Ganga: A Personality Beyond Scriptures And Tales

Priyanka Rout

Ganga: A Personality Beyond Scriptures And Tales

We have come across Ganga as a mother and a devoted wife. But who is she above all these definitions? Beyond scriptures and mythological tales, let’s delve into a world where we might meet a different Ganga.

A godess who stood for herself ; Image Source : Wikipedia

The Ganga, especially, is the river of India, beloved of her people, round which is intertwined her memories, her hopes and fears, her songs of triumph, her victories and her defeats. She has been a symbol of India’s age-long culture and civilisation, ever-changing, ever-flowing, and yet ever the same Ganga.” - Jawaharlal Nehru.

A peaceful and pious river flows from the Himalayan Mountains, with numerous tales and secrets mixed with its holy water. The tranquillity with which Ganga makes her journey to different parts of India is indeed incredible. Numerous stories revolve around her origin. With every different scripture, her story changes. However, one particular story that continues to be narrated near the Ganga Ghat on cold winter nights goes the following way.

According to Bhagavata Purana, it is said that when King Mahabali conducted a sacrificial yajna, Vishnu came in the form of a Brahmin named Vamana to attend the yajna, to measure the piece of land that he wanted from King Mahabali as a gift. When he kept his left foot on the last piece of the universe, his big toenails pierced the ground, and the Divine Brahm-Water entered through it as the Ganga river. After touching the lotus feet of Lord Vishnu, the Ganges water turned into a shade of pink and was thus known by the name of Bhagavatpadi or Vishnupadi. After that, it settles in Brahmaloka and finally, it flows safely through Lord Shiva’s hair to prevent the destruction of mother Earth.

Ganga has been mentioned in several epics and scriptures. However, her portrayal in the Mahabharata is quite different from the other heroines of Indian mythology. The story behind Ganga’s marriage to Shantanu comes from yet another legend. In the previous birth, Shantanu was known by the name of King Mahabhisha of the Ikshvaku dynasty. Due to his virtuous deeds, he got a place in heaven. One fine day, he also got the chance to visit Brahma’s court. While everyone was sitting and worshipping Brahma, a strong wind blew and Ganga’s clothes were displaced, revealing her torso. Every man in the court turned away their faces due to shame, but Mahabhisha kept on staring at her. This angered Brahma to such an extent that he cursed both Ganga and Mahabhisha that they will be born as mortal beings and in the next birth, and when they finally marry and free all the eight Vasus from their sins, they will be liberated from this curse.

In the next birth, when Ganga marries King Shantanu of the Kuru kingdom, she demands something that was not expected of women during those days- that he will never question her decisions or what she does. This demand of hers somehow tells us that she had a motive, and despite the fact whether King Shantanu ever questions her decisions or not, she would have to leave him.

Ganga had a pivotal role to play in the Mahabharata. With her started the tale of blood war that changed the entire horizon of Bharatavarsha.

Though we know that Ganga had killed her seven children, we seldom try to understand her decision. Being a mother, it would have been difficult to kill her own children. But there was a reason as to why she killed her sons. Ganga’s purpose was to liberate the eight Vasus from their sins by drowning them to death as soon as they were born. If a woman gave birth to a son during those days, it was considered her most outstanding achievement. But Ganga’s action of drowning all her sons one by one without giving a second thought that they could have been the heirs of the Kuru kingdom is the most extreme step a mother could ever take. Each time King Shantanu saw her drowning their son, he was saddened by the thought that he had lost the heirs to his kingdom.

Since this was her task, she did not feel the need to explain her actions to Shantanu. According to Ganga’s demand, Shantanu shouldn’t have questioned her decision. However being a father, his concern for his sons reached to such an extent, that he did the exact opposite, and all hell broke loose when he did that. But it was destined and the curse of Brahma finally came true. A worried father that he was, Ganga too tried to explain to him the entire situation as to why she had to drown their sons. Though it was quite late, the damage was done.

After the death of seven sons, Shantanu finally stopped Ganga from killing their eighth son, Devavrata. Even this was destined that Ganga would kill all the seven sons, except the eighth one. But Ganga did not give Devavrata to King Shantanu immediately. She took Bhishma aka Devavrata with her, trained him and years later returned him to King Shantanu so that he could become the heir to the Kuru kingdom.

After Ganga left Shantanu, he became lonely and devastated. Though he aged, his lust for women again came to life when he met a fisherwoman Satyavati. His lust for Satyavati pushed his son Bhishma into an abyss of loneliness, as he took the oath of never marrying anyone or having a child. Bhishma had to sit like a mute man while seeing his dynasty and kingdom destroyed bit by bit.