Amarkantak: Story Of A Sacred River

Narmada, a beautiful river which is worshipped as a goddess and its pious water is believe to have purifying effect for mind and soul, the river holds great religious significance and it also creates many fascinating pictures throughout its course. It originates from Amarkantak and flows through the heart of India.

Amarkantak is situated in the state of Madhya Pradesh, near the border of Madhya Pradesh and chattishgarh. The place lies among thick forest covering in the hills of Maikal Mountain Range it owes its religious significance from the fact that it’s the place of origin of Narmada. It is also the place of origin of the river Sone.

It is a centre of pilgrimage for Hindus, there are many old and beautiful temples here and the ambiance is perfect for the devotional souls. There are many spots here which are associated with the names of many ancient sages viz Bhrigu, kapil , adi sankarachya , kabir to name a few.

But ,the mortals who yearn for nature and adventure would find the place interesting either ; it houses many holy ponds and rivulets, wooded surroundings, lofty hills, beautiful waterfalls and many more idyllic spots and a lot to explores for adventure buffs…..

The place is peaceful and has a sublime ecosystem one can enjoy mellowed walk in the lap of the nature. But very basic amenities are available to the visitors. No ATMs there & the worst part is non availability of decent eateries , or better to say unavailability of eateries at all ,though the main area of the town has few dhabas but I never found them serving anything more than tea. The only place where visitors can have some refreshments is a small shop named sarvodaya coffee house which serves dosa, idly, tea, jalebi, poha, cold-drinks etc needless to say we survived there only on dosas and idilies . Power cuts are also frequent, so be sure before checking-in, that the hotel has a power backup. Ignore these facts and you will find the place beautiful and worth a visit especially during or post monsoon.

Every thing in Amarkantak can be visited leisurely in 2 days. Most of the important spots are within 3 to 4 kms radius from the main area of the town, only kapil-dhara and dudh-dhara (twin waterfalls on Narmada) are located about 7kms away.


Places of Interest:

Narmada mandir( group of temples and Narmada Udgam) , Old group of temples, yantra temple, sonmuda(sunrise point) , twin waterfalls( kapil dhara and dudh dhara), Ma-ki-bagia, bhrigu kamandal, Sarvodya Jain Temple, Jwaleshwar Mahadev …..



Getting there: Major cities near Amarkantak are Jabalpur (240 kms) and Bilashpur (135 kms) regular buses are available from Jabalpur. Buses take 7 to 8 hours to reach Amarkantak from Jabalpur but only non-luxury buses are available and only localities use the bus service. Nearest rail-head is Pendra road (43 kms) on katni -bilashpur section of south-eastern railway all important trains stop here. Buses and taxi are available at pendra road for Amarkantak.
I would suggest boarding a train to Pendra road and taking a taxi or bus from there to reach Amarkantak, you will find the reason behind this statement as this account progresses.

 

The story:
My younger brothers and I visited Jabalpur in regarding some work where the plan to visit Amarkantak was hatched. With not much in-hand information about the place, we had to use all the resources at our disposal to come up with a proper plan in a very limited time; We visited the MP tourism stall at Jabalpur railway station where we got the information that there is no bus service from Jabalpur to amarkantak, the only option to get there is by train. But boarding a train without proper reservation wasn’t a welcoming idea at all. So we decided to go to the Jabalpur bus stand to enquire about possibility of bus service to Amarkantak. (MP has always disappointed me when it comes to public transport you will hardly find any state run buses here private operators are the key players.) but,to our surprise we got affirmative response for our enquiry and regular buses to amarkantak were available and it would take only 5 hrs to reach there . The news brought a sense of excitement to us and decision to take the first bus to amarkantak in the morning was taken right away.

Day-1, June 22
We reached Jabalpur bus stand next morning at 4 am to board the first bus to amarkantak which was scheduled to leave at 4.20 am and then the series of thwarting things started rolling.
I asked the driver “ bhaiya bas kab chalegi”
Driver,“ 4.30 pe”
“amarkantak kabtak pahuche gi”
Driver,“12.30 tak”
“kal to aaplogo ne kaha tha 5 ghante lagta hai”
Driver,“vo kaise aap hi sochie 240 kms hai 5 ghante me kaise pahuchegi 7 ghante to algte hi hai”
(The bus driver informed us that bus will reach Amarkantak after 12 noon only, this was in contrast to what they had told us the previous evening).
And then we got to realize that we are not going to travel through GQ but on the roads of MP and that too by the bus service monopolized by local operators.

We were a little disappointed with the news because we knew that this delay would cost us but, it was just a beginning of more disappointing and frustrating events which were coming our way.

