The 'Mahâtam' (greatness or holiness) of the Ganges is said, as I have already stated, to be on the wane, and not likely to endure sixty years longer; while that of the Nerbudda is on the increase, and in sixty years is entirely to supersede the sanctity of her sister. If the valley of the Nerbudda should continue for sixty years longer under such a government as it has enjoyed since we took possession of it in 1817,[8] it may become infinitely more rich, more populous, and more beautiful than that of the Nile ever was; and, if the Hindoos there continue, as I hope they will, to acquire wealth and honour under a rule to which they are so much attached, the prophecy may be realized in as far as the increase of honour paid to the Nerbudda is concerned. But I know no ground to expect that the reverence[9] paid to the Ganges will diminish, unless education and the concentration of capital in manufactures should work an important change in the religious feelings and opinions of the people along the course of that river; although this, it must be admitted, is a consummation which may be looked for more speedily on the banks of the Ganges than on those of a stream like the Nerbudda, which is neither navigable at present nor, in my opinion, capable of being rendered so. Commerce and manufactures, and the concentration of capital in the maintenance of the new communities employed in them, will, I think, be the great media through which this change will be chiefly effected; and they are always more likely to follow the course of rivers that are navigable than that of rivers which are not.[10] Notes: 1. Amarkantak, formerly in the Sohâgpur pargana of the Bilâspur District of the Central Provinces, is situated on a high tableland, and is a famous place of pilgrimage. The temples are described by Beglar in _A.S.R._, vol. vii, pp. 227-34, pl. xx, xxi. The hill has been transferred to the Rîwâ State (_Central Provinces Gazetteer_ (1870), and _I.G._ (1908), s.v. Amarkantak). 2. The name is misspelled Sohan in the author's text. The Sôn rises at Sôn Mundâ, about twenty miles from Amarkantak (_A.S.R._, vol. vii, 236). 3. 'Sacrificantibus, cum hic more Romano suovetaurilia daret, ille equum placando amni adornasset.' 4. [Greek text]--_Iliad_ xx, 73. 5. _Iliad_ xxiii. 140-153. 6. Mr. Crooke observes that the binding was intended to prevent the object of worship from deserting her shrine or possibly doing mischief elsewhere, and refers to his article, 'The Binding of a God, a Study of the Basis of Idolatry', in _Folklore_, vol. viii (1897), p.134. The name is spelt Johillâ in _I.G._ (1908), s.v. Sôn River.