river in fact is here an estuary, and the associations are almost those of a seaport.

"From this point the Narbadá has but some thirty miles to proceed before it pours itself in the Gulf of Cambay."

The physical character of the river is thus described by Dr. Impey *

"The Narbadá, then, rising in the highest land of Central India, 5,000 feet † about the sea, and pursuing a serpentine westerly course for 750 miles t through a hilly tract, which runs parallel to, and borders closely both its banks, may be said to flow through a longitudinal cleft rather than a distinct valley, and to present the general characters of a mountain 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 monsoon; neither, were they to promise better, could it be retained, owing to the great declivity of the bed of the river, which from Jhánsí Ghát, near Jabalpúr, to the sea falls 1,200 feet in 500 miles.

*

*

*

*

*

"The bed of the river in its whole length is one sheet of basalt, seldom exceeding 150 yards in absolute width, which has been upheaved in ridges, which cross it diagonally in N.E. and S.W. directions. These elevations occur every few miles, and cause a kind of natural bándh' (dam), above which the water is invariably formed into a pond more or less deep.

"It is this peculiarity of geological and physical formation, creative of so many natural barriers, which gives rise to the numerous fords which, in all the open and cultivated parts of the Narbadá valley, are found occurring every few miles, with a town on each bank; and their very existence indicates the absence of any extent of navigation, which can only be absolutely free between limited intervals.

"In such a condition of the bed the only change produced by time is due to the erosion of the water, whose course being straight, and the force of its accessary feeders so strong, is much obstructed by the deposit of sand and detritus, which the transporting power of the monsoon brings down and carries to spots where some natural impediment arrests them, or where the rapidity diminishes.

"Thus, where the Narbadá is closed by hills, its breadth less, and the vehemence of the entering streams intense, the rush of water furnishes and lodges the large erratic blocks of debris, which the different natural rocky barriers stop, and which contribute to the formation of rapids, and to the decrease of water over them in those places.

"But in the larger basins, where the banks are high, and of alluvial and vegetable character, the hills further distant, and the impetuosity of the flood is lost, the larger debris are left behind; and the detritus, consisting of light gravel and sand, subsides, and accumulates more opposite or just below the entrance of the large tributaries. The character, then, of the bed of the Narbadá in fair weather-independent of the large falls-may be summed up as consisting of a narrow rocky channel, obstructed by numerous rapids, occurring in the openings of the bare rocky ledges

* Selections from the Records of the Bombay Government, No. xiv. New Series, 1865, p. 5 et seq.

†The height of Amarkantak is really not above 3,400 feet.

which cross it diagonally. These rapids are tortuous, often at right angles with the general course of the river, and from fifty yards to five miles in length, very shallow, and rendered still more so by the accumulation of sand, rock, and gravel, deposited at the mouths of the numerous feeders, which cause a broken eddying current, with from six inches to a foot and a half of water over them, and are not safe, in consequence of projecting cliff's, with a rise of twenty feet of water, at which time formidable whirlpools, and a strong unmanageable current, subject to freshes of thirty feet in a few hours, take place.

"The basins of the Narbadá are those portions of the valley which are so fertile and productive. The upper one, 1,000 feet above the sea, extends from the marble banks of Bherá Ghát, opposite Jabalpúr, to a little below Handiá, nearly two hundred miles in length, but of little width northerly and southerly, the hills being nowhere above twenty miles distant.

"The other great basin, 500 to 750 feet high, stretches from the quartz hills above Barwáí to Chikaldá, upwards of one hundred miles; it is more open, with the Sátpurá range, in some places forty miles distant, to the south; while to the north the Vindhyas approach to between fourteen and sixteen miles.

"The banks of both basins are forty feet high, the soil alluvial, composed of marl and clay below, the superior stratum being the black vegetable mould. The upper basin is so level that from Jabalpúr to Hoshangábád, upwards of 120 miles, the fall is little more than fifty feet.* In the lower, the fall averages about two hundred feet. The centre of the latter is nevertheless nearly 400 feet below that of the upper, Mandleswar being 700, and Hoshangabád 1,070 feet above the sea, and Talakwárá, in the inferior or third basin, 100 miles lower down, is 450 feet lower than Mandleswar."

The Narbadá is fed principally from the south side, as the watershed of the Vindhyan tableland, which bounds the valley on the north, is almost entirely northwards. The principal affluents are, on the left bank-the Makrár, Chakrár, Kharmer, Burhner, and Banjar, which with others rise in the wilds of Rámgarh and Ráígarh. The Banjar empties itself into the Narbadá just opposite to Mandla. From this point, owing to the propinquity of the cliffs, of which the tablelands slope to the south, we have no more tributary streams until we meet the Tímar-a considerable affluent falling into the Narbadá in the Bargí pargana, above the Gaur. Then we have the Sonér between Jabalpúr and Narsinghpúr, the Sher and Shakar in the latter district, the Dúdhí, Korámí, Machná, Tawá, Ganjal, and Ajnál, in Hoshangábád, the Díb, thirty miles west of Mandleswar, and the Gohi, thirty-nine miles further west.