Bus left the boundaries of Jabalpur only after 6 am after taking its scheduled halts inside the city. Weather was pleasant, rains and green landscapes were our companion throughout the journey. The bus conductor told us that a bridge on the way to amarkantak has suffered some damage and the bus would take an alternate route to amarkantak . This new, tarmac less under construction road had coverings of stones and red soil and rains had made the condition hostile for the drivers and this is where one of our nightmares came true.

A truck was stuck in the middle of the road and when our bus driver tried to overtake from a side our bus stuck badly in the red soil too, now the road was completely blocked and all the efforts to take the bus out turned fruitless. In the mean time, few other buses reached the spot. The truck driver told that the truck is running out of fuel and this was a reason enough to turn the other drivers and conductors aggressive. They took all the possible measures to bring the bus out but in vain. Our frustration level was also increasing with every passing minute.

we were helplessly watching all the drama. Finally one person went on a motorcycle to bring diesel from a petrol pump which was about 5 kms away.
The truck started after getting the fuel and finally the road was cleared and we were on our way to amarkantak….the whole episode consumed 2.5 hours.


We were still expecting to reach our destination by 2.30 pm, but deities had written more in this episode…. Bus reached a place called Dindaori which was the only spot in this route having a small market, we had not taken anything since morning and were in no mood to take anything either. Our bus driver told us, that because of the delay he would return back to Jabalpur from here only and asked us to shift into another bus which was going to Amarkantak, he further told us that he would pay the fare to the driver of that bus .

Amarkantak was still about 80 kms away, edginess was on rise, and we didn’t want to leave any stone unturned…. So we asked the people there if any taxi is available for amarkantak and the reply was in negative…..


With thwarted hopes we went to the other bus and settled in. the bus started its journey to amarkantak, and since this was a local bus it was taking halts now and again and by the time, we found ourself so helpless, that we were not even talking to each other. We believed that we are going to reach the destination after 5pm only.

But this was the last leg of our journey and of our troubles too…. 

 We reached amarkantak at 3.45 pm and the very moment we stepped out of the bus some of the best times of our lives started and from here on all the moments we lived in amarkantak were memorable….
On recommendations of locals we settled in sarvodaya vishram griah within next half-an-hour. It’s a nice staying option, though a hotel managed by MP tourism is also available for the people who are better paid.
The first thing on my mind was to change the plan according to new developments. according to our early plan; we would reach Amarkantak by 11 am, would visit the temples and other areas near the main square, stay for the night , visit the twin waterfalls on next day, by noon, take the bus to Jabalpur afternoon, reach Jabalpur by evening and board our train to lucknow at night . but now the thing were different, so I made a call to my friend pradeep in lucknow and asked him to cancel our train tickets, and look for the availability of berth in Amarkantek express from Pendra road to Jabalpur. . (pendra road is nearest railhead to amarkantak)
Apparently, we were in no mood to take a bus to Jabalpur after today’s experience on the roads of MP. Luckily, berths were available in tatkal quota and he booked our ticket for next day. He further booked our ticket from Jabalpur to lucknow. Thanks buddy!
Before coming to Amarkantak I had a lot of queries and doubts about this place; only pilgrims visit the place, there would be only Dharamshalas for stay, people hardly go there to see the natural beauty of the region, it’s located on the border of MP and Chhattisgarh would it be a safe to explore the area.
These doubts were compounded by the facts that we didn’t find any comprehensive account about the place on net or in travel magazines, even MP tourism website boasts it’s more as a seat of pilgrimage. Also, we were the only people in the bus who were going to visit the place rest of the people were locals belonging to that area itself. But all the doubts turned out to be groundless …..
Plan was modified and by 4.30 pm we were on our way to explore amarkantak …. Happy and excited…..

The first place we visited was the Narmada temple it is also the place from where the river Narmada originates….
Narmada mandir and Narmada kund (Narmada Udgam): It’s a group of temples built around an open pool known as Narmada kund. It is said that this pool is the source of river Narmada. Main mandir is the Narmadeshwar mandir another important temple in the premises is the sati temple

After that we visited the Old group of temples…..
Old group of temples (ASI protected site): close to the Narmada temple lies the old group of temples or Amarkantak group of temples. History of the temples goes back to 8th century AD when sankarachrya built a surya kund here to specify the origin of the narmada , he also installed the idol of shiva at pateleshwar in amarkantak. The group of temples here namly pateleshwar temple, shiv temple, karan temple were built by Kalchuri king karma deva( AD 1041-1073) all belong to Nagara style of architecture.

These temples are well preserved and the temple compound is nicely maintained the temples are beautiful and architecture resembles the temples of Khajuraho.

