Ganga Ji

Ganga is the goddess of the river Ganges and the most sacred river-deity of Hinduism, revered as a purifying mother whose waters are believed to cleanse sin and carry the departed toward liberation. River and goddess are not separate: to bathe in the Ganga is held to touch the deity directly.

Ganga Maiya ("Mother Ganga"), Bhagirathi (after the sage Bhagiratha who brought her to earth, and the name of one of her Himalayan head-streams), Jahnavi (from the sage Jahnu), and Tripathaga ("flowing through three worlds") name her descent and her role.

She is shown as a graceful, fair, crowned woman, richly adorned, holding a water-pot (kumbha) and a lotus and riding the makara, a composite crocodile-like water creature that is her mount. The water, the pot and the makara all mark her as the living presence of the river itself.

Her great story is the Gangavatarana, her descent to earth. The sage Bhagiratha performed severe austerities to bring the heavenly river down to purify the ashes of his ancestors; because her fall would have shattered the earth, Shiva received her in the coils of his matted hair and released her gently, which is why he is shown with Ganga in his locks. In the Mahabharata she is also the mother of Bhishma. Scriptures variously trace her origin to Vishnu's feet and name her as a daughter of Himavat and the elder sister of Parvati.

Traditions differ: she is described as issuing from Vishnu's feet, and also as the firstborn daughter of Himavat (the Himalaya) and thus elder sister of Parvati. She is linked to Shiva, who bears her in his hair, and in the Mahabharata is the mother of Bhishma.

Bathing in the Ganga, especially at Haridwar, Prayagraj and Varanasi, is among the most meritorious acts in Hindu practice; her water is used in rituals, and immersing the ashes of the dead in her is believed to aid the soul's release. The riverside Ganga Aarti performed each evening at Haridwar and Varanasi is one of the most recognisable living rituals in India.

Devotion follows her whole course, from her Himalayan source at Gangotri, through the great pilgrimage cities of the plains, to her delta in Bengal. She is honoured at the vast Kumbh Mela gatherings. Her worship now coexists uneasily with the modern reality of severe pollution, which has made the river's physical cleaning a matter of public policy alongside its enduring spiritual purity.