Sumedha Raikar-Mhatre: An equal river

Pilgrims at Gwarighat Jabalpur perched atop handpainted steps PicsHari MahidarWhen commercial photographer Hari Mahidar purchased Italian writer Aldo Pavanrsquos The Ganges Across The Sacred Waters at the Mumbai airport in September 2007 he asked himself two questions lsquoFirst if an Italian sells his story and photos of a much writtenabout muchpolluted Indian river am I waiting for another foreigner to photograph the splendour of Indiarsquos oldest river Narmada which predates the Ganga and the Himalayas Second being born in Jabalpur and raised on the banks of Gwarighat a town on the banks of Narmada who if not me can get closer to Narmadarsquos mystique its infinite power to cleanse physically and psychologically its influence on the Indian belief systemrsquoMahidar a Mumbaibased photographer bound by corporate sector assignments decided no commitment would delay his documentation of Narmadarsquos ghats he has concentrated on 12 of the 30odd its hilly and fertile tracts running through three Indian states in a 1312 km stretch that allows a unique circumambulation Parikrama mdash a cultural spectacle like none other in the world He felt it was time to celebrate the Narmada because there is no other Indian river that matches the diverse vistas and ecological delights she nurtures mdash lush vegetation aquatic life hardwood forests biosphere reserves and fossil parksVithal C Nadkarni and Hari Mahidar have now devised a 40minute Narmada talk template in which they focus on the rivers rich facets They are also seeking sponsors for Narmada orientation tours in which they will play guides PicDatta KumbharAs Mahidar decided to follow the river his mind travelled to an afternoon in 1965 when he had caught three schoolboys in midleap at Bhedaghat with his twinlens Rolleiflex It was among the many images that inspired me to leave the family marble tile business and take on photography for a living in Mumbai The same image was now calling him to start at the beginning mdash Narmada Udgam origin at Amarkantak where a rivulet lsquoNano Narmadarsquo goes underground only to emerge as a leaping wild torrent at KapildharaMahidarrsquos pursuit of Narmada now hard bound in an opulent selfpublished selfdistributed coffee table book Benevolent Narmada lasted for six years on his own and two years with coauthor Vithal C Nadkarni a journalistscholar equally enamoured by the riverrsquos restorative prowess and currently engaged in the process of writing two books one on folk bronzes and one on Hath Yoga that rest on research of the Narmada basin Together Mahidar 74 and Nadkarni 67 have tracked the pulsating primeval stream in its myriad moods and phases with an emphasis on the colourful fairs and festivals held on the banks of the river For instance both authors revere the annual Narmada Jayanti in February Shukla Paksha Saptami day of appearance on earth emergence from Lord Shivarsquos sweat mdash which is a rare birthday celebration in Madhya Pradesh marked by the floating of traditional diyasA photograph of a cow at Amarkantak A sadhu here compared the bovine to the river Ganga which comes to sister Narmada once a year for cleansingThey are also impressed by the beforethecrackofdawn thoughtful Holi played by the Bhil adivasis of Kathi village a settlement at the foothills of the Satpura mountain range from whose northeastern end Narmada originates Similarly the authors underline the heterogeneous demographic mix nurtured by the Narmada cutting across barriers of caste religion language and social class mdash Jain icons coexist with mosques Gurudwaras flourish with a dazzling 500odd temples Mahidarrsquos photos of Kabirvad mdash an island near Bharuch which has a 300yearold grove of a single banyan tree grown over 25 acres mdash underscores saint poet Kabirrsquos choice of Narmada for meditative peaceMore than the exotica about religious rituals Benevolent Narmada grants precedence to the visuals of peopletopeople exchanges Its core lies in the humbling experience of Parikrama 3 years 3 months and 13 days afoot that the river offers as a treat In Nadkarnirsquos fluid prose it is a journey of the soul by the sole a transformative walk along the river from its origin to the finish in the sea encouraging devotees to leave behind narrow concerns and immerse in an aseem parivar boundless family subsisting on alms and the kindness of strangersThe photograph by Hari Mahidhar of the three boys at Bhedaghat caught in midleap over the NarmadaNadkarni provides the sociologicalmythological context to Mahidarrsquos cauldron of images thereby locating the contemporary frames in the realm of the larger social narrative While recounting ancient mentions of Narmadarsquos greatness Adi Shankaracharya called her as Punya Sarvatra Narmada he quotes all experts including scholar Diana Eck who has written extensively on the Ganga who acknowledge Narmadarsquos uniqueness He references the earlier books on Narmada ndash Amritlal Vegadrsquos pioneering foottravels dating back to 1977 Bharati Thakurrsquos inner journey accomplished in 2005 current Environment Minister Anil Kumar Daversquos Hindi book Narmada Samagra Interestingly Mahidar and Nadkarni have separately and jointly interviewed people who have circumambulated the Narmada also those who have swam across and rafted through the river and also those involved in community activities in the Narmada valley merely to understand peoplersquos identification with the riverMahidarrsquos camerawork owes a lot to the dialogue with locals temple trusts ferrymen traffic police and government officials who provided the right tipoffs for the right compositions As his mission was selfinitiated and not wedded to a deadline he could allow extended timelines for exact shots mdash particularly while chasing the critical hour of overflow of the Sardar Sarovar gravity dam built on the river Navagam Gujarat not to forget the concentration of crocodiles near Kevadiya which required seasonal monitoring But his perseverance test was the Ganesh immersion photo at Bharuch north bank which entails a panoramic sweep to Ankleshwar south bankHe composed wide angle shots of both the banks just so that he could get the Lordrsquos profile at the opportune moment before the dip In another attempt to arrest the train and vehicular movement on two parallel railroad bridges before Omkareshwar Mahidar waited in a dinghy anchored midwater for three hours similarly to catch the island shape of Omkareshwar Mahidar drove atop the dam parallel to the city A book on Narmadarsquos current status should be ideally a state tourism development corporation venture as it complements the efforts of governments in MP Gujarat and Maharashtra to create public opinion against the debris thrown into the Narmada As freewheeling explorers ecology was one of our concerns Our guiding force was the love for the river a personal grasp of its terrain our appreciation of the hold she has on the popular discourse That gave us the wherewithal and the chutzpah to present Narmadarsquos story to the uninitiatedSumedha Raikar Mhatre is a culture columnist in search of the sub text Write to her at sumedharaikargmailcom