Ganga----River Goddess

River Ganga not only is sacred river but is Goddess too. Hindus travel long distances to bathe in it to wash off their sins. Even ashes of dead are immersed in it, hoping for salvation for dead.  This River is only river found in Swarga, Prithvi and Patala, hence called Tripthaga. Ganga is even worshipped in Thailand for good fortune and to wash off sin. Ganga carries blessings of Lord Vishnu’s feet so say Puranas

According to Bhagwat Purana Lord Vishnu pierced a hole in Universe. Through this hole pure water of Causal Ocean [Divine Brahm water] entered this Universe as Ganga water. Since it touched feet of Lord Vishnu, it is also called Bhagvat Padi. It settles in Brahm Lok, abode of Lord Brahma. It is brought down on this Earth by Bhagirath. Bhagirathi’s ancestors were cursed by a Rishi. To get Moksha for these cursed souls Bhagirath invokes God who in turn tells him that cursed souls will get released if they are washed by Ganga water.Ganga agrees to come down on mother earth. To avoid Bhumi [Earth] destruction due to fury and force of Ganga Lord Shiva allows her to fall on his matted hair before touching Earth. Once Ganga reaches Earth and starts flowing cursed souls get liberated.

She was created from sweat of Lord Vishnu’s feet so says Vishnu purana.

In another Purana Himavan is reported father of MOTHER Parvati and Ganga.  She is also called Jahnavi, daughter of saint Jahnu.  Saint Jahnu was angered by fury and sound of Ganga so he drank up all Ganga waters. On pleading by Gods, he released her from his ears. There also is a story telling that Ganga will dry up like river Saraswati at the end of Kaliyug.In Sikanda Purana she is foster mother Kumar Kartikeya. Even she is called second mother of Lord Ganesha as his form materialized in its waters. Ganga is wife of king Shantunu and mother of Bishma of Mahabharata. There is also another story of her descent on Earth. Story runs like this:--“Parvati was zealous of Ganga who was locked in matted hairs of Lord Shiva.  Lord Ganesha could not tolerate mother’s agony so devised a scheme. He approached assistant of mother Parvati jaya. Jaya was told to take form of Cow and eat all grains in rishi Gautama’s ashram. She obeyed command. On seeing all grains destroyed rishi Gautama killed said cow. Lord Ganesha approached rishi and told him to avoid punishment of Cow hatya [killing] he should approach Lord Brahma. Lord Brahma advised him to get Ganga released from matted hair of Lord Shiva to avoid punishment for cow hatya [killing]. Rishi approaches Lord Shiva who released Ganga on rishi’s insistence.”.

According to one purana Ganga is personified as fair complexioned women wearing white crown with a water lily and a water pot in her hands and riding her pet Crocodile Her holding pot in hands means carrying in her vital and throbbing life essence. Her animal mount, Makra means wisdom of both earth and water as Makra can both live on earth and water. Its fish tail means fecundity and of life giving properties of water. It represents life in depths. Metaphysically Ganga is source of all creative instinct.

Ganga’s heavenly origin and descent to earth makes her an effective intermediary between two worlds. The intense devotion and love which devotees feel is due to fact that she is only accessible physical entity that flows both in heaven and earth. Ganga is indeed divine grace flowing on to our material world the deification of Ganga as both nourishing mother and also as a guardian of Hindu temples is but a natural evolution. Ganga is a place of dead and life. Just as king Sagar’s 60,000 sons attained heavens by Ganga pouring down on their ashes, so the same water of Ganga are needed for dead in Hindu belief. Without this, the dead will exist in limbo of suffering. The waters of Ganga are called,” amrita”, the nectar of immortality.

CREMATION along Ganga is desirable. If that is not possible, immersion of ashes in it serves purpose. Land without Ganga is likened to sky without Sun or a home without lamp. Ganga is far more important than a source of water to millions. She is worshipped as mother who provides salvation from this world and cleans persons of misdeeds.Puranas say that the sight, touch of Ganga cleans one of all sins. Pilgrimages in Kali yug to Ganga will be highly rewarding so says Narada Purana. Dying by the Ganga or casting ashes in it are thought to lead to salvation of departed.

