bakkareddy Cheela,
Yogesh Jadeja, Brijen Thankar, Ravi Chopra, Anil Gautam
and Eklavya Prasad
Geospatial Analysis of Recharge of Groundwater and Irrigation Draft
from Different Aquifer Systems of Rajasthan, India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
Bidyut Kumar Bhadra, Rakesh Paliwal and S. Srinivasa Rao
Evaluation of Water Level Behavior in Coal-Mining Area, Adjacent
Township, and District Areas of Jharkhand State, India . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261
Prasoon Kumar Singh, Ashwani Kumar Tiwari and Poornima Verma
Contents xiii

Modelling the Potential Impact of Small-Scale Pumping Near Future

Water Supply Wells in a Stressed Aquifer in South Western Bengal
Basin on Groundwater Flow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
P.K. Sikdar and Paulami Sahu
Hydrodynamics of Groundwater Flow in the Arsenic-Affected Areas
of the Gangetic West Bengal, India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301
Abhijit Mukherjee
Recording High Natural Gamma Radiations in Fluoride-Prone Area
of Shivpuri District, Madhya Pradesh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321
Subhash C. Singh, Rakesh Singh and Parvinder Singh
Author Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333
About the Editors

Dipankar Saha is presently working as a member in Central Ground Water Board,

Ministry of Water Resources River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation,
Government of India. He is coordinating the ambitious National Aquifer Mapping
and Management Programme taken up by Government of India to cover the entire
country. He has more than 30 years experience in the domain of groundwater
investigation, monitoring and assessment. He has obtained Ph.D. on Groundwater
Management from ISM IIT, Dhanbad. He has authored number of state and
national reports and over 35 publications in peer-reviewed international journals.
He is professionally trained on Applied Quaternary Geology by Asian Institute of
Technology, Bangkok and on Integrated Water Resources Management, by JICA,
Tokyo. He has presented many keynote addresses at national and international level
conferences including World Water Week—Stockholm. He is recipient of National
Geoscience Award—2011 on Groundwater Exploration and Groundwater
Excellence Award in 2014, conferred by Government of India and International
Association of Hydrogeologist—India Chapter, respectively.
Sanjay Marwaha is working as Regional Director with Central Ground Water
Board, Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation,
Government of India. He has done his post-graduation from Panjab University,
Chandigarh, and was awarded university medals for standing first class first both in
under graduation and post-graduation. He had taken courses on groundwater
management, geographic information system and remote sensing at ITC,
Netherlands, and was adjudged best trainee. During past 30 years, he is credited
with number of studies related to various facets of groundwater, especially managed
aquifer recharge in parts of semiarid areas of country. He has been associated with
compilation of five volumes issued by Government of India on various topics such
as groundwater recharge—techniques, perspective plan of groundwater resources of
India, master plan for artificial recharge in India, Punjab water Quality—Issues and

xv
xvi About the Editors

Challenges. He has also authored more than 40 publications in national and

international forums on various aspects of hydrogeology. Currently, he is associated
with one of the most ambitious projects ever taken for mapping of aquifers of India.
Arunangshu Mukherjee has obtained his M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees from Pt.
Ravishankar Shukla University, Raipur in geology. A hydrogeologist by profession,
he has worked for Central Ground Water Board for 24 years. At present he is
working as Professor in Civil Engineering Dept., Manav Rachna International
University (MRIU), Faridabad, India. He is actively engaged in research and
teaching of applied groundwater aspects. He gained experience in management and
implementation aspects of groundwater including application of computer models
in scientific evaluation of hydrogeologic systems, groundwater resources devel-
opment and protection. He has published over 70 research papers in international
and national journals, and conference proceedings, authored many books and
written more than 35 project reports. He is currently associated with arsenic
research, spatial distribution of As pollution in groundwater of hard rock areas. He
is the recipient of “M P Young Scientist Award” 1990 and INC-IAH Award of
Excellence in “Ground Water Implementation and Management” 2015. He is
member of International Association of Hydrogeologist and National Cave
Research and Protection Organization.
Groundwater Resources and Sustainable
Management Issues in India

Dipankar Saha, Sanjay Marwaha and Arunangshu Mukherjee

Abstract Groundwater is a critical component for socioeconomic development in

India. The country exhibits wide spectrum on geology, climatic condition, and
terrain, which is reflected in considerable variation in groundwater occurrence and
movement. In addition, excessive withdrawal, in comparison with its annual
replenishment, has created overexploitation of this precious natural resource,
obliterating natural groundwater regime in large areas of the country. Besides, in
many parts, the groundwater is contaminated both geogenically and anthro-
pogenically. India as a country has established himself as the largest groundwater
extractor in the world. The looming issues of overexploitation and deteriorating
quality call for sustainable management of groundwater resource in long-term
perspective. With the preamble on the review of the hydrogeology of the country,
this paper summarizes 20 contributions that have been included in this volume. The
papers are rich in their content and present a wide array of groundwater issues of the
country, ranging from quality, conjunctive use of surface and groundwater, artificial
recharge, community participation in its management, urban hydrogeology, coastal
aquifer dynamics, mining hydrogeology, and application of state-of-the-art inves-
tigation techniques in groundwater survey and management. The aroma of the
volume will enrich which are directly or indirectly linked with groundwater
resource management of the country.

Keywords Groundwater
Sustainable management
India
Aquifer
Water

level Quality

D. Saha (&)
S. Marwaha
A. Mukherjee

Central Ground Water Board, Bhujal Bhawan, NH-IV, Faridabad 121001, India
e-mail: dsaha002@yahoo.com
S. Marwaha
e-mail: smarwaha-cgwb@nic.in
A. Mukherjee
e-mail: arunangshu.fet@mriu.edu.in
Present address
A. Mukherjee
Manav Rachna International University, Faridabad, India

© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2018 1

D. Saha et al. (eds.), Clean and Sustainable Groundwater in India,
Springer Hydrogeology, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-4552-3_1
2 D. Saha et al.

1 Introduction

Groundwater is extremely important for drinking water and food security, besides
rendering a significant service toward human health and ecosystem (Gleeson et al.
2016). At many places, aquifers are the only source of available water for drinking
and irrigation, rendering groundwater as the most abstracted raw material on the
Earth (NGWA 2016). In the changing climate scenario, the role of groundwater is
significant, due to its relative stability in terms of both quality and quantity. India,
as a country, is tilted toward groundwater for its societal needs. With 243 km3
extraction annually, India is the largest consumer of groundwater in the world,
consuming more than the cumulative draft of second and third highest consumers,
i.e., Republic of China and USA, respectively (NGWA 2016). Nearly 85% of rural
drinking need, 62% of irrigation need, and more than 50% of urban water demand
of the country are met up from aquifers.
India’s groundwater story is unique and interwoven in its journey toward
achieving food security. The country has witnessed atomistic groundwater devel-
opment, through private participation, where the million of landowners drilled their
own wells. At present, the number of wells used for irrigation in the country is
pegged to be more than 25 million. Besides providing irrigation, the wells boast
rural economy and employments.
Growing population, urbanization, industrialization, and overall development of
infrastructural facilities with improved lifestyle have put water in a competitive
sectoral demand more than other parts of the world. There is a radical reduction of
per capita annual availability from 5177 to 1545 m3 since India’s independence. All
global prediction say large part of India is going to be water scarce by the year
2030. Aquifers, being comparatively safer source of potable water and being dis-
tributed in all types of terrain and in agroclimatic zones, the pressure from
increasing water demand will be mainly focus on groundwater development and
management. Central Ground Water Board being the apex organization under Govt
of India in the domain of groundwater exploration, monitoring, and management
has a stupendous task in fostering sustainable development of this precious natural
resource involving the stakeholders, planners, researchers, and implementing
agencies in state level.

