The Merciful Mother “Ganga”
Part II
AUM Gangaye Namah
Myths and Legends of Ganga
Ganga as a Goddess
There are many myths and legends, which tell that the river Ganges or Ganga is essentially a goddess residing in heaven. She is exquisitely described as an extremely fair goddess. She has four arms and three eyes.With the third eye on her forehead, she becomes a kaldarsini- one who can view the past, present and the future. She is dressed in white and is heavily ornamented with precious stones and dazzling white pearls.On one hand, she holds a white lotus and with the other hand, she bestows peace and grants boons to humanity. In the other two hands, she holds jars full of water that grant fertility, crops, and prosperity. She has a calm, generous, and a pleasing expression on her beautiful and radiant face. She rides a makara- a white crocodile with the tail of a fish, and is surrounded by two women, one fanning her and the other holding a white umbrella over her crowned head. The jewel in her crown is the moon and the gods and goddesses all sing her praises and pay homage to her. In her beautiful form, the sacred trinity of Brahma-Vishnu-Mahes is contained and all the three worlds bow before her purity and generosity
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Ganga as in the Vedic Age
Ganga is mentioned in the Vedas. In the rgveda, it is mentioned in Book VI, Hymn XLV, Verse 31, as follows:
"Brbu hath set himself above the Panis,
o"er their highest head,
Like the wide bush on Ganga"s bank."
Again, in Book X, Hymn LXXV, Verse 5, as follows:
"Favour ye this my laud, O Ganga, Yamuna,
O Sutudri, Parusni and Sarasvati,
With Asikni, Vitasta, O Marudv?dha,
O Arjikiya with Su?oma hear my call."
The Vedic age worshipped Ganga as a Goddess, as the Aryan culture and civilization flourished on her banks. The river had the longest course and was the most beautiful and important, assuming a significant role alongwiththe river Indus and the Saraswati, in all the religious activities of the Vedic Aryans.
Ganga flows in heaven, earth, and hell
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 The Descent of the Ganga, Mahabalipuram. 20-foot-high rock face 7th century, Pallava |
Goddess Ganga assumed the form of a river and flowed in all the three worlds, celestial, terrestrial, and subterranean. In the celestial region, she has three streams known as Swarganga, Mandakini and Alaknanda. In the terrestrial region, she begins her course from Gangotri in the Himalayas to finally merge with the Bay of Bengal, and is known as the river Ganges or Ganga. Ancient texts tell that on earth, seven streams of Ganga are flowing, namely,Hladini, Pavani, Nalini, Sita, Si?dhu, Suchaksu and Bhagirathi.In the subterranean region, Ganga is known as Vaitarini, and a departed soul has to cross this river to reach hell. Vaitarini, is also known as Patala Ganga. Some sources claim that goddess Ganga flows in the heaven as Mandakini, on the earth as Ganga, and in the nether world as Bhogavati or Bhagirathi. Since she is present in Swarga, Prithvi, and Patala, she is also known as Tripathaga or Tripathagamini - one who travels three paths or three worlds.
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Ganga as a mother or Ma Ganga
Water also has a purifying aspect and running water in this context is considered the best. Thus the ritual of having a bath in a river is considered as a purificatory rite by all the civilizations in the world. In India also a bath in a river is held in high esteem; however, a bath in the river Ganges is considered as the best. This is because the waters of the Ganga are considered as exceedingly pure and have been proved to have miraculous healing properties. This beneficience of the Ganges is what makes her a mother, and Hindus, since Vedic times, consider the river Ganges as their mother or Ma Ganga.On birth, a child is bathed in Ganga water to purify the child. On death, drops of Ganga water are poured in the corpse"s mouth, so that the passage to heaven is obtained. Every religious rite is considered incomplete without the presence of Ganga water or Ganga Jal. The Hindus consider being cremated on the banks of the river Ganges an auspicious funeral rite. The ashes are later scattered in the waters of the river Ganges. Thus, from birth to death of every Hindu, the Ganga is inexplicably woven into the warp and weft of individual and societal existences. Even in modern day India, the worship of Ganga continues unabated and the ancient Vedic customs and rituals are still followed with equal zest and vigour. Ma Ganga or mother Ganga bestows innumerable earthly gifts and Moksa or ultimate liberation from the karmic cycle of birth and rebirth. It is said that if a dying man looks on the Ganga and utters the name of Narayana during his last breath, he is sure to attain Moksa. Such is the celestial and beneficial power of Ma Ganga.
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Ganga as mother of Ganesha
Uma or Parvati created an image of a boy child from her bodily impurities as she was having a bath. She loved this image and wanted him to come to life and become his son. So she approached her sister Ganga and immersed this image in the waters of the Ganga, who also felt a unique motherly love towards this image of a boy child. Ganga gave life to this image and Ganesa - the second son of Siva and Parvati was born. Thus Ganga is also considered to be the mother of Ganesa, who in turn is also known as Gangeya - the son of Ganga. Ganesa is also known as Dvaimatura - one who has two mothers, namely Parvati and Ganga. |
 Lord Ganesha |
Ganga as foster-mother of Kartikkeya
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 Lord Kartikeya |
In the Ska?da Purana, Ganga is mentioned as being instrumental in the birth of Kartikkeya, the eldest son of Siva and Parvati, and is thus considered as the foster-mother of Kartikkeya. The Maheswara Khand of the Skanda Purana states that Siva and Parvati were happily enjoying conjugal bliss on Gandhamadan Mountain. It so happened that an extremely small quantity of Siva"s sperm fell on the ground, while they both were in the raptures of making love. The sperms generated considerable heat and the world began to burn. Lord Vishnu and Lord Brahma instructed Agni to find some method to curtail the heat. Dressed as a hermit, Agni went to the Gandhamadan Mountain and asked for alms from goddess Parvati, who had nothing to give at that moment and so gave Siva"s sperms that had fallen on the ground to Agni. In order to destroy the sperms, Agni swallowed the sperms and saved the world from being burnt. However,Parvati discovered the trick played by Agni and cursed him that he shall become omnivorous and the sperms would cause terrible inflammations in his body. |
As a result, Agni suffered extreme heat due to the inflammations and sought Lord Siva"s help in relieving himself from this pain. Siva told Agni to implant the sperms in any woman"s womb and thus obtain relief from the inflammations. Agni went away and on the way, he met six Krittikas, who were shivering with cold. Agni planted the sperms of Siva in the six Krittikas through their skin pores and thus relieved himself of the intense inflammations. When the husbands of the six Krittikas learnt that their respective wives were pregnant, they became furious and cursed them into becoming Naksatras or constellations in the sky. Before becoming the constellations, the six Krittikas aborted their fetuses or Skanda at the Himalaya mountains. The river Ganga during her course in the Himalayas, carried the six fetuses with her and kept them in a secluded place which was full of reed bushes. In time, Kartikkeya, with six heads, emerged from those reeds and Parvati, also known as Uma, took Kartikkeya as her eldest son. Kartikkeya was born to kill Tarakasura, which he did.
Ganga serves as the mother of Ganesa and the foster-mother of Kartikkeya and hence is also known as the spouse of Siva. Ganga"s residence in the matted locks of Siva further gives her the place as the second wife of Siva besides Uma, who happens to be Ganga"s sister, as they both are daughters of King Himavan. Thus, in the Ska?da Pura?a, Siva is married to both the sisters, Ganga and Uma.
In Chapter 2.6 Hymns 13-95 of the Brahma Vaivarta Purana, it is stated that Lord Vishnu has three wives, namely Laksmi, Ganga, and Saraswati. All the three wives love Vishnu dearly and fight for his attention at all times. In order to do so effectively, they proclaim their respective supremacy over the other, which leads to quarrels. Due to their constant quarreling amongst each other, finally Vishnu keeps Laksmi for himself, and gives Ganga to Siva and Saraswati to Brahma..
One of the legends states that the water in the kamandalu or water vessel of Brahma automatically transformed itself into the goddess Ganga. Since she came from Brahma"s water vessel, Ganga is also revered as one of the many Saktis of the goddess Mahamaya Adisakti.
King Himavan and his queen Mena, had two daughters, Uma and Ganga. Indra had asked Himavan to give Ganga to the heavens so that the Gods could soothe themselves with its cool waters, and thus Ganga went to the heavens, and was brought up as a daughter under the love and care of Brahma. Uma also known as Parvati was wedded to Lord Siva.
The royal sage Bhagiratha while taking Ganga to the nether world, came near the hermitage of Risi Jhanu, and Ganga drowned the hermitage. The sage in his anger, drank up the entire Ganga. After much pleading by Bhagiratha, the sage Jhanu released Ganga from his ear and since then Ganga is also known as Jhanavi -the daughter of Jhanu.
The battle between the Gods (good) and Demons (evil) goes on forever. Once the demon Bali due to his tapas or ascetic heat, acquired such power that he conquered Indra"s heaven and chaos prevailed in the heaven. All the gods were greatly troubled and they implored Lord Vishnu to restore law and order. Lord Vishnu incarnated himself as a Brahmin dwarf Vamana and went to Bali seeking alms, as was the custom of Brahmins. Bali gave him food, clothes, and many rich presents, but Vamana insisted that he wanted land. Bali offered him many great and fertile lands; however, Vamana declared that he wanted only that land which he could measure by his three steps. Bali thought that a dwarf could measure only a very small portion of the land with his three small steps, and thus accepted. However, Vamana tricked Bali and started to increase his size. So big his size became, that with his first step, he covered the entire earth and with his second step, he covered the entire heaven. While he was covering heaven, sweat from Vamana"s feet emanated and so Brahma washed the feet of Vishnu and collected the water in his kamandalu or water vessel. From this water, Ganga was born and thus she is also known as Vishnupadi or emanating from the feet of Vishnu. With the third step, Vamana pressed Bali on the head and forced him to the nether world.
| Sage Narada, the son of Brahma, was extremely fond of singing, but his singing was not correct. As a result the ragas (combinations of musical notes, evoking certain moods) suffered inexplicable agony. When Narada knew this, he promised to sing only when he had properly learnt to do so. But the agony of the ragas had to be healed and thus a musical concert by a master musician had to be arranged. Besides Bhairav, who could be a better musician; hence, Narada approached Mahes to sing and heal the ragas. Siva agreed but on a condition that Vishnu and Brahma should listen to his recital, as a master musician needed master listeners. Both Vishnu and Brahma were delighted to have the opportunity to hear Bhairav sing and so they readily agreed. At the first note of the concert, the ragas began to heal and soon they were all healed.So deep and soothing was Siva"s musical rendering, that Vishnu was transported to raptures of divine joy and actually began to melt. Now Brahma collected the water emanating from the melting Vishnu in his kamandalu. After the concert was over, Brahma created Ganga out of this water. |
 Sege Narada
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As her birth was under the most auspicious of circumstances, and being made out of the water that
emanated from the melting of Vishnu, Ganga by birth obtained the power of purifying anything that came
in contact with her.
Goddess Kali was very dark. Once she was in the company of beautiful, lovely, and fair complexioned heavenly nymphs and Siva jested about her dark complexion. Kali felt insulted and became very distressed at Siva"s remarks. She practiced penance for one hundred years in the Himalayas and Siva was forced to come and placate her anger. Kali asked the boon of having a fair complexion and Siva directed her to have a bath in the heavenly Ganga. Kali did so, and became as fair as lightning. From then onwards, Kali came to be known as Vidyut-Gauri.
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Sage Bhagiratha |
It is said that during the struggle between the gods and the demons for ultimate supremacy, the demons had an advantage by hiding in the oceans of the earth during daytime and coming out to attack only during the nighttime, when they were naturally more powerful. This frustrated the efforts of the gods and thus they requested sage Agastya to solve their problem. The renowned sage Agastya, with the power of his asceticism, drank up the oceans of the earth and thus the demons had no place to hide during the daytime. A fierce battle took place between the gods and the demons and finally the gods won the battle. Afterwards, they requested sage Agastya to release the ocean waters, but he was unable to do so, as he had digested it. Perplexed, the gods approached Lord Vishnu, who told them that the earth will soon receive the heavenly Ganga, as she was destined to come to earth to give salvation to the sixty thousand souls of the sons of Sagara, the King of Ayodhya. |
In the Ramayana, it is said that Sagara, the King of Ayodhya, had two queens - Kesini and Sumati. However, he had no issue and thus he meditated on Lord Siva, who pleased with his devotion, gave him a boon that his elder queen Kesini would give birth to Prince Asamanjas, and his younger queen Sumati would give simultaneous birth to sixty thousand sons, who would also die simultaneously. Prince Asmanjas was the heir apparent and was decided that he would continue the dynasty; however, he proved to be a wastrel and King Sagara banished him to the forest, while keeping his grandson Ansuman, son of Asmanjas, under his care and upbringing.
 King Sagara was a mighty ruler and after defeating all the neighboring kings, Sagara wanted to become Emperor and so he arranged for a grand Asvamedha Yag?a or the horse sacrifice. In this sacrifice, a horse of very high breed is decorated with exquisite and expensive ornaments and sporting the royal pennant is left loose to roam wherever it pleased. The territory that the horse passed automatically came under the King"s domain and control. Whosoever blocked the path of the horse or captured the horse had to fight with the army of the King, which closely followed the horse. Now, Indra, the ruler of heaven, got afraid by seeing the growing power of King Sagara, as he thought that King Sagara would try to conquer heaven also. Indra knew that sage Kapila had astounding powers and no army was any match in front of the sage"s powers. So Indra quietly stole the horse and took him to the nether world in sage Kapila"s hermitage and left the horse there. King Sagara"s army following the horse lost sight of the horse. The army searched in vain and went back to Ayodhya. King Sagara thought that some other King had stolen the horse and was hiding it to avoid clashing with his invincible army.
"The Descent of Ganga" Painting
by Raja Ravi Varma
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