Karamnasa
This article has been extracted from THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908. OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS. |
Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts. Some units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.
Karamnasa
(Karamnasha, ' the destroyer of religious merit ' ; the Kommenases of Arrian).— River of Northern India, rising near Sarodag in the Kaimur Hills (24° 32' N., 83 degree 26' E.), 18 miles west of Rohtas- garh in Bengal. It first flows north-west, and near Darihara begins to form the boundary between the Districts of Shahabad (Bengal) and Mirzapur (United Provinces). It then flows north for about 15 miles across Mirzapur, after which it turns north-east and separates Shahabad from Benares and Ghazlpur, until it falls into the Ganges near Chausa, after a total course of about 146 miles. Its tributaries are the DurgautI and DharmautI, two small streams on the right bank. In the hills, the bed of the Karamnasa is rocky and its banks abrupt : but as it de- bouches upon the plains, it sinks deeply into a rich clay, very retentive of moisture. During the rains small boats can ply as high as the con- fluence of the DurgautI. There are two falls, called Deo Dhari and Chhanpathar, which attract attention from their height and beauty.
Two legends account for the ill repute of the river. One tells how Raja Trisanka of the Solar race had killed a Brahman and contracted an incestuous marriage. He was purged from these sins by a saint who collected water from all the sacred streams of the world and washed him. The bath took place at the spot where the river issues, and this bears for ever the taint of his guilt. The other legend makes Trisanka attempt to ascend into heaven by means of long austerities. Half-way he was suspended head downwards by the gods, and a poisonous mois- ture exudes from his mouth into the river. The real cause of its ill fame is probably the fact that the Karamnasa was the boundary of the eastern kingdom of Magadha, which is treated with contempt in San- skrit literature because its inhabitants were not Aryans. Hindus living on its banks, except those of the highest castes, are not defiled by it, and carry more scrupulous travellers over it for a consideration. There is no regular irrigation from the Karamnasa.