2 Groundwater Occurrence

India is a vast country having geographical area over 32.87 lakh km2 and can be
divided into three broad geomorphic divisions, the Peninsular India, the
Indo-Ganga-Brahmaputra Plain, and the Extra Peninsular India. The Peninsular
India and Extra Peninsular India predominantly represent hilly and undulating
topography, interspersed with alluvial deposits of rivers. These two units are pre-
dominantly characterized by hardwork aquifers, where groundwater occurs within
Groundwater Resources and Sustainable Management Issues in India 3

the top weathered zones (generally <30 m thick) and underlying fracture/joints
generally confined within 200 m below ground. The fractured aquifers are highly
heterogeneous and largely local to subregional in extent. In these areas, the recharge
is mainly through point to local recharge. Groundwater remains in phreatic con-
dition in the weathered zone, whereas groundwater remains semi-confined to
confined in the fractures below. The groundwater in this hard rock terrain is
comparatively younger in age. Indicating recharge in annual cycle (Saha et al.
2013). Whereas the Indo-Ganga-Brahmaputra Plain is underlain by thick uncon-
solidated deposits of Quaternary age holding some of the most potential aquifer
systems in the world (Mukherjee et al. 2015b).
Beside the Indo-Ganga-Brahmaputra Plains, the wide costal tract in Bangal
deltaic regions and along the East Coast is largely occupied by pile of thick
unconsolidated sediments mainly of Quaternary age. In total, the unconsolidated
deposits roughly occupy one-third of geographical area of the country. They are
characterized by multilayered aquifers of regional to subregional extent which are
reported down to several hundreds of meter below ground. These aquifers domi-
nantly pose primary granular porosity, rendering substantial yield potential to the
wells. The recharge is both through local or regional flows. Groundwater remains
under varied condition, ranging from phreatic to semi-confined in shallow and
middle depth (up to 100–120 m below ground in general), while under confined in
deeper levels. The shallow and middle depth aquifers get modern recharge from
rainfall, while deeper aquifers may contain relatively older water even up to several
thousand years old (Saha et al. 2011).

2.1 Groundwater Regime

Groundwater levels in India vary considerably in response to various geologic,

terrain, and climatic conditions and anthropogenic interventions. A simplified
groundwater level map of premonsoon phreatic groundwater level data (CGWB
2016) shows four broad zones running across SE to NW of India (Fig. 1a). The
trans-Himalayan foothill zone and the East Coast have nearly continuous band of
<5 m depth to water level, apart from few isolated patches largely concentrated in
the eastern half of India and in parts of Maharashtra coast. 5–10 m below ground
level (bgl) occurs in large part of India, except in northwest states of Rajasthan and
Punjab. This is followed by deeper levels of 10–20 mbgl, largely spotted by small
pockets concentrated in the western part of the country. The deeper levels are
recorded in arid parts of Rajasthan and central part of Punjab where levels are
varying from 20 to 40 mbgl and even deeper. Apart from this, patches of deeper
levels are also observed in parts of Gujarat, Haryana, Telangana, and Bundelkhand
region of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. The perennial shallow groundwater
levels (2–5 mbgl) are largely the regional discharge zones, either along the foothills
of Himalaya or along the East Coast. Similarly, the deepest groundwater level zones
are areas of negligible groundwater recharge in the arid parts of India.
4 D. Saha et al.

Fig. 1 a Depth to water level map of premonsoon 2016. b Categorization of assessment units
based on SOD. Colors represent as (Red = OE, Yellow = Critical, Blue = Semi-critical,
Green = Saline and White = Safe). Source CGWB

2.2 Level of Groundwater Extraction

The rainfall is the main source of recharge to aquifers in India. The ratio of
groundwater recharge to draft in an annual scale provides the stage of groundwater
development (S0D). SOD is considered in India as an earmark to assess the stress
on the dynamic groundwater resource. The latest estimation of dynamic ground-
water resources (CGWB 2016) has indicated the overall SOD of the country as
62%. The assessment unit, i.e., blocks (talukas, firkas in some states) are catego-
rized based on their SOD as- “safe” (S0D < 70%), “semi-critical” (SOD 70–90%),
“critical” (SOD 90–100%), and “overexploited” (SOD > 100%). The SOD is not
uniform throughout the country due to obvious reasons that govern the aquifer
potential, recharge capability, and extent of groundwater exploitation. Groundwater
overexploitation is confined in 1071 units of the country and in another 914 sig-
nificantly where level of exploitation has exceeded 70%. All these units are largely
concentrated in the NW parts, as well as deep in Penninsular India. These areas are
also characterized by deeper groundwater levels (Fig. 1b).
Groundwater overextraction has resulted in decline in water levels, dwindling
well yields and drying up of dug wells. Besides, there is an overall increase of
background salinity in groundwater. This is apart from the known ambient higher
values of EC in arid regions of India, as well as in coastal tract. This has prompted
to conclude that groundwater overextraction is deteriorating the ambient quality of
Groundwater Resources and Sustainable Management Issues in India 5

groundwater also (Mukherjee et al. 2015b). Shift to drinking water abstraction from
deeper zones might have triggered certain pollutants to enter into aquifer-based
drinking water cycle (Saha et al. 2009; Mukherjee et al. 2015a).
The India’s groundwater resource management is at crossroad, because of
accelerated pace and skewed extraction leading to significant decline in ground-
water level on the one hand and expanding areas under waterlogging and deteri-
orating water quality resulting in considerable reduction in availability of fresh and
potable water. Strategies for better groundwater governance and management need
to be developed through wide consultation among various stakeholders, academia,
researchers, and state departments dealing with groundwater. To achieve this
Central Ground Water Board, Ministry of Water Resources, River Development
and Ganga Rejuvenation has organized a one-day thread-bearing discussions
‘Bhujal Manthan’ on August 21, 2015, at Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra,
Haryana. This volume derives some of the best papers presenting and deliberating
in the workshop. The volume contains 22 papers which are grouped into the fol-
lowing four subthemes.

3 Layout of the Book

The articles selected from the Bhujal Manthan-2015 are broadly grouped into
following four themes (i) groundwater quality, (ii) conjunctive use of surface and
groundwater, (iii) management intervention for sustainable water, and (iv) ground-
water problem and application of techniques.

3.1 Groundwater Quality

Qualitatively, groundwater is considered as a safer source in comparison with

surface water. Mineralization of groundwater up to certain extent is considered to
be good for human health and crops. By and large, the ambient quality of
groundwater in India is still good and requires no external treatment before
drinking, irrigation, and industrial uses. The quality of groundwater in the opera-
tional zone of open dug wells was found potable since ages. But due to various
anthropogenic reasons, slowly this zone became contaminated with fecal collies,
forced shifting of abstraction from deeper zones through mechanized wells, and
hand pumps for drinking needs. Deeper zones hold groundwater with relatively
more mineralization that under reducing condition may produce toxicity. Apart
from geogenic contamination such as arsenic and fluoride, seawater intrusion in the
costal tract, agricultural practice, urban wastewater and land fields, and liquid and
solid disposed from industries and mines are the main source of contamination of
groundwater (Banerjee et al. 2012).
6 D. Saha et al.

During the recent years, much of the emphasis in groundwater for drinking use
has shifted from problem of availability to issues of quality. The quality problems
are broadly grouped into two: ‘geogenic’ and ‘anthropogenic.’ Geogenic pollution
refers to naturally occurring elevated concentration of certain constituents in
groundwater having adverse health effects. In India, contamination of fluoride and
arsenic is geogenic in nature and affecting several parts of the country and has
became major health concern and posses challenge for safe water supply (Bajerjee
et al. 2012). Besides these, elevated levels of salinity, iron, manganese, uranium,
radon, chromium selenium, and other traced elements reported at places may also
be of geogenic origin. In India, approximately 40 million people are residing within
the risk zone of arsenic contamination (Saha and Sahu 2015). The states from which
arsenic contamination has been reported are West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh,
Jharkhand, Assam, Manipur, Punjab, Haryana, Chhattisgarh, and Karnataka.
However, the elevated concentration is mostly confined in the Indo-Gangetic Plains
(Saha 2009) CGWB has been advocating exploitation of arsenic safe deeper
aquifers in the Indo-Gangetic Plains under regulated pumping. The other remedial
measures include removing arsenic from groundwater after it is extracted and
reducing the level within the aquifer itself through in situ treatment and through
dilution of the contaminants by artificial recharge. Fluoride concentration has
pan-India presence. Its concentration above maximum permissible limit of
1.5 mg/L has been reported in groundwater from parts of many states of India,
namely Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Gujarat,
Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh,
Maharashtra, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, and West
Bengal. Fluoride-contaminated areas are mostly characterized by the presence of
crystalline basement, and volcanic and sedimentary rock areas particularly charac-
terized by arid and semiarid climatic conditions. Dissolution and weathering of F−
bearing minerals, pulled by calcite precipitation, are considered to be the dominant
mechanism responsible for groundwater fluoride (F−) contamination. Long-term
solution involves providing alternate source of potable water by construction of
wells tapping fluoride-free aquifers, installation of community-based de-fluoridation
plants, and surface water-based supply, wherever available.
Six papers have been incorporated under this theme and amply signify the
importance of this issue. Out of that four papers discussed, the issues are related to
elevated levels of fluoride and its mitigation and one deals with uranium contam-
ination. The remaining paper discusses on deteriorating groundwater quality
because of saline water ingress in East Coast area. Prof. L. Elango and
Jagadeshan in their paper are of opinion that managed aquifer recharge can be an
effective mean for dilution of fluoride concentration in groundwater. Through their
experiment by dug well recharge, they have able to obtain desired results in a
contaminated phreatic aquifer in hard rock areas of Dharmapuri district in Tamil
Nadu state. Dr. Santhil Kumar and their co-authors in their study had shown the
example of seawater ingress and deterioration of groundwater quality due to
excessive pumping driven by urbanization in coastal Chennai area of Tamil Nadu
state. Bromide has been used as an indicator to delineate the seawater–freshwater
Groundwater Resources and Sustainable Management Issues in India 7

