Meghalaya’s living root bridges, known locally as Jingkieng Jri, have entered UNESCO’s Tentative List, bringing international attention to a generations-old construction tradition developed by the Khasi and Jaintia communities. India submitted the proposal on 17 February 2022, covering both the bridges and the cultural landscape associated with their creation and maintenance.
Unlike conventional bridges built with concrete, steel or stone, these structures are shaped from the living roots of Ficus elastica, commonly known as the Indian rubber tree. The roots are guided across streams and rivers in the required direction and gradually joined together to form a crossing.
In the early stages, bamboo or hollowed betel-nut tree trunks are used to guide the roots. As the roots grow thicker and stronger, stones, steps and railings can be added to make the bridge more usable. Depending on the structure and the care it receives, a bridge can take between 25 and 40 years to become functional, with some larger crossings requiring even longer periods and continuous maintenance by successive generations.
The bridges have supported village-to-village movement in Meghalaya’s high-rainfall and difficult hill terrain. More than 100 living root bridges are estimated to exist in the state, with some built in a double-decker form. The best-known examples are associated with the Sohra, or Cherrapunji, region, where the landscape’s steep terrain and heavy rainfall have historically made conventional connectivity difficult.
The tradition represents more than a method of crossing a stream. Its survival depends on long-term community knowledge: selecting and training suitable tree roots, maintaining the growing structure and passing the practice from one generation to the next. The UNESCO proposal therefore presents the bridges as part of a cultural landscape rather than as isolated pieces of infrastructure.
Living root bridges are also found in other parts of India, including Nagaland, and in parts of Indonesia. Root-based bridges have been associated with communities in Sumatra and Java, but Meghalaya is recognised in the report as the region most widely known for an extensive and continuing intergenerational tradition of this kind.
The conservation effort has also received national recognition. In May this year, 69-year-old Hailey War, a farmer and environmentalist from Siej village in Sohra who has dedicated his life to building and preserving root bridges, was awarded the Padma Shri by President Droupadi Murmu. The bridges’ inclusion in the Tentative List now places their documentation, conservation and cultural significance within a wider heritage process.
