NARBADA, a river of India, which rises on the plateau of Amarkantak, and disembogues in the Gulf of Cambay. It is also written Nerbadda, and is the Namadus of Ptolemy and Namnadius of the Periplus. It rises on the Amarkantak lat. 22° 41' N., long. 81° 49' E., and, after a west ward course of 800 miles, falls into the sea below Broach, in lat. 21° 38' N., long. 72° 30' E. Amarkantak is a massive flat-topped hill. All round lies a wild and desolate country; but Hindus have reared their temples in the middle of these solitudes, to guard the sources of the sacred river. The Narbada bubbles up gently in a small tank in one of the undulating glades on the summit of the mountain. Then, for about three miles, it meanders through green meadows, receiving the waters of countless springs, till it reaches the edge of the Amarkantak plateau, where it falls over the black basaltic cliff in a glistening cascade of 78 feet, called Kapila-Dhara.
From Haran Pal, or the Deer's Leap gorge, to the temple of Sulpani Mahadeva, a distance of some 70 miles, there occurs the main barrier of the Narbada. Here the Narbada displays all her terrors. Thereafter the Narbada enters on the rich plains of Broach, which border on the sea, and in this section it is navigated by country craft. Rising in the highest land of Central India, 5000 feet above the sea, and pursuing a serpentine westerly course for 750 miles through a hilly tract, which runs parallel to and borders closely both its banks, this river may be said to flow through a longitudinal cleft rather than a distinct valley, and to present the general characters of a moun tain stream more than anything else. No great depth of water can ever be expected in it, from the nature of its tributaries, except in the mon soon ; neither could it be retained, owing to the great declivity of the river bed, whioh from Jhansi Ghat, near Jubbulpur, to the sea, falls 1200feet in 500 miles. The falls of Kapiladhara and Dudh dhara are near its source, the former of 78 feet.. The next is at Umaria, in the Narsingpur dis trict, and is about 10 feet. At Mandhar, 90 miles below Hoshaugabad, and about 25 below Handia, there is a fall of 40 feet ; at Dadri, near Punasa, 25 miles below Mandhar, there is another fall of 40 feet. The aboriginal races which prevail most among the agricultural population of the Narbada valley are the Gujar, the Jat, the Kaonra, the Kirar ; the Kurmi are numerous ; then follow the Lodhi, °hamar, Gond, Brahman, Ahir, Banya, Raj put, etc.
As a sacred river, the Narbada, in Hindu esti mation, is only inferior to the Ganges. According to the Rewa Purana, the sanctity of the Ganges will cease in the Samvat year 1951 (A.D. 1895), while the purifying virtue of the Narbada will continue the same throughout all the ages of the world. So holy is the water, that the very pebbles in its bed are worn into the shape of the emblem of Siva. Few Hindus would dare to forswear themselves, standing in the Narbada with a garland of flowers round the neck and some water in the right band. The most meritorious act that a pilgrim can perform is to walk from the sea up to the source at Amarkantak, and then back along the opposite bank. This pilgrimage, called parik ram or pradakshana, is chiefly undertaken by devotees from Gujerat and the Dekhan, and takes from one year to two years in accomplishment.
In Broach district the most sacred Spots are Sukaltirth, with its ancient banian tree ; the site near Broach city where Raja Bali performed the ten-horse sadrifice ; and the temples at Karod and Bhadbat. The coal-measures extend along the southern side of the valley, with some interrup tions, from Baitul and Sewne to the neighbour hood of Jubbulpur. They consist of a series of slightly micaceous sandstones, shales, and coal seams, and are quite destitute of iron ore. They form a long narrow strip resembling an old sea beach, extending along the base of the Puchmurry Hills, which consist of a great thickness of con glomerates and sandstones, overlaid by an uncon formable series of rocks. Limestone occurs every where, much of it crystalline. The iron ores of Bang and Ladgaon are brown iron ore and limonite ; Burwa and the Muchuk river, brown iron ore and compact hematite ; Changhur and the Powah river, compact hematite ; Tendukera, calcareous hematite ; Hutnaptt•, silicious hydrate, and micaceous specular ore occurs in Dhurum pura, Agaria, Partabgarh, and Jowli. In some of these sites, as in Tendukera, the ore has been worked for ages.—Imp. Gaz.; J. II. Blackwell, Report to Government, No. xliv., 1857.