The Narmada originates from Amarkantak in the Mekal hills, an extension of the Satpuras on the MP-Chhattisgarh border, from a small source known as the ‘Narmada-Kund. At the ‘Narmada-Kund’ there are several small temples, prominent among them being those of Narmada Devi and Amarkanteshwar Mahadev.The Mekal hills actually form a link between the Vindhyas and the Satpuras
Narmada Kund Temple Complex at Amarkantak
on the eastern side. From the same hills, at a nearby place called Sonmudha, originates the river Son that flows through north-eastern Madhya Pradesh and eventually merges with the Ganga. Not too many people know that Son is the second longest tributary of Ganga, a little shorter in length than Yamuna. In Uttar Pradesh the district of Sonbhadra is named after Son and it is the only district in the country bordering four different states. Son, in its later career becomes very wide, and has one of the longest railway bridges in the country near ‘Dehri on Son’ in Bihar. There is a legend that Narmada and Son (who is considered a ‘Nad’ – a male river) got estranged and Narmada summarily parted ways with the latter and flowed in the opposite direction agreeably ensconced in her eternal maidenhood.
Though Amarkantak is located in MP, most people approach it through Chhattisgarh, from Bilaspur (a distance of 120 km) or the railway station of Pendra Road, 30 km away. Amarkantak had been referred to as Amrakoot by Kalidas in his ‘Meghdoot.’ it is an area of deep forests and is located at a height of about 3500 feet above sea level. There are a number of Ashramas in the area – the most prominent among them being ‘Kalyan Seva Ashrama’ started by Shri Kalyandasji Maharaj who has lived and practised Tapasya in Amarkantak area for around six decades. It serves a large number of Sadhus, Parikramavasis, and general pilgrims. Other major ashramas include the Turiya Ashrama, Barfani Ashrama, Mritunjay Ashrama, and Sri Ramakrishna Kutir. There is also a very old Gurudwara in the area and a thousand year old temple complex, under the administration of the Archaeological Survey of India, just behind the main complex of temples at the Narmada-Kund. This complex had been built during various times – chiefly during the Kalchuri era by their ruler Karnadev, and also by Baghel and Gond rulers. Their is a water body called ‘Suraj Kund’ said to have been built at the behest of Sri Adi Sankaracharya.
Eleventh Century temple complex during Kalchuri Era at Amarkantak
Recently a complex of Jain temples has also been built.
As Narmada exits the temple complex, there is sizeable water body known as Kabir Sarovar. Amarkantak preserves its old charm and its deep forests and hills steeply sloping on other sides offer a very pleasant view. There is another place called ‘Mai ka Bagicha’ and some say that this spot is the origin of Narmada. There is also a place called ‘Bhrigu Kamandal’ at Chhatisgarh border.
A few hotels, dharmashalas too are there, including a resort run by the MP State Tourism Corporation.
About 20 km away from Amarkantak, has come up a large campus of a Central University – Indira Gandhi National Tribal University. It is the second Central University in Madhya Pradesh – the first being the historic University at Sagar founded by an illustrious son of Madhya Pradesh, Dr. Hari Singh Gaur who was a great legal luminary and philanthropist and created this university by donating a huge chunk of his personal wealth.
Of late, there have been serious environmental concerns about the Amarkantak region. Its underground water table has been on continuous depletion and forest cover endangered. Much more at risk is the source of Narmada itself as it is chiefly the underground water that surfaces and slowly flows down in form of a very narrow stream. However, the authorities have now taken a sterner watch and no new construction is being permitted in the area.
Kapildhara – the first waterfall on Narmada
The initial stream is so thin that looking at it at that spot, one would hardly fancy that this stream will surmount all obstacles and reach the sea crossing almost half of the width of the Indian sub-continent. But that is the marvel that Narmada always is. The infant-river channel flows and falls after about 6 kilometres, and this first waterfall is known as Kapildhara. It is said that Rishi Kapil, the great philosopher of the Sankhya system of philosophy lived here. This is the first fall – the river falling about 100 feet – among the numerous ones which would follow in its course. Very soon one comes across another fall known as the ‘Doodhdhara.’ This is a very difficult terrain and a steep descent full of dense forests and an area of great deprivation with some of the poorest Indian communities living here.
Amarkantak is in Pushprajgarph tehsil of Anuppur district In Madhya Pradesh. The district headquarter of Pushprajgarh tehsil is called Rajendragram and it us said to have been named in honour of Dr Rajendra Prasad who had visited Amarkantak and took a bullock-cart ride from here. Pushprajgarh itself was named after a scion of the Rewa Royal family in which Amarkantak came.
