The Creation of the Ganges (Hindu myth)

Author: Traditional

Time Period: 1 CE–500 CE

Country or Culture: India

Genre: Myth

PLOT SUMMARY

King Sagara seeks to declare himself ruler of the world by performing a ceremony involving the sacrifice of a horse. Indra, the supreme ruler of the gods and the god of rain, thwarts Sagara’s plan by stealing his horse and making it seem as if the horse was stolen by a powerful sage named Kapila. Sagara’s sixty thousand sons go to Kapila’s home and attack the sage with boulders and arrows. When Kapila awakens from meditation, he becomes angry and uses mystical fire to reduce Sagara’s sons to ashes. Saddened by the loss of his sons, Sagara learns that the only way his sons can journey to heaven is if Gangā, the river goddess, descends to earth and purifies their ashes with her waters.

The sage Bhagīratha, the great-great-great-grandson of Sagara, travels to the region of the Himalayas now known as Gangotri and remains in the forest for more than one thousand years, practicing austerities to honor the gods. Eventually, Brahmā visits Bhagīratha and tells him that he will grant him any wish in return for his devotion and austerity. Bhagīratha asks for the goddess Gangā to descend to earth to purify the ashes of his ancestors, and Brahmā agrees to order Gangā to do so.

Gangā is the daughter of Himalaya, the lord of snow, and has never descended to earth because she knows that her rushing waters would destroy the land. She tells Bhagīratha that she can safely come to earth only if the god Śiva (Shiva) uses his head to break her fall from heaven. Bhagīratha spends a year worshipping Śiva until the god brings him up to his heavenly realm and speaks to him. Moved by his plight, Śiva agrees to help Bhagīratha, and he travels to the peak of the Himalayas and orders Gangā to descend.

Angered by Śiva’s orders, Gangā determines that she will allow her full force to fall upon him and sweep him away. As Gangā’s waters fall from heaven, Śiva allows the waters to fall into the locks of his hair, thus deflecting the force of the water and causing Gangā to break into streams, reducing her power. Each of the streams has mystical properties and can purify even the most malevolent impurity. Gangā breaks into seven streams, four of which are named the Gladdener, the Purifier, the Lotus-Clad, and the Fair. Three of the streams flow to the east, three flow to the west, and the purest and strongest stream follows Bhagīratha, who rides ahead of the flowing water in his chariot and leads it to the spot where Kapila destroyed Sagara’s sons. When the water reaches this location, the ashes of the fallen sons are purified, and the sixty thousand rise into heaven.

SIGNIFICANCE

The myth of the creation of the Ganges River is an example of an important type of mythology found around the world: mythology concerning the essential natural resources of a particular culture. Myths of this type are common in agricultural societies that are tied by necessity to prominent features of the environment. The evolution of Indian culture followed the Ganges from the Himalayas through the continent; important towns and cities emerged on the banks of the river, and people used it for food and water as well as trade and travel. Given the cultural, economic, political, and social importance of the Ganges, as well as other rivers in India, it is not surprising that Hindu mythology reflects this historical relationship and has imbued these phenomena with spiritual and mythological significance.

The heavenly origins of the Ganges establish the river as a bridge between the physical world of the earth and the world of the gods; therefore, the river became an important symbolic location for individuals to honor the gods. The association of the river with the goddess Gangā also provided a focus for the prayers and hopes of those who made their lives on the river. Fishers hoping for a bountiful harvest or travelers hoping that their boats would reach their destinations without incident could therefore direct their prayers toward the patron gods and goddesses seen as responsible for providing the river’s bounty and controlling the dangerous waters.

Associations between the Ganges and the process of cleansing or purifying might have derived simply from the use of the river’s water to cleanse the bodies and food of the ancient people in riparian communities. Bacteriological studies of the Ganges have shown that the dissolved minerals within the river have antiseptic properties. These minerals aid in killing harmful bacteria and enhance the cleansing of bodies and clothing. Ganges water has been shown to kill the germs that cause the disease cholera, for instance, and likely has similar effects on other pathogens. The antiseptic qualities of the river’s waters must have been more potent in the preindustrial age, before pollution of the river was widespread. In any case, the legend of the Ganges purifying the ashes of Sagara’s sixty thousand sons has been integrated into the death rituals of the Indian people, and the ashes of the dead are still submerged in the Ganges by families hoping that the waters will purify the bodies of their departed loved ones.

Hindu mythology surrounding the Ganges not only honors the importance of the river but also explains, in mythological terms, features of the landscape that must have mystified those who first came to live along the banks of the river. Before modern science could explain the path of the river through studies of the density of substrate materials and other features of the environment, the ancient Hindus postulated that the river’s shape and qualities reflected the nature of their gods, which was akin to the notion that the very existence of the river had seemingly mystical effects on their lives.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Darian, Steven G. The Ganges in Myth and History. Honolulu: UP of Hawaii, 1978. Print.

Lewin, Ted. Sacred River: The Ganges of India. New York: Houghton, 1995. Print.

Narayan, Madukkarai K. V. Exploring the Hindu Mind: Cultural Reflection and Symbolism. New Dehli: Readworthy, 2009. Print.

Nelson, Lance E. ed. Purifying the Earthly Body of God: Religion and Ecology in Hindu India. Albany: State U of New York P, 1998. Print.

Shiva, Vadana. Water Wars: Privatization, Pollution, and Profit. Cambridge: Southend, 2002. Print.