"Ganga Devi" redirects here.

For the Indian

painter, see Ganga Devi (painter). For the
Indian politician, see Ganga Devi (politician).
Ganga, Jahnavi
The Ganges

Late 19th-century Kalighat

painting

Devanag or
ari

Sanskrit Gag
translite
 ration

Affiliatio Devi, River

n

Abode Brahmaloka or Bra

hmapura, Himalaya
s and Earth

Mantra Om Ganga Devi

Namaha

Consort Vishnu
Shiva - As Bearer
of Ganga
Shantanu - In
Mahabharata

Children Bhishma

Mount Makara

In Hinduism, the river Ganga is

considered sacred and is personified as
a goddess Gag. It is worshipped
by Hindus who believe that bathing in the river
causes the remission of sins and
facilitates Moksha (liberation from the cycle of
life and death) the water of Ganga is
considered very pure. Pilgrims immerse
the ashes of their kin in the Ganga, which is
considered by them to bring the spirits closer
to moksha. Moksha, however, is not an aim to
strive for, as Hindus believe in the everlasting
cycle of life and death.
Ganga is the melodious, the fortunate, the cow
that gives much milk, the eternally pure, the
delightful, the body that is full of fish, affords
delight to the eye and leaps over mountains in
sport, the bedding that bestows water and
happiness, and the friend or benefactor of all
that lives.
Several places sacred to Hindus lie along the
banks of the Ganges,
including Gangotri, Haridwar, Allahabad and Va
ranasi. During the Loy Krathong festival in
Thailand, candlelit floats are released into
waterways to honour Gautama Buddha and
goddess Ganga for good fortune and washing
away sins (ppa in Sanskrit, used to describe
actions that create negative karma by violating
moral and ethical codes, which brings negative
consequences). Many religious people bathe in
the Ganga as it is believed that it cleans the
 body as well as the mind (from sins,) from past
and present lives and make them divine. This
is the reason why people throw the ashes of the
deceased into the Ganga.It is also believed that
throwing the ashes of the deceased can bring
religious and definitely physical impurities to the
river in return for salvation.
Contents
[hide]

1Legend
2Descent To Earth
3Consort, shakti and mother
4Rigveda
5Other Religious Associations
6Notes
7See also
8References
9External links
Legend[edit]
Bhagavata Purana depicts the birth of the
narmad. According to Bhagavata Purana,
Lord Vishnu in one of his incarnations,
appeared as Vaman in the sacrificial arena
of Asur King Mahabali. Then in order to
measure the universe, he extended his left foot
to the end of the universe and pierced a hole in
its covering with the nail of his big toe. Through
the hole, the pure water of the Causal Ocean
(Divine Brahm-Water) entered this universe as
the Ganga River. Having washed the lotus feet
of the Lord, which are covered with reddish
saffron, the water of the Ganga acquired a very
beautiful pink colour. Because the Ganga
directly touches the lotus feet of
Lord Vishnu (Narayana) before descending
within this universe, Ganga is known
as Bhagavat-Padi or Vishnupadi which
means Emanating from the lotus feet of
Bhagavan (God). It finally settles in Brahmaloka
or Brahmapura, abode of Lord Brahma before
descending to planet Earth at the request
of Bhagiratha and held safely by Lord Shiva on
his head to prevent destruction of Bhumi
Devi (Mother Earth). Then, the river Ganga was
released from Lord Shiva 's hair to meet the
needs of the country according to Hindu
mythology. In other
legends, Himavan fathered Parvati and Ganga.
Descent To Earth[edit]

Descent Of Ganga painting by Raja Ravi Varma

Several years later, a king named Sagara
magically acquired sixty thousand sons. One
day, King Sagara performed a ritual of worship
for the good of the kingdom. One of the integral
parts of the ritual was a horse, which was stolen
by the jealous Indra. Sagara sent all his sons all
over the earth to search for the horse. They
found it in the nether-world (or Underworld) next
to a meditating sage Kapil tied by Lord
Indra(the king of Swarg). Believing that the
sage had stolen the horse, they hurled insults at
him and caused his penance to be disturbed.
The sage opened his eyes for the first time in
several years and looked at the sons of Sagara.
With this glance, all sixty thousand were burnt
to death.
The souls of the sons of Sagara wandered as
ghosts since their final rites had not been
performed. For the moksha of all the sons of
Sagar, Anshuman(nephew of those 60,000 son)
started to pray Brahma to bring Ganga to the
earth till the end of his life, but was not
successful. Then his son Dilip did the same but
did not succeed. When Bhagiratha (Means, one
who does great hard work- he got his name
from his great hard work for bringing Ganga to
earth), one of the descendants of Sagara, son
of Dilip, learnt of this fate, he vowed to bring
Ganga down to Earth so that her waters could
cleanse their souls and release them to heaven.
Bhagiratha prayed to Brahma that Ganga come
down to Earth. Brahma agreed and he ordered
Ganga to go down to the Earth and then on to
the nether regions so that the souls of
Bhagiratha's ancestors would be able to go to
heaven. Ganga felt that this was insulting and
decided to sweep the whole Earth away as she
fell from the heavens. Alarmed, Bhagiratha
prayed to Shiva that he break up Ganga's
descent.

