The Descent of the Ganga

Once upon a time, there was a wild, massive river flowing freely throughout the heavens. This river was so massive, it stretched to every corner of the seven levels of the heavens; it was so wild that no one, not even Kali—the goddess of power—could tame it. However, one very lucky—or simply special, some might say—young man set out to bring this mighty river down from the heavens. For you see, the river had mystical powers, and could cleanse the soul of a human. But I’m getting ahead of myself I suppose…

Before all of that, this ‘lucky young man’ had been one of sixty-thousand sons! Amazing, huh? Tragically, he was the only remaining living son, as his brothers had all been killed. Oh, but that’s another story… This young man, by the name of Bhagiratha, wanted to bring down the Ganga in order to set free his brothers’ souls—which had been trapped, unable to ascend to the heavens in their afterlives. Unfortunately, the Ganga felt that she was entirely too valuable for such a menial task. She was irked at this request and felt she must have a proper revenge on the