The Narmada River (), also known as the Narbada or anglicised as Nerbudda, is the fifth longest river in India and overall the longest west-flowing river in the country. It is also the largest river in the state of Madhya Pradesh. This river flows through the states of Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat and is known as their lifeline due to its contribution to the two states in many ways. The Narmada River originates from the Amarkantak Plateau in the Anuppur district. It forms a traditional boundary between North and South India and flows westwards for approximately before draining through the Gulf of Khambhat into the Arabian Sea, west of Bharuch city of Gujarat.
Along with the Tapti, it is one of only two major rivers in peninsular India that runs from east to west, and the peninsula's longest west flowing river. It is one of a few rivers in India that flows in a rift valley, bordered by the Satpura and Vindhya ranges. As a rift valley river, the Narmada does not form a delta: rift valley rivers form estuaries. Other rivers which flow through the rift valley include the Damodar River in Chota Nagpur Plateau and the Tapti. The Tapti and Mahi also flow through rift valleys, but between different ranges. The Narmada flows through the states of Madhya Pradesh (), and Maharashtra, ( along the border between Maharashtra and Gujarat plus along the border between Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra) and in Gujarat ().
The Periplus Maris Erythraei (c. 80 AD) called the river the Namnadius (Ναμνάδιος), Ptolemy called it Namadus (Νάμαδος) and Namades (Ναμάδης) and the British Raj called it the Nerbudda or Narbada.11th edition of Encyclopædia Britannica. Narmada is a Sanskrit word meaning "The Giver of Pleasure".
Course
The source of the Narmada is a small reservoir, known as the Narmada Kund. It is located at Amarkantak on the Amarkantak Plateau in the Anuppur District, on Shahdol zone of eastern Madhya Pradesh.Chadhar, Mohanlal (2017), Amarakantak kshetra ka puravaibhava, SSDN, Publisher and Distributor, New Delhi, The river descends from Sonmuda, then falls over a cliff as the Kapildhara waterfall, and meanders, in the hills, flowing through a tortuous course crossing the rocks and islands, up to the ruined palace of Ramnagar. Between Ramnagar and Mandla, further southeast, the course is comparatively straight, with deep water devoid of rocky obstacles. The Banger joins from the left. The river then runs north–west in a narrow loop towards Jabalpur. Close to this city, after a fall of some , called the Dhuandhara (the fall of mist), it flows for , in a deep, narrow channel through the magnesium limestone and basalt rocks, called the Marble Rocks; from a width of about , above, it is compressed in this channel of (), only. Beyond this point to its meeting with the Arabian Sea, the Narmada enters three narrow valleys between the Vindhya scarps in the north and the Satpura range in the south. The southern extension of the valley is wider at most places. These three valley sections are separated by the closely approaching line of the scarps and the Satpura hills.
Emerging from the Marble Rocks the river enters its first fertile basin, which extends about , with an average width of , in the south. In the north, the valley is limited to the Barna–Bareli plain terminating at Barkhara Hills opposite Narmadapuram. However, the hills again recede in the Kannod plains. The banks are about () high. It is in the first valley of the Narmada that many of its important tributaries from the south join it and bring the waters of the northern slopes of the Satpura Hills. Among them are: the Sher River, Shakkar River, the Dudhi River, the Tawa (biggest tributary) and the Ganjal. The Hiran, the Barna, the Choral, the Karam and the Lohar are the important tributaries joining from the north.
Below Handia and Nemawar to Hiran fall (the deer's leap), the river is approached by hills from both sides. In this stretch the character of the river is varied. Omkareshwar, sacred to Shiva is an important place of worship in Madhya Pradesh. At first, the descent is rapid and the stream, quickening in pace, rushes over a barrier of rocks. The Sikta and the Kaveri join it below the Khandwa plain. At two points, at Mandhar, about below Nemawar, and Dadrai, further down near Punasa, the river falls over a height of about .
A few kilometres further down in Barwaha the Narmada enters the Mandleshwar plain, the second basin about long and wide in the south. The northern strip of the basin is only . The second valley section is broken only by Saheshwar Dhara fall. The early course of about up to Markari falls is met with a succession of cataracts and rapids from the elevated tableland of Malwa to the low level of the Gujarat plain. Towards the west of this basin, the hills draw very close but soon dwindle down.
Below Makrai, the river flows between Vadodara district and Narmada district and then meanders through the rich plain of Bharuch district of Gujarat state. The banks are high between the layers of old alluvial deposits, hardened mud, gravels of nodular limestone, and sand. The width of the river spans from about at Makrai to near Bharuch and to an estuary of at the Gulf of Cambay. An old channel of the river, to south from the present one, is very clear below Bharuch. The Karanjan and the Orsing are the most important tributaries in the original course. The former joins at Rundh and the latter at Vyas in Vadodara district of Gujarat, opposite each other and form a Triveni (confluence of three rivers) on the Narmada. The Amaravati and the Bhukhi are other tributaries of significance. Opposite the mouth of the Bhukhi is a large drift called Alia Bet or Kadaria Bet.
