Godavari-The Dakshina Ganga The river Godavari is the real divider of north and south India, enfolding in its course across the sub-continent, the religious sanctity of the northern rivers as well as the aboriginal trend of worship of nature and its forces ofthe south. One distinctive feature differentiating the rivers of the north and the south is that the rivers of the north are perennial, flowing throughout the year, since they are fed by the monsoon rains as well as the snow of the Himalayas, whereas the rivers of the south are fed by the north-east and south-west monsoons. During these months they tend to overflow their banks but during the summer months they are narrow streams in most places.
The Godavari is also called the 'Dakshina Ganga'. It's 1,450 kms. course entails it to being the longest of the east-flowing rivers of the south. It flows along the northern Deccan, descending from the Western ghats, or the Sahyadri range near Nasik, which runs from the river Tapti to Terkhol creek near Kanyakumari. The watershed of the Sahyadris especially in the central parts of Karnataka with its wooded ghats and spectacular waterfalls are breathtakingly beautiful sights. The main source of the Godavari, within sight of the Arabian sea, is 129 kms. (80 miles) from Bombay, near the Thai ghat and it flows south of east into the Bay of Bengal. It is twice the length of river Kaveri and her drainage basin is the second largest in India. As compared to the Ganga whose drainage basin is 25% of the total area, the Godavari covers 10% of the total area. The 200-year-old black stone temple of Trimbakeshwar marks the source of the Godavari. It houses one of the 12 'Jyoti' Lingas' of Shiva. The Godavari rises from the high plateaus behind Trimbakeshwar and trickels down into the tanks built around the temple. The main tank of Kushtvertha has an architectural beauty of its own and it enhances the sanctity of the temple and its surroundings. One has to trek a steep and treacherous path to reach the actual source of the Godavari. High up on the hills is a Kund or a tiny stone well from where the water trickles down the walls of the black cliffs and from here it forms a narrow stream flowing past Trimbakeshwar and onward, to reach Nasik. This is one of the four sites of the kumbha mela or the Sinhastha mela held every 12 years and about which you have read in detail in the previous chapters. Along the banks here, there are 2,000 temples and numerable bathing ghats. There is an incident in the Ramayana that relates to this city. When Laxman, brother of Rama was fed up of the persuasions of Surpanakha (sister of Ravana) to marry her, he chopped off her nose and it fell where Nasik stands today. The Godavari here is very polluted. It is also believed that Rama and Sita stayed on the banks of the river at Panchavati. Up in the hills around Nasik are the hill-fortresses of Shivaji. The highest peak here is the Brahmagiri 1,262 meters (4148 feet) where the river takes a steep turn and flows on past the town of Paithan, famous for its silk weaving. At Brahmagiri it was sage Gautam Buddha who performed penance after killing a cow and hence the name Godavari. Numerous dynasties ruled, conquered and diminished in these regions of the Deccan-the Satavahanas and the Chalukyas were spread across Maharashtra and more than a century and a half later, the Marathas ruled Andhra and Tanjore. The Rashtrakutas of Karnataka were the builders of the Ellora and Ajanta caves near Aurangabad. These caves were scooped out of rocks over 10 centuries ago. There are 34 rock-cut temples here, representing Hindu, Buddhist and Jain faiths. Nearby,96 kms. (60 miles) from Aurangabad are the Ajanta caves, (30 in number) of the Buddhist faith. The ancient city of Vijayanagar also came up in the Deccan a century later. But these civilizations were marauded by the advent of the Moghuls in India. As the Godavari flows further east, it enters the state of Karnataka, past the Manjra valley and the rocks of Golconda. It is now joined by its northern tributary, the Purna before it reaches Nander, the Gurdwara town of Huzoor Sahib, where the Sikh Guru Gobind Singh was assassinated in the year 1708. By now the river has entered Andhra Pradesh and flowing past Warangal near the 80th meridian, it is joined by its tribal tributary, the Pranahita, which has its source in Maharashtra and it brings down the drainage of the Mahadeo hills. The famous Ramappa temple raised by the Kakatiya dynasty and well-known for its architectural beauty is situated north of Warangal. The tributaries of Indravati and Sabari (associated with the story of Rama), also joins the Godavari. The course of the Indravati marks the border of Madhya Pradesh. The Manjra is its main southern tributary and it drains a large part of the former state of Hyderabad, which is now partly in Maharashtra and partly in Andhra Pradesh. By now the Godavari is 4 kms. wide but this again is only during the monsoon season. Here along its banks is the temple of Kaleshwaram, in which is one of the three lingams which gave Telangana the ancient name of 'Trilingadesh'. The river flows peacefully on, the colour, a light blue. Near Khammam and Kottagudem, across the bridge over Godavari is the temple of God Bhadrachalam, associated with the Ramayana. The forests around this part of the Godavari are the Vanaprastha land where Ram, Sita and Lakshmana spent 14 years in exile. The temple of Bhadrachalam on the hill-top is one of the fore-most of Rama temples and legend says that at Parnasala, a place 30 kilometres from Bhadrachalam, Ravana had abducted Sita and it was here that Rama and Lakshmana had crossed the river Godavari when they began their journey in search of Sita. Bhadrachalam is also famous for being the home town of Ramdas, a devotee of Rama, whose songs are so well-known all over the country. The story of this great poet is quite interesting-Ramadas was a tehsildar and his real name was Gopanna. There was an old woman in his Tehsil who once had a dream in which she saw three idols in a forest on top of a hill. The next day, accompanied by her daughter, she went into the deep forest and found the idols of Rama, Lakshmana and Sita, on top of the hill, just as she had visualised in her dream. She became their devotee and would go up to worship them every day. When the people of her village asked her about her daily visits to the deep forest, she told them she was going to a temple. They were amused by her answer, since they believed that there was no temple in the dense forest. Once, the story of her mysterious visits to a temple reached the ears of Gopanna the Tehsildar'. But he took her story seriously and went with her to see the site. When he saw the idols under a thatched roof, which Thimakka had made herself, he underwent a great transformation. And from that day onwards, he decided to spend the rest of his life singing praises of Lord Rama. He also built a beautiful temple here. Very soon people came from far and wide and journeyed through the forest to hear Ramanna and also visit the temple, and they named him Bhadrachala Ramadasa. Today Bhadrachalam is no longer a small village but it is a pilgrim centre and has 24 temples all clustered in close proximity. The stone temple built by Ramadasa and housing the idols of Rama, Lakshmana and Sita is right in the midst of them. The legends also say that Lord Bhadrachalam himself is supposed to have descended on earth in the form of a human, to ransom Ramadasa, who was later taken prisoner by a Qutb Shahi King. The Godavari which was flowing in a wide valley and frequently breaking up into several channels, now flows into a different geographical region. Many tributaries join the Godavari as it flows along. The Pranahita which has its source in Maharashtra joins the river followed by Indravati and the Sabari further down. At this juncture, the Godavari is four kilometres wide. But it once more narrows down when it flows through the Eastern ghats. From the junction of Pranahita, the Godavari leaves the lava plateau region and enters a trough of eroded rocks that extend right up to the sea. This feature is responsible for the wide break in the Eastern Ghats and also for the wide depth of the coastal plain at the mouth of the Godavari and Krishna. Ninety-seven kms. (60 miles) from the sea, the river leaves the trough and breaks through the ghats and falls in a magnificent gorge which is only 182 meters (200 yards) wide. The vast delta of the Godavari is virtually parallel to that of the river Krishna and in fact both the rivers are connected by canal. The Godavari now curves into the prosperous town of Rajahmundry, formerly known as Rajamahendravaram, which is close to the ancient site of the capital of the Eastern Chalukyas. Here the Godavari flows as a broad and mighty river. The railway bridge on the river here is the second largest in India and contains 56 spans. Rajahmundry is an ancient and traditional town, having seen many dynasties. Once every 12 years, the 'pushkaran' festival is celebrated here, which is as sanctimonious as the kumbha mela at Prayag. The temples along the river here are dedicated to Markandeya and Kotilingeswara. The famous classical poet of the 11th century, Nannaya, as also the renowned Telugu writer, Veersalingam Pantulu, both lived in Rajahmundry. Here is located another well-known temple of Draksharama. The Qodvari flows on and finally reaches Dhavaleshwaram, which boasts of a dam constructed by Sir Arthur Cotton, in as early as 1845. He came to India from England as a young lad of seventeen and was working in the Irrigation Department. He had seen the stone Anicut dam (a low dam which directs the stream flow into the head of the canal) built on the river Kaveri by the Chola kings and he designed and built this dam along those lines. He also built another dam on the river Kaveri called Melania or the upper Anicut. He is the man responsible for the building of a dam on the river Krishna near Vijayawada. Not only did he build the dam but also planned a canal system that would fill the lakes and tanks, which in turn would improve irrigation. He is remembered even today as the pioneer of a well-planned irrigation system in southern India. After the Godavari surpasses Dhavaleshwaram, it is divided into three streams-the eastern stream is called the Gautami Godavari, meeting the sea at Yenam, the middle stream is called the Vaishnava Godavari, which merges with the sea at Narsapur. All the three together form a vast fertile delta area and it is considered to be one of the richest rice-growing regions of India. Rich in legend, the word Godavari signifies the giver of cows, a euphemism for prosperity. It is also known as Gautami as it was supposed to have been brought down to earth by sage Gautama. The Godavari delta attracted the French, the Dutch and the English settlers and it served as a very useful waterway, making travel easy through the ferry system, besides being a mode of transportation of teak logs and bamboo. Its banks are rich in teak and bamboo forests. KR IRS 5423 -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/CAL5XZoqnEEwanEnzoJP8cqBvvM7HwQQV-%3DvsEUWA8_QSq%2BWNXw%40mail.gmail.com.
