Dr. Vidya Niwas Mishra | February, 2002

The very name Ganga evokes a symphony of a great culture shared by Asian peoples.

She carries with her a long history of spiritual pursuits, a flowing sequence of joys and sorrows of people living not only along her banks, but also of those traversing long distances to catch a glimpse of the great river, to take a dip, and to immerse the ashes of their nearest and dearest, so that they merge into a great continuum.

Ganga is thus a stream of eternity, of eternalization of ephemeral existence and of immortality of the mortals. Ganga is the river of gods.

Ganga bears a thousand names; the more important ones bring out the significance of myths built up around her.

Descended from heaven
Ganga is supposed to have been brought onto the earth by the endeavours of Bhagiratha, an ancient king of Ayodhya.

As the river of the gods, the Ganga is rooted deep in Indian mythology.

Bhagiratha had taken upon himself the gigantic task of digging out a course for the great river of the gods, so that it could reach the hermitage of the sage Kapila on the seashore and redeem the curse of the sage upon one of his forefathers, who had disturbed the peace of the sage's hermitage and had been transformed into ashes by the fire of his wrath. Bhagiratha went through a rigorous course of austerity and was given the boon of Ganga in the form of drops of liquid oozing from the toes of the Lord Vishnu.

Lord Brahma immediately released these drops into the Kamandal (bowl carved out of a gourd). Then Bhagiratha propitiated another course of austerities to pour Ganga out of his bowl. Lord Shiva spread out his matted hair and held Ganga on his head, captured in the knotty and long tresses. Bhagiratha had to go through a further course of austerity to please Lord Shiva, who in turn untied his hair and released the Ganga. This is in brief the story of Ganga's descent on this earth, aptly brought out in epical sculpture on one of the walls of Mamallapuram rock temples.

Bhagirathi proceeds to Haridwar (the gateway to the Lord) passing on its way by Rishikesh, a great city for pilgrims. At Haridwar, the Ganga is siphoned into a big canal. Along its course toward the southeast, the Ramganga, the Kali and the Yamuna converge into the Ganga. The confluence of the Ganga and Yamuna at Allahabad is called Prayag (an excellent place for sacrificial rituals), and an annual festivity is held in January and February every year in the biggest human gathering in the world. People from across India come here, despite severe cold and winter rains to take a dip in the holy waters of the Ganga and the Yamuna.

The Ganga then flows leisurely eastwards to the sacred city of Varanasi, where the river takes a turn towards the north and shapes itself like a half orbit of the Moon. The Ganga frontage in Varanasi makes it look like Lord Shiva adorning the crescent of the moon on his forehead.

The Ganga continues its journey eastwards and meets Ghagra (coming from Mansarovar Lake near Mount Kailash in Tibet). A bit further ahead, the Ganga meets Gandak coming from the Himalayas and still further along it meets Bagmati, Kosi, Tista, and the Brahmaputra. The Ganga branches off into several courses; two major ones are Hooghly and Padma. Hooghly passes through Kolkata and meets the Bay of Bengal, at Gangasagar. The Padma passes through Dhaka (the capital city of Bangladesh) and meets the Bay of Bengal again. These branches create huge amounts of silt to form a big marshy delta, called Sunderban.

The Ganga inspires creative forces, while symbolizing the quest for the secrets of life.

Secrets of life
Yet another journey occurs in the spiritual history of India, as the Ganga has attracted sages while offering a serene atmosphere for eternal quest into secrets of life and what lies beyond it. Still another journey is in the realm of creative arts, where the Ganga has attracted the attention of poets, sculptors and mythmakers in every age. The Ganga has become the embodiment of all that is pure, noble, compassionate: vital force of life.

The Ganga is witness to numerous festivities. In October and November, earthen lamps are lit on the banks of the Ganga, particularly in Varanasi, and some are placed in bamboo patches that float on the surface of the river, as though another river of light is flowing on the Ganga. During the summer months of April-May, throngs of early morning bathers take a dip and offer floral tributes. Music and dance recitals are arranged, and brides-to-be, accompanied by other womenfolk, sing about Mother Ganga and express their gratitude. The Ganga accepts these offerings, and offers in return fulfilment of human needs and aspirations, because the Ganga has been condemned to live in the midst of the mortal man.

The 2,525 km waterway witnesses festivities year-round. Many date back to antiquity.

The curse
The story of this curse runs thus. The Ganga as Viraja (literally, without any stain) served Lord Vishnu in all humility and was all the time sitting at the feet of the Lord. Laxmi, the Lord's consort, became very jealous when she apprehended that this deep devotion would move her lord to bestow upon her special favours, and so cursed her, "you are as servile as a mortal woman, go and live amongst the mortals." The Ganga in good grace accepted this curse upon herself and in turn cursed Laxmi, "you are so much jealously possessive. You shall always live in perpetual fear of separation from your Lord, even when you are joined with Him."

Both the curses turned into boons for mankind. The Ganga's presence on this mundane earth became a great solace to man and a great pride the earth herself, who wears the Ganga as a necklace. Whereas, Laxmi's mortal form Radha's perpetual yearning became the highest peak of spiritual ecstasy.

The crescent-shaped skyline of the ghats-an apparition from afar.

It is fitting that the icon of Ganga as a full-grown lady holds in her one hand a vessel of plenty. She is found in doorframes of ancient temples, as though no entrance to the interior of the great Divine presence is made possible without passing through the Ganga.

The Ganga's overpowering presence moved even a foreign poet like Rahim (a great courtier of Akbar) to say, "Mother Ganga, you who flow from the feet of Lord Vishnu and settle down in the matted hair of Lord Shiva, please do not bestow upon me the boon to acquire shape of Lord Vishnu; please make me Lord Shiva as I cannot bear the implicit insult to make you flow from my feet." This ovation from an alien poet is evidence of Ganga's impact on the general masses.

The Ganga is accursed to redeem us from curse. She is a river, a mother, a divine presence and a human affection. She is our life continuum and our aspiration for immortality. This thought is followed by a sad recapitulation of what is happening to the material form of the Ganga because of pollution caused by man. Is this the way to show one's gratitude to the eternal mother? All efforts so far are eyewash. How can we redeem her of the curse of pollution implanted by man himself?

Dr. Mishra is former editor of Navbharat Times. He was also Vice Chancellor of Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidyapeeth University, Varanasi, India.