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The Ganga-Ganges, especially, is the river of India, beloved of her people, around which are intertwined her memories, her hopes and fears, her songs of triumph, her victories and her defeats. |
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She has been a symbol of India's age-long culture and civilization, ever changing, ever flowing, and yet ever the same Ganga-Ganges.
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Jawaharlal Nehru, First Prime Minister of India, born in Allahabad on the Ganges.
The history of Ganga-Ganges is as long as the history of Indian civilization. Barring, the period of Harappan civilization, it is Ganga-Ganges basin, which has been the spectator to all the actions that shaped Indian mythology, history, and people.
It was in this plain that the great kingdoms of Magadha, Gupta, and Mughals found their home. It is also the region that created one of the most homogenous cultures of all times in the civilizations of the world. It was also the place which created the essence of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism. And for this alone Ganga-Ganges is not like any other river in the world.
There are so many stories of the Creation and coming down of Ganga-Ganges from heaven to earth. One of the story of Ganga-Ganges in Indian mythology goes like this. Vishnu once heard Shiva play the flute and was so entranced by the music that his feet began to melt. Brahma caught the liquefied portion of Vishnu in a pot and from it created Ganga-Ganges, the river-goddess. Hence Ganga-Ganges is also known as Vishnu-padi (she-who-was-born-out-of-Vishnu's-feet).
Ganga-Ganges is the most sacred river of India. She is depicted bearing a pot and riding a makara that is sometimes identified as a crocodile, sometimes as a dolphin and sometimes as a Capricorn like sea-monster that is half fish and half elephant.
Once she flowed in the heavens but then was ordered to go down to earth. Fearing that her forceful descent might wash away the earth, the gods sought the help of Shiva. Shiva broke the fall of Ganga-Ganges by capturing her in his mighty locks. Since then, Ganga-Ganges resides on top of Shiva's head as his second wife, the first being Parvati.
The Ganga-Ganges has many names associated with its many roles in Sanskrit mythology. Bhagiratha (who brought Ganga-Ganges to the earth) himself is the source of the name Bhagirathi (of Bhagiratha), which is its initial stream, but is also another name for the Hooghly. At one point, Bhagiratha went too close to the sage Jahnu's meditation site, and the disturbed hermit immediately gulped up all the waters. Eventually, after much persuasion from Bhagiratha, the sage yielded the waters, but Ganges retained the name "Jahnavi". Another explanation for the same name is based on the word for knee in Sanskrit, Janu (akin to genus in latin), + the case form for "born of" yield Jahnavi; this is from a version of the story in which the saint released it through a slit at the knee.
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