Introduction
William Sleeman, after whom the little village of Sleemanabad in Madhya Pradesh is named, retold a classic Indian fable in an open letter to his sister. It is a love story of three rivers, the Narmada (Nerbudda), the Son and the Johila, and explains why the Narmada and the Son rise in the same place in central India, but flow in opposite directions.
THE legend is that the Nerbudda* which flows west into the Gulf of Cambay* was wooed in the usual way by the Son river, which rises from the same table-land of Amarkantak, and flows east into the Ganges and Bay of Bengal.
All the previous ceremonies having been performed, the Son came with “due pomp and circumstance” to fetch his bride in the procession called the ‘Baraat’, up to which time the bride and bridegroom are supposed never to have seen each other. Her majesty the Nerbudda became exceedingly impatient to know what sort of a personage her destinies were to be linked to, while his majesty the Son advanced at a slow and stately pace.
At last the Queen sent Johila to take a close view of him,* and to return and make a faithful and particular report of his person. His majesty was captivated with the little Johilla at first sight; and she yielded to his caresses.
Nerbudda is a now uncommon name for the Narmada, used in the British Raj. The Periplus Maris Erythraei, a handbook of trade routes made in Roman Egypt and dating from about AD 80, called it the Nammadus.
That is, into the Arabian Sea on the west of India, passing Bharuch in the State of Gujarat, where it is crossed by the Jubilee Bridge, named in honour of King George V. The Gulf of Cambay is also known as the Gulf of Khambhat.
The Johila is a small river rising in the Amarkantak region. It is a tributary of the Son, as the Son is of the Ganges.
Word Games
Sevens Based on this passage
Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.
Variations: 1.expand your answer to exactly fourteen words. 2.expand your answer further, to exactly twenty-one words. 3.include one of the following words in your answer: if, but, despite, because, (al)though, unless.
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