Amarkantak plateau in the Maikal hills marks the origin of the river Narmada. The Narmada river originates from the Maikal ranges at Amarkantak, 1057 m above the sea-level, in Shahdol district of Madhya Pradesh. In its 1312 km long journey before joining theArabian Sea, the Narmada flows through the three states of MadhyaPradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat. It is one of the rivers in India thatflows in a rift valley i.e. between the Satpura and Vindhya ranges.