interface. Sh. Supriya Bramha has discussed the level of fluoride concentration in
different aquifers and related issues in varied hydrogeological setup represented by
hard rock and older alluvium in West Bengal. Prof. H.K. Pandey and co-authors
discussed the petro-mineralogical and geochemical significance of fluoride con-
tamination and its release mechanism in groundwater of hard rock aquifer from
Sunbhadra district of Uttar Pradesh. In another study made by Dr. P. Madhnure
and co-authors, the evolution of fluoride-rich groundwater has been dealt in detail in
Cherlapalli water shed in Nalgonda district of Telangana state represented by hard
rock aquifer. They are of opinion that fluoride enrichment is related to Ca+2 removal
during rock–water interaction.
Uranium contamination of groundwater in southwest part of Punjab has been
discussed by Prof. K.P. Singh along with his co-authors. They have opined that the
genesis of uranium is not related to basement granite or the phosphate fertilizer.
They have found uranium concentration in sediments of the area which may be one
of the sources for its elevated concentration at places in groundwater.

3.2 Conjunctive Use of Surface and Groundwater

To improve the overall efficiency of water resource development and management,

‘conjunctive use’ has been considered as an affective tool. It is defined by Foster
et al. (2010) as a situation where both groundwater and surface water are developed
(or coexist and can be developed) to supply a given irrigation canal command—
although not necessarily using both sources continuously over time nor providing
each individual water user from both sources. Alternatively, FAO (1995) described
conjunctive use as ‘use of surface water and groundwater consists of harmoniously
combining the use of both sources of water in order to minimize the undesirable
physical, environmental and economical effects of each solution and to optimize the
water demand/supply balance.’ Because different stakeholders are involved in the
conjunctive use of surface and groundwater resources, a conflict-resolution tech-
nique should be employed to resolve cross-interests. A major issue related to
conjunctive use of surface and groundwater in efficient manner is to have some
form of institutional arrangement and a supportive regulatory framework. The
number of studies has been undertaken by institutions and government departments
for establishing feasibility of conjunctive use in India. The studies have established
that the isolated use of surface water ignoring groundwater in irrigation command
area has resulted in various environmental problems such as waterlogging and
salinity. Further, it is also felt that there is a need to adopt groundwater management
which incorporates a groundwater simulation model as constraint in the manage-
ment model which can be efficiently used in planning the conjunctive use of water.
Such planning will need to be supported by a national policy and to occur within a
framework that ensures sustainable use of the resources. This will require signifi-
cant technical inputs, especially within the context of the need to assess the
available consumptive pool.
8 D. Saha et al.

Dr. D.K. Chadha, former Chairman, CGWB, in his contribution pointed toward
decimal efforts being made toward the conjunctive use of surface and groundwater
in the country and suggested means and ways of efficient conjunctive use. He
strongly advocated implementation of its use in the areas where such studies have
already been completed. Prof. Shasank Shekhar and co-authors advocated that the
conjunctive use practice can prevent the rivers from getting dried up because of
depleted contribution from aquifers. They have advocated that conjunctive use can
provide the requisite environmental sustainability to the river ecosystem.

3.3 Management Interventions for Sustainable Use

Globally, irrigated agriculture is the largest consumer of groundwater resources.

However, in many arid and semiarid areas, recharge from rainfall is limited and
unconstrained use is causing serious aquifer depletion and environmental degra-
dation. The interactions between irrigation, surface water, and groundwater
resources are often very close, such that active cross-sector dialogue and integrated
vision are needed to promote sustainable land and water management. Clear policy
guidance and focused local action involving communities are required to make
efficient use of groundwater in view of drought mitigation and climate change
adaptation. Policies must be tailored to local hydrogeological settings and agroe-
conomic realities, and their implementation will require active involvement of the
farming community.
Dr. Himanshu Kulkarni and co-authors in their paper discussed alternative
way of calculating efficiency of groundwater in agriculture system. They presented
an interesting case of groundwater efficiency assessment involving the inherent
aquifer characteristics like specific yield which are often ignored. The paper
illustrates two examples from the Deccan basalt aquifer system in western
Maharashtra state, where use of specific yield parameter has helped in a robust
understanding of groundwater use efficiency for its better management.‚
Prof. Tushar Shah, Chairman of Task Force of Managed Aquifer Recharge
Project of Gujarat State, from his experience and expertise has sketched the impact of
groundwater overexploitation and possibilities of artificial recharge for
water-stressed areas of Gujarat. He has opined that apart from hydrogeologists, water
experts, economist, and social scientist can also made important contribution to water
strategy formulation. Dr. P.K. Gangopadhyay and co-authors in their interesting
article presented a case study of co-solving groundwater level depletion as well as
flooding problem using managed aquifer recharge in the Ram Ganga subbasin of the
Gangetic Plain through participatory mode. They use the terminology UTFI
(underground taming of floodwater through irrigation) where floodwater is diverted
into the de-saturated part of the aquifer below. This has double benefit of reducing the
flood risk and enhancing the groundwater resource of the area.
The impact of artificial recharge on groundwater is presented by Sh. Subburaj
and co-authors in the hard rock aquifer of Salem district of Tamil Nadu. They have
Groundwater Resources and Sustainable Management Issues in India 9

shown the increase of sustainability of groundwater due to implementation of

artificial recharge projects. The pumping hours by the farmers have increased, and
also, there is rise in water level in the area. Dr. S.S. Vittala and co-authors pre-
sented the result of soil infiltration studies carried out in Ankasandra water shed in
Tumkur district of Karnataka state. They found that lowest infiltration rate is noted
at tank belts. Infiltration rate is an extremely important component for estimating
the recharge. Dr. B. Ghosh and co-authors presented interesting case studies of
participatory groundwater management and self-regulation in varied hydrogeolog-
ical typologies in India. They argued that decentralized groundwater management
can offer better solution for its long-term sustainability and social equity.
Dr. Bidyut Kumar Bhadra and co-authors have presented interesting case study
of groundwater recharge in arid region of Rajasthan. The study was carried out at
three places of Rajasthan underlain by different aquifer systems. All the areas
exhibits decline in groundwater level at various rates. They have opined for
adopting preventive measures for increasing the recharge and efficient use of
groundwater. Prof. P.K. Singh and others presented a case study of groundwater
regime in coal mining area. The mining activity is impacting the water level and
flow regime in the surrounding areas. In case studies around Jharia, East Bocaro and
West Bocaro cold field of Jharkhank State detailed behavior of water level are
discussed.

