NARMADA RIVER

also called Narbada, or Nerbudda river in central India, rising in the Maikala Range in east-central Madhya Pradesh state. Following a tortuous course through the hills of Mandla, it enters the structural trough between the Vindhya and Satpura ranges at Marble Rocks Gorge and then flows westward across Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat states, entering the Gulf of Cambay through an estuary 13 miles (21 km) wide, just below Bharuch. Along its 800-mile (1,300-kilometre) course, the Narmada drains the northern slopes of the S atpura Range. Called Namade by the 2nd-century-AD Greek geographer Ptolemy, the river has always been an important route between the Arabian Sea and the Ganges River valley. Hindus believe it sprang from the body of the god Siva, and the Narmada ranks only after the Ganges in sanctity. The pradaksina pilgrimage takes pilgrims from Bharuch to Amarkantak, up one bank of the river and down the other.