Ganga Ashtami is day of descent of river from heaven to earth. For Hindus, the river is the ultimate symbol of purity. All Hindus believe in the sacred purifying powers of the Ganga. They worship, bathe in it, drink its waters. Even sacred statues of deities are bathed in its waters after being first created. However, purifying powers of Ganga extend even further .Its waters are bottled and given to sick and dying. Ganga is distilled essence of compassion in liquid form. No one is denied of her blessing.  

As a mother she nourishes the land through which she flows, making it fertile. No child is too dirty to be embraced or cleansed by mother. Mother Ganga cleans all devotees whether virtuous or sinful. She is nonjudgmental.

Geographically river Ganga starts from tip of Gangotri glacier which has shape of cow mouth—Gomukh. This glacier is 30 KM wide, 4500 meters [14000FT] above sea level. Water at this level is milky white. River which starts at Gomukh is called Bhagirath. It flows for 50KM alone then river Alaknanda starts flowing side by side for 200 meters before it joins it at Devpreyag. Other rivers which also join it are,   Dauliganga, Nandakini, Pinder and Mandakini. Now this river Ganga flows down south east for 2500KM before it ends in Bay of Bengal. River Yamuna joins it at ALLAHABAD. This river Ganga covers nearly one million square K Meters of north east India. It deposits 1.6 billion sediment, 4 times more than Amazon MAKING LAND MOST FERTILE. Ganga basin is 200-400 miles wide. Ganga is home to 140 fish species and 90 amphibian species. Its basin is home to 8% world population I.e. over 45 crore people.

Having said all that about its importance yet paradoxically it is third most polluted river in world. It suffers from extreme pollution. Source of pollution is Agriculture, Domestic and residential waste, religious functions, industrial waste and animal waste. Over one lac land based animals die and decay in river. Practice of dumping dead human bodies and partially cremated bodies, chemicals used to cleanse wells, detergents used to bathe and wash clothes add insult to injury. Net result of this is danger to human beings living nearby and danger to living species in its water. There are already many fish species which have vanished and some other living species .At Varanasi alone 200 million liters of untreated human sewage is put in river every day. Sample of river water have shown 1.5 million fecal coliform bacteria/100ml. So drinking and bathing in its waters carries high risk of infection.

Ganga with all its ecological stresses still supports aquatic life to maintain natural food chain. Ganga water does not putrefy, even after long storage is well known. East India company ships carried Ganga water on their 3 month long voyage back to England because it stayed “sweet and fresh”. British bacteriologist Ernest Hankin 1896 observed antibacterial activity of Ganga water against cholera vibrio. It was also seen that antibacterial activity of 10 year old Ganga water was better than boiled water, almost comparable to water passed through 0.2umpore filter. Studies have shown that Ganga water indeed has certain novel antimicrobial attributes. Gangajal has super self-cleansing properties. Zooplankton which is a category of range of organisms, they feed on bacterioplankton, phytoplankton and other zooplankton. They are found in abundance in surface waters of Ganga. These zooplanktons help in maintaining food chain. Antimicrobial peptides [amp] are produced by plants, animals, insects and single celled organisms which have antimicrobial properties.

Bacteriophages which feed on bacteria have been seen in Ganga water. 100 bacteriophages become.

100,000 in a matter of hour. This invisible breeding frenzy of bacteriophage stops disease before it can spread. So bacteriophages are working as natural disinfectant for water.

Secondly, Ganga has dissolved oxygen in high concentration, 25 times more than other rivers. THIS high concentration of oxygen helps in breakdown of organic matter both animal and human in to small nutrients. This could be secret of survival of animals in this river. This high concentration of oxygen also sustains fish population which in turn sustains other living creatures in it.Ganga has extraordinary self-purifying abilities due to high content of dissolved oxygen, high rate of reaeration and very fast assimilation of putrefiable organic matter. It can remove 60% of all organic waste in first one hour while other rivers takes days. It also has been observed that Ganga water loses its disinfectant property on boiling. Bacteriophage activity which kill bacteria within short time help to avert epidemics during bathing festivals, Kumb mela etc. There is also release of small amounts of Copper and chromium from its sediment which also has bactericidal properties. Ganga ecosystem presents such an excellent biologic fabric that its self-purification capacity exceeds that of any other river

Finally, it is Ganga’s innate ability which keeps is from putrification and allows other creatures to survive despite all our efforts to pollute it. Big question is how long Ganga will be able to do self-cleansing? Should it not be our duty to clean it? Survival of Ganga is survival of India..