3.4 Groundwater Mapping and Application of Recent

Techniques

Groundwater mapping involves multidisciplinary techniques to understand, map

and assess various issues like, delineating the aquifers, hydraulic parameters of
aquifers, well sustainability, assessing the resource availability, quality variation—
both specially and vertically, groundwater pollution etc. As the groundwater
resources are becoming scarce and its social and economic importance is increasing
rapidly, there is a spurt in application of new technique. In the domain of
groundwater lot of researches are going on to understand science and developing
new technologies on accurately delineating the aquifers and characterizing them
through various geophysical techniques and applications of isotope and tracers.
Challenges are particularly to delineate deeper fractures which are water bearing
and have good yield potential in hard rock terrain. Significant innovations are
taking place for automatic water level measurement and quality monitoring through
telemetry. Though groundwater modeling is being applied to understand the flow
regime, wider applications are needed for predicting the future scenario under
various stress conditions and pollution studies through solute transport modeling.
Researches are also required for comprehensive understanding on impact of various
climate change scenario and extreme rainfall event on groundwater regime.
Besides, lot of technological development is taking place for analysis of harmful
consequent in water even in nanogram level. Application of remotely sensed data
10 D. Saha et al.

for groundwater mapping is well established, but the new domains are emerging
with an advent of gravity satellite which is being applied in assessing groundwater
resource and its depletion.
Prof. P.K. Sikader and P. Sahu highlighted the stress on urban aquifer system
of Kolkata and its impacts on natural recharge pattern using groundwater modeling.
They provoked for using groundwater modeling as decision-making tool for better
management of the confined aquifer surrounding Kolkata urban area. The recom-
mendation can be replicated in other urban areas with similar hydrogeology setting.
Prof. Abhijit Mukherjee discussed the hydrodynamics of groundwater flow using
arsenic as tool for modeling. A regional hydrostratigraphic model has been
developed in the Gangetic Plain of West Bengal to indicate that groundwater flow is
dependent on the amount and timing of precipitation and is controlled by the
topography and alignments of major streams, which can be heavily distorted in case
the region experiences over pumping. Dr. Subhash Singh and co-authors have
used gama logging in a very effective manner to detect the radio activity in
fluoride-contaminated aquifer of Shivepuri district of Madhya Pradesh state to
understand the extent of contamination.

4 Conclusion

Groundwater is rendering a yeomen service in India by providing significant

contribution to water supply for drinking, irrigation, and industrial sector. The
dependence on this resource is increasing day by day because of its three unique
characteristics: (i) special distribution and use as a common pool resource, (ii) its
availability in all agroclimatic region and terrain condition, and (iii) drought—
proofing character of groundwater and its relative immunity to extreme events
under climate change scenario.
In view of its overexploitation in large parts of the country, quality deterioration
even in areas where they are available in plenty and rapidly increasing dependence
on this resource for food and drinking security has thrown open serious challenges
to all its stakeholders—the management of this resource in a sustainable manner.
Sustainable management of this hidden resource is only possible when we have a
comprehensive understanding of the system, both on a sound scientific under-
standing and social-economic prospective. The selected 21 papers from the Bhujal
Manthan-2015, the largest groundwater discussion platform in India, organized by
CGWB, embodies the groundwater issues of India. The papers extend valuable
thoughts which would be useful for laying the road map for sustainable manage-
ment of this resource. This volume will immensely benefit the researcher, policy
makers, academia, and the stakeholders in understanding the various facts of this
resource.
Groundwater Resources and Sustainable Management Issues in India 11

References

Banerjee DM, Mukherjee A, Acharya SK, Chatterjee D, Mahanta C, Saha D, Kumar S, Singh M,
Sarkar A, Dubey CS, Shukla D, Raju NJ (2012) Contemporary groundwater pollution studies
in India: a review, Proc Ind Nat Sci Acad 78(3)
CGWB (2016) Dynamic groundwater resources of India. www.cgwb.gov.in
Foster S, van Steenbergen F, Zuleta J, Garduno H (2010) Conjunctive use of ground water and
surface water: from spontaneous coping strategy to adaptive resource management.
GW-MATE strategic overview series 2. World Bank, Washington
Gleeson T, Befus KM, Jasechko S, Luijendijk E, Bayani Cardenas M (2016) The global volume
and distribution of modern groundwater. Nat Geosci 9:161–167. doi:10.1038/NGEO2590
Mukherjee A, Gupta A, Ray RK, Tewari D (2015a) Aquifer response to recharge—discharge
phenomenon: inference from well hydrographs for genetic classification. J Appl Water Sci.
doi:10.1007/s13201-015-0293-z
Mukherjee A, Saha D, Harvey CF, Taylor RG, Ahmed KM, Bhanja SN (2015b) Groundwater
systems of the Indian Sub-Continent. J Hydrol Reg Stud. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ejrh.2015.
03.005
NGWA (2016) Facts about global groundwater usage. Compiled by the Ground Water Association.
http://www.ngwa.org/Fundamentals/Documents/global-groundwater-use-fact-sheet.pdf
Saha D (2009) Arsenic groundwater contamination in parts of Middle Ganga Plain, Bihar. Curr Sci
97(6)
Saha D, Sahu S (2015) A decade of investigations on groundwater arsenic contamination in
Middle Ganga Plain, India. Environ Geochem Health. doi:10.1007/s10653-015-9730-z
Saha D, Sarangam H, Diwedi SN, Bhartariya KJ (2009) Evaluation of hydrochemical processes in
the arsenic contaminated alluvial aquifers in parts of Mid-Ganga basin, Bihar, India. Environ
Earth Sci. doi:10.1007/s12665-009-0392-y
Saha D, Sinha UK, Dwivedi SN (2011) Characterization of recharge processes in shallow and
deeper aquifers using isotopic signatures and geochemical behavior of groundwater in an
arsenic-enriched part of the Ganga Plain. Appl Geochem. doi:10.1016/j.apgeochem.2011.01.
003
Saha D, Dwivedi SN, Roy GK, Reddy DV (2013) Isotope-based investigation on the groundwater
flow and recharge mechanism in a hard-rock aquifer system: the case of Ranchi urban area,
India. Hydrogeol J. doi:10.1007/s10040-013-0974-3
Fluoride Contamination in Groundwater:
A Pilot Study on Dug Well Recharge
System for In situ Mitigation

L. Elango and G. Jagadeshan

Abstract Dissolved ions concentration in groundwater beyond the recommended

limits is a major problem as they make the water unsuitable for drinking purpose.
Fluorine commonly found in certain rocks is released into groundwater due to the
processes of rock–water interaction. This leads to increase in the concentration of
fluoride in groundwater which is a major problem in several parts of the world
including India. Presence of fluoride beyond the prescribed limits causes health
problems to humans due to prolonged consumption of water, which is common in
many parts of India. Dental and skeletal fluorosis is observed due to prolonged
drinking of water with fluoride concentration above 1.5 mg/l. The objective of the
study is to know how fluoride get released from the host rock and spot out suitable
location for installing a dug well recharge system to decrease the fluoride con-
centration in groundwater. Several methodologies exist for in situ or exsitu removal
of fluoride from groundwater. Exsitu methods can be enforced at community level
or even at household level for the reduction of fluoride before its consumption,
through ion exchange, reverse osmosis, adsorption, electrodialysis, coagulation,
Nalgonda technique, electrodialysis, coagulation, precipitation, etc. Even artificial
recharging structures can also be built in suitable location for diluting fluorite
concentration in groundwater. Rainwater harvesting is also found effective to
reduce the fluoride concentration of groundwater in existing wells. A pilot study
was carried out by construction of a dug well recharge system in Dharmapuri
district, Tamil Nadu, India. The study successfully demonstrated the applicability of
dug well recharge system at a carefully selected site based on the systematic
long-term hydrogeochemical studies to solve the problem of fluoride contamination
affecting millions of rural people.

Keywords Groundwater Fluoride contamination
Rainwater harvesting


Hard rock aquifers Geogenic contamination

L. Elango (&)
G. Jagadeshan

Department of Geology, Anna University, Chennai 600025, India
e-mail: elango34@hotmail.com

© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2018 13

D. Saha et al. (eds.), Clean and Sustainable Groundwater in India,
Springer Hydrogeology, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-4552-3_2
14 L. Elango and G. Jagadeshan

1 Introduction

Geogenic and anthropogenic contamination may make groundwater unsuitable for

various uses including its use as drinking water. Consumption of such water may
cause many health problems. Presence of fluoride, arsenic, and iron above rec-
ommended limits is found in groundwater due to geogenic contamination in many
parts of India and world (Mukherjee et al. 2015). Release of arsenic from
arseno-pyrite minerals is responsible for higher concentration of arsenic in
groundwater of Bengal basin (Farooq et al. 2011; Saha 2009). As about 80% of
rural population of India depends on the use of groundwater for domestic use, the
water needs to be treated before it is used for drinking purpose. The initial con-
centration of fluorite, occurrence and removal of co-contaminants, and disposal of
sludge, etc., decide treatment methods of water to be treated (Brindha et al. 2016).
Bhagavan and Raghu (2005) studied the effect of increase in recharge by check
dams, and Pettanati et al. (2014) highlighted the use of percolation ponds in regions
with fluoride problem in groundwater. Some studies have also indicated an increase
in fluoride concentration in groundwater during the process of recharge when check
dams are constructed (Bhagavan and Raghu 2005). Thus, contradicting findings are
also observed from recharge for in situ mitigation of fluoride concentration (Brindha
et al. 2016). Hence, it is essential to reveal the release mechanism of fluoride during
the process of recharge based on a long-term temporal variation in fluorite con-
centration and in the level of groundwater in the area. The objective of this study is
to understand the release processes of fluoride and identify a suitable location for
construction of dug well recharge system in the area for reducing the concentration
of fluoride in groundwater to an acceptable level. This pilot study was carried out in
Dharmapuri district, Tamil Nadu (Fig. 1), where about 72,000 out of about 190,000
school students were found having dental fluorosis (UNICEF 2009).

