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to some and ten according to others, but the number generally accepted is seven. She
is thus called Sapta-Sindhava , i.e., the seven Sindhus or rivers, of which the Ganga
proper is one. She followed King Bhagirath, blowing a conch-shell as he trekked
southeast and flowing over the plains of north and eastern India, reached the place
where the ashes of King Sagara's sons lay. As she flowed over them, their souls were
delivered and ascended to the heaven. She flowed into the sea which is now called
the Bay of Bengal, a part of the Indian Ocean.
In the Mahabharata (400 BC), the great Hindu epic written and compiled after
the Ramayana, the Ganga is both a goddess and an earthly woman. In the Buddhist
and Jain scriptures too, she is mentioned with reverence. From the third century
AD she was invoked in rituals of birth, initiation, marriage and death. In many
ancient Western and Chinese chronicles, she figures in the name of a vast conti-
nent, Gangaridi, i.e., the land whose heart is the Ganga. The name of its capital and
of the river flowing by it is the Ganga. Ptolemy, Megasthenes and other travellers
in India between 300 and 200 BC praised the defensive prowess of Gangaridi. The
Mauryan emperor, Chandragupta whom even Alexander dared not confront, is said
to have reigned over the kingdom.
In the post-Vedic era, the Hindu Puranas (ancient history-based literature) men-
tion Viyad Ganga, or heavenly Ganga, which flows from the toe of Vishnu. The
descent mythology figured in them before the Ramayana. The civilizations of
Harappa-Mohenjodaro and of the Ramayana flourished at the same time. It follows,
therefore, that the kingdoms, described in the Ramayana, existed on the banks of
the Ganga and were ruled by the native Dasas, or the immigrant Aryans who gradu-
ally moved from the Indus Valley to that of the Ganga between 1400 and 1000 BC.
As the Ramayana is believed to have been written in the post-Vedic period, the
kings figuring in it might have been Aryans. Therefore, the people in the Vedic
age might have been Dasas as well as invaders of the Indus Valley, whereas the
people in the Ramayana age might have been Aryan city-dwellers. From this time
onward, for centuries, the mixed civilization had sporadic and irregular growth.
The people continued to fight against flood and famine which were caused by the
rivers.
Then didst thou set the obstructed rivers flowing
And win the floods that were enthralled by Dasas.
Both Dasas and Aryans considered rivers as sacred and thus recited their names
while bathing, as their ancestors did for centuries:
May the waters of the Ganga, Yamuna, Godavari, Saraswati, Narmada, Sindhu and Kaveri
mingle with the waters - here and now!
In another legend, Manas Sarovar in Tibet, stretching at the foot of Mount
Kailash, is the source of the river. This natural lake, sprawling over 500 km 2 at an
altitude of 5000 m, has been attracting Hindu and Buddhist pilgrims and devotees
since the early Christian era from India, China, Tibet and Japan. Three other great
Indian rivers - the Yamuna, the Indus and the Brahmaputra - are believed to be also
originating from this natural lake, literally.
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