The Narmada River in Gita Mehta's A River Sutra

Abstract: Gita Mehta’s A River Sutra is a collection of short stories connected with a common thread of the Narmada River. Mehta's writing is dedicated to Indian themes, culture, mysticism, religion, beliefs, human relations, ecology, and climate change. The Narmada is considered to be one of the holy rivers in India, and pilgrims walk from the origin of the river till its union with the sea and back to the origin again. Though the Narmada river stands for the purification of sins, it represents varied lives and multiple manifestations of nature, ecology, and the environment. Each story in the narrative projects a different life connected with the river Narmada. This paper aims to trace the significance of the Narmada river and how Narmada becomes a healer and peacemaker to the characters