Fig. 1 Location map of study area and sampling wells

Fluoride Contamination in Groundwater … 15

2 Methodology

Systematic investigation during June 2011 helped in identifying 44 key monitoring

well to represent the area (Fig. 1). These key wells were used to collect bimonthly
groundwater level and water sample between June 2011 and August 2014. Largely,
the key wells are >30 m in depth and are utilized for obtaining drinking and
agricultural water. Water level indicators (Solinist) were used to collect water level
data. Pre-washed and treated 1000-ml capacity clean polyethylene bottles were used
to collect groundwater samples after rinsed with sample. Merck 0.22-lm filter paper
(Merck 755004722) were used to filter the samples before collection. To know the
in situ temperature, EC and pH of the groundwater in field portable digital meter
(YSI 556MPS) were used. Total dissolved solids (TDS) were obtained using
EC = TDS/0.64 (Carroll 1962). Aquamerck (1.11109.0001) test kit was used to
measure CO32− and HCO3− in the field itself. Ion chromatograph (Metrohm 861)
was used for measuring the concentrations of Na+, K+, Ca2+, Mg2+, Cl−, F−, NO3−,
and SO42− of samples in the laboratory. The concentration of silica was determined
by using spectrophotometer (Systronics 201) for the groundwater samples collects
in August 2014. Batch test experiment’s results were obtained to know the fluoride
release processes from the rocks/soil, at laboratory.

3 Sources of Fluoride in Groundwater

Fluoride-bearing minerals are common in nature; therefore, contamination of

fluorite is vast. Sometime it is intensive and became alarming in many places. The
permissible range for fluoride in drinking water as per the Bureau of Indian
Standards (BIS 2012) is from 0.6 to 1.5 mg/l. A desired concentration of fluoride in
drinking water is favorable to determine the physiological activities in human
bodies, whereas the consumption of fluoride above or below the permissible limits
may cause health problems such as fluorosis of dental and skeletal structure. In
India, northwestern and southern states are severely affected with fluorosis
(Agarwal et al. 1997; Ali et al. 2016). Weathering of rocks rich in fluoride is the
common natural cause for the fluoride in groundwater. The marine sediments and
sediments of foothill areas (WHO 2002; Fawell et al. 2006), as well as marginal
alluvial terrain of the Gangetic Plains (Saha et al. 2008; Saha and Alam 2014), are
more vulnerable for water with high concentration of fluoride. Fluorine occurs
naturally in igneous and sedimentary rocks. Common fluoride minerals are sellaite,
fluorite or fluorspar, cryolite, fluorapatite, apatite, topaz, phlogopite, biotite, epi-
dote, tremolite and hornblende, mica, clays, villuanite, and phosphorite (Brindha
and Elango 2011; Haidouti 1991; Gaumat et al. 1992; Gaciri and Davies 1993;
Kundu et al. 2001). Nalgonda district, Andhra Pradesh, known for its fluorite
16 L. Elango and G. Jagadeshan

contamination is due to the inherent fluoride-rich granitic rocks. The fluoride

content in granitic rocks in Nalgonda district varies from 325 to 3200 mg/kg with a
mean of 1440 mg/kg. Thus, the Nalgonda granites having higher fluoride content
than world granite, where it occurs average 810 mg/kg (Brindha and Elango 2011),
whereas in Hyderabad granites, it is estimated 910 mg/kg (Brindha and Elango
2011; Ramamohana Rao et al. 1993). However, groundwater in northeastern dis-
tricts of Tamil Nadu has high fluoride because of their fluoride-rich mineral such as
epidote, hornblende, biotite, apatite, carbonatite, mica, and fluorapatite (Jagadeshan
2015; Jagadeshan et al. 2015a, b; Brindha et al. 2016). Jagadeshan et al. (2015b)
carried out a study of rocks of Vaniyar river basin in Dharmapuri district, Tamil
Nadu, to understand the mineralogical composition. He made thin sections of the
charnockite and epidote hornblende biotite gneiss rocks (Fig. 2), where plagioclase,
hypersthene, biotite, quartz, hornblende, orthoclase, and muscovite opaque (prob-
ably iron oxide) were the major minerals. Biotite which consists of fluorine was also
identified in charnockite rock.

Fig. 2 Geological map of the study area and thin section photographs (X5 magnification, field of
view 2500 µm wide, plan polarized illumination) showing quartz (Qt), plagioclase (PI), epidote
(Ep), biotite (Bi), hypersthene (Op), hornblende (Hb), pyroxene, and other opaque minerals (Op) in
epidote hornblende gneiss (left) and charnockite (right)
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
his friends in his increasing ability and his manlier tone. I have heard
that some of his political friends tax him with indolence or negligence
in refusing to make electioneering speeches, or otherwise to bear his
part in the labor which party organization requires. I say it to his
honor. But more to his honor are the faults which his enemies lay to
his charge. I think, sir, if Mr. Sumner had any vices, we should be
likely to hear of them. They have fastened their eyes like
microscopes for five years on every act, word, manner and
movement, to find a flaw,—and with what result? His opponents
accuse him neither of drunkenness nor debauchery, nor job, nor
speculation, nor rapacity, nor personal aims of any kind. No; but with
what? Why, beyond this charge, which it is impossible was ever
sincerely made, that he broke over the proprieties of debate, I find
him accused of publishing his opinion of the Nebraska conspiracy in
a letter to the people of the United States, with discourtesy. Then,
that he is an abolitionist; as if every sane human being were not an
abolitionist, or a believer that all men should be free. And the third
crime he stands charged with, is, that his speeches were written
before they were spoken; which, of course, must be true in Sumner’s
case, as it was true of Webster, of Adams, of Calhoun, of Burke, of
Chatham, of Demosthenes; of every first-rate speaker that ever
lived. It is the high compliment he pays to the intelligence of the
Senate and of the country. When the same reproach was cast on the
first orator of ancient times by some caviller of his day, he said, “I
should be ashamed to come with one unconsidered word before
such an assembly.” Mr. Chairman, when I think of these most small
faults as the worst which party hatred could allege, I think I may
borrow the language which Bishop Burnet applied to Sir Isaac
Newton, and say that Charles Sumner “has the whitest soul I ever
knew.”
Well, sir, this noble head, so comely and so wise, must be the
target for a pair of bullies to beat with clubs. The murderer’s brand
shall stamp their foreheads wherever they may wander in the earth.
But I wish, sir, that the high respects of this meeting shall be
expressed to Mr. Sumner; that a copy of the resolutions that have
been read may be forwarded to him. I wish that he may know the
shudder of terror which ran through all this community on the first
tidings of this brutal attack. Let him hear that every man of worth in
New England loves his virtues; that every mother thinks of him as
the protector of families; that every friend of freedom thinks him the
friend of freedom. And if our arms at this distance cannot defend him
from assassins, we confide the defence of a life so precious to all
honorable men and true patriots, and to the Almighty Maker of men.
[149]
 IX
SPEECH

AT THE KANSAS RELIEF MEETING IN

CAMBRIDGE WEDNESDAY EVENING,
SEPTEMBER 10, 1856

And ye shall succor men;

’Tis nobleness to serve;
Help them who cannot help again:
Beware from right to swerve.

