Why Narmada is MP's Life Line

NK SINGH

It is not a fable, but a real life story. It is a story that captures the quintessential spirit of Narmada Parikrama and the importance that the holy river occupies in lives of people living in the region.

Travelling through Madhya Pradesh, a journalist friend chanced upon a saffron-robed man peddling his rickety bicycle near the busy pilgrim town of Kshipra. The man of intermittent age seemed to be on a long trip, far away from home, all his worldly possessions loaded on the bicycle.

What attracted attention was a huge German Shepherd perched majestically atop the front seat of the bicycle, used normally for seating children. As the man puffed along, his best friend looked on contentedly from his throne.

The villager had embarked upon a pilgrimage of Narmada, a 2,600 km circumambulation of the holy river. And he had decided to take the dog along because,he told the journalist, “who will look after him in my absence?”

Narmada is the river of faith for millions living along its banks. Thousands of pilgrims circumambulate its banks, starting from its source at Amarkantak hills in MP to the river’s mouth at Bharuch in Gujarat, where it drains into the Arabian Sea. For months ---- and sometime for years ---- they rough it out, living off alms, sleeping under stars, cooking food over cowdung fire and worshiping Narmada water, the giver of life.

Narmada is indeed the lifeline of Madhya Pradesh. As its charts its 1,300 km course to sea, the perennial river supplies water for drinking, irrigation, industry andelectricity, provides livelihood to thousands of fishermen, even as it recharges thousands of streams, ponds, wells and tubewells in the parched region.

No wonder, its beneficiaries worship it.

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