The ‘Narmada Pilgrimage’ is the personification of supernatural grit: I am always astonished at their (pilgrims') endurance, since I know the Narmada pilgrimage to be an arduous affair that takes nearly two years to complete. At the mouth of the river on the Arabian Sea, the pilgrims must don white clothing out of respect for Shiva’s asceticism before walking eight respect for Shiva’s asceticism before walking eight hundred kilometres to the river’s source at Amarkantak. There they must cross to the opposite bank of the river and walk all the way back to the ocean, pausing only during the monsoon rains in some small temple town like Mahadeo, which has accommodated the legions of devout who have walked this route millennium upon millennium.” Before a pilgrim commences the laborious excursion, he must have made an irrevocable resolution to withstand all the setbacks that are inherent in the mission. There is no shorter route for the pilgrimage; hence, one would not anticipate finalizing the excursion in an interval of less than two years.
Besides, Gita Mehta impressively employs maximalism in the illumination of the Narmada pilgrimage. Accordingly, a reader who is deficient of acquaintance regarding the pilgrimage, would smoothly picture all the phases of the pilgrimage. The imagery of the pilgrimage accentuates the materiality of endurance, since the pilgrimage’s longevity, which is alluded to in the citation of millenniums, is attributed to unqualified fortitude of the diverse cohorts of pilgrims.
Mythological allusion exemplifies the spirituality of Narmada: “Our bungalow guards are hired from Vano village and enjoy a reputation of fierceness as descendants of the tribal races that held the Aryan invasion of Indian at bay for centuries in these hills. Indeed, the Vano village deity is a stone image of a half-woman with the full breasts of a fertility symbol but the torso of the coiled snake, because the tribals believe they once rule a great snake kingdom until they were defeated by the gods of the Ayans. Saved from annihilation only by a divine personification of the Narmada River, the grateful personification of the Narmada River.” The mythology emphasizes the venerable religious nature of the river which authenticates the quintessence of the pilgrim. Background evidence vis-à-vis the history of the Vano village augments the belief concerning the river’s religiousness. Pilgrims who undertake the ‘Narmada Pilgrimage’ have complete persuasion about the mystical potential of the river. The river is wholly existing based on the mystic personification that portrays explicit discharge.
The Jain faith dictates the professions in which the devotees partake: “When I was a child my father had taught me the cardinal doctrine of the Jains: ( “ The most important thing in our faith is ahimsa, the practice of nonviolence. That is why we are bankers or merchants. There are so many activities we cannot undertake for fear of harming life. If we were farmers, we might unknowingly kill creatures under our plows. In industry the earth is drilled for oil, iron, coal. Can you imagine how much life is extinguished by those machines?)” The epitome of nonviolence is prominent to the types of trades which the Jains take on. Nonviolence is a primary criterion which discerns whether a profession is acceptable for a Jain or not. Accordingly, a Jain who engages in occupations that are observed as violent would not be branded an outright devotee.
