Note on Arjuna and the Narmadā

Note: this text is extracted from Book XII, chapter 102

This refers to an incident in the “Uttarakāṇḍa,” or last book of the Rāmāyaṇa. It is really only an appendix and deals with incidents antecedent to those in the poem itself. Rāvaṇa, after defeating numerous kings, attacks Arjuna or Kārttavīrya, King of Māhishmatī, on the banks of the Narmada, and is defeated, captured and imprisoned by Arjuna. Griffith (Rāmāyaṇa, vol. v, p. 322), following the works of Signor Gorresio and Muir, places the incident in sections xxi and xxii, but in the complete prose translation by M. N. Dutt it appears in sections xxxvi-xxxviii, as related by Agastya to Rāma.

Section xxxvi contains a beautiful description of the holy River Narmadā (Dutt calls it Nerbuda; it is the Narbada or Nerbudda of modern atlases, the Namados of Pliny, and Nammadios of the Periplus), followed by the bathing of Rāvaṇa and his worship of Śiva. The worship, however, is interrupted by an overwhelming current of the stream, flowing in an opposite direction.

Some of Rāvaṇa’s retinue go to discover the cause of this strange phenomenon and report as follows:—

“O lord of Rākṣasas, an unknown person, huge as a Sāla tree, is sporting with females obstructing the course of Nerbuda like unto a dam. And being withheld by the thousand arms of that man, the waters of Nerbuda are continually throwing up high waves.”

At this Rāvaṇa advances to fight Arjuna, and several of the latter’s ministers are killed. Arjuna thereupon “rose up from the waters like an elephant,” and the waters thus released from this human dam flowed on their accustomed way. [This is the actual incident referred to in our text.]

A terrible duel ensues.

“And taking up their clubs, Arjuna and Rāvaṇa begin to fight with one another, emitting cries like the mutterings of clouds, like unto two huge bulls fighting for a cow, two agitated oceans, two moving mountains, two effulgent Ādityas, two burning flames, two proud elephants, two proud lions, and like the very Rudra and Kāla.”

Eventually Rāvaṇa is overcome, bound and carried off by Arjuna. —n.m.p.