Narmada River - Religious Significance

Religious Significance

To Hindus the Narmada is one of the five holy rivers of India; the other four being Ganges, Yamuna, Godavari and Kaveri. It is believed that a dip in any of these five rivers washes one's sins away. According to a legend, the river Ganges, polluted by millions of people bathing in it, assumes the form of a black cow and comes to the Narmada to bathe and cleanse itself in its holy waters. Legends also claim that the Narmada River is older than the river Ganges.

The river was mentioned by Ptolemy in the Second century AD as Namade and by the author of the Periplus. The Ramayana, the Mahabharat, and the Puranas refer to it frequently. The Rewa Khand of Vayu Purana and the Rewa Khand of Skanda Purana are entirely devoted to the story of the birth and the importance of the river, and hence Narmada is also called the Rewa.

There are many fables about the origin of the Narmada. According to one of them, once Lord Shiva, the Destroyer of the Universe, meditated so hard that he started perspiring. Shiva’s sweat accumulated in a tank and started flowing in the form of a river – the Narmada. Another legend has it that two teardrops that fell from the eyes of Lord Brahma, the Creator of the Universe, yielded two rivers – the Narmada and the Son.

Legends also say that for Lord Shiva, the Hindu God, the river is especially sacred on account of its origin, and it is often called Shankari, i.e., daughter of Shankar (Lord Shiva). All the pebbles rolling on its bed are said to take the shape of his emblem with the saying, "Narmada Ke Kanker utte Sankar" (a popular saying in the Hindi belt of India), which means that ‘pebble stones of Narmada get a personified form of Shiva’. These lingam shaped stones (cryptocrytalline quartz), called Banalinga also called (Banashivalingas) are much sought after for daily worship by the Hindus. The Brihadeeswara Temple in Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu, constructed by Rajaraja Chola, has one of the biggest Banalingas. Adi Shankara met his guru Govinda Bhagavatpada on the banks of the river Narmada.

Narmada is also said to have been in love with the Sonbhadra, another river flowing on the Chota Nagpur Plateau. According to the Puranas, the Narmada is also called the Rewa, from its leaping motion (from the root 'rev') through its rocky bed.

Important religious places and Ghats along the course of the river, starting from its origin at Narmadakhund at Amarkantak hill, are a) the Amarkantak (in Sanskrit: Neck of Shiva) or Teertharaj (the King of Pilgrimages), b) Omkareshwar, Maheshwar, and Mahadeo temples, Nemawar Siddeshwar Mandir in the middle reach of the river – all named after Shiva, c) Chausath Yogini (sixty four yoginis) temple, d) Chaubis Avatar temple, e) Bhojpur Shiva temple and Bhrigu Rishi temple in Bharuch. The Narmada River is also worshipped as mother goddess by Narmadeeya Brahmins.

The importance of the Narmada River as sacred is testified by the fact that the pilgrims perform a holy pilgrimage of a parikrama or circumambulation of the river. The Narmada Parikrama, as it is called, is considered to be a meritorious act that a pilgrim can undertake. Many sadhus and pilgrims walk on foot from the Arabian Sea at Bharuch in Gujarat, along the river, to the source in Maikal Mountains (Amarkantak hills) in Madhya Pradesh and back along the opposite bank of the river. It is a 2,600-kilometre (1,600 mi) walk. Important towns of interest in the valley are Jabalpur, Barwani, Hoshangabad, Harda, Narmada Nagar, Omkareshwar, Dewas (Nemavar, Kity, Pipri), Mandla and Maheshwar in Madhya Pradesh, and Rajpipla and Bharuch in Gujarat. Some places of historical interest are Joga Ka Quilla, Chhatri of Baji Rao Peshwa and Bhimbetka, and among the falls are the Dugdhdhara, Dhardi falls, Bheraghat, Dhuandhara, Kapiladhara and Sahastradhara.