Godavari , Gautami.. Ganga

The Queen River of Deccan plateau , spanning Maharashtra, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, in length, second only to the celestial Ganga and in spirit ,the Ganga herself reincarnated at the Brahmagiri is the celebrated river goddess of peninsular India, the mighty Godavari !

Literally meaning ‘the one who nourishes cows’ is really a giver in all respects to all living beings on her banks. Flowing with abundant waters for nearly 1500 kilometres, Godavari is like the eldest and most capable daughter of Sahayadri Mountains!

Godavari is revered as one of the seven important rivers of this land along with Ganga, Yamuna, Saraswati, Narmada, Sindhu and Kaveri from ancient times.

Mahabharat references Godavari as an important river. Gatha Saptashati, a collection of Gathas, with rustic emotions and lyrical compositions, and backdrop of Maharashtrian landscape mentions the amorous attractions on the banks of Godvari!

Godavari originating in Western Ghats near Nashik, flows through entire Deccan plateau, aggregating waters of its several tributaries and passing through Eastern Ghats, meets the Bay of Bengal near Kakinada. A long long, coast to coast journey, through hills and forests, through civilizations modern and ancient, influencing kingdoms, welcoming pilgrims and nurturing life !

Origin

Tryambakshwar, at the origin of Godavari is one of the 12 Jyotirlinga, an important place of Lord Shankar worship. Godavari starts her divine journey, through city of Nashik, one of the designated places for Kumbhmela. Godavari is also known as Gautami here owing to the legend of sage Gautam bringing the sacred Ganga river to the Deccan plateau and hence is known as ‘Daksheen Ganga ‘meaning Southern Ganga

Godavari forms the southern boundary of Dandakaranya in Ramayana whereas Panchavati, the place where Ram and Sita stayed during  their forest stay is now part of Nashik.

Downstream, the birds chirp, and flamingo flocks swing in blue skies at Nandur Madhameshwar, a bird sanctuary.

The Deccan

Once past Kopargaon, passing through the parched lands of Marathwada in Maharshtra, Godavari provides the much needed touch of water.

Just before Paithan, she meets with Pravara. This Pravara-sangam is itself a visual delight. Pravara has a special place in every Maharastrian’s mind. Just before the confluence, Pravara passes through Nevase. This is the place where Sant Dnyaneshwar, the child prodigy of Maharastra penned ‘Bhavarth-Dipika’, commonly known as ‘Dnyaneshwari’. One of the most revered and complete commentary on Bhagavat Geeta, which has transcended over centuries since its creation in early thirteenth century.

Dyanenshwar, at the tender age of 16 was one of the most brilliant and accomplished Yogi. His life story with his three equally enlightened siblings, the arduous childhood, the unfettered faith in Vithal the God,  and attaining the difficult most Sanjeevan-Samadhi  before touching twenty  years of age , he was the indeed the path breaker in the continuing tradition of Marathi  saints in later centuries. There will be very few households in Maharashtra, who will not have ‘Dyaneshwari’ on the pedestal. Godavari is blessed to have the fortune of raising this extraordinary son of soil in her backyard.

All ancient key cities or capitals are on the banks of prominent rivers. Paithan , or the ancient Pratishthan is not an exception. Godavari, blocked at Jayakwadi, flows seamlessly around Paithan. Paithan was the capital of Satwahan, the original royal dynasty of Maharashtra. Paithan remained important city of trade and administration even during the time of later dynasties such as Chalukya and Yadav.  Paithan and area around are of great archaeological interest, as it provides continuous settlement pattern over 25 centuries to say the least. 

And Paithan is equally celebrated for that special silk craft in beautiful bright colours and real gold or silver borders, famously called as Paithanee Sarees. Parrots and peacocks form some of the central motifs in this hand woven silk cloth.

River of Faith

Paithan has long tradition of Marathi saints starting from Dyaneshwar, Eknath and many others like Namdev, Sant Janabai, Changdev and others in the vicinity.  These saint poets and thinkers of medieval times including Tukaram , Dasganu , Chokha mela, initiated the Bhakti  or Varkari movement which later flourished and is still in practice. A whole corpus of lyrical ‘Abhang’ and ‘Owee’ in Marathi language can be attributed to this tradition. Abhang are poetic compositions in Marathi, centred around worship of Vitthal or Vithoba, with philosophical message. These compostions actually brought the Sanskrit based ‘Darshanik’ knowledge to common people. Bhakti tradition literally got the Godavari of Indian philosophy to the doorsteps of everyone through this vernacular literature. Bhakti movement also insisted on removing the cast barriers and thus discarding the rigidity in social behaviour.

 It is almost like Godavari has blessed this Bhakti and Varkari sect with her ever nourishing waters.

The meandering stream of Godavari, traverses the Marathvada, taking in waters of Kundalika and Purna, flourishing this sacred land which also belongs to Nath Yogis.

Nath Sampraday a pan India sect of Shaiva worship, is one of important strong branch of this tree called Hinduism. Godavari is the eternal mother river whose banks are dotted with Nath monasteries and temples right from its basin in Maharashtra to its delta in Andhra. Offshoots of Sahyadri in Nagar, Nashik and Aurangabad have several Nath places of worship. Nath Sampraday finds reference in several literary traditions and books. Disciples of this sect are termed as Nath, Siddha or Yogis. Gorakshnath, Matsyendranath , Gahininath are some of great sages of this lineage.

