Journey Through Narmada

-By Jayanthi Mahalingam

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• Down to the sea
• The Narmada in Gujarat
• A Hill With A View
• The Monuments Of Mandu
• An Ancient City
• An Island In The River
• Beyond Hoshangabad
• Steeped In Legends
• Narmadey Har
• The Cult of Thuggee
• The Splendour of Marble Rocks
• Original Inhabitants
• The World Of Verrier Elwin
• Tribal Queen
• The Jewel Of Kanha
• The Narmada In Mythology

A Hill With A View

The Satpura range is to the south of Mandu. The highest peak on the range is Chulgiri, which is 641metres high. Chulgiri is famous for its statue of Adinatha, the first Jain Tirthankara. The statue, hewn out of the rocky mountain, is 25.6 metres high or 52 ‘gajs’ - a gaj is the local term for a handspan and hence the statue is also called Bavangajaji. The locals believe that it’s been in existence for over 3000 years but records show that it was constructed some time in the 15th century.
According to a Digambara legend, it was on this peak that Ravana’s younger brother Kumbhakarna, and son Indrajit accepted the teachings of Jainism, renounced violence and attained salvation.
There are several temples on top of Chulgiri. The most famous is the one that has a pair of footprints carved out of black rock in its sanctum sanctorum. It is flanked by two small footprints. Eight hundred steps lead to the temple. Palanquins are available for the elderly and for those who don’t want to climb.
The view of the Narmada from Chulgiri is breathtaking. The river is so narrow as it flows through the Hiranphal gorge, between the Satpuras and the Vindhyas that a deer can leap across its banks with ease. Pilgrims and parikramavasis have sculpted shivalingas on either side of its rocky banks.
The forests of Taloda and Shahada, south of the Narmada valley in northwest Maharashtra, were in the news a few years ago in 1997, when a Forest Spotted Owlet, thought to be extinct, was discovered there. A shy diurnal bird, it has spots on its head and bands on its wings. It inhabits dry deciduous forests that are close to river valleys. With the Taloda forest being clear-felled to serve as a rehabilitation site for the people displaced by the Sardar Sarovar Dam, the birds stand to lose their habitat.

The 1210-m long Sardar Sarovar Dam is on the Narmada River in Gujarat state, 170 kilometres upstream from where the river flows into the Gulf of Khambhat, in the Arabian Sea. It is named after Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, independent India’s first home minister who hailed from Gujarat. It was his most cherished dream to harness the waters of the Narmada River to bring prosperity to the people of the western region. The project, when completed, will benefit people in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, the four states implementing it. The foundation stone for the project was laid by Pt. Nehru on 5 April, 1961 but work began only in 1987.

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Last updated on :12/5/2005