River of Stories is one of the first Indian graphic novels in English — created through the early 1990s, and published in 1994. Written and illustrated by Orijit Sen, the book emerged from his close involvement with the Narmada Bachao Andolan (Save Narmada Movement), a decades-long Indigenous protest movement against the construction of a series of mega dams in the Narmada River Valley) It weaves together two distinct narratives, juxtaposing two different worldviews of nature and humanity. One follows Vishnu, a young journalist from Delhi who travels to the Narmada Valley to report on the resistance movement, and the other taps into the mythologies of the indigenous Bhilala people of the region.

The mythical musician Malgu Gayan strums his rangai and sings of the creation of the river, characterizing his people as the ‘Children of Rewa’ (Rewa being the mythological name for the river). Vishnu’s story, meanwhile, documents an ecological disaster being visited on the hills, forests, and ancient habitations of the valley in the name of ‘development’ — driven by an ideology that views the river as a ‘resource’ to be exploited for short-term gains.

Graphically, Orijit depicts the contrast through different art styles. The contemporary world of Vishnu is done in a linear, hard-edged pen-and-ink illustrative style, while the more mythical sequences take on a heavily shaded, tonally rich, painterly aesthetic. As the story progresses and the narratives intersect and flow into each other, the two styles also begin to meld together. The end is both surprising and poignant.