Narmada Parikrama: an experience of Circumambulation

For a believer, it is like liberation. Narmada Parikrama is very tedious as it is usually performed on foot. It may takes up to 4 months to 8 moths depending upon your age and agility. There is physical pain but also enjoyment in being lost in devotion of the god. River Narmada is like River ganga of the west. People in Gujarat and MP worship River Narmada as “Narmada Maiya”, similar to river ganga being worshiped as Ganga Maiya. Just like River Ganga, Narmada river is mokshadayani, since it is said that the river is blessed by lord shiva and lord shiva has his abode in Narmada Maiya

Normally, parikrama or Circumambulation is usually done by the devotees for moksha. By circumambulating the river Narmada , they accept Narmada Maiya as the centre, source and essence of their lives. They beg for forgiveness for being attached to materialistic pleasures and pray for escape from the cycle of birth and death. Narmada river is one of the biggest rivers in India. This westbound river mainly flows through Madhya Pradesh and Gujrat States creating life and wealth where ever it flows.

In Hindu culture, Narmada or Rewa considered washing the sins of Hindus much before Bhagirath brought Ganga on earth. Along with ancient heritage sites like Bhimbetka, where you can see prehistoric stone paintings and Tigers from Kanha National park, Narmada hosts many holy places like divine Temples and serene ghats such as Jabalpur, Amarkantak, Omkareshwar, Hoshangabaad, Harda, Maheshwar etc. Since ancient times, sadhus have circumambulated this holy River starting and ending at the same point crossing dense rain forests, hills, deserts and swamps by feet. It is considered as one of the hardest pilgrimage in the world.

Rules for performing Narmada Parikrama: The one who undertakes Parikrama is called as Parikramavasi. During Narmada Parikrama, Parikramavasi must not cross?the river, even he should not go to the islands also. The main object of?Narmada Parikrama is not only to complete a adventurous and spiritual journey but also to clean the garbage hidden within us. So every Parikramavasi should try to speak true, maintain mental satisfaction at all the time and behave good to all and worship Narmada Mata at every morning and evening.

During?Narmada Parikrama Parikramavasi should always try to walk by the side of the river Narmada and walk taking the river at his right hand. He should not go very far from the river, but due to geographical cause none can do so. If any Parikramavasi become bound to go far from the holy river Narmada, he should worship the water taken from the holy river in pot. During?Narmada Parikrama, Parikramavasi should walk bare footed and must not carry food for more than two days in advance. He should carry his own luggage himself. No carrier or labor is allowed to help him.

Parikramavasi should always repeat the word ‘Rewa’ during journey in his mind or he may repeat any other name of God as per his own choice. During Narmada Parikrama, Parikramavasi passes a?lot of temples and religious places. He should visit?the temples and religious?places and worship the God or Goddess as much as possible. Try to increase dependence over the mother ‘Narmada’. In rainy season and in summer, Narmada Parikrama remains close and Parikramavasi should stay at one place. He should worship Narmada Mata every morning and evening and try to repeat the word ‘Rewa’ in mind as much as possible during this period. https://narmadayatra.com

This river is mokshadayani, since lord shiva has being present in river.As river Ganga, is believed to have its abode in Lord Shiva's jatas. Lord shiva is believed to have its abode too in Narmada Maiya too as an vairagi form.I have know about this parikrama by very kind people who lives in Pune. I have their experiences whom they have shared with us,which was like feeling the God.

If a person has started from the north bank, they’d walk upstream to the origin of the river in Amarkantak, cross over from beyond the origin point, come to the south bank and walk downstream till the point where the river meets the ocean in south Gujarat. From here, pilgrims board a large boat for an estimated four to seven hours to cross over and reach back to north bank at a place called Mithi Talai. From here, the pilgrim starts walking upstream again to arrive again at the point where they started from. At the end of the journey, pilgrims go to the super sacred Omkareshwar which is one of the 12 ‘Jyotirlingas’ and also a river island which means a person cannot go to this point during the parikrama. One of the rules of the walk is that a person cannot cross over the river and go to the other bank or in the middle. At Omkareshwar, the pilgrim pours back the water that she collected in a vial when she started the walk and completes the parikrama.

The entire parikrama is estimated to be some 3500 km long. The length of the river is 1312 km which when multiplied by two gives 2624 km and there are a lot of diversions because of dams and other reasons because of which pilgrims have to walk around and take longer routes. Accounting all of this, the total distance to be covered comes to somewhere between 3200 km and 3600 km depending on what route a person takes. People along the banks consider pilgrims to be representations of god or the sacred river and take care of them by providing food and a place to stay in the nights. We walked 600 km at one go in 40 days after which I decided to take a break and my partner continued on the walk. Since then (almost 3 months now), I have been on the banks and walking at different places but not in any particular order. And I have also taken buses, motor bike rides and trains.