Gupta era terracotta of Ganga found at Ahichchhatra,

UP now in National Museum, New Delhi.
Ganga arrogantly fell on Shiva's head. But
Shiva calmly trapped her in his hair and let her
out in small streams. The touch of Shiva further
sanctified Ganga. As Ganga travelled to the
nether-worlds, she created a different stream to
remain on Earth to help purify unfortunate souls
there. She is the only river to follow from all the
three worlds Swarga (heaven), Prithvi (Earth)
and Patala (netherworld or hell). Thus is
called Tripathag(one who travels the three
worlds) in Sanskrit language.
Because of Bhagiratha's efforts, Ganga
descended to Earth and hence the river is also
known as Bhagirathi and the term Bhagirath
prayatna is used to describe valiant efforts or
difficult achievements.
Another name that Ganga is known by is
Jahnavi, Story has it that once Ganga came
down to Earth, on her way to Bhagiratha, her
rushing waters created turbulence and
destroyed the fields and the sadhana of a sage
called Jahnu. He was angered by this and
drank up all of Ganga's waters. Upon this, the
Gods prayed to Jahnu to release Ganga so that
she could proceed on her mission. Pleased with
their prayers, Jahnu released Ganga(her
waters) from his ears. Hence the
name Jahnavi(daughter of Jahnu) for Ganga.
It is sometimes believed that the river will finally
dry up at the end of Kali Yuga, the last of the
four stages the world goes through as part of
the cycle of yugas (the era of darkness, the
current era) just as with the Sarasvati river and
this era will end. Next in(cyclic) order will be
the Satya Yuga or the era of Truth.
Consort, shakti and mother[edit]
Ganga is a consort to all three major male
deities of Hinduism.[1] As Brahma's partner she
always travels with him in the form of water in
his kamandalu (water-pot).[1] She is
also Vishnu's consort.[1] She emanates from his
foot as Vishnupadi in the avatarana story, and is
also, with Sarasvati and Lakshmi, one of his
wives.[1] In one popular story, envious of being
outdone by each other, the wives begin to
quarrel. While Lakshmi attempts to mediate the
quarrel, Ganga and Sarasvati heap misfortune
on each other. They curse each other to
become rivers, and to carry within them, by
washing, the sins of their human worshippers.
Soon their husband, Vishnu, arrives and
decides to calm the situation by separating the
goddesses. He orders Sarasvati to become the
wife of Brahma, Ganga to become the wife of
Shiva, and Lakshmi, as the blameless
conciliator, to remain as his own wife. Ganga
and Sarasvati, however, are so distraught at
this dispensation, and wail so loudly, that
Vishnu is forced to take back his words.
Consequently, in their lives as rivers they are
still thought to be with him.[2]
Shiva, as Gangadhara, bearing the Descent of
the Ganga, as the goddess Parvati, the
sage Bhagiratha, and the bull Nandi look on (circa
1740).
It is Shiva's relationship with Ganga, that is the
best-known in Ganga theology.[3] Her descent,
the avatarana is not a one time event, but a
continuously occurring one in which she is
forever falling from heaven into his locks and
being forever tamed.[3] Shiva is depicted in
Hindu iconography as Gangadhara, the "Bearer
of the Ganga," with Ganga, shown as spout of
water, rising from his hair.[3] The Shiva-Ganga
relationship is both perpetual and intimate.
[3]
Shiva is sometimes called Uma-Ganga-
Patiswara ("Husband and Lord of Uma (Parvati)
and Ganga"), and Ganga often arouses the
jealousy of Shiva's better-known consort
Parvati.[3]
Ganga is the shakti or the moving, restless,
rolling energy in the form of which the otherwise
recluse and unapproachable Shiva appears on
earth, showing how life on earth is always
moving forward, never in the same place.[1] As
water, this moving energy can be felt, tasted,
and absorbed.[1]The war-god Skanda addresses
the sage Agastya in the Kashi Khand of
the Skanda Purana in these words:[1]
One should not be amazed ... that this Ganga is
really Power, for is she not the Supreme Shakti
of the Eternal Shiva, taken in the form of water?
This Ganga, filled with the sweet wine of
compassion, was sent out for the salvation of
the world by Shiva, the Lord of the Lords.
Good people should not think this Triple-Pathed
River to be like the thousand other earthly
rivers, filled with water.[1]
The Ganga is also the mother, the Ganga
Mata (mata="mother") of Hindu worship and
culture, accepting all and forgiving all.[4] Unlike
other goddesses, she has no destructive or
fearsome aspect, destructive though she might
be as a river in nature.[4] She is also a mother to
other gods.[5] She accepts Shiva's incandescent
seed from the fire-god Agni, which is too hot for
this world, and cools it in her waters.[5] This
union produces Skanda, or Kartikeya, the god
of war.[5] In the Mahabharata, she is the wife
of Shantanu, and the mother of heroic warrior-
patriarch, Bhishma.[5] When Bhishma is mortally
wounded in battle, Ganga comes out of the
water in human form and weeps uncontrollably
over his body. It is also to be noted that
Bhishma brought about his own downfall by
abducting and disgracing a princess named
Amba whose only wish was to be married.[5]
The Ganga is the distilled lifeblood of the Hindu
tradition, of its divinities, holy books, and
enlightenment.[1] As such, her worship does not
require the usual rites of invocation (avahana)
at the beginning and dismissal (visarjana) at the
end, required in the worship of other gods.[1] Her
divinity is immediate and everlasting, but only
for as long as the river survives.[1]
Rigveda[edit]
Ganga is mentioned in the Rigveda, the earliest
and theoretically the holiest of the Hindu
scriptures. Ganga is mentioned in the
nadistuti(Rigveda 10.75), which lists the rivers
from east to west. In RV 6.45.31, the
word Ganga is also mentioned, but it is not
clear if the reference is to the river.
RV 3.58.6 says that "your ancient home, your
auspicious friendship, O Heroes, your wealth is
on the banks of the Jahnavi(JahnAvyAm)". This
verse could possibly refer to the Ganges. In RV
1.116.1819, the Jahnavi and the Ganga River
Dolphin occur in two adjacent verses.