Ganges River is a great river in the plains of the northern Indian subcontinent. Although
officially as well as popularly called the Ganga in Hindi and in other Indian languages,
internationally it is known by its conventional name, the Ganges. From time immemorial it
has been the holy river of the Hindus. For most of its course it is a wide and sluggish stream, flowing through one of the most fertile and densely populated regions in the world. Despite its importance, its length of 1560 miles is relatively short compared to the other great rivers of Asia.
Rising in the Himalayas and emptying into the Bay of Bengal, it is 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) lives in its catchment area. The greater part of the Indo-Gangetic plain across which it flows is the heartland of the region known as Hindustan and has been the cradle of successive civilizations from the Mauryan Empire of Ashoka in 3rd century BCE to the Mughal Empire, founded in the 16th century. Along with the river Yamuna, it forms a large and fertile basin habitat that is home to biodiversity.
Historical and Social significance
Hindu religion, among others , is recognized by a very wide range of rituals associated with every occasion- be it prayers to particular Gods or demigods, festivals, special events in family or congregations to celebrate specific community level functions etc. Water, considered as one of the five constituting elements of the human body, plays a central role and what could be more auspicious than the proximity to the holy Gangajal. The rituals along the course of Ganga are varied, distinct and draw tens of millions of people every year. The historical origin of these rituals dates back thousands of years and the faith and belief are rooted deep into Vedic scriptures which in turn accord special status to the River Ganga- as a mother and thereby as a sacred entity. These rituals and festivals have evolved over time and have impacted Ganga and her devotees in numerous ways and have also been impacted in their turn. In this context, this section attempts to capture in brief the beliefs and the significance of some of the main samskaras, rituals and festivals typically performed/celebrated along the bank of river Ganga.
● Mundan Samskara- Mundan samskara is the eighth of the sixteen samskaras that a
Hindu is supposed to undergo in his/her lifetime. It is the first haircut for a child and
involves tonsuring before the first or after the third birth anniversary and is based on
the belief that hair from the birth represents a link to undesirable traits of previous life
which need to be served.
● Antyeshti- Antim samskara or cremation is the last of the sixteen samskaras that a
Hindu is supposed to undergo upon death. It is a ritualistic process where the mortal
remains of an individual are consigned to the flames.
● Immersion of ashes- Hindu society has come to believe that a soul would get
moksha or salvation if the ashes are immersed into Ganga and it will continue to
reside in heavenly planets as long as the ashes remain submerged under its holy
waters.
● Jal Samadhi- For a sadhu or a sanyasi it is believed that his/her soul is already
liberated and hence unlike a householder upon death the body need not be
cremated, instead it can be released into a water body or even buried.
● Tarpan- Tarpan represents symbolic offerings of water and flowers to the God, the
Sun, sages and ancestors seeking their satisfaction and in return blessings for the
individual.
● Snaan- A dip in the Ganga anywhere along its course, but especially at Haridwar is
believed to offer riddance from sins of this and the previous lives.
● Aarti- Aarti is a routine ritual which is performed daily or several times a day and
which represents paying obeisance to the deity.
The holy Ganga is not only a symbol of Hinduism, piousness and serenity but also depicts
the hypocrisy of us humans. From one angle humans would worship the river regarding it as ‘holy river’ or ‘ganga maiya’ reverentially but at the same time would not consider how it has been serving humankind as a resource and pollute it in every way possible. One day our ancestors told us something about how taking a holy dip in the river can wash away all the bad deeds and we believed it sightlessly without even understanding the importance of the river. If this wasn’t the case, people washing their shabby clothes and defiled utensils on the banks of the river wouldn’t be so ordinary to see. We humans somewhere lack the rationality to understand that how could the soul of a dead attain salvation if his ashes are thrown into a drain, a river converted into a drain by the humans. Environmentalists believe that somewhere, somehow these social customs are responsible for polluting the river to a great extent which is not totally inaccurate. There is a thin line of balance between conservation of nature and human activities and we still fail to balance ourselves on the line even after six million years of continuous evolution after our origin.
All of us must have heard of the song ‘ganga chali tu kahan kasam tod ke, humen chodh ke’ from the movie Prades. Although ganga is the name of a character in the movie, if we try to relate the lyrics to our real lives, the day is not so far when the holy river would turn its back towards humans for doing it unbearable harm.
- Srishti Maini, Bharati College
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