SPEECH ON AFFAIRS IN KANSAS

I regret, with all this company, the absence of Mr. Whitman of
Kansas, whose narrative was to constitute the interest of this
meeting. Mr. Whitman is not here; but knowing, as we all do, why he
is not, what duties kept him at home, he is more than present. His
vacant chair speaks for him. For quite other reasons, I had been
wiser to have stayed at home, unskilled as I am to address a political
meeting, but it is impossible for the most recluse to extricate himself
from the questions of the times.
There is this peculiarity about the case of Kansas, that all the right
is on one side. We hear the screams of hunted wives and children
answered by the howl of the butchers. The testimony of the
telegraphs from St. Louis and the border confirm the worst details.
The printed letters of border ruffians avow the facts. When pressed
to look at the cause of the mischief in the Kansas laws, the President
falters and declines the discussion; but his supporters in the Senate,
Mr. Cass, Mr. Geyer, Mr. Hunter, speak out, and declare the
intolerable atrocity of the code. It is a maxim that all party spirit
produces the incapacity to receive natural impressions from facts;
and our recent political history has abundantly borne out the maxim.
But these details that have come from Kansas are so horrible, that
the hostile press have but one word in reply, namely, that it is all
exaggeration, ’tis an Abolition lie. Do the Committee of Investigation
say that the outrages have been overstated? Does their dismal
catalogue of private tragedies show it? Do the private letters? Is it an
exaggeration, that Mr. Hopps of Somerville, Mr. Hoyt of Deerfield, Mr.
Jennison of Groton, Mr. Phillips of Berkshire, have been murdered?
That Mr. Robinson of Fitchburg has been imprisoned? Rev. Mr. Nute
of Springfield seized, and up to this time we have no tidings of his
fate?
In these calamities under which they suffer, and the worst which
threaten them, the people of Kansas ask for bread, clothes, arms
and men, to save them alive, and enable them to stand against
these enemies of the human race. They have a right to be helped,
for they have helped themselves.
This aid must be sent, and this is not to be doled out as an
ordinary charity; but bestowed up to the magnitude of the want, and,
as has been elsewhere said, “on the scale of a national action.” I
think we are to give largely, lavishly, to these men. And we must
prepare to do it. We must learn to do with less, live in a smaller
tenement, sell our apple-trees, our acres, our pleasant houses. I
know people who are making haste to reduce their expenses and
pay their debts, not with a view to new accumulations, but in
preparation to save and earn for the benefit of the Kansas emigrants.
We must have aid from individuals,—we must also have aid from
the state. I know that the last legislature refused that aid. I know that
lawyers hesitate on technical grounds, and wonder what method of
relief the legislature will apply. But I submit that, in a case like this,
where citizens of Massachusetts, legal voters here, have emigrated
to national territory under the sanction of every law, and are then set
on by highwaymen, driven from their new homes, pillaged, and
numbers of them killed and scalped, and the whole world knows that
this is no accidental brawl, but a systematic war to the knife, and in
defiance of all laws and liberties,—I submit that the governor and
legislature should neither slumber nor sleep till they have found out
how to send effectual aid and comfort to these poor farmers, or else
should resign their seats to those who can. But first let them hang
the halls of the state-house with black crape, and order funeral
service to be said for the citizens whom they were unable to defend.
We stick at the technical difficulties. I think there never was a
people so choked and stultified by forms. We adore the forms of law,
instead of making them vehicles of wisdom and justice. I like the
primary assembly. I own I have little esteem for governments. I
esteem them only good in the moment when they are established. I
set the private man first. He only who is able to stand alone is
qualified to be a citizen. Next to the private man, I value the primary
assembly, met to watch the government and to correct it. That is the
theory of the American State, that it exists to execute the will of the
citizens, is always responsible to them, and is always to be changed
when it does not. First, the private citizen, then the primary
assembly, and the government last.
In this country for the last few years the government has been the
chief obstruction to the common weal. Who doubts that Kansas
would have been very well settled, if the United States had let it
alone? The government armed and led the ruffians against the poor
farmers. I do not know any story so gloomy as the politics of this
country for the last twenty years, centralizing ever more manifestly
round one spring, and that a vast crime, and ever more plainly, until
it is notorious that all promotion, power and policy are dictated from
one source,—illustrating the fatal effects of a false position to
demoralize legislation and put the best people always at a
disadvantage;—one crime always present, always to be varnished
over, to find fine names for; and we free statesmen, as accomplices
to the guilt, ever in the power of the grand offender.
Language has lost its meaning in the universal cant.
Representative Government is really misrepresentative; Union is a
conspiracy against the Northern States which the Northern States
are to have the privilege of paying for; the adding of Cuba and
Central America to the slave marts is enlarging the area of Freedom.
Manifest Destiny, Democracy, Freedom, fine names for an ugly
thing. They call it otto of rose and lavender,—I call it bilge-water.
They call it Chivalry and Freedom; I call it the stealing all the
earnings of a poor man and the earnings of his little girl and boy, and
the earnings of all that shall come from him, his children’s children
forever.
But this is Union, and this is Democracy; and our poor people, led
by the nose by these fine words, dance and sing, ring bells and fire
cannon, with every new link of the chain which is forged for their
limbs by the plotters in the Capitol.
What are the results of law and union? There is no Union. Can any
citizen of Massachusetts travel in honor through Kentucky and
Alabama and speak his mind? Or can any citizen of the Southern
country who happens to think kidnapping a bad thing, say so? Let
Mr. Underwood of Virginia answer. Is it to be supposed that there are
no men in Carolina who dissent from the popular sentiment now
reigning there? It must happen, in the variety of human opinions, that
there are dissenters. They are silent as the grave. Are there no
women in that country,—women, who always carry the conscience of
a people? Yet we have not heard one discordant whisper.
In the free states, we give a snivelling support to slavery. The
judges give cowardly interpretations to the law, in direct opposition to
the known foundation of all law, that every immoral statute is void.
And here of Kansas, the President says: “Let the complainants go to
the courts;” though he knows that when the poor plundered farmer
comes to the court, he finds the ringleader who has robbed him
dismounting from his own horse, and unbuckling his knife to sit as
his judge.
The President told the Kansas Committee that the whole difficulty
grew from “the factious spirit of the Kansas people respecting
institutions which they need not have concerned themselves about.”
A very remarkable speech from a Democratic President to his fellow
citizens, that they are not to concern themselves with institutions
which they alone are to create and determine. The President is a
lawyer, and should know the statutes of the land. But I borrow the
language of an eminent man, used long since, with far less occasion:
“If that be law, let the ploughshare be run under the foundations of
the Capitol;”—and if that be Government, extirpation is the only cure.
I am glad to see that the terror at disunion and anarchy is
disappearing. Massachusetts, in its heroic day, had no government
—was an anarchy. Every man stood on his own feet, was his own
governor; and there was no breach of peace from Cape Cod to
Mount Hoosac. California, a few years ago, by the testimony of all
people at that time in the country, had the best government that ever
existed. Pans of gold lay drying outside of every man’s tent, in
perfect security. The land was measured into little strips of a few feet
wide, all side by side. A bit of ground that your hand could cover was
worth one or two hundred dollars, on the edge of your strip; and
there was no dispute. Every man throughout the country was armed
with knife and revolver, and it was known that instant justice would
be administered to each offence, and perfect peace reigned. For the
Saxon man, when he is well awake, is not a pirate but a citizen, all
made of hooks and eyes, and links himself naturally to his brothers,
as bees hook themselves to one another and to their queen in a
loyal swarm.
But the hour is coming when the strongest will not be strong
enough. A harder task will the new revolution of the nineteenth
century be than was the revolution of the eighteenth century. I think
the American Revolution bought its glory cheap. If the problem was
new, it was simple. If there were few people, they were united, and
the enemy three thousand miles off. But now, vast property, gigantic
interests, family connections, webs of party, cover the land with a
network that immensely multiplies the dangers of war.[150]
Fellow citizens, in these times full of the fate of the Republic, I
think the towns should hold town meetings, and resolve themselves
into Committees of Safety, go into permanent sessions, adjourning
from week to week, from month to month. I wish we could send the
sergeant-at-arms to stop every American who is about to leave the
country. Send home every one who is abroad, lest they should find
no country to return to. Come home and stay at home, while there is
a country to save. When it is lost it will be time enough then for any
who are luckless enough to remain alive to gather up their clothes
and depart to some land where freedom exists.
 X
REMARKS

AT A MEETING FOR THE RELIEF OF THE FAMILY

OF JOHN BROWN, AT TREMONT TEMPLE,
BOSTON NOVEMBER 18, 1859

“John Brown in Kansas settled, like a steadfast Yankee farmer,

Brave and godly, with four sons—all stalwart men of might.
There he spoke aloud for Freedom, and the Border strife grew
warmer
Till the Rangers fired his dwelling, in his absence, in the night;
And Old Brown,
Osawatomie Brown,
Came homeward in the morning to find his house burned down.

Then he grasped his trusty rifle, and boldly fought for Freedom;
Smote from border unto border the fierce invading band:
And he and his brave boys vowed—so might Heaven help and
speed ’em—
They would save those grand old prairies from the curse that blights
the land;
And Old Brown,
Osawatomie Brown,
Said, ‘Boys, the Lord will aid us!’ and he shoved his ramrod down.”