During the bifurcation of Madhya Pradesh at the turn of the last century, the people and leadership of the separately carved out Chhattisgarh forcefully lay their claims on Amarkantak and resented this special place being given to the other side of the divide – the curtailed Madhya Pradesh. To lay any such claims to rest the Survey of India had to intervene and old maps produced that indicated that Amarkantak and whole of Shahdol district was historically part of the Rewa State even before independence and since Shahdol and entire Rewa State districts were to remain in the curtailed MP, there was no case for Amarkantak to be given to Chhattisgarh.
Through Dindori and Mandla
On the southern banks is the Dindori district. There are places of significance like Bheemkundi, Seoni Sangam, and Chandanghat before the river reaches Dindori town, headquarter of the Dindori district, some 85 kilometres downstream.
Chandanghat, 60 km from Amarkantak, is one of the first places with small but beautiful Ghats on both sides. Also before Dindori come two more places of significance. A place called Kabarmetta, which has a large number of small Trishools and was possibly a centre of Tantrik Sadhana in a bygone period. Another place is the Kukara Math. This has a Rinmukteshwar temple (where by offering one becomes free from any debts which one could not pay.) It has interesting story behind its creation about eight centuries back. It was set up to commemorate the killing of a loyal dog in a case of misunderstanding and to make amends the master of the dog built this temple and hence the name Kukara, signifying a dog.
The forest area after Dindori was called the Mahamundaranya and is a part of the larger forest belt across districts of Anuppur, Dindori, Mandla, Balaghat, Seoni, Shahdol and Umariya. This entire area has been a tiger country for ages. Madhya Pradesh has the largest tiger population in the entire country, having almost 30 percent of these big cats, and it is around this area that the three famous national parks having a significant tiger population – Kanha, Bandhavgarh, and Pench are located. The species is the Royal Bengal Tiger – it is a common mistake to think that the species Royal Bengal Tigers is specific to tigers only in Sundarbans in deltaic Bengal. Even rare white tigers are found in the Bandhavgharh region and Cheetahs, now no longer present were in great numbers. The last Cheetah was shot down in nearby Sarguja region, now in Chhattisgarh.
A retired civil servant who served as the District Collector in Sidhi district in the region, told this writer of how a local leader had invited a Union Minister and organised a ‘Shikar’ where hundreds of local tribal through beating their drums had encircled a poor tiger and when the latter was completely helpless, the Minister, in his heroic style, shot and had the animal skinned to be taken as a trophy. Thus the whole area was known for the big game and only in the last century some thought of conservation sunk in.
The hamlets one comes across as one walks down the Mekal hills are small in size and scattered and have extreme levels of poverty. The levels of penurious condition continue to more or less the same degree in the districts of Anuppur, Dindori, and the next district on the trajectory – Mandla. The Narmada Parikramavasis, who live on offerings by local people, often face a severe testing time in this area. The Pushprajgarh tehsil in which Amarkantak is located as well as the Dindori district, has predominantly the Baiga and Gond communities who are among the most impoverished in the entire state.
The Gonds are involved in cultivation whereas Baigas generally do not engage in agriculture. They have been traditionally dependent on the forest produce and had been practitioners of traditional medicine including Ayurveda, herbal medicine, and occult practices. Their bodies are heavily marked by tatoos. Gonds are usually known as ‘Kisan’ in the region and they are economically better off than the Baigas.
The Baigas of clusters of villages in Bajag tehsil in Dindori district are particularly deprived and that area is known as ‘Baigachak.’ They are also very shy by nature and a few decades back used to run away to the jungles at the sight of the outsiders.
Baigachak is also the area where that tremendously variegated personality – an Oxford alumnus and Professor, a lapsed Christian missionary and sometime Gandhian, and later an anthropologist of considerable renown, Verrier Elwin, passed a significant part of his life. He was the first foreigner to have been granted Indian citizenship. On account of his scholarship finding acceptance across the mainstream academia, and also the close intellectual kinship he enjoyed with Jawaharlal Nehru, Elwin came to have much sway in formulation of the framework of national policies towards the tribal communities in independent India. His studies of Gonds and Baigas attracted a lot of attention and has had its severe detractors too who feel that while studying the scenario Elwin missed looking at the common strands that form the tapestry of Indian civilizational nationhood through many a millennia. However, even while not agreeing with Elwin’s thoughts, one has to certainly concede that he wrote elegant English prose marked with charming wit. He even won the Sahitya Akademi Award, the high literary honour of the country. Elwin led a dual life, marrying a young Gond girl in her early teens, following their customs and living in the jungle, while continuing to be in touch with latest in literary and intellectual circles and corresponding with some of the leading lights of his age.
