Ganges River
This article is about the river. For other meanings, see Ganges (disambiguation).The
Ganges River (English: ;
Gangā in most Indian languages) (
Devanagari गंगा) is a
river of
northern India and
Bangladesh. The river has a long history of reverence in
India and is worshipped by
Hindus as a
goddess. It often called the 'holy Ganga'.
The total length of the river is about 2,510 km (1,557 mi). Along with another river
Yamuna, it forms a large and fertile
basin, known as the
Gangetic plains, stretching across north India and Bangladesh, and supports one of the highest densities of human population in the world. Indeed, about one in every 12 people on earth (8.5% of world population) live in its catchment area. Due to this incredible concentration of population,
pollution and the destruction of
habitats is a matter of serious concern.
The
Gangotri Glacier in the
Uttaranchal Himalayas is the origin of the
Bhagirathi river, which joins the
Alaknanda river at
Devaprayag, also in the
Uttaranchal Himalayas, to form the Ganga. The river then flows through the Himalayan
valleys and emerges into the
north Indian plain at the town of
Haridwar. This section sees extensive
Whitewater rafting and
kayaking from September to March.
The Ganga then flows across the broad plains of north India, (called the
Gangetic Plains), and forms the major
river basin of that vast region. Its tributaries include the Kosi, the
Gomti, the Sone, and above all the Yamuna. The
Yamuna River — a major river in its own right, and nearly as endowed with the sanctity of Religious tradition and
legend as the Ganga, is in fact a
tributary of the Ganga; their confluence marks the site of the pilgrim town of
Prayag, now known as
Allahabad. Not only sites of religious significance, but also many of the most populous industrial cities of northern India lie on the banks of the Ganga, including
Kanpur,
Allahabad,
Benaras and
Patna.
 |
Early morning on the Ganges |
Swollen by the waters of a wide basin that draws from watersheds as diverse as the Himalayas and the
Aravallis, the Ganga forms a formidable current in the stretch between Allahabad and
Malda, and thereafter, a large
delta. Near the town of
Malda in
West Bengal, it undergoes its first attrition with the branching away of the
Hoogly, its first
distributary. The city of
Kolkata (previously
Calcutta) stands on the banks of the Hoogly. The main stream of the river (known as the
Padma River) then enters
Bangladesh. Here, it unites with the
Jamuna branch of the even larger
Brahmaputra river. The combined stream then joins with the
Meghna River before flowing out to sea. In the flat plains of
Bangladesh, the Ganges splits almost immediately into a dense network of
distributaries, all of which finally empty into the
Bay of Bengal.
The region encompassing the
delta near the Bay of Bengal
coast is known as
The Sundarbans (
Beautiful Forests) — a region of thick
mangrove forests, and one of the major
habitats of the
Royal Bengal Tiger. Two
species of
dolphin can be found in the Ganges, the
Ganges River Dolphin and the
Irrawaddy Dolphin. The Ganges is also notable in that it contains a rare species of
freshwater shark,
Glyphis gangeticus, about which little is known.
|
The largest religious gathering on Earth for Hindu peoples. [1][2] Around 70 million [[Hindus |
from around the world participated in
Kumbh Mela at one of the Hindu Holy city
Prayaga (also known as Allahabad) (
India).]]In
Hinduism, the river Ganga (feminine) is sacred. It is
worshipped by
Hindus and personified as a
goddess, who holds an important place in the Hindu religion. Hindu belief holds that
bathing in the river on certain occasions causes the forgiveness of
sins and helps attain
salvation. Many people believe that this will come from bathing in Ganga at any time. People travel from distant places to immerse the
ashes of their
kin in the waters of the Ganga; this immersion also is believed to send the ashes to
heaven. Several places sacred to Hindus lie along the banks of the river Ganga, including
Haridwar and
Kashi. People carry from ganges, sacred water that is sealed in copper pots after making the
pilgrimage to Kashi. It is believed that drinking water from the Ganga with one's last breath will take the soul to heaven.
In most Hindu families, a
vial of water from the Ganga is kept in every house. This is done because it is auspicious to have water of the Holy Ganga in the house, and also if someone is dying, that person will be able to drink its water.
Many Hindus believe that the water from the Ganga can cleanse a person's soul of all past sins, and that it can also cure the ill. The ancient scriptures mention that the water of Ganges carries the blessings of the Lord's feet. Hence mother Ganges is also known as Visnupadi [Emanating from the Lotus feet of Supreme Lord Sri Visnu].
Some of the most important Hindu
festivals and religious
congregations are celebrated on the banks of the river Ganga such as the Kumbh mela or the Kumbh fair and the chhat puja.
The most important city sacred to
Hinduism on the banks of the river Ganga is
Varanasi or
Banaras. It has hundreds of
temples along the banks of the Ganga which often get flooded during the rains. This city, especially along the banks of the Ganga, is an important place of worship for the Hindus as well as a cremation ground.