Edmund Clarence Stedman, John Brown.

 JOHN BROWN
Mr. Chairman, and Fellow Citizens: I share the sympathy and
sorrow which have brought us together. Gentlemen who have
preceded me have well said that no wall of separation could here
exist. This commanding event which has brought us together,
eclipses all others which have occurred for a long time in our history,
and I am very glad to see that this sudden interest in the hero of
Harper’s Ferry has provoked an extreme curiosity in all parts of the
Republic, in regard to the details of his history. Every anecdote is
eagerly sought, and I do not wonder that gentlemen find traits of
relation readily between him and themselves. One finds a relation in
the church, another in the profession, another in the place of his
birth. He was happily a representative of the American Republic.
Captain John Brown is a farmer, the fifth in descent from Peter
Brown, who came to Plymouth in the Mayflower, in 1620. All the six
have been farmers. His grandfather, of Simsbury, in Connecticut,
was a captain in the Revolution. His father, largely interested as a
raiser of stock, became a contractor to supply the army with beef, in
the war of 1812, and our Captain John Brown, then a boy, with his
father was present and witnessed the surrender of General Hull. He
cherishes a great respect for his father, as a man of strong character,
and his respect is probably just. For himself, he is so transparent that
all men see him through. He is a man to make friends wherever on
earth courage and integrity are esteemed, the rarest of heroes, a
pure idealist, with no by-ends of his own. Many of you have seen
him, and every one who has heard him speak has been impressed
alike by his simple, artless goodness, joined with his sublime
courage. He joins that perfect Puritan faith which brought his fifth
ancestor to Plymouth Rock with his grandfather’s ardor in the
Revolution. He believes in two articles,—two instruments, shall I
say?—the Golden Rule and the Declaration of Independence; and
he used this expression in conversation here concerning them,
“Better that a whole generation of men, women and children should
pass away by a violent death than that one word of either should be
violated in this country.” There is a Unionist,—there is a strict
constructionist for you. He believes in the Union of the States, and
he conceives that the only obstruction to the Union is Slavery, and
for that reason, as a patriot, he works for its abolition. The governor
of Virginia has pronounced his eulogy in a manner that discredits the
moderation of our timid parties. His own speeches to the court have
interested the nation in him. What magnanimity, and what innocent
pleading, as of childhood! You remember his words: “If I had
interfered in behalf of the rich, the powerful, the intelligent, the so-
called great, or any of their friends, parents, wives or children, it
would all have been right. But I believe that to have interfered as I
have done, for the despised poor, was not wrong, but right.”[151]
It is easy to see what a favorite he will be with history, which plays
such pranks with temporary reputations. Nothing can resist the
sympathy which all elevated minds must feel with Brown, and
through them the whole civilized world; and if he must suffer, he
must drag official gentlemen into an immortality most undesirable, of
which they have already some disagreeable forebodings. Indeed, it
is the reductio ad absurdum of Slavery, when the governor of
Virginia is forced to hang a man whom he declares to be a man of
the most integrity, truthfulness and courage he has ever met. Is that
the kind of man the gallows is built for? It were bold to affirm that
there is within that broad commonwealth, at this moment, another
citizen as worthy to live, and as deserving of all public and private
honor, as this poor prisoner.[152]
But we are here to think of relief for the family of John Brown. To
my eyes, that family looks very large and very needy of relief. It
comprises his brave fellow sufferers in the Charlestown Jail; the
fugitives still hunted in the mountains of Virginia and Pennsylvania;
the sympathizers with him in all the states; and, I may say, almost
every man who loves the Golden Rule and the Declaration of
Independence, like him, and who sees what a tiger’s thirst threatens
him in the malignity of public sentiment in the slave states. It seems
to me that a common feeling joins the people of Massachusetts with
him.
I said John Brown was an idealist. He believed in his ideas to that
extent that he existed to put them all into action; he said ‘he did not
believe in moral suasion, he believed in putting the thing through.’
He saw how deceptive the forms are. We fancy, in Massachusetts,
that we are free; yet it seems the government is quite unreliable.
Great wealth, great population, men of talent in the executive, on the
bench,—all the forms right,—and yet, life and freedom are not safe.
Why? Because the judges rely on the forms, and do not, like John
Brown, use their eyes to see the fact behind the forms. They assume
that the United States can protect its witness or its prisoner. And in
Massachusetts that is true, but the moment he is carried out of the
bounds of Massachusetts, the United States, it is notorious, afford no
protection at all; the government, the judges, are an envenomed
party, and give such protection as they give in Utah to honest
citizens, or in Kansas; such protection as they gave to their own
Commodore Paulding, when he was simple enough to mistake the
formal instructions of his government for their real meaning.[153] The
state judges fear collision between their two allegiances; but there
are worse evils than collision; namely, the doing substantial injustice.
A good man will see that the use of a judge is to secure good
government, and where the citizen’s weal is imperilled by abuse of
the federal power, to use that arm which can secure it, viz., the local
government. Had that been done on certain calamitous occasions,
we should not have seen the honor of Massachusetts trailed in the
dust, stained to all ages, once and again, by the ill-timed formalism
of a venerable bench. If judges cannot find law enough to maintain
the sovereignty of the state, and to protect the life and freedom of
every inhabitant not a criminal, it is idle to compliment them as
learned and venerable. What avails their learning or veneration? At a
pinch, they are no more use than idiots. After the mischance they
wring their hands, but they had better never have been born.[154] A
Vermont judge, Hutchinson, who has the Declaration of
Independence in his heart; a Wisconsin judge, who knows that laws
are for the protection of citizens against kidnappers, is worth a court-
house full of lawyers so idolatrous of forms as to let go the
substance. Is any man in Massachusetts so simple as to believe that
when a United States Court in Virginia, now, in its present reign of
terror, sends to Connecticut, or New York, or Massachusetts, for a
witness, it wants him for a witness? No; it wants him for a party; it
wants him for meat to slaughter and eat. And your habeas corpus is,
in any way in which it has been, or, I fear, is likely to be used, a
nuisance, and not a protection; for it takes away his right reliance on
himself, and the natural assistance of his friends and fellow citizens,
by offering him a form which is a piece of paper.
But I am detaining the meeting on matters which others
understand better. I hope, then, that, in administering relief to John
Brown’s family, we shall remember all those whom his fate concerns,
all who are in sympathy with him, and not forget to aid him in the
best way, by securing freedom and independence in Massachusetts.
 XI
JOHN BROWN

SPEECH AT SALEM, JANUARY 6, 1860

“A man there came, whence none could tell,

Bearing a touchstone in his hand,
And tested all things in the land
By its unerring spell.

A thousand transformations rose

From fair to foul, from foul to fair:
The golden crown he did not spare,
Nor scorn the beggar’s clothes.

...

Then angrily the people cried,

‘The loss outweighs the profit far;
Our goods suffice us as they are:
We will not have them tried.’

And since they could not so avail

To check his unrelenting quest,
They seized him, saying, ‘Let him test
How real is our jail!’

But though they slew him with the sword,

And in the fire his touchstone burned,
Its doings could not be o’erturned,
Its undoings restored.
And when, to stop all future harm,
They strewed its ashes to the breeze,
They little guessed each grain of these
Conveyed the perfect charm.”

William Allingham.

