Ganga is first mentioned several times in the Rig Veda, considered to be the earliest of the four Vedas (the principle sacred texts which form the base of Vedic and Hindu thought). In Rig Veda 3.58.6 it says, “Your ancient home, your auspicious friendship, O Heroes, your wealth is on the banks of the Jahnavi [another name for Ganga].”
The Birth of Ganga
While there are many stories regarding the birth and life of the Goddess Ganga, one main story of her birth relates to the story of the dwarf Vamana, the fifth incarnation of Lord Vishnu.
There once was an evil king by the name of Bali who was extremely prideful and arrogant. In a plan to end his unrighteousness, Vamana went to Bali and asked him for three steps of land. Bali arrogantly agreed, thinking it only to be the three small steps of a dwarf. However, Vamana then took on His cosmic form and placed one foot on the earth, one foot in the heavens, and one foot on Bali’s head.
According to the story, it was during this time when Lord Vishnu took a step into heaven that the Goddess Ganga was born. When He stepped into heaven, Lord Brahma reverently washed Vishnu’s feet. The water fell from Vishnu’s feet into Brahma’s kamandalu, or pot, and out of this water Ganga was born.
The Descent of Ganga
How the goddess Ganga came from the heavens to the earth is another story in the Hindu tradition, and it is this story that forms the basis of the Hindu belief that Ganga is a purifier of sins.
There was once a king named Sagara who had sixty thousand sons. One day, King Sagara decided to perform the Ashvameda ceremony, a ritual in which a horse is sent all over the land to conquer and acquire new kingdoms and establish sovereignty.
However, Lord Indra was jealous of Sagara and decided to steal and hide the horse in the underworld. King Sagara sent his sixty thousand sons to find the horse and after searching the entire earth, they found it in the underworld next to the meditating sage, Kapila. Believing Kapila to be the thief, they began to hurl insults at the great sage, thus disturbing his practices. Kapila opened his eyes – eyes which had not been opened for years – and by his spiritual power burned all sixty thousand sons to ashes.
Upon death, there are many long and intricate rituals that must be performed for the Hindu, including the immersion of ashes. However, as these sixty thousand sons were deep in the underworld, no one was able to perform their funeral rites, so they wandered as ghosts for years.
For generations, the descendants of King Sagara tried, unsuccessfully, to coax Ganga into coming onto Earth to purify the sixty thousand sons of King Sagara. Years later, a descendant of King Sagara by the name of Bhagiratha vowed to do intense penance in order to bring Ganga herself down from the heavens to purify the ashes of his ancestors, thus washing away their sins and freeing their souls. After much penance, Brahma agreed to Bhagiratha’s wishes and ordered Ganga to flow down to the earth.
However, Ganga is full of Shakti, divine energy. She is rambunctious and intractable. Hence, as she began her descent she swept away everything in her path. Bhagiratha prayed to Lord Shiva to stop Ganga from doing so, as he was the only one strong enough to stop her flow. Thus, as Ganga fell from the heavens, she was caught in the locks of Shiva’s hair. Ganga was sanctified through the touch of Shiva and was released in calm streams from his hair to flow both on the earth and into the underworld, to purify and release not only the ancestors of Bhagiratha but all inhabitants of the earth.
To read another interesting interpretation of Ganga’s story, click here.
Ganga also plays a role in many other Hindu stories. In the Ramayana, Lord Rama and his wife Sita perform tapasya along her banks. In the Mahabharata, Ganga gives birth to Devavrata, later known as Bhishma, the preceptor of the Kuru and Pandava clans. Later in the epic, Bhishma relates to Yudhisthara the greatness of Ganga and her ability to purify one of all sins. In the Bhagavad Gita 10.31, Lord Krishna declares when imparting the highest spiritual knowledge to Arjuna:
“Of purifiers I am the wind, of the wielders of weapons I am Rama,
of fishes I am the shark, and of flowing rivers I am the Ganga.”