The Ganges and the Sacred Rivers
Why rivers are sacred in Hinduism: the goddess Ganga and her descent from heaven, the seven sacred rivers, river worship and pilgrimage, and the challenge of pollution.
Rivers are sacred in Hinduism. They are worshipped as goddesses and mothers who give life, nourish the land and purify those who bathe in them. Above all others stands the Ganges, known to Hindus as Ganga or Ganga Ma, “Mother Ganges”. Bathing in a sacred river, offering prayers on its banks and immersing the ashes of the dead in its waters are among the most important acts in Hindu religious life.
The descent of Ganga
According to the Ramayana and the Puranas, Ganga originally flowed only in heaven. King Bhagiratha performed long austerities to bring her down to earth, so that her waters could purify the ashes of his 60,000 ancestors, the sons of King Sagara, and free their souls. Ganga agreed to descend, but the force of her fall would have shattered the earth. Shiva caught her in his matted hair and released her gently in streams. This is why Shiva is often shown with the river flowing from his hair.
The river Ganges
The Ganges rises at the Gangotri glacier in the Himalaya, where the stream is called the Bhagirathi after the king, and flows some 2,500 kilometres across northern India and Bangladesh to the Bay of Bengal. Along its banks lie many of Hinduism's holiest places, including Rishikesh, Haridwar, Prayagraj and Varanasi. See Holy cities.
- Bathing in the Ganges is believed to wash away sins.
- Ganga jal, Ganges water, is carried home in sealed containers and used in rituals, given to the dying and sprinkled for purification.
- Ashes of the dead are immersed in the river, which is believed to help the soul on its journey. See Funeral rites.
- Ganga Aarti: each evening at Varanasi and at Har Ki Pauri in Haridwar, priests perform a spectacular ceremony of lamps on the riverbank, watched by thousands.
The seven sacred rivers
A prayer often recited during puja invokes seven sacred rivers into the water used for worship: the Ganga, Yamuna, Godavari, Saraswati, Narmada, Sindhu (Indus) and Kaveri. Together they span the whole subcontinent.
| River | Associations |
|---|---|
| Yamuna | Sister of Yama, god of death; the river of Krishna's childhood at Vrindavan and Mathura. |
| Saraswati | Praised in the Rig Veda; now invisible, said to flow underground and to join the Ganges and Yamuna at Prayagraj. Personified as the goddess Saraswati. |
| Godavari | The longest river of peninsular India, called the “Ganges of the south”; site of the Nashik Kumbh Mela. |
| Narmada | Believed to purify merely by being seen. Some pilgrims walk the length of both its banks, a journey of thousands of kilometres. Its smooth stones are worshipped as Shiva lingas. |
| Sindhu (Indus) | The river of the Vedic homeland and of the Indus Valley Civilisation, and the source of the words “Hindu” and “India”. |
| Kaveri | The great sacred river of the south, flowing past the temple island of Srirangam. |
The meeting point of rivers, called a sangam, is especially holy. The most sacred is the Triveni Sangam at Prayagraj, where the Ganges, Yamuna and Saraswati are said to meet.
Pollution and protection
Many of India's sacred rivers, including the Ganges and the Yamuna, are heavily polluted by sewage, industrial waste and agricultural run-off. For many Hindus this is a source of deep concern, and religious leaders, environmental groups and the government have launched campaigns to clean them, including India's Namami Gange programme, begun in 2014. In 2017 a court in Uttarakhand declared the Ganges and Yamuna to be legal persons, though the ruling was later stayed by India's Supreme Court.
Sources and further reading
- Diana L. Eck, India: A Sacred Geography (Harmony, 2012).
- Kelly D. Alley, On the Banks of the Ganga: When Wastewater Meets a Sacred River (University of Michigan Press, 2002).
- Steven G. Darian, The Ganges in Myth and History (University Press of Hawaii, 1978).