JOHN BROWN
Mr. Chairman: I have been struck with one fact, that the best
orators who have added their praise to his fame,—and I need not go
out of this house to find the purest eloquence in the country,—have
one rival who comes off a little better, and that is John Brown.
Everything that is said of him leaves people a little dissatisfied; but
as soon as they read his own speeches and letters they are heartily
contented,—such is the singleness of purpose which justifies him to
the head and the heart of all. Taught by this experience, I mean, in
the few remarks I have to make, to cling to his history, or let him
speak for himself.
John Brown, the founder of liberty in Kansas, was born in
Torrington, Litchfield County, Connecticut, in 1800. When he was five
years old his father emigrated to Ohio, and the boy was there set to
keep sheep and to look after cattle and dress skins; he went
bareheaded and barefooted, and clothed in buckskin. He said that
he loved rough play, could never have rough play enough; could not
see a seedy hat without wishing to pull it off. But for this it needed
that the playmates should be equal; not one in fine clothes and the
other in buckskin; not one his own master, hale and hearty, and the
other watched and whipped. But it chanced that in Pennsylvania,
where he was sent by his father to collect cattle, he fell in with a boy
whom he heartily liked and whom he looked upon as his superior.
This boy was a slave; he saw him beaten with an iron shovel, and
otherwise maltreated; he saw that this boy had nothing better to look
forward to in life, whilst he himself was petted and made much of; for
he was much considered in the family where he then stayed, from
the circumstance that this boy of twelve years had conducted alone
a drove of cattle a hundred miles. But the colored boy had no friend,
and no future. This worked such indignation in him that he swore an
oath of resistance to slavery as long as he lived. And thus his
enterprise to go into Virginia and run off five hundred or a thousand
slaves was not a piece of spite or revenge, a plot of two years or of
twenty years, but the keeping of an oath made to heaven and earth
forty-seven years before. Forty-seven years at least, though I incline
to accept his own account of the matter at Charlestown, which
makes the date a little older, when he said, “This was all settled
millions of years before the world was made.”
He grew up a religious and manly person, in severe poverty; a fair
specimen of the best stock of New England; having that force of
thought and that sense of right which are the warp and woof of
greatness. Our farmers were Orthodox Calvinists, mighty in the
Scriptures; had learned that life was a preparation, a “probation,” to
use their word, for a higher world, and was to be spent in loving and
serving mankind.[155]
Thus was formed a romantic character absolutely without any
vulgar trait; living to ideal ends, without any mixture of self-
indulgence or compromise, such as lowers the value of benevolent
and thoughtful men we know; abstemious, refusing luxuries, not
sourly and reproachfully, but simply as unfit for his habit; quiet and
gentle as a child in the house. And, as happens usually to men of
romantic character, his fortunes were romantic. Walter Scott would
have delighted to draw his picture and trace his adventurous career.
A shepherd and herdsman, he learned the manners of animals, and
knew the secret signals by which animals communicate.[156] He
made his hard bed on the mountains with them; he learned to drive
his flock through thickets all but impassable; he had all the skill of a
shepherd by choice of breed and by wise husbandry to obtain the
best wool, and that for a course of years. And the anecdotes
preserved show a far-seeing skill and conduct which, in spite of
adverse accidents, should secure, one year with another, an honest
reward, first to the farmer, and afterwards to the dealer. If he kept
sheep, it was with a royal mind; and if he traded in wool, he was a
merchant prince, not in the amount of wealth, but in the protection of
the interests confided to him.
I am not a little surprised at the easy effrontery with which political
gentlemen, in and out of Congress, take it upon them to say that
there are not a thousand men in the North who sympathize with John
Brown. It would be far safer and nearer the truth to say that all
people, in proportion to their sensibility and self-respect, sympathize
with him. For it is impossible to see courage, and disinterestedness,
and the love that casts out fear, without sympathy. All women are
drawn to him by their predominance of sentiment. All gentlemen, of
course, are on his side. I do not mean by “gentlemen,” people of
scented hair and perfumed handkerchiefs, but men of gentle blood
and generosity, “fulfilled with all nobleness,” who, like the Cid, give
the outcast leper a share of their bed; like the dying Sidney, pass the
cup of cold water to the dying soldier who needs it more. For what is
the oath of gentle blood and knighthood? What but to protect the
weak and lowly against the strong oppressor?
Nothing is more absurd than to complain of this sympathy, or to
complain of a party of men united in opposition to slavery. As well
complain of gravity, or the ebb of the tide. Who makes the
abolitionist? The slave-holder. The sentiment of mercy is the natural
recoil which the laws of the universe provide to protect mankind from
destruction by savage passions. And our blind statesmen go up and
down, with committees of vigilance and safety, hunting for the origin
of this new heresy. They will need a very vigilant committee indeed
to find its birthplace, and a very strong force to root it out. For the
arch-abolitionist, older than Brown, and older than the Shenandoah
Mountains, is Love, whose other name is Justice, which was before
Alfred, before Lycurgus, before slavery, and will be after it.[157]
 XII
THEODORE PARKER

AN ADDRESS AT THE MEMORIAL MEETING AT

THE MUSIC HALL, BOSTON, JUNE 15, 1860

“Here comes Parker, the Orson of parsons, a man

Whom the Church undertook to put under her ban.—
...
There’s a background of God to each hard-working feature,
Every word that he speaks has been fierily furnaced
In the blast of a life that has struggled in earnest:
There he stands, looking more like a ploughman than priest,
If not dreadfully awkward, not graceful at least;
...
But his periods fall on you, stroke after stroke,
Like the blows of a lumberer felling an oak,
You forget the man wholly, you’re thankful to meet
With a preacher who smacks of the field and the street,
And to hear, you’re not over-particular whence,
Almost Taylor’s profusion, quite Latimer’s sense.”

—Lowell, A Fable for Critics.

THEODORE PARKER
At the death of a good and admirable person we meet to console
and animate each other by the recollection of his virtues.
 I have the feeling that every man’s biography is at his own
expense. He furnishes not only the facts but the report. I mean that
all biography is autobiography. It is only what he tells of himself that
comes to be known and believed. In Plutarch’s lives of Alexander
and Pericles, you have the secret whispers of their confidence to
their lovers and trusty friends. For it was each report of this kind that
impressed those to whom it was told in a manner to secure its being
told everywhere to the best, to those who speak with authority to
their own times and therefore to ours. For the political rule is a
cosmical rule, that if a man is not strong in his own district, he is not
a good candidate elsewhere.
He whose voice will not be heard here again could well afford to
tell his experiences; they were all honorable to him, and were part of
the history of the civil and religious liberty of his times. Theodore
Parker was a son of the soil, charged with the energy of New
England, strong, eager, inquisitive of knowledge, of a diligence that
never tired, upright, of a haughty independence, yet the gentlest of
companions; a man of study, fit for a man of the world; with decided
opinions and plenty of power to state them; rapidly pushing his
studies so far as to leave few men qualified to sit as his critics.[158]
He elected his part of duty, or accepted nobly that assigned him in
his rare constitution. Wonderful acquisition of knowledge, a rapid wit
that heard all, and welcomed all that came, by seeing its bearing.
Such was the largeness of his reception of facts and his skill to
employ them that it looked as if he were some president of council to
whom a score of telegraphs were ever bringing in reports; and his
information would have been excessive, but for the noble use he
made of it ever in the interest of humanity. He had a strong
understanding, a logical method, a love for facts, a rapid eye for their
historic relations, and a skill in stripping them of traditional lustres.
He had a sprightly fancy, and often amused himself with throwing his
meaning into pretty apologues; yet we can hardly ascribe to his mind
the poetic element, though his scholarship had made him a reader
and quoter of verses. A little more feeling of the poetic significance of
his facts would have disqualified him for some of his severer offices
to his generation. The old religions have a charm for most minds
which it is a little uncanny to disturb. ’Tis sometimes a question, shall
we not leave them to decay without rude shocks? I remember that I
found some harshness in his treatment both of Greek and of Hebrew
antiquity, and sympathized with the pain of many good people in his
auditory, whilst I acquitted him, of course, of any wish to be flippant.
He came at a time when, to the irresistible march of opinion, the
forms still retained by the most advanced sects showed loose and
lifeless, and he, with something less of affectionate attachment to the
old, or with more vigorous logic, rejected them. ’Tis objected to him
that he scattered too many illusions. Perhaps more tenderness
would have been graceful; but it is vain to charge him with perverting
the opinions of the new generation.
The opinions of men are organic. Simply, those came to him who
found themselves expressed by him. And had they not met this
enlightened mind, in which they beheld their own opinions combined
with zeal in every cause of love and humanity, they would have
suspected their opinions and suppressed them, and so sunk into
melancholy or malignity—a feeling of loneliness and hostility to what
was reckoned respectable. ’Tis plain to me that he has achieved a
historic immortality here; that he has so woven himself in these few
years into the history of Boston, that he can never be left out of your
annals. It will not be in the acts of city councils, nor of obsequious
mayors; nor, in the state-house, the proclamations of governors, with
their failing virtue—failing them at critical moments—that coming
generations will study what really befell; but in the plain lessons of
Theodore Parker in this Music Hall, in Faneuil Hall, or in legislative
committee rooms, that the true temper and authentic record of these
days will be read. The next generation will care little for the chances
of elections that govern governors now, it will care little for fine
gentlemen who behaved shabbily; but it will read very intelligently in
his rough story, fortified with exact anecdotes, precise with names
and dates, what part was taken by each actor; who threw himself
into the cause of humanity and came to the rescue of civilization at a
hard pinch, and who blocked its course.
The vice charged against America is the want of sincerity in
leading men. It does not lie at his door. He never kept back the truth