The Sacred Waters of River Narmada

The faith in attaining divine grace for peace and solitude gave birth to religious pilgrimages. The Hindus have a large number of pilgrimage sites to seek blessings from the divine spirits. But very few know about a pilgrimage to the river Narmada.

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The river Narmada has so much worth attached to it, from its mythical origin to its geographical origin, that one can feel its essence while performing parikrama. Narmada Jayanti is celebrated every February as a week-long festival to memorialize its birth and holy spirits.

The river Narmada is said to be formed when Lord Shiva was in a trance. He was sweating a lot and, therefore, the sweat accumulated into a tank. But the tank could not hold enough sweat and started flowing like a river. This river was none other than the Narmada herself. All the pebbles and small stones in the river are said to have taken the shape of Shivlings. She is, thus, the daughter of Shiva or Shiv-Putri.

Some assume her to be neither male, nor female and hence the word 'Nar-mada'. Whereas others use a delicate way to express their love for her. It is about being soft or 'narm' because she passes through hard rocky patches and her journey, later on calms down before falling into the Arabian Sea.

According to a common legend, Narmada is Ganga's elder sister and whenever Ganga feels that she has lost her purity, because of the devotees washing away their sins in the river, she visits Narmada as a black cow to regain her purity. This is the reason why the river is called self-purifying or 'Narmada' and parikrama or pradakshina takes place along the banks of the river. The Sanskritic meaning of the word Narmada is 'the giver of pleasure'.

Narmada is the largest west flowing river in the country and has its name mentioned in the Ramayana and Mahabharata. Greek works- Periplus and works of Ptolemy also makes the reference to this river as 'Narmade'. Both the epics refer to the river and many famous sages had their ashrams on the banks of this river. The Reva Khand in both the Skhand Purana and Vayu Purana tells the story of the origin of the river.

Geographically, the river is assumed to have existed even before the formation of the Himalayas, when the peninsular region was attached to Australia. This makes Narmada the oldest river in the country. Archaeologists have even excavated dinosaur fossils (Steigosaras and  Rajarsas) and eggs from the banks of this river.

The Narmada Parikrama or the Narmada Pradakshina is a religious pilgrimage of about 2600km encircling the river. There is no definite time for this pilgrimage path but the usual general rule to be followed is to complete the journey with the river Narmada flowing by the right of the devotee and never cross the river during parikrama.

There is no definite starting or ending point of the pilgrimage. But, most people begin the journey from Amarkantak, the source of the Narmada river in Madhya Pradesh and end at its mouth at Baruch in Gujarat where the river finally flows into the Arabian Sea. Earlier people used to complete this whole journey on foot. But with the development in the field of communication, people have started using other means of transportation to make their pilgrimage hassle-free.

Map showing the route of the river, from its origin in Amarkantak to its mouth at the Gulf of Cambay. Devotees complete the whole circle as part of Narmada Parikrama. Image Source: Hinduism.

The Narmada river water is surrounded by large number of marble rocks. This makes the river a source of economical provider for many who depend on marble business. Image Source: Wikipedia.