The Dindori district has about two-thirds of tribal population and Mandla nearly 60 percent. Such poverty as in this initial 300 km of the river’s trajectory (till it enters Jabalpur district after Mandla) is only seen later in pockets of Dhar, Alirajpur and Barwani districts close to the MP-Maharashtra-Gujarat, nearly a thousand kilometres from the river’s source.
Narmada, unlike the Himalayan rivers, does not have a permanent source of water in form of any glaciers. It is completely nourished through the rainwater accumulated in the rainy season and the combined accumulation of water flowing in through its tributaries falling in its basin. While it has tributaries joining from both north as well as south, greater water quantity is contributed through its basin area on the south. The Satpura range on the south, have much greater in average height than the Vindhaychal, and have denser forests too. This ensures higher local water tables, preventing soil erosion and thus also helping in preventing unnecessary silting and muddying of the clear Narmada waters. Narmada water is generally so clean (exceot during months of rainy season) that most people living on her banks drink it directly, even today, without any boiling or filtering. Since there are hardly any industries immediately near Narmada, the river has been spared the misery of many other rivers that suffer from industrial effluents rendering their water completely unfit for direct consumption.
The Dindori town was formerly called Ramgarh and one of the last rulers of this area was Rani Avantibai who, as mentioned in the previous chapter, fought against the British in the rebellion of 1857 and died a martyr’s death at the age of 27. A project of the Bargi dam between Mandla and Jabalpur is named Avanti Sagar in her honour. Immediately after Dindori town, one arrives at Jogi Tikariya where there the important Jabalpur-Amarkantak road crosses.
If one walks on the road towards Jabalpur one comes across a Tehsil town called Shahpura, near which is the Ghughua Fossil Park, which has been declared a National Park. Findings in this area started from 1970 onwards and have revealed a wide variety of plant fossils and even dinosaur eggs.
If one has to walk along the river banks, one of the most difficult stretches is walking the southern banks between Dindori and Mandla, particularly till Deogaon Sangam (about 30 km before Mandla.) One has to tread with extreme care as here the river flows through ravines and at least on the southern side there are steep hilly walls which necessitate great caution. The stream is narrow and there are beautiful spots where small Kuti-ashrams (cottage-heritages) are located like in Takin Sangam and Dupta Sangam. The river makes several turns, sometimes it becomes north-bound, at other times south-bound, on occasions even east-bound – during which patches she is called ‘Suryamukhi’ or ‘Poorvamukhi’ meaning east-facing. So the terms Uttar-tat (northern banks) and the Dakshin-tat (southern banks) can be very misleading at times. But it is a convention to use the term Dakshin-Tat to allude to the banks on which one walks with the river on the right, while proceeding towards the sea; and the Uttar-tat when one walks from the sea to the origin, again keeping the river on the right.
A few miles away from Dupta Sangam is Paudi-Linga, also known as Linga Ghat, where villagers set up small shops of wares on the road between Mandla and Dindori. The Deogaon Sangam where Budhner meets Narmada is very near on the opposite banks. Deogaon Sangam is a significant spot with temples and ashramas that serve Parikramavasis.
Between Deogaon Sangam and Maharajpur (the suburb on the southern banks of Mandla is the seventeenth century palace at Ramnagar, built by Hriday Shah of which mention has been made in the earlier chapter. There are inscriptions in the fort glorifying the great queen’s valour.
Statue of Rani Durgawati
The story of Durgawati and the Garha Mandla clan has been described in the previous chapter.
Two sizeably long rivers meet Narmada before Mandla, contributing to its water quantum during this early stage and help it grow. Both join from the southern banks – Budhner (177 km long) which meets at the Deogaon Sangam, about 30 km from Mandla town, and Banjar (188 km long) which flowing through the Kanha National Park, meets Narmada at Maharpajpur, Mandla’s suburban extension on the southern banks.
