India’s miracle bridges: Living bridges印度奇迹之桥：活根桥

Katie Hunt

印度卡西族的先民创造了不会腐朽的活根桥。这些桥是用活树的气生根人工编制而成的，随着时间的推移，成熟的气生根会长出新的气生根，桥也会变得越来越坚固。

In the mountainous state of Meghalayain India lives a truly fascinating phenomenon—living bridges. These suspensionbridges have been cultivated （培育）over many years.

The bridges over rivers are essentialfor local people. They allow people living inthese isolated areas to travel. Without thebridges， access to essential services， medicaltreatment and school education wouldbe extremely difficult. Villagers are alsoable to use the bridges to travel to differentareas to buy and sell products. The bridgesare made from the aerial roots（氣生根）ofliving banyan fig trees， which are thentwisted（扭曲）into shape. In this mountainousnortheastern region， over 100 bridgeshave been created in 70 villages.

Building roads in these regions is notpossible. This is due to the terrain（地形）being mountainous， with dense jungle andwaterfalls making any kind of permanentroad structures impossible. This is wherecreating living bridges， using the naturalresources of the area， is the most practicaloption.

Unlike conventional bridges， the Indianliving bridges grow stronger withtime. When they were first constructed，these bridges only allowed 15 to 20 peopleto cross a day. After many years， the rootshave strengthened， and can hold upwardsof 50 people in one day. Some bridges areestimated to be more than 500 years old.

Khasi people had a practical outlookand created a culture which was unique，sustainable and ecofriendly.Inheriting aculture deeply rooted in the environment，the people developed a living architecturethat was found nowhere else in terms of itsapplication and philosophy.

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