As the river flows
There’s no English word that’s equivalent to the Hindi word shraddha, someone once told me. Faith, devotion, surrender — all come close but don’t capture the essence of the word.
This conversation of a few years ago came to mind when we were driving up to Amarkantak, the origin of the river Narmada. Along the road, we spotted small groups pilgrims making the arduous Narmada Parikrama.
The Narmada is a large river in India that originates in Madhya Pradesh near the border with Chattisgarh. It flows westward through Madhya Pradesh, enters Gujarat and finally meets the Arabian sea at the Gulf of Khambath.
Like most large rivers in India, myths flow along with the waters.
There are a few mythological stories around the origin of the Narmada, but the popular local one is that as a young river, she approached a local chieftain at Amarkantak as a young girl. He promised to take care of her. When she reached marriageable age, she was betrothed to a nearby male river called Sonbhadra. Her fiancé was on his way to the marriage function when Narmada’s sister, Johila, asked if she could go see where the groom had reached. Narmada agreed, and Johila set off to meet the groom. But since she was also dressed in bridal finery, Sonbhadra fell in love with her and decided to marry her instead.
When she got to know this, Narmada was furious, and vowed to remain a kanya (single) all her life.
On visiting Amarkantak, one can still see the origin points of the different rivers. Sonbhadra flows eastward and meets the Johila much later down his path. But Narmada flows westward, never meeting the other two.
We may scoff at the myths and stories, but many have shraddha in these, especially from villages in Madhya Pradesh. The parikrama is their homage to the river.
The Narmada Parikrama starts at the mouth of the river near the Gulf of Khambath. Pilgrims collect water from there and walk along one side of the river till the origin, then traverse the roads on the other side. After reaching the mouth, they then proceed to a temple at Maheshwar and offer water to Lord Shiva and complete the pilgrimage. As per the rules, they would not cross the river anywhere along the path. Rather than start at the mouth, the pilgrims could also start at any point along the river.
As per locals, the parikrama takes 3 years, 3 months and 13 days on foot for the entire course, which spans over 2600km in total. Pilgrims are expected to dress in simple white or yellow garments and not carry any money or belongings (and no cellphones). They live off the generosity of those they meet along the way. Both food and shelter are to be accepted only when willingly given.
It’s amazing that even today, thousands of pilgrims do the parikrama every year. For those interested in reading more, here’s a first-hand account of the first few days of the Parikrama by Juhin Mehta, who walked for 40 days on the parikrama.
As we drove along, I wondered if the faith behind the parikrama was one of the reasons the Narmada appears cleaner than the other large rivers in India.
Amarkantak, in addition to the kund (water tank) where the Narmada originates, has a set of interesting temples.
From online pictures, the most interesting seemed to be the Sri Yantra temple. However, on reaching there, we realized the temple construction was stalled after the previous priest passed away. Currently, only the ornate gate that has a huge sculpture on top with the faces of four Hindu Goddesses Kali, Saraswati, Bhuvaneswari and Laksmi on each side is complete.
Like with many other temples at MP, monkeys abound and frolic amongst the various statues.
The Narmada flows out of Amarkantak through the Kapildhara falls.
Amarkantak also has the interesting set of temples built during the Kalachuri period, dating back a thousand years. The temples currently are preserved well, but like many other historical locations in India, there are no trained guides or audio-guides explaining their history.
Chief amongst the temples are a bunch of 5 temples set closely together on a parapet called the Panch Pandav temples.
The Narmada flows rather sedately from Amarkantak till she hits the Dhuandhar falls at Bhedaghat near Jabalpur falls, so called because the water rises like mist.
The Narmada flows on through the amazing Marble Rocks at Bhedaghat, best experienced on a boat ride.
We parted ways with the river to explore the other spots nearby.
Amongst the most interesting was the Chausat Yogini temple at Bhedaghat.
The Chausat (64 in Hindi) Yogini temples bear witness to a forgotten strand of history. Originally, these were forest divine beings whom the local tribals worshipped. They later were absorbed into the Tantric arm of Hinduism, before becoming a part of mainstream Shaivite culture.
The temple construction is unique. It has a circular periphery containing the different Yoginis. At the center of the courtyard is a temple dedicated to Shiva.
We visited the temple at dusk. Though many of the statues of the Yoginis were damaged, a temple priest began lighting a small diya in front of each.
One can only wonder how amazing the temple would have been in its heyday.
As we drove onwards from Bhedaghat, I wondered if these age-old practices would succumb to modernity. Or would these practices that have evolved over thousands of years survive? As a local said, all depends on the villagers nearby. If they continue treating the parikrama as sacrosanct, the practice will survive.
Other articles from the MP trip:
- The one before the Taj Mahal — a view of the magnificent Marble tomb of Hoshang Shah at Mandu
- Project: Tiger — all about our experience of spotting a tiger
- Mandu- one for folklore