Dindori and Jabalpur are almost at the same latitude but the river makes a U-shaped loop in the region between the two towns with Mandla near the southernmost tip. This is described famously by Kalidas in his ‘Meghdoot’ where he exhorts the cloud-messenger not to miss the beauty where Narmada becomes a ‘Mekhala,’ a traditional form of waist-belt worn by womenfolk, referring to this loop. Mandla town has several ghats and temples.
Unfortunately, after the construction of the Bargi dam in the region between Jabalpur and Mandla, most Parikramavasis now skip Mandla altogether and walk straight from ghats near Jabalpur to Niwas, a tehsil town of Mandla onto Jogi Tikariya in Dindori district. While walking on the southern banks, however, they pass through Maharajpur, the suburban extension of Mandla on the southern banks, and therefore, can have a view of the ghats and temples on the opposite banks and thus, make up to some extent, the misfortune of not having visited the town during their northern banks travel. The conventions of the Parikrama forbid them to visit Mandla when they are on the southern banks too. It is rather unfortunate as Mandla for this reason has fallen out of the Parkrama circuit in last few decades.
While walking on the southern banks, due to the backwaters of the Bargi dam, one has to walk through the Seoni district passing tehsil town of Ghansor. And from Seoni district one directly enters the Jabalpur district. The Bargi dam is the oldest major dam on Narmada built in early eighties. At the Bargi dam township there is beautiful Ganesh temple on a hill that also hosts Parikramavasis.
Jabalpur – The Preeminent City in Narmadakhand.
The next town on the trajectory, Jabalpur, is the largest urban settlement near Narmada, though the main areas of the city are slightly away from the banks. Perhaps, the most centrally located city in India – this claim only rivalled by the city of Nagpur – Jabalpur has a huge military establishment, a huge cantonment area and military equipment factories like the Gun Carriage Factory and those for manufacturing military trucks. in colonial times had a significant British presence with an important railway station on the original Bombay-Howrah line that passed through Mughalsarai, completed in 1870. The protagonist of Jules Vernes’s 1873 classic ‘Around the World in 80 days’ travels through this railroad in order to defend his bet. A lesser known fact is that when deciding to shift the capital from Calcutta in the early twentieth century, a possible choice deliberated upon in the highest corridors of power in London, was that of Jabalpur, chiefly because of its location and reasonably equable climate. Also, it is often claimed (but not corroborated with certainty) that the game snooker originated in the army cantonment of Jabalpur when a young officer Neville Chamberlain combined two different board games to create this new game.
Known as Jubbalpore during the British era, it also had a marked cosmopolitan ambience with Bengalis, Punjabis, Tamilians, and Indians from various other parts of the country living there. In fact even the present day Bengalis, and often the Bengali media, continue to call it Jubbalpore. Its localities like Wright Town and Napier Town still bespeak of the bygone colonial era. The High Court of Madhya Pradesh is located in Jabalpur.
Jabalpur was a major educational and cultural hub right from the middle of the nineteenth century. It boasts of hoary educational institutions like the Robertson College (first established in Sagar and later shifted to Jabalpur) and several schools and colleges established by a vibrant organisation called Hitkarini Sabha. The Hitkarini Sabha also played a role in the spread of Khadi Boli Hindi, on the lines of their counterparts in Varanasi and Allahabad, like Bharatendu Harishchandra, Mahaveer Prasad Dwivedi and other such early doyens.
An astute observer of the state would certainly get a feeling that in the last few decades Jabalpur has lagged in development as compared to Bhopal and Indore, even though it was the premier city of central India before independence. Jabalpur has given many luminaries to the country. The scholar-politician and the much regarded Chief Minister of the state, Dwarka Prasad Mishra, lived in Jabalpur. During the ‘Quit India Movement’ he authored his much-regarded poetical work ’Krishnayan’. Another major figure in public affairs, literature and politics was Seth Govind Das, who participated in the freedom movement and was incarcerated for a total of eight years. After independence he represented Jabalpur Lok Sabha constituency for first five Lok Sabha terms in succession and was the Protem speaker in the second to fifth Lok Sabha. He also authored a large number of books. Beohar Rammanohar Sinha was a great artist, trained at Santi Niketan, and a disciple of Nandalal Bose. His father had been active in the freedom movement and their house jad hosted great Indian luminaries like Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru. The famous poetess Subhadra Kumari Chauhan whose poem on Rani Lakshmibai is known to anyone who reads Hindi in school also had Jabalpur as her home for long years. She unfortunately passed away in a road accident at the age of 43 in the nearby town of Seoni.
