Ganga Mata

01Bhagiratha’s tapas

The Bala Kanda of the Ramayana tells it in full to young Rama. The sixty thousand sons of King Sagara were burned to ash by the rishi Kapila, and only the waters of heaven could free them. Generations of their line did tapas; at last Bhagiratha won Brahma’s consent. But no one could bear the force of her fall, so Bhagiratha prayed to Shiva, who caught her in his matted hair and let her out in gentle streams. She followed Bhagiratha’s chariot across the plains, flooded the yajna of the rishi Jahnu, who drank her up and let her out through his ear, and reached the sea at Gangasagar.

02Bathing, aarti and the last rites

The Rigveda’s hymn to the rivers (10.75.5) names her first. A Hindu keeps a sealed copper pot of her water at home and puts a few drops in the mouth of the dying. Ashes are carried to Haridwar, Prayag or Kashi to be given to her. Every evening at Har ki Pauri in Haridwar and at Dashashwamedh ghat in Kashi, great many-tiered lamps are waved to her as bells ring and thousands watch. Ganga Dussehra in Jyeshtha marks her descent; on Kartik Purnima, Kashi lights its ghats for Dev Deepavali.

03From Gaumukh to Gangasagar

She rises from the glacier at Gaumukh above Gangotri, where her temple is closed for winter and her murti taken down to Mukhba. At Devprayag the Bhagirathi meets the Alaknanda and the river takes the name Ganga. She enters the plains at Haridwar, meets the Yamuna and the hidden Sarasvati at the Triveni of Prayagraj, where the Kumbh gathers the largest crowds on earth, and turns north at Kashi. At Gangasagar, where Kapila’s ashram stands, pilgrims bathe on Makar Sankranti.

In the texts

• Rigveda 10.75 (Nadi Sukta)
• Valmiki Ramayana, Bala Kanda (descent of Ganga)
• Mahabharata, Adi Parva (Shantanu and Bhishma)
• Bhagavata Purana 9.9

Utsav: festivals