Amarkantak

Puranic name of Amarkantak was Riksha parvat. It is not only the Narmada which arises from Amarkantak, because theson River, initially referred to as Jwalawanti of Johila, the Mahanadi and the Amadoh, which is a major early tributary of the Godavari, all rise from within the Amarkantak plateau.Among all the sacred rivers of India, the Narmada occupies a unique place. Legend has it that Lord Shiva blessed Narmada with unique purifying powers. Whereas to purify himself, a devotee requires taking one dip in the Holy Ganga, seven days' prayers on the banks of Yamuna and three days prayers on the banks of Saraswati, the mere sight of Narmada is enough. A charming folk tale describes the superiority of Narmada over Ganga. Once every year, after she herself is polluted beyond tolerance, Ganga visits Narmada dressed like a dark woman and takes a cleansing purifying dip in its waters! Narmada, which is more than 150 million years older than the Ganges RiverGanga and is considered by many Hindus to be the most sacred for all the rivers of India, Amarkantak itself is sacred to the Hindus and is deemed to be a door-way to ‘nirwana’.

The history about amarkantak reveals that during the Chendi dynasty hold the region was followed by the kalchuris in the 10th century. The region in the earier days was belived to be known as the ayodhya, as mentioned in our vedas, puranas that there was a ashram for the saints of kapil muni and rishi markand. Stories from the various books suggests that the pandavas of the mahabharat epic had spent their years of exile here. region was later in the 15th century was handed over Baghelas and in 1808, the bhosle of nagpur ruled out the region. Finally in went in the hands of minister of state goverment. In the hindu mythology, Narmada is one of the seven sacred rivers of India. Pilgrims bathe in its holy water to wash away their sins. legend has it that once every year, the mighty Ganga comes to Narmada to take a holy dip into its water at the place of its origin.

Amarkantak receives large number of tourists throughout the year. Being a pilgrimage destination, majority of them are Hindu devotees. Apart from being a pilgrimage destination, it is also a popular hill station. So for those who are interested in hill station pilgrim then it is the best option in Central India. Being origin of Holy Narmada river, devotees takes this place with great devotion and respect. While visiting Amarkantak we can see various temples, Kapildhara, Temple of Kalchuri era & Narmada Kund from where river Narmada originates and number of Ashrams. Hindu saints see this place with great respect and visits for meditation and feel the holiness of atmosphere.

In addition to a holy place, forest area of Amarkantak generates the feeling of wilderness of surrounding. This valley is popular among Botanist for huge variety of medicinal plants. Some of them are rare by nature. After visiting temples and other holy places, tourists have chance to visit nearby villages to experience the tribal culture and their rituals. Surrounding villages are of Central India Tribes where we can see they life style, housing pattern, know about their livelihood, customs, rituals, social pattern etc. Being located in South-East of Madhya Pradesh, it shares border with Chattisgarh state in which Achanakmar Wildlife Sanctuary forest is another wildlife attraction for visitors.

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Madhya Pradesh has a subtropical climate. Like most of north India it has a hot dry summer(April-June) followed by monsoon rains (July-September) and a cool and relatively dry winter. The average rainfall is about 1,370 mm (53.9 in). It decreases from east to west. The south-eastern districts have the heaviest rainfall, some places receiving as much as 2,150 mm (84.6 in), while the western and north-western districts receive 1,000 mm (39.4 in) or less.

By Air: Jabalpur & Raipur are the nearest airports for reaching Amarkantak. Jabalpur is about 250kms from Amarkantak and can be reached by road & train from Amarkantak.

DISTANCE CHART		LOCATION MAP
From	Distance (in Kms)
Jabalpur	250
Bilaspur	150
Kanha National Park	260
Bandhavgarh	260

By Train: Madhya Pradesh State is well connected by Indian railways network. Most of the major railway tracks passes through this state due to its central location. All important cities and tourist destinations are linked with direct trains to Madhya Pradesh like: Jaipur, Agra, Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kolkata, Ranthambore, Udaipur, Ahmedabad, Puri, Haridwar, Varanasi etc. Their are number of railway junctions inside Madhya Pradesh like Itarsi, Katni, Bina, Indore, Ujjain, Gwalior, Chhindwara, Dewas, Khandwa etc. Recently luxury tourist train called "Maharaja Express" has been started which passes through Madhya Pradesh station like Gwalior, Khajuraho and Umaria (Bandhavgarh).

By Train: Madhya Pradesh State border touches 5 state: Gujarat, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Chattisgarh & Maharashtra. All these states are well linked from cities and towns of Madhya Pradesh by road. Some major National Highways like NH-7, NH-12A, NH-25, NH-26, NH-27, NH-69, NH-3, NH-92, NH-12 etc. passes through this state. Major tourist destinations close to Madhya Pradesh, linked by Road are: Agra, Jaipur, Varanasi, Tadoba National Park, Ranthambore, Raipur, Vishakhapattnam, Ajanta, Ellora, Ahmedabad, Udaipur, Chittorgarh, Mount Abu, Chambal Sanctuary, Lucknow etc.

Weather Today in Jabalpur

Content coming soon.... Being a important tourism region, Madhya Pradesh state is visited by tourist through out the year. Broadly we can divide Madhya Pradesh tourism in 3 parts. Heritage tourism is active in Northern part of state which is more rocky and destinations comes under this region are Gwalior, Shivpuri, Orchha, Khajuraho, Panna, Chanderi, Datia etc. All these destination offers major palaces, forts, temples, cenotaphs of state. Best time to visit this region is from October to April as during this time climate remain pleasant and good.

Southern part, south-west region and some of the Northern region of Madhya Pradesh are rich in Wildlife which includes Tigers, Leopards, Sloth Bear, Hard-ground Barasingha, Indian Gaur, Wild Dog (Dholes) and atleast more than 250 bird species.

One can have good accommodation facility through out Madhya Pradesh state weather you are in Jungles, heritage sites, pilgrim sites or in a hill station. It is the Madhya Pradesh State where all 04 luxury safari lodges of Taj Group is located with world class facilities. You can find 5-star category hotels in Gwalior, Indore, Bhopal cities. As we have already specifed that states Gujarat, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra & Chattisgarh shares their state border with Madhya Pradesh so one can go to any of these states for tourism & holidays.