The tidal rise is felt up to above Bharuch, where the neap tides rise to about a metre and spring tide . The river is navigable for vessels of 95 tonnes (i.e., 380 Bombay candies) up to Bharuch and for vessels up to 35 tonnes (140 Bombay candies) up to Shamlapitha or Ghangdia. The small vessels (10 tonnes) voyage up to Tilakawada in Gujarat. There are sand bases and shoals at the mouth and at Bharuch. The nearby island of Kabirvad, in the Narmada River, features a gigantic Banyan tree, which covers .
Narmada basin
The Narmada basin, hemmed between Vindhya and Satpura ranges, extends over an area of and lies on the northern extremity of the Deccan Plateau. The basin covers large areas in the states of Madhya Pradesh (82%), Gujarat (12%), and a comparatively smaller area in Maharashtra (4%) and in Chhattisgarh (2%). 60% of the basin is arable land, 35% is forest cover, and 5% is made up of other types of land, such as grassland or wasteland. In the entire course of the river of , there are 41 tributaries, out of which 22 are from the Satpura range and the rest on the right bank are from the Vindhya range. Dhupgarh (1,350 m), near Pachmarhi is the highest point of the Narmada basin.
The basin has five well-defined physiographic regions. They are: The upper hilly areas covering parts of Anuppur, Mandla, Dindori, Balaghat and Seoni The upper plains covering parts of Jabalpur, Narsinghpur, Chhindwara, Narmadapuram, Betul, Harda, Raisen and Sehore districts The middle plains covering parts of Khandwa, Khargone, Dewas, Indore and Dhar The lower hilly areas covering parts of Barwani, Alirajpur, Nandurbar, Chhota Udepur and Narmada the lower plains covering mainly the districts of Narmada, Bharuch, and parts of Vadodara district.
The hill regions are well forested. The upper, middle, and lower plains are broad and fertile areas, well-suited for cultivation. The Narmada basin mainly consists of black soils. The coastal plains in Gujarat are composed of alluvial clays with a layer of black soils on the surface., nwda.gov.in,
The valley experiences extremes of hydrometeorological and climatic conditions with the upper catchment having an annual precipitation in the range of and with half or even less than half in its lower regions (); the diversity of vegetation from lush green in the upper region to dry deciduous teak forest vegetation in the lower region is testimony to this feature.
Geology About 160 million years ago, the supercontinent Pangea broke into two large masses. The northern part was Laurasia and the southern continental mass was Gondwana. Between the two continents, a large sea, Tethys existed. Presently, the Himalayas and the Tibetan Plateau have taken the position of the ancient Tethys Ocean. The Gondwana was intruded by few large marine transgressions. A deep gulf or sea existed along the Sindh-Baluchistan and Kutch. At one time, a marine ravine penetrated the very centre of Peninsular India through a narrow inlet along the present valley of Narmada. During this time, India was divided into two halves by narrow strips of marine transgressions, and there was no land communication between the Peninsular and northern India. Along the Narmada Valley, several patches of sediments have been deposited that contain ancient remains of animals. These fossils are similar to those found along the tracts of Tapi River. Such similarity probably suggests that even about 3 million years ago, Narmada and Tapi were confluent and the separate fate of these two rivers was decided by recent earth movements. The Bhedaghat falls of Narmada, near Jabalpur, was probably created during one such movement. The Narmada Valley is a graben, a layered block of the Earth's crust that dropped down relative to the blocks on either side due to ancient spreading of the Earth's crust. Two normal faults, known as the Narmada North fault and Narmada South fault, parallel to the river's course, and mark the boundary between the Narmada block and the Vindhya and Satpura blocks or Horsts, which rose relative to the Narmada Graben. The Narmada's watershed includes the northern slopes of the Satpuras, and the steep southern slope of the Vindhyas, but not the Vindhyan tableland, the streams from which flow into the Ganges and Yamuna.
Significance in Hinduism
Deity status Like the Ganges, the Narmada River is a goddess and a river in Hinduism. The Matsya Purana states that all of the banks along the Narmada are sacred. Ptolemy called the Narmada River 'Nammadus' and the author of the Periplus called it 'Nammadios.'
There are many stories about the origin of the Narmada River. According to the Rewa Khand, the Narmada was created from Shiva's perspiration while he was performing penance on Mount Riksha. Due to this, the Narmada River is known as Shiva's daughter. In another legend, two teardrops fell from the eyes of Brahma, the creator of the universe, which yielded two rivers – the Narmada and the Son.
Narmada is also said to have been engaged with the Sonbhadra, another river flowing on the Chota Nagpur Plateau. According to the Puranas, the Narmada is also called the Reva, from its leaping motion (from the root 'rev') through its rocky bed.
The Narmada River is also worshipped as mother goddess Muktidayani, or liberating mother.
Adi Shankara met his guru Govinda Bhagavatpada in Omkareshwar, a town on the banks of the Narmada.
Source of sacred linga pebbles
Narmada is also considered sacred because of the pebbles known as banalinga that are found on the river bed. The pebbles are made up of white quartz and are linga-shaped. They are believed to be the personified form of Shiva and there is a popular saying, "Narmada Ke Kanker utte Sankar" which means that 'Shiva is in the pebbles of Narmada'.
Pilgrimage