"These streams + after escaping from the gorges of the Gondwána hills have hollowed out channels for themselves across the flat ground of the valley beyond, exposing throughout most of their course many rocks distinct from each other in age, and differing among themselves in lithological character. And whether among the hills or on the plain beyond, the various texture

*The height of Jabalpúr is given by the Trigonometrical Survey at 1,458 feet, and that of Hoshangábád by the G. I. P. R. authorities at 1,120 feet. The real fall is therefore 338 feet. † Memoirs of the Geological Survey of India, vol. ii. part 2, p. 119.

and structure of these rocks, as well as their diverse modes of occurrence and of disintegration, have impressed on the landscape that endless variety of outline from which its principal charm is derived.”

On the right or north bank the principal affluents are the Baláí, passing under Shankar Ganj, the Hingná, the Gaur-a beautiful stream a little east from Jabalpúr,-the Hiran in the same district, the Jámner in Bhopál, the Káran in Holkar's dominions, crossed by the Bombay and Indore road, the Hatní in Alírájpúr a small district in Málwá under the political superintendence of the Governor-General's Agent at Indore,-the Aurin in Rewá Kántá, and some others of less note.

*

These northern feeders, being comparatively smaller than the southern, are also fewer and shorter. "The proximity of the hills increases their number, "adds immensely to their volume and velocity, and accounts equally for the sudden flushing of the river in the rains to seventy and ninety feet, often in a few hours, "and also for its shallowness in the fair season. The tributaries, being literally the drainage of the mountain ranges, rapidly empty themselves, owing to their short "course and rapid fall; their rugged and precipitous nature, in fact, makes them "torrents rather than streams. Of their size some idea may be gathered from one "(the Tawá), whose flood area is stated by Mr. Berkley to be 1,276 yards from "bank to bank in the rains, while it is all but dry in the fair weather. The Káran "also, near Gujrí on the north bank, is nearly as wide, requiring a bridge of five "large elliptical arches to span it."

Falls.

The falls are those of Kapiladhárá and Dúdh-dhárá near its source-the former of 78 feet. The next is at Umariá in the Narsinghpúr district, of about ten feet. At Mandhár, ninety miles below Hoshangábád, and about twenty-five below Handiá, there is a fall of forty feet; at Dádrí, near Punásá, twenty-five miles below Mandhár, there is another fall of forty feet. Near Mandhár the river presents an unbroken sheet of water one hundred feet from bank to bank. The navigation is there quite impracticable. In the dry season there are four or five channels. At Šaheswar Dhárá, below Mandleswar, there is a fall of ten feet. Then the fall and rapids of Haran Pál beyond Chikaldá occur. At Hámp, in the Rewá Kántá division of Gujarat, there is the Bálágorí rapid; at Makráf there is another fall; and a little lower down a dangerous whirlpool, which is said to embrace the whole bed of the Narbadá. The Makráí barrier is one of the worst in the Narbadá. is about sixty miles below the Haran Pál. Below this barrier and whirlpool the bed of the river is comparatively open.

It

NARKHER-A town in the Nágpúr district, four miles from Beloná and fifty-two from Nágpúr on the Betúl road. Its population amounts to 7,319 souls, mostly belonging to the agricultural classes. A good market-place, retaining-walls of masonry facing the river, school and police buildings, and streets, have recently been made, the cost being defrayed partly from town duties and partly by private subscriptions. A little cloth is manufactured here, but not more than sufficient to supply the local demand. The town is prettily situated among extensive groves, but is not considered to be healthy.

NARRA'-A chiefship attached to the Ráípúr district. It was separated about the year A.D. 1710 from the Garhját state of Khariár,† and given as his

* Bombay Government Records, New Series, No. xiv. p. 5.

†The Garhját chief of Khariár calls himself a Chauhan, so that this alliance would either invalidate his pretension to Rájput blood, or raise those of the Kanwar tribe.

wife's dowry to the ancestor of the present chief. It consists of thirteen miserably
poor villages, in the south-eastern corner of Chhattisgarh. The chief is by caste a
Kanwar. There are a police station-house and district post-office at the village
of Narrá.

NARSINGHA'-A remarkable hill, or rather rock, in the Seoní district.
It is dome-shaped, one hundred feet in height, and rises out of the plain of one
of the basins in the valley of the Bángangá (Waingangá). On the top of the
rock there is a temple sacred to Narsinha,* and in the temple is an image of the
god. The village at the foot of the rock is called Narsinghá.

NARSINGHGARH-A very old town in the Damoh district, situated twelve
miles north-west of Damoh, on the right bank of the river Sunár, and on the
route from Ságar to Rewá. During the period of Mohammadan ascendency it
was known as "Nasratgarh," but this was changed into the present name by the
Maráthás. A fort and mosque are the only relics of the Mohammadans. A
second fort, erected by the Maráthás, was partially destroyed by the British
troops in 1857. Most of the better buildings are now in ruins, and the popula-
tion is below 1,000 souls. There is a police station-house here.

A district which, lying between 22° 45′ and 23° 15′ of north latitude and 78° 38′
and 79° 38′ of east longitude, consists of two, or
Constitution of district.
more exactly speaking of three, distinct portions.
The largest of these lies south of the Narbadá, and is clearly defined on three
sides by rivers, viz. on the north by the Narbadá, on the east by the Soner, and
on the west by the Dúdhí. The southern boundary is an irregular east and west
line, including a strip of the Sátpurá tableland, generally narrow, but of varying
width. The Trans-Narbadá portions are two isolated tracts, annexed to the dis-
trict after its original formation. The easternmost is a mere insignificant patch
of hill and ravine. The westernmost is a small but fertile valley, enclosed by
the Narbadá in a crescent-shaped bend of the Vindhyan range. The whole area
of the district is 1,916 square miles, of which about half is cultivated. The
extreme length from east to west is about seventy-five miles, and the extreme
breadth about forty miles. The number of villages is 1,108, giving an average
area to each village of nearly a square mile and three quarters.

*An incarnation of Vishnu.

This article consists almost entirely of extracts from the Report on the Land Revenue
Settlement of Narsinghpúr by Mr. C. Grant.

The district may be described with approximate accuracy as forming the upper half of the Narbadá valley proper. The first of those wide alluvial basins which, alternating with rocky gorges, give so varied a character to the river's course, opens out just beyond the famous marble rocks at Bherághát, about eight miles west of Jabalpúr, and fifteen miles east of the Narsinghpúr district boundary. It is stated to extend as far as Handiá in the Hoshangábád districta distance of about 225 miles. The general elevation exceeds 1,000 feet above the sea, and the fall is very gradual. In the opinion of geologists the basins, of which this is one, were originally lakes,† which were more or less intimately "connected with each other, and were fed by a slowly flowing river down which clayey sediment was carried, and distributed in a gradual and uniform manner over a considerable extent of country." On the conglomerate and clay thus deposited lie twenty feet of the rich alluvium, so well known as the "regar" or black cotton soil of India.

The face of the Sátpurá range overlooking the valley is generally regular, and probably nowhere rises more than 500 feet General appearance. above the low land. It runs in a line almost parallel to the course of the river, at an average distance from it of fifteen or twenty miles. The intervening space, as has been stated above, forms the bulk of the Narsinghpur district. The Vindhyan tableland, though also sandstone, is an entirely distinct formation from the Sátpurá range. Its southern scarp, though generally abrupt, is irregular in its alignment, twice abutting on the river bed, and twice opening out into the bay-like curves which have been already mentioned as the detached Trans-Narbadá portions of the district. Still the effect of the hill lines, viewed from a little distance, is sufficiently regular not to interfere with the otherwise compact configuration of the district.

The following description of the two opposite ranges and the valley which lies between them is extracted from the Memoirs of the Geological Survey of India, Vol. II. Part 2, pp. 117-120, 122 :—

Geology.

"This (the Vindhyan) range of flat-topped cliffs is marked by great uniformity of outline, averaging from three hundred to four hundred feet above the level of the valley, in rare cases rising to eight hundred. It is, however, incorrect to speak of this as a range of hills. Seen from the south it presents an almost uninterrupted series of headlands with projecting promontories and receding bays, like a weather-beaten coast line; but these form the abrupt termination of a tableland, and are not an independent. range of hills. It would be difficult to point out a finer example of cliffs, once formed by the denuding action of shore-waves, but now far inland, than is exhibited along this range. From the summit of these cliffs, however, there is no descent to the north corresponding to their southern declivity; on the contrary the plateau is found to stretch away in this direction in gentle undulations. The northward slope, though slight, commences from the very edge of the escarpment, and a reference to the map will show that the Betwá, the Dhasán, and the Sunár rivers have their origin in places overhanging the valley of the Narbadá. In one or two localities, where the

* From Jabalpur to Hoshangábád, about 165 miles, the fall is stated by Dr. Impey ("Physical character of the Narbadá River") not much to exceed 50 feet, but the real fall is 338 feet. Vide article "Narbadá."

Dr. Impey on the Narbadá, Bombay Government Records, New Series, No. xiv.
Memoirs of the Geological Survey of India, vol. ii. part 2, p. 238.

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