Jabalpur is also said to be associated with Maharshi Mahesh Yogi who founded the world famous TM (Transcendental Meditation) movement that had followers throughout the world including global celebrities like the Beatles. It is said that he had worked in the city’s military establishment – the Gun Carriage Factory. Also, Rajneesh (Osho) studied in the institutions in the city and also taught here. Famous Hindi writer Harishankar Parsai also made Jabalpur his home.
There are several ghats near Jabalpur – the Gwarighat (Gauri ghat), Tilwada ghat where the Tilbhhandeshwar temple is located, and the Lamheta ghat. Very near to the city is the village of Tripuri, which was once the capital of the Kalchuris, and has now fallen into oblivion. Tripuri has a temple dedicated to Devi Tripurasundari (who was the presiding deity of the Kalchuri clan.) It is visited by thousands of devotees and there are huge crowds on weekends and days of special significance.
To the people outside the region, Tripuri is perhaps recalled only in the context of the famous and controversial Congress session of 1939 where Subhaschandra Bose presided for the second time in succession after defeating Mahatma Gandhi’s candidate Pattabhi Sitaramaiyya. An ailing Subhas, having high fever, had boarded the train from Howrah to reach Jabalpur for the session. The session also marked the beginning of his disassociation with the National Congress, finally leading to a total severance of ties, with Subhas embarking upon a new path, and arguably entering his last and most heroic phase between 1941 and 1945 as the ‘Netaji’ of the Azad Hind Fauj.
Jabalpur has had an even closer connection with Netaji as he was imprisoned here in the Central Jail for 214 days in two stints in early 1930s. The Central Jail of Jabalpur is now named ‘Netaji Subhaschandra Bose Jail’ and has a museum dedicated to his memory. The local medical college of the city is also named after him. Netaji was also imprisoned for 5 months in neighbouring district headquarter of Seoni, the district where the Pench National Park is located – it also buffers into the neighbouring Chhindwara district. A young Rudyard Kipling set the story of his ‘Jungle Book’ (published in 1894) in the jungles of Pench, creating timeless characters of Mowgli, Sherkhan, Baloo, and Bagheera, and capturing the imagination of children throughout the world for more than a century. The memory of Kipling is also honoured by the Kipling cottages (holiday homes and resort) maintained by MP Tourism in the Pench area.
Bhedaghat – Narmada’s Artistry
Marble Rocks at Bhedaghat
Slightly downstream of Jabalpur, the river cuts through the hilly terrain, creating in the process a marvel of natural beauty, the marble rocks at Bhedaghat and the Dhuandhar waterfall. Bhedaghat probably derives its name from Bhairavghat. Bhedaghat attracts hundreds of thousands of tourists every year, not just from different parts of the country but also abroad. In Dhuandhar, just before the marble rocks, Narmada falls from about a height of about 100 feet and its water droplets create a misty effect, which gives this waterfall the name ‘Dhuandhar’ – smoky stream.
Dhuandhar falls at Bhedaghat
There is boating permissible in the Bhedaghat marble rocks area only with authorised guides and personnel. On full moon nights there is boating even at night which is said to be an ethereal sight. Narmada seems to have sculpted a lane with walls of marble on both sides. While cutting through the marble rocks Narmada again becomes ‘Poorvamukhi’ or east-facing. At one place the river makes its way through a ravine-like narrow passage called ‘Bandar-Kudni’ – the name derived from the idea that even monkeys could leap from one side to another. The ‘Bandar-Kudni’ also finds mention in the works of the famous colonial era historian and founder of the Archaeological Survey of India, Alexander Cunningham.
Bhedaghat also has the famous temple complex – the Chausath (64) Yogini Mandir, which was built in the early eleventh century by the Tripuri-based Kalchuri king Yuvrajdev II. This area is also famous for its marble sculptures and scores of shops in Bhedaghat display a variety of marble statues. These are done mostly in a nearby village called Bagrai.
Interestingly, the path cut through the marble rocks was not the original trajectory of Narmada. She made a deviation from her former path and began to cut through this terrain and the present form must have taken millions of years. Had it continued to flow on its former trajectory, a sight of remarkable beauty would have never been come into being. Sometimes great artists are not satisfied with what they are creating; they are prepared to take a step back, undo and redo, rising to much greater challenges to create bewitching works of beauty that can cast a spell on any onlooker. At Bhedaghat, Narmada yields to none in her claim to be a supreme artist.
▶Next Chapter: From Bhedaghat to Narmadapuram