Walking with the Narmada River: A River Ethnography Amid Global Climate Change Debates

Abstract (English)

The personhood of rivers is one of the most compelling concepts within the anthropology of water. It challenges us to reconsider the relationship between humans and non-human beings, raising important ethical and legal questions about the rights of natural entities particularly rivers in the context of pressing global concerns such as river pollution, freshwater depletion, and the escalating water crisis. The present paper explores the Narmada River in Madhya Pradesh, India revered as one of the only rivers in the world whose full circumambulation (the Narmada Parikrama) is considered a sacred pilgrimage by Hindu devotees. Among the villages that dwell along its banks, the boundaries between nature and culture dissolve, as local traditions, folklore, and spiritual beliefs have long personified the river as a nurturing, living presence. Through this river ethnography, an attempt has been made to investigate how both the physical flow of the river and the lives of the people around it are being transformed amid environmental stress. Drawing on visual ethnographic methods and an insider’s perspective, this study reflects on the holiness of the river, documentation of recent environmental disturbances, and situation of the Narmada river within broader global debates on climate change. The study challenges anthropocentric paradigms and calls for a reimagining of sustainable futures through a relational, river-centered worldview.