We moved towards the Yantra mandir .It’s about 1.5 kms from the main town..
Yantra Mandir: Dedicated to Lord Vishnu It has a four faced structure of Vishnu facing in cardinal directions, at entrance. The temple compound is in circular shape and the temple is one of its kind..

We moved further to visit Sonmuda through beautiful woods of amarkantak….
Sonmuda( sunrise point):It is situated at a distance of 1.5 kms from the Narmada mandir . It is the point of origin of the river Sone, a thin stream of water cascades down a cliff into a densely forested valley( Sone flows in north-east direction and merges into Ganga in Bihar). It is also a sunrise point, it provides a panoramic view of beautiful valleys and densely vegetated hills.

walked back towards the main area of the town happy and content, reached there by 7.30 pm. we were very hungry and first thing on our mind was FoooD
We went to a dhaba and asked for food, but food not available, all the hotels had same reply. We thought , perhaps its too late to ask for food at Amarkantak. we saw few tourists eating idli at servodaya coffee house no other options available we ate the same , went to our hotel and retired for the day. today was one of the most eventful day of our life........

Day:2
First target of the day was to reach Sonmuda and watch the sunrise, but our tired bodied responded only after 7.30 am and we managed to leave our room only after 8.30.
Reached the spot to face,’ the monkey challenge’.
monkeys in zillion numbers!
They were sitting throughout the steps that ramify from the road and leads to sonmuda. “kal ye kaha the” , i uttered loudly. A man on the road was selling chana and had asked us to buy it for monkeys, but we had paid no heed to him . The rule is simple, feed the monkeys and they allow you to go through the steps and they won’t even bother in your return journey.
But, we were in no mood to go back till the stall to buy ‘the monkey tax’ so we decided to walk slowly without making any eye contact with them, but a few steps taken and one of the them came and caught my leg with his hands and started checking my pocket and I turned statue and more of them came very close to us and assembled around . No action from both the sides for some time, and then we started backtracking tardily.

No option, again the sarvodya coffee house came to rescue of the hungry souls but this time with a twist in the tail. We ordered dosa and cold-drinks and when we were busy in eating that crappy stuff a lady sitting at next table spoke about her discovery.
Lady to waiter,” yaha aana”
Waiter ,”ji madam”.
Lady,” ye dekho tumhare shambhar me kitna bada keeda nikla, kaise banate ho tumlog”
Woah…. We stopped and started looking at each other’s faces and then smiled, just sipped our colddrinks and went to our hotel to get ready for our day’s excursion to the twin waterfalls. Insects are very common creatures at amarkantak we found them everywhere.
Took water bottles , and packets of chips and were on the road to the waterfalls. They are around 7 kms away but taxis and autos are available for the place. We were more intrested in trekking, though.
The place is less crowded but in future the picture would be different altogether, I saw many huge under construction Ashrams there.  

Back to the story, we were walking in jolly mood and were fully enjoying our presence in virgin Maikal Ranges. The serenity of the place is edifying, we felt the presence of Mother Nature all around and the sublime beauty of the ranges intoxicated us in no time. Many photo sessions, many off tracking and we were finally at twin waterfalls.

Kapli-dhara and dudh–dhara: these are twin waterfalls on the river narmada, lie deep inside forest, about 7 kms from the main town. A tarmac road goes very close to the kapil-dhara (named after the sage Kapil) while dudh-dhara is at half a km trek from kapil-dhara.

The view of Kapil dhara and that area is breathtaking. We moved towards base of the fall, a trail goes towards the waterfall and bifurcates at a point; one goes to kapil –dhara and the other to dudh-dhara. We moved towards dudh-dhara first, again some off tracking on the way, finally reached dudh-dhara . There is a cave-dwelling of ancient sage Durwasha near the falls. Spent some time there and finally backtracked towards Kapil-dhara.

Reached at the base of the waterfall which is about 100 feet high and the location, among dense forest area, adds to the beauty of the falls. we sat on a rock and were captivated by the beauty; pure and pristine .
Spent some quality time there, took bath and then we started walking back happy and content.

Reached our hotel by 5 .30 pm picked our bags and went to bus stop to take bus to Pendra road. Reached pendre road (43 kms) in 1.5 hrs. Pendra road is situated in Chattishgarh, we had a thought that it would be a small place but we found the place quite decent. We were hungry like anything, had not taken anything in last two days but some chips and few bites of dosa. We found a very good restaurant near railway station and the food was excellent, ate up to the brim.

Our train, Amarkantak express was scheduled to come at 10.40 pm. Chit-chatted till the train arrived and settled in our berths…

“The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart.”