The Ganges

2

A long, long time ago, when time and reality held proportions that elude us today, a king named Sagar, who ruled over the kingdom of Ayodhya, journeyed with his two wives to the Himalayas to perform austerities in the hope of obtaining a son. From one wife, he was blessed with 60,000 sons, and from the other, just one. To thank Vishnu, he undertook a rare and costly sacrifice: the Ashvamedha Yajna, the horse sacrifice.

During the ceremony, the sacred animal was stolen by a jealous god in disguise. Sagar sent his 60,000 sons in pursuit of it. They scoured towns and villages, combed through fields, forests, and mountains, and probed rivers and oceans. Failing to find it, they dug into the very bowels of the earth, where they finally caught sight of the horse near a sage whom they mistook for the thief. The anger they showed cost them dearly —they were reduced to ashes.

Grieving the death of his sons, Sagar learned that to save them from the hell where they suffered for their insolence, someone would need to convince the goddess Ganga to descend to Earth. A daunting task. This coquettish young maiden, with her tempestuous nature, was proud and unyielding; yet, she possessed remarkable qualities: she purified everything she touched and could heal incurable diseases.

She dwelled somewhere beyond the fourth dimension, where the unseen peaks of the Himalayas form other mountain ranges that adorn the divine, paradisiacal landscape of the gods —a place inaccessible to any human being.

To achieve this, and though he was in the autumn of his life, Sagar left his kingdom and retreated to the forest. There, he undertook severe austerities. Vain hopes, vain mortifications —he died some time later. Or rather, not in vain. His relentless determination to free his children from their terrible fate stirred deep filial devotion in his grandson, who made his own attempt but failed. It would only be the son of this grandson, Bhagiratha, who, continuing the penances of his father, would receive the extraordinary visit of the demiurge of the universe. 

"Think carefully, my son," Brahma said to him. "If I ask Ganga to descend here, the impact of her contact with the Earth would hurl her to the depths of the universe. You must call upon Lord Shiva —only he can prevent such a catastrophe."

Thus, Bhagiratha continued his austerities to attract the attention of Shiva, one of the three deities responsible for the proper functioning of the universe, although it is he who specifically destroys it at the appointed time. Bhagiratha, this royal prince, was all the more determined as he had no descendants of his own. 

It had to be him who would bring the Ganges to Earth to free his ancestors from the curse that bound them. Only when they would be transferred to paradise could he himself enjoy his liberation.

Impressed by the piety, austerity, and determination of this ascetic, Shiva, ever merciful, sought to grant him his wish: "I will handle this matter, but what I fear is that she might act on her whims and cause you problems with serious consequences. I know Ganga—she is dangerous. Knowing herself to be beautiful, irresistibly so, she enjoys wielding her seductive power to bewitch even the gods, let alone men...

She was overly pampered by her father, Himavat, the king of the Himalayas, who never weaned her off her whims and extravagances. Ganga is unpredictable, capricious; one day she agrees to do something, and the next, she laughs in our faces or takes offense at the slightest thing. In a word, she is a tempestuous force.”

Ganga was delighted to leave her family behind. She could no longer bear the constraints of her household or the solemn atmosphere of the palace. She dreamed of freedom; she longed to roam the world and have fun. Though she was well aware of the immense power and magic of her purifying abilities, she worried, and rightly so: "But if crowds come to me seeking to rid themselves of the illnesses of body and mind, I doubt my strength will endure…”

And the gods assured her that she would easily cleanse the burdensome accumulation of these sins whenever great souls bathed in her waters. Their lotus-like feet possessed the power to wipe away the faults of the entire world. With this assurance, she accepted the proposal.

She appeared in the sky, wild with excitement, amidst a deafening roar of thunder, lightning, and clouds. For the inhabitants of Earth —men, women, and beasts— it seemed like the end of the world, the universal deluge. 36 

But Shiva was watching.

When Ganga saw him, standing on the peak of a mountain, unmoved, with a sly smile on his lips, it was already too late: she could not alter her wild course and became trapped in Shiva’s hair —he had absorbed the full force of her descent. She remained there as long as her arrogance persisted, and this lasted for several seasons, until Bhagirath, growing impatient, came to beg Shiva to release her.

Grateful to the sage who had freed her from the grip of her family and the iron hold of Shiva, and purified by her stay atop the head of the greatest devotee of God, she allowed herself to be guided by her benefactor.

After countless adventures, they arrived in Navadwip, where Ganga, in her carefree manner, flooded the hermitage of the great sage Jahnu. What a blunder! Jahnu, enraged, drank her entirely… as a punishment.

Finding himself at another impasse, Bhagirath called upon the gods, and together they convinced the sage to release her. She emerged from his body through his ears. From that day, Ganga has been known throughout the world as Jahnavi, the daughter of Jahnu. ■

Next chapter: Nadia, a Spiritual Haven

Preceding chapter: But why, after all, they are crying?