Ganga in Vedas
The Ganga is definitely mentioned in the Rig-Ved, the earliest and theoretically the holiest of the
Hindu scriptures.The Ganga is mentioned in the nadistuti (Rig Veda 10.75), which lists the rivers from east to west. In RV 6.45.31, the word Ganga is also mentioned, but it is not clear if the reference is to the river.
RV 3.58.6 says that "your ancient home, your auspicious friendship, O Heroes, your wealth is on the banks of the Jahnavi (JahnAvyAm)". This verse could possibly refer to the Ganga.
[Talageri, Shrikant. (2000) The Rigveda: A Historical Analysis; Talageri, S.: "Michael Witzel - An examination of his review of my book". --Griffith translates JahnAvyAm in this verse as "house of Jahnu", even though in similar verses he uses the "on the banks of a river" translation (see Talageri 2000)] In RV 1.116.18-19, the Jahnavi and the Gangetic dolphin occur in two adjacent verses.
[Talageri, Shrikant. (2000) The Rigveda: A Historical Analysis.; Talageri, S.: "Michael Witzel - An examination of his review of my book" 2001. ] [The Sanskrit term shimshumara refers to the Gangetic dolphin (the Sanskrit term for dolphin is shishula). Talageri 2000, 2001]During the early Indo-Aryan Ages, the
Indus and the
Saraswati were the major rivers, not the Ganga. But the later three
Vedas seem to give much more importance to the Ganga, as shown by its numerous references.
The Ganges collects large amounts of human
pollutants as it flows through highly populous areas. These populous areas, and other people down stream, are then exposed to these potentially hazardous accumulations. While proposals have been made for remediating this condition so far no great progress has been achieved.
 |
People performing Hindu ceremony in Varanasi. |
The major
polluting industries on the Ganges are the
leather industries, especially near
Kanpur, which use large amounts of
chromium and other
chemicals, and much of it finds its way into the meager flow of the Ganga. Unfortunately, this is a boom time for leather processing in
India, which many view as a form of eco-environmental dumping on the third world, and with the lax and lubricable implementation systems of the
Uttar Pradesh government, it does not seem likely that this will go down. The
World Bank report of
1992, which focused on the environmental issues, mentions the dissolved-
oxygen and the river borne decomposing material at two focal points on the Ganga.
However, industry is not the only source of pollution. The sheer volume of waste — estimated at nearly 1 billion litres per day - of mostly untreated raw
sewage — is a significant factor. Also, inadequate
cremation procedures contributes to a large number of partially burnt or unburnt
corpses floating down the Ganga, in addition to
livestock corpses.
The Ganga Action Plan has been set up under the Indian
Government bureaucracy, and is attempting to build a number of
waste treatment facilities, under
Dutch and
British support, and to collaborate with a number of voluntary organizations. Surprisingly, the
Hindu political parties in India are not very active in the efforts to clean up the Ganga, and it is not very high on the general religious agenda. India's government has already spent over $33 million to address the overwhelming sewage problem. However, things are looking better at the beginning of
2006, as
satellite images show increased water clarity in the river.
Ganges Canal was dug from
Haridwar to
Kanpur in later half of 19th century and a very wide network of small
tributary canals were constructed from the main canal to act as source of irrigation in the fertile
plains of Western
Uttar Pradesh.
University of Roorkee was established at
Roorkee to train
Civil Engineers who could oversee the construction of this canal. This canal is still supplying water to thousands of villages in western Uttar Pradesh and water of Ganga, flowing in this canal, is in true sense the life line of western
Uttar Pradesh an area which played a central role in the
Green revolution of India and water of Ganga played a vital role in this endeavor.
*
Ganges Delta*
Ganges Fan*
Ganga BasinGomukh to Ganga Sagar, Virtual Tour with all Detailshttp://www.liveindia.com/ganga/index.html
*Alley, Kelly D. On the Banks of the Ganga: When Wastewater Meets a Sacred River, University of Michigan press (2002) [ISBN 0-472-06808-3]
*
Berwick, Dennison [
3],
A Walk Along the Ganges. Account of a 3000 kms walk from sea to source beside the river. (Hutchinson, London. Rupa Paperbacks, New Delhi)
* Darian, Steven G.,
The Ganges in Myth and History, The University Press of Hawaii, Honolulu (1978) [ISBN 0824805097]
* Newby, Eric,
Slowly down the Ganges, Lonely Planet Publications (1998) [ISBN 0864426313]
*
Ganga The River Goddess - Tales in Art and Mythology, by Sri Nitin Kumar.
* Stephen Alter,
Sacred Waters: A Pilgrimage up the Ganges River to the Source of Hindu Culture. Harcourt; 1 Us ed edition (October 17, 2001). ISBN 0151005850 *
Sacred Ganga*
Bibliography on Water Resources and International Law See
Ganges and Brahmaputra Rivers. Peace Palace Libray
*
Ganga Arati Video Quicktime streaming video of worship of the Ganges in Hardwar (15 minutes)
*
Various Aspects Of GangesGomukh to Ganga Sagar, Virtual Tour with all Details http://www.liveindia.com/ganga/index.html
