Eternal Ganges: From heaven to earth

The Ganges, or more commonly known as Ganga, is a micro belief system within the larger world order of Hinduism. Interestingly, the Ganges has always been brought or carried along. When we explore her myth, the most popular one affirms the story of her being brought on the earth from heaven by King Bhagiratha. So, carrying Ganges water has its symbolism rooted in religious discourse. For the devotee, carrying water back home from the Ganges is of immense value—a direct derivation from the sacred texts, and therefore, a notch higher towards gaining piety.

The myth depicting the river's arrival all the way from the world of divinity, was need-based, laced with the motive of salvation. In sum, the 'need' factor has always lingered with the Ganges from beyond the beginning of time, whether it was mythological or materialistic. Bhagiratha needed her for completing the shraadhh (funerary) rituals of his 60,000 ancestors, whose souls were stuck in the netherworld. It was believed that only when the purification rites were executed, they would then be able to journey to heaven. Those rites could not be completed without the water of the Ganges. Hence her arrival on earth.

Beyond the texts, the need-based connection to the river is more literal, and related to the demands of an agrarian country. The Ganges creates the most fertile land for farming, impacting on the subsistence of the entire country directly and indirectly. Albeit, the multiple ritualistic practices on the riverfront as well as in her waters, supplemented by the irrigational ability are the key outcome of the same belief system. Consequently, the river is a cultural icon that represents India. In common parlance, India to the West is known as 'the land of the Ganges'.

The Ganges is addressed as pranadayini—the giver of life. Only a 'giver of life' can act as a purifier. Each text, each eulogy literature, every mythology, veneration practice, and almost all travellers' accounts, however oriental in their gaze, by default had formed an association with the Ganges, scaling up her personification like no other, almost equal to her source power, Shiva.

As the river nearly encircles the city, its mere presence heightens the austerity of the location, associating a sense of spellbinding to the most unfamiliar and distant visitor of Banaras. Standing on the Chausatti Ghat on one end or Panchaganga Ghat on the other, one gets to witness the flowing river that's almost like an ocean, forming its widest sweep. Definitely, it is magical and bewildering enough to get overwhelmed, wondering how incredibly fascinating the myths surrounding Ganga are.

The Ganges, therefore, holds a deep impression in the religious imagination as well as in everyday life. The mighty river inspires an endless volume of symbolism interestingly from and by all actors who have had the slightest involvement with it. The present-day city of Banaras stands lofty on the riverfront, skirting higher than 50–70 ft above the river level, making it absolutely a stunning vista from afar. Over centuries, the city had expanded and moved away from Raj Ghat on the extreme north, a vantage point. Even when Banaras was mainly around Raj Ghat, the cosmetic aspect of Banaras on the Ganges was never minimized.

As the Chinese traveler Hiuen Tsiang noted in his seventh-century journal, streams of pure and clear water flowed throughout the city. From the Sanskrit Purānas of about the same time, it seems that in the years of exceptional flooding, the city on the high ridge was completely surrounded by water, becoming virtually an island. These times, when the holy Ganges encircled the holy city, were praised as the most auspicious of times…

Perhaps the urban planning was done with both the aspects of beautification and veneration in mind, not oblivious of its periodic flooding, when not much of the riverfront is visible. From its geographical location, to its spread, to its boundaries, to the sanctity it is associated with—every aspect of her has a myth linked to it and she embodies the most perceivable symbiotic element in the life of Banaras.

There is no denial of the visual supremacy of the Ganges flowing by Banaras, with the city standing on the riverfront. Description of the magnificent sight from either angles are oft repeated. Sherring remarks in the opening chapter of his book, 'For picturesqueness and grandeur, no sight in all the world can well surpass that of Benares as seen from the river Ganges.'

While the Christian missionary is literal in describing the sight, Havell, the British art historian, creates an imprint of visual high, heightening the scenery, adding religious symbolism to it.

The traveller who wishes to realize the magnificence of Benares on the river-side, and to catch some reflection of that Vedic brightness which still shines through all that is sordid and vulgar in the modern city, must be at Dasâsamedh Ghât before the first streak of dawn. This is what he may see as he floats slowly down the river on a December morning:—

There is a coppery glow on the eastern horizon; the Ashvins, twin heralds of the dawn, are rising. Curling wreaths of evaporation rise from the placid river, and a blanket of white mist lies over the great sandy waste, laid bare by the shrinking of the monsoon flood.'

Havell's description is more about including the religiosity of the river, asserting the mystique mythification as laid out in sacred literature. The image seemingly is an ingredient of the orientalism around India that has been re-emphasized by the patrons who built magnificent ghats and palaces on the waterfront as well as the long list of European chroniclers. Their perspective led to the projection of Banaras along with the Ganges as 'the glorified', compelling a permanent recall of the thousands, whose footfall make Banaras a potpourri of life events.

The connect with Ganga is the strongest for all who seek her blessings as well as for all who have traversed on her waters. No scripture has had the courage to omit her power, no tradition of the Hindus is complete without her, no voyager or merchant who has sailed through the Ganges can forget the experience. This can be interpreted pertinently as the river being present in everyday life, in the smaller and bigger traditions, whether one cups her water and offers it back to her or the dead, while being finally bathed by her water one last time, or whether one cruises upstream—she is all over the lives of those who reach out to her.

Interestingly, she does not discriminate against anyone. She is a soother to all, from the Brahmin to the nameless pilgrim, to the heartbroken poets, lovers, discerning musicians, and to the emperor, and is accessible to one and all.

(Excerpted with permission from Nilosree Biswas' Banaras; published by Niyogi Books)