210 NARBADA RIVER. monsoon, and during the dry season there is no depth of fresh water. Though the foreign trade of Broach has greatly fallen off from what it was in early days, this decline does not seem to be due to unfavourable changes in the channel of the river. The author of the Periplus (1st century A.D.) dwells upon the difficulty of getting up to Barugaza (Broach), even by the help of skilful pilots, and moving only with the tide. Fryer (1680) tells a very similar story; and Heber (1825) says that no vessels larger than moderately-sized ligh cross the bar. According to local legend, it was believed that the goddess of the Narbadá would never suffer her stream to be crossed by a bridge. The Bombay and Baroda Railway Company, however, succeeded in proving the falsehood of this legend. Their first bridge, near the city of Broach, begun in 1860, was seriously damaged by a food in 1864, and though the repairs then required suffered from another flood in 1868, by 1871 the bridge again stood complete, after a total expenditure of £,470,000. The unprecedented flood of 1876, which rose to a height of 35 feet above high-water mark, washed away 26 spans, or 1600 feet out of a total length of 4250 feet. The traffic was carried on a temporary structure, and a new bridge was commenced about 100 yards farther up-stream, and completed at an estimated cost of £375,000. Altogether, the bridging of the Narbadá cannot have cost this company much less than a million sterling. There are besides three other bridges over the Narbadá, one at Mortakka on the Málwa branch of the Rájputána-Málwa State Railway, the second at Hoshangábád on the Bhopal State Railway, and the third where the river is crossed by the Great Indian Peninsula Railway about 24 miles from Jabalpur. In religious sanctity, the Narbadá ranks only second to the Ganges among the rivers of India. According to the Rewi Purina (Rewa being another name for the river), the sanctity of the Ganges will cease in the Samvat year 1951 (1895 A.D.), while the purifying virtue of the Narbadá 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 theniselves, standing in the Narbadá with a garland of red flowers round the neck and some water in the right hand. 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 parikrám or pradakshana, is chietly undertaken by devotees from Gujarat and the Deccan, 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 Rájá Báli performed the ten-horse sacrifice; and the temples at karod and Dhadbhut.
