executive living lavishly in Calcutta, Nitin accepted the management of a tea plantation located in the Himalayan foothills. In isolation, he began to immerse himself in the legends of the Puranas, ancient tales from the first century B.C. to the sixth century A.D. He was fascinated to discover "mythological tales concerning the very region where my tea estate was located, stories of a vast underground civilization extending from these hills to the Arabian Sea, inhabited by a mysterious race half human, half serpent." However, as he confided in his diary, he never truly believed in these legends.

After two years, the myths Nitin had read began blending with his actual experiences. Night after night, he envisioned being seduced by one of the serpent-like women. For a long time, Nitin struggled to understand the enigmatic Rima, who visited him each night: "I did not know whether I had fashioned her from the night and my own hunger." Eventually, he discovered she was not a mythical being, but simply the wife of a laborer. Nitin explains, "Waves of disgust engulfed me, and I wanted to vomit with shame." Rejecting Rima, he decided to return to Calcutta. However, Rima, leveraging his belief in legends, devised a fitting revenge. She lured Nitin into the moonlight and, following folklore, trapped his soul between two halves of a coconut shell. Believing in the magic, Nitin lost his sanity. A tribal priest advised, "If your sahib wants to recover his mind, he must worship the goddess at any shrine that overlooks the Narmada River."

At a government rest house, Nitin encounters villagers who revere the same ancient goddess as those from the Himalayan foothills. By participating in their rituals, Nitin is finally healed. After departing the rest house, the narrator discovers that village children are singing about his story. Nitin has become one of the many tales surrounding the Narmada River.

The Courtesan's Story

The narrator then encounters an elderly courtesan, once skilled in the arts of love, who now survives as a common prostitute. She vividly recounts the peak of her craft and yearns for the days when such finesse was cherished. The woman trained her daughter in the courtesan's arts and tried to shield her from men's advances. Despite her efforts, her daughter was abducted by a notorious criminal, Rahul Singh. The courtesan searched for her daughter along the Narmada River. When she finally located her, it was too late. Her daughter had fallen in love with her captor, convinced by his belief that they had shared all their past lives together. After Rahul Singh was killed by police, the courtesan's daughter was devastated and lost the baby she was carrying. Her attempts to avenge her husband's death were thwarted. Believing Rahul Singh wouldn't want her to pursue a life of crime, the daughter was left unsure of her future. After comforting her mother one last time, she leaped off a cliff into the Narmada River below. The elderly courtesan, believing her daughter purified of her sins, began the long journey home.

The Musician's Story

Upon first encountering the musician, the narrator assumes she must be a stunning woman due to her sari accentuating a graceful figure. However, when she turns to face him, he is taken aback by her unattractive features. Her appearance had significantly impacted her life. Her father, a renowned musician, took her under his care, partly to shield her from her mother's disapproval of her looks. Under her father's guidance, she blossomed into an accomplished musician herself. Yet, she adhered to the traditional belief that her music, like all women's music, should enhance a man's more dominant notes. When it becomes evident that no one will marry her, her father offers a deal to a budding musician: he will impart all his knowledge if the young man agrees to marry his daughter. The pair begins to make music together, creating harmonies so exquisite that the girl becomes convinced of their love. She complements the man's music flawlessly. As her mother starts preparing for their wedding, the family discovers that the young man has abandoned both his mentor and bride-to-be, intending to marry someone else. Devastated, the musician swears never to play again. Her father brings her to the Narmada River, hoping she'll realize, "I am the bride of music, not a musician." Yet, she feels hopeless: "it is an impossible penance that he demands of me, to express desire in my music when I am dead inside."

The Minstrel's Story

Tariq Mia shares with the narrator the tale of a Hindu ascetic named Naga Baba, who taught him the river's song. Mia speculates that this man was highly educated before forsaking the world. He roamed the Narmada's banks with a young girl, Uma, by his side. Though Mia hasn't seen Naga Baba in years, the story deeply moved him.

During his journeys, Naga Baba, who wore tattered clothes, cleansed himself in the ashes of the cremated, and begged for sustenance, discovered a young girl in a brothel. He threatened to curse the establishment, persuading its owner to release the girl. Renamed Uma, she had been sold to the brothel by her own father. Traumatically abused by patrons, Uma was terrified of men. To heal her spirit, Naga Baba dedicated her to the Narmada River, symbolically baptizing her in its waters. Declaring the river as her new mother, he began teaching Uma the river's songs. They traveled together for years until one day, the ascetic left her in pursuit of further "enlightenment." Alone, Uma became a river minstrel, journeying between religious festivals and keeping the river's legend alive through her songs.

The Song of the Narmada

In the final chapter of the novel, Uma visits the narrator's rest house. She reveals that she has been sent to perform the song of the river for him. The narrator is taken aback to discover that the esteemed professor, Dr. Shankar, who has been residing with him, was the one who invited Uma. He is even more astonished to find out that the sophisticated and modern Dr. Shankar is actually the Naga Baba in disguise. Dr. Shankar explains that his journey to enlightenment brought him back to the human world. He tells the narrator, "I have no great truths to share...I told you, I am only a man." Unsatisfied with this insight, the narrator presses for a deeper explanation. However, Dr. Shankar insists, "Don't you know the soul must travel through eighty-four thousand births in order to become a man?...Only then can it reenter the world." As the novel concludes, the narrator reflects on what he might do if he ever leaves the rest house. The reader is left to ponder whether the narrator will choose to follow the Naga Baba's path and rejoin the world or, like many of the people whose stories he has heard, leap into the river he has come to revere.