One of the curiosities I had before the walk was if the river is clean? Because if one looks at the state of rivers in general in India, there is little hope. Whenever we cross bridges over rivers or visit popular ghats, all one can see is plastic dumps, filth and drainage lines opening up into rivers! There is a certain apathy that we seem to have developed and the same river which is considered sacred is also considered to be a dump yard. And what did we find?

In these two months, I drank the river water straight, took my baths in the river and also cleaned my clothes in the river. No soap, no shampoo, no detergent. And we could do this everyday with the probably three exceptions- Nemawar, Khedi ghat and Bhramand ghat. Basically all reasonably large places where pilgrims can come by bus and vehicles. There is also a certain amount of faith involved here because the same place where I wouldn’t have drank the water; during the Parikrama I dropped the inhibitions and went ahead.

There were days when we would hardly come across a person and we’re walking along the banks in absolute serenity. I have a special memory from a place called ‘Chhoti Dhuandhar’ (small waterfall) a couple of days walk before the popular Beda ghat (marble rocks). Huge expansive place with fields on one side, Narmada is wide, maybe around 400 m and curving into a little hilly terrain. Between the fields and the crystal clear Narmada waters, there is beautiful fine sand on which one could just lie down, take in the sun and completely dissolve. Then another place I remember is a beautiful tribal village named ‘Bikor’ where we were offered a small abandoned hut just by the banks and early in the morning, there would be a beautiful mist rising up from the river shrouding the entire scene in utmost serenity. There are innumerable such scenes etched in my memory and I am enormously grateful to the river for having these experiences.

But to experience any of this, walking is the only way. Wherever the road has reached, humans have arrived by the masses and along with a lot of noise and garbage. Can something be done about this? Well, it’s going to be an uphill task but compared to other rivers in India, Narmada seems hopeful. The biggest threat is of course from industries which are mushrooming around the banks. I heard several accounts on both sides- some saying that the industries along the banks are not allowed to discharge polluted water into the river and the other lot saying that these laws are not at all being followed!

On the Parikramavasi route, there are several initiatives which are trying to keep the river clean by organizing cleanliness drives, generating awareness via several posters discouraging people from using plastic or throwing garbage in the river. One of the biggest factors here is also the ritual of offering flowers in a little container made either of leaves or sometimes of plastic or paper and the lighting of incense sticks at sunrise and sunset. A beautiful tradition but the number of people doing it and the shift in the material being used makes it a cause for concern. There is also an alarming concern regarding the rise in use of disposable cups and plates for serving tea and food. All these disposables are disposed off on the banks and sometimes collected and burnt.

Of the entire stretch of 1312 km length of the river, some 1070 km is in Madhya Pradesh, around 170 km is in Gujarat and the rest (around 80km) would be in Maharashtra or border of two states. The relatively big cities of Jabalpur and Hoshangabaad in Madhya Pradesh which are on the banks are also filled with devotion and a lot of people owe their prosperity to the river. And this is what possibly inspires them to serve pilgrims walking on the banks. All pilgrims are considered to be an embodiment of the sacred spirit (god) and their bodies are hence, taken care of by bowing down, offering food and a place to a rest. Street vendors, people passing by in cars, villages on the banks, all would do their bit and offer whatever they can.

One question that arises is that if there is so much faith, why are the rivers in India in such a terrible state in terms of cleanliness? If I speak of the Parikrama, people walking or living on the banks, Narmada is the central theme but it is more to do with the idea of god that is embodied by the river. Now, the river can be in any state but the veneration will remain. It can be difficult to fathom to the intellectual mind but in that way, faith is a funny thing. It has nothing to do with the external, it’s just an internal belief. And when we are addressing the issue of cleanliness in rivers, this is a factor to be considered which pervades through the masses.

The caste system is also very deep rooted and villages have clear distinctions and protocols for inter faith behaviour, including towards the parikrakramavasis. The fisherfolk form the lowest rung of the society with tiny houses on the fringes of the village before whom are the small holding farmers or job holders and at the top are the big landlords. Growing up and working in cities for a big part of my life, I was under the impression that we’re moving away from these deep rooted caste differences but that impression turned out to be far removed from the reality on ground. There is a long way for us to go!

Walking along the banks is such a powerful experience that words often fall short. It is like the tao. The moment one tries to communicate the essence, it is lost. It is a deeply moving experience and will take a lot of time or maybe lifetimes to truly communicate what a parikrama can mean for a person. But looking at it from an ecology point of view, Narmada (like all other rivers) is such an important part of the civilisation and so many things depend on it that the more the attention the river gets, the better it is.

At the end of the day, the river will run its course and do what it has to do but looking at the relationship between human life and Narmada, it is of paramount importance to keep the conversation going. And more the people walk along the banks, connect with the river and nature, the more sensitive we would become as a race. This would in all probability lead us to a to a cleaner, greener, more harmonious future. Jay Ho Narmada Maiya ki