India is the only place where air and fire, trees and animals, mountains and rivers are depicted as God. And one of these powerful deities is the River Ganga. Ganga had a profound influence on me while growing up, which I was totally unaware of, I mean, who doesn’t have in India. Every household has a bottle of ‘gangajal’ (the holy water), used both in times of happiness and sadness. For healing and cleansing. When you are born and when you are dead. It is believed that a holy dip into the river can wash away all your sins and lead you to Moksha- liberation from the cycle of birth and rebirth. Such is the glory of this river.
India has many sacred rivers, but it is Ganga that lies in the heart and soul of people and certainly in mine too. I cherish spending those wonderful evenings at ‘ghats’ of Benaras and participating in the river’s celebration. The thrill I would get whenever we would cross the long Ganga bridge at Kanpur. The river always seemed different, sometimes in abundance, and sometimes exposing its sandy beds. Sometimes people were rowing boats and sometimes children playing cricket under the bridge. Sometimes growing crops and sometimes collecting coins. But the true sense of realization came when I visited Rishikesh in 2009. I was swayed away by the grandeur of the river, and I fell in love with Ganga. The river turned into a soulful, lively inspiration for me rather than just a water body. I developed a lifelong relationship. It captivated my imagination so much that it led me to reach its mystical source, Gaumukh, in May 2012. Ganga’s origin is of great significance as in Hindus, it is considered to be the crossing point between earth and heaven. And that is one experience that altered the course of my life.
She is the water goddess who blesses thousands in Northern India. For centuries she has shaped up the plains and relieved the parched land by its mighty waters. It flows for 2500 km through the Gangetic plains before meeting the Bay of Bengal at Gangasagar. The cycles of birth, death, and rebirth are endlessly played out around her. And through these two kinds of worlds: the natural and the spiritual world, flows the river of life, Ganga.
As a goddess, Ganga originally watered the gardens of the heavens, but its powers were needed on earth to purify and cleanse the souls. The impact of her descent would have destroyed the earth. Therefore Lord Shiva caught the river in his hairs and channeled the flow into hundreds of lesser streams. River Bhagirathi, originating from the Gangotri glacier, Gaumukh is regarded as Ganga’s source in Hindu culture and mythology, but some think Alaknanda to be the real source geographically. Flowing through the majestic Himalayas, the two rivers meet at Devprayag to form Ganga. It has some of India’s holiest places along its bank, which draws Hindu pilgrims from all over the sub-continent to celebrate and worship the divine river goddess.
Before coming to Haridwar, the river is wild, and its sources and tributaries are full of mysteries. It’s only here that it takes the shape of one mighty river, which enters a very different, a very human world. Her sacred waters clean cities, irrigate fields, and purify the body and the souls of millions. From here, it moves into its next stage to start its epic journey to the sea.
Ganga, The river of life.