Ganges River

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Ganges River Summary

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Ganges River

The Ganges River, or Ganga, as it is known to Hindus, is the great river of India. By the fourth century BCE, the fame of the Ganges had reached the West. Alexander of Macedon (356–323 BCE), who regarded the river as the farthestlimit of the Earth, hoped to reach the Ganges and, by continuing east, to return to Europe through the Pillars of Hercules. However, he never reached his destination. Virgil, Ovid, and Dante all mentioned the Ganges, and the river held a unique position in medieval thought. In a curious blend of scripture and classical geography, Christian church leaders came to regard the Ganges as the Phison, the first river of paradise. Accepted by such notable figures as Saints Augustine, Ambrose, and Jerome, that belief prevailed throughout the Middle Ages.

What about the river so kindled people's imaginations? The sanctity of water has been a part of the Indian tradition from its beginnings in the Indus Valley well over four thousand years ago into the twenty-first century. At the start of the plowing season, before the seeds are sown, farmers in the Indian state of Bihar place water from the Ganges in a pot in a special place in the field to ensure a good harvest. Newly married women unfold their saris to the Ganges and pray for children and for long lives for their husbands. In the Ganges Valley and along the Bengal Delta, the Ganges is known as Ganga Mata or Mother Ganges. The image of the Ganges echoes throughout Indian history in the many tales of its generative powers: giving birth, restoring life, conferring immortality.

Historically the Ganges Valley was an entry point into the subcontinent for the first Indo-European invaders, who probably moved into India starting around the eleventh or twelfth century BCE. To these early wanderers the river loomed massive and omnipresent. Its current held the thread of contact with other settlements, old and new, and its route pointed ever eastward toward some unknown destination. As civilization grew on its banks and cities arose, the Ganges increasingly became a part of the Indian ethos. With the flourishing of commerce and agriculture, its water performed a thousand functions. Just as few can resist someone who is utterly devoted, so people came to worship the river that offered them so much.

Beginning with the Hindu scriptures of the third century CE, the Ganges has played a vital role in religious ceremonies, especially in rituals of birth, initiation, and death. As a goddess the river has appeared with the great celestials of Hinduism, at times the child of Brahma, the wife of Shiva, or the metaphysical product of Vishnu. Always conferring a benediction, the river shares none of the destructive qualities of some other Indian goddesses or the sepulchral goddesses of Greece. Even in mythical travels in the underworld, the Ganges forever points the way to paradise.

The river itself is born in the Gangotri glacier in the high Himalayas, and it flows 2,510 kilometers to the Bay of Bengal. The Gangotri glacier is a mountain of ice 32 kilometers long and close to 4 kilometers wide surrounded by peaks six or seven thousand meters high. From there the river's two main sources, the Alakananda and the Bhagirathi, flow past the sacred villages of Gangotri and Badrinath, revered centers of pilgrimage. The two streams merge just above Rishikesh and enter the plains at Haridwar (Hardwar), the Gate of Vishnu (Hari is a name of Vishnu; dvara, the Sanskrit word for "door" or "gate").

Pilgrims gather at Haridwar in May and September to provision for the long journey north. The water at Haridwar and at Rishikesh is considered the river's holiest, and people travel great distances to fill their vessels for special occasions, such as marriages, deaths, or when they must call on the Ganges to remind them of the dreams that have faded from their hearts.

In the Ganges Valley the river is joined by another sacred river, the Jumna (Yamuna). Legend has it that the two rivers are joined by a third, invisible course, the Sarasvati, which can be seen only through the eye of wisdom. This point where the three rivers meet, known as triveni (the three braids), is the place of oneness, where opposites cease to exist and the true believer steps beyond time.

Bengal, more than elsewhere along the river's course, feels the power of the Ganges. In Bengal its restless current has created and destroyed great cities, and its shifting silt has devastated entire regions. No wonder the river is so prominent in the literature and religion of the delta. The folk poet Phatik Chand sang:

On a river without water, a lotus blossom floats

while gazelles leap silver in the moonless night.

Whoever can surmount the vortex of Triveni,

where three rivers meet,

will float forever on the waves of time.

Such is the dream of the Ganges that people carry in their hearts.

Steven Darian