Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c8.1448

c8.1448

2) The divine nature of the river Narmadā. Mention is made in most of the Purāṇas about the river Narmadā which is one of the holy rivers of Bhārata. Once Nārada said to Yudhiṣṭhira about the river Narmadā as follows: "Gaṅgā has more divinity in Kanakhala and Sarasvatī has more divinity in Kurukṣetra. But Narmadā is a holy river everywhere, whether in the villages or in the forests. Sarasvatī purifies us in three days and Gaṅgā in one day. But the moment we see Narmadā we are purified." The river Narmadā, the former half of which embraces the mountain Amarakantaka in the country of Kaliṅga, is the purest of rivers in the three worlds. The devas, asuras, Gandharvas and hermits bathe in the river and attain eternal bliss. He who controls his organs of senses and takes fast for one night and bathes in this river would be prosperous for hundred generations. This great river is hundred yojanas long and two yojanas wide. There are sixty crores and sixty thousand holy ghats in this river around the mountain Amarakantaka. Anybody who dies by fire, by drowning or by fast on this mountain Amarakantaka, will never have rebirth. (Padma Purāṇa, Chapter 13).