Which one of the following rivers originates at Amarkantak?

The Narmada River originates at Amarkantak. Standard geography texts identify the Narmada as rising in the Amarkantak hills/plateau in Madhya Pradesh and describe its westward course through a rift valley between the Vindhya and Satpura ranges, with notable marble gorges near Jabalpur. These textbook descriptions explicitly state Amarkantak as the source of the Narmada [2]. None of the other rivers listed (Damodar, Mahanadi, Tapti) are described as originating at Amarkantak in these authoritative references. Therefore, option 3 (Narmada) is the correct choice based on the cited sources [2].

Sources

1. [1] CONTEMPORARY INDIA-I ,Geography, Class IX . NCERT(Revised ed 2025) > Chapter 3: Drainage > The Narmada Basin > p. 21
2. [2] Geography of India ,Majid Husain, (McGrawHill 9th ed.) > Chapter 3: The Drainage System of India > Narmada River > p. 20