 Datta Sampraday another equally important faith stream, popular on the Deccan plateau also finds its important places in the Godavari basin. Dutta sect is closely linked with Nath Tradition, but worships a Vishnu incarnation.  Mahur,Karanje are places of worship for Datta devotees which are in upper basin of Godavari. . Mahanubhav sect which also finds its roots in same region around Godavari is almost like combination of Nath and Dutta cults. Waters of Godavari have given life to these various streams of devotions, philosophies and cultures.

River Godavari fondly called as Godamai, meaning ‘Goda mother’, is mother river of Maharshtra in its true sense.

Reaching Nanded, Godavari prepares to leave Maharshtra and enters the present day Telangana. Nanded by itself is a prominent place in Sikh history. There stands the majestic Huzur Sahib Gurudwara reminding all about the bond shared by Punjab with Maharashtra some 250 years back, when Guru Gobindsingh, the tenth Sikh Guru chose Nanded as his last abode. This is where he passed the authority to Guru Granth and put a stop to human Guru Tradition.  Ever flowing Godavari has witnessed this transition with mute admiration.

Taking a sharp turn to south, Godavari continues till she meets her southern affluent Manjara. Manjara drains the passage between Godavari and Krishna, bringing in the flavours of Karnataka.

Godavari now a substantial flow, turns north, to pass through some of the holy places such as Basar and Dharmapuri.  Basar is famous for unique Saraswati temple, one of the very few in India. Passing through Nizamabad and Macherial districts of Telangana, Godavari once again touches south eastern border of Maharashtra.

The Jungle Lore

Now entering the Mahakantar, the great jungle region, Pranhita river, the biggest tributary of Godavari meets her near Sironcha.  Pranhita carries with her waters of Satpura ranges and whole of Vidarbha to merge with the sacred stream of Godavari. Sacred town of Kaleshwaram is at the confluence.

Skirting the Maharashtra border, moving through Sal forests and  roars of tigers, Godavari receives her another major tributary. Indravati flows through thick forests of Chattisgarh, passing through craggy hills of Vindhya, and carrying the fading flute tunes of Gond tribals, is a force to reckon with.

Another tributary of Godavari called Sabari, which meets the main river further downstream also comes from thick wooded belt of Chhatisgarh-Odisha border. And interestingly, Indravati and Sabari are interconnected naturally through a ‘middleman’ stream !

From this point onwards, Godavari flows in southerly direction and enters Andhra Pradesh. Taking in waters from some more tributaries like Talperu, now at the confluence with Kinnarseni, stands Bhadrachalam, a prominent place of Rama Bhakti. This temple town has rich association with the river. Godavari’s enormous expanse here is awe inspiring.

This lifeline of ‘Dakkhan’, the deccan has seen rise and fall of several empires on both sides of her banks. The Yadav, Rashtrakoot, Vengy Chalukya giving way to Kakatiya of Warangal and then with wheels of time turning, giving way to Islamic kingdoms of Bahamani, which had further split into 5 Shahi sultanates.

Moving ahead, Godavari enters the Eastern Ghats, the mountain ranges closer to the eastern coast of India. It takes a twisting and turning ride through the green blue Papikonda hills, gushing through the sloping hills, flanked by high rising mountains, carving a deep valley the river continues its eternal journey. Now smelling the whiff of sea breeze, Godavari impatiently crosses the mountain terrain to come out in open and spread its bounty at Rajahmundry, a prominent city of Andhra Pradesh. The massive bridge here on Godavri measures 4 KM.  This is third largest bridge in Asia and is an attraction by itself.

The Merger

Moving past, Godavari splits into 2 major branches, Gautami Godavari and Vasishtha Godavari, which further split into 2 more branches each and with these four arms she meets the Bay of Bengal. The delta region of Godavari is known as Konaseema. A scenic landscape awaits you with swaying palms and green paddy fields stretching across.

Gautami Godavari branch merges with the tides, at Kakinada. Yanam near Kakinada is erstwhile French colony and part of Pondicherry union territory. Earlier in 18’th century this area saw rise of several Dutch colonies doing Indigo trade. Dutch handed over this colony to French later.

The Vasishtha branch meets the sea near Narsapur, again a temple town and former Dutch colony. Godavari delta is one of the most fertile regions of the country.

The silk thread of Paithan, finds a coastal counterpart here, on the banks of Godavari again. Uppada , a small beach town near Kakinada, has made mark in the world of silk saris. The Jamdani work combined with Andhra style designs has given rise to Uppada Pattu, a distinctive fabric style.

Epilogue

We have now traversed almost the entire south central India, from west to east with this river goddess, a journey through time and geography!  

Over several towns, temples and  traditions, Godavari banks have hosted several festivals throughout the year. The sacred and massive Kumbhmela in Tryambak to Godavari Pushkaram festival in Telangana and Andhra, from the Adishesh devotees gathering for Nagoba Jatra at Pranhita confluence to the Antarvedi fair, the cultural celebrations have bloomed in abandon on the Godavari water front.

Godavari  has  marked the borders for kingdoms and  helped win battles for the kings. She has devastated her banks with raging floods at times and has also blocked herself with dams to fulfil the quench of her children.

Godavari has inspired sages, saints and poets and her tranquil waters have given solace to the seekers. Truly my Godavari.. the Goda Mai…



Published at https://blogvirasatehind.com/2017/04/04/godavari-the-fettered-dakshin-ganga/