Ma Narmada
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We find after years of struggle that we do not take a trip; a trip takes us.~John Steinbeck
Early in the noughties, ran into an April 2000 issue of Sanctuary Asia that featured an article on Ma Narmada: The Soul of India—a Narmada travelogue
For a long time, never read it, but happened to do so on a VaraLakshmi Vratam in the mid-noughties; the TeJo just wouldn't stop; there was some deep connection with Ma Narmada
Don't know why the Narmada river occupies such a fond place in my heart. Whenever I think of Her, I am off into some other world. Even the mighty Ganges leaves me cold. But mention the word Narmada and a frisson of joy courses through me, like that mighty river
Might be something to do with the fact that:
It flows west, the only major river in India to do so
As a D8C8, I am totally ruled by Saturn, who looks west :-)
It is said that the mere sight of the river will make a pilgrim pure because of its sanctity
In a very recent article on Speaking Tree, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar writes:
| Rivers have been the lifeline of all civilisations; no wonder they are considered sacred across cultures. In India, the Ganga symbolises knowledge, Yamuna was known for love stories, Narmada stood for bhakti, knowledge and logic, Saraswati for brilliance and architecture, and India got its name from the Sindhu.
Narmada is a Sanskrit word meaning "the Giver of Pleasure".
Once i was wondering whether Ma comes before Pa or the other way around, my pal Sanjay said the answer was right there in the musical notes:
That places the Ma at the fourth chakra, the Anahata, and as close to the Spiritual Heart as possible :-)
She was supposed to have originated at Amarkantak when Lord Shiva did the tAnDava
Naturally formed smooth stones called bana, made of cryptocrystalline quartz, are found in the Narmada; the rare and unique markings on them are regarded by devotees of Lord Shiva as very auspicious
The Brihadisvara Temple at Thanjavur has one of the biggest Bana Shivalingas
You can see how big that bana is. Did you notice the priest at the bottom left?!
Legend has it that Sambhaji, son of Shivaji, carted the banalinga all the way from the Narmada River to Thanjavur, using elephants!
Avoiding all suitors, the Narmasa runs away and is aka Rewa the Leaping One
In The Soul of India—a Narmada travelogue in the APR.2000 issue of Sanctuary Asia magazine, we read: (page 48, middle)
| The Narmada river has been portrayed as a strong-willed virgin who, with quicksilver movements, escapes all the advances of heavenly princes. That's why she is also called 'Rewa', the leaping one. This waterfall at Beraghat near Jabalpur is one of the largest on the Narmada.
The River is pure right through and you can drink the water comfortably. Have done that many times on my seven trips, avoiding the stagnant areas
What's the reason for this purity? The many crocodiles in the river ensure that all carrion is cleaned up, so much so that that the River Goddess is portrayed as riding a croc!
The river is so old that it even has a dinosaur, Rajasaurus narmadensis, whose bones were found in the Narmada basin, named after it.
Tried visiting the River Ma in Dec 2009, but that plan didn't work out; probably She didn't like me visiting Bharuch, where She joins the Arabian Sea
Did a three-week Walkabout in 2015, after i turned 50, visiting & thanking all my Sadguru and Jabalpur was one of the places i visited, very luckily getting a place managed by Sri Sanjay JAIN and available under Airbnb, at a very nominal rate
After that, there were three trips per year in 2016 and 2017 each, along with Srinu, my AVN & AUCoE classmate and dear friend in spirit
have been reliving those fantastic seven trips:
- August 2015: Jabalpur as part of 2015, A Walkabout
- March 2016: With Srinu to Omkareshwar & Maheshwar, via Indore and Ujjain
- August 2016: With Srinu to Garudeshwar
- November 2016: With Srinu and Gangadhar to Amazing Amarkantak, via Raipur
- March 2017: With Srinu to Narmada nAbhisthan, the mid-point of the River, via Indore
- July 2017: With Srinu to Jabalpur, staying with Ramu, exuberant yo' bro' of Srinu
- October 2017: With Srinu to Hoshangabad, via Indore
Am seriously indebted to Umesh, fellow basketball pal from IIM-A, who provided his Mahindra XUV 500 with Thakur ji, the much-mustachioed driver, for both the trips via Indore in 2017
Have been uploading many photos of these trips to gMaps and here are a few that have been quite popular:
360° View taken in July 2017:
360° View from Sai Mandir, west of Gwarighat, taken in July 2017:
360° View from Gwarighat Gurudwara overlooking Ma Narmada, taken in July 2017:
360° View taken in July 2017:
360° View taken in April, 2018:
and
360° View of Dutt Mandir taken in August 2016:
360° View of Ma Narmada near Dutt Mandir, taken in August 2016:
360° View at Narmada Nihar resort near Garudeshwar, taken in August 2016 (crosses half a million views):
Panorama at Sardar Sarovar Dam
360° View taken at night in November 2016:
360° View taken in November 2016:
360° View taken in March 2017:
Malpani trust- Natueco research centre
360° View taken in March 2017:
360° View taken in March 2017:
360° View taken in July 2017:
Tawa Narmada Sangam Bandrabhan Dist Hoshangabad
360° View taken in October 2017:
360° View taken in October 2017:
360° View taken from the Hanuman Mandir, opposite Sethani Ghat, in October 2017:
360° View taken in October 2017:
360° View taken in April 2018
360° View taken in April 2018
(gMaps doesn't give a facility yo embed a video…yet)
A lovely video on Ma Narmada Parikrama, by road, starting at Amarkantak, the Source, and keeping the Great River as usual on one's right, crossing over around Kabirvad, and heading back to Amarkantak
The panning and the zooming in/out were a bit disconcerting, but anything for the Old River Ma
Subtitles in English for places visited in Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh would have been quite helpful; am a slow reader of Gujarati/Hindi; the script is interpreted and not compiled, which slows me down :-)
Also, a brief caption of the place visited would have made it even more interesting
one thing for sure: if not the Ma Narmada Parikrama on foot, certainly am itching to do it by vehicle; if you're game, please let me know!
try and listen daily to Narmada Ashtakam, as mellifluous as the River Ma:
sent by Prakash, my elder bro in spirit; his grandma at Jabalpur would chant it when she used to get water from the well in the backyard
A daily memory is doing the first three exercises [out of the five] of Falun Gong, done near the Rewa ~ Tawa Sangam; done a bit fast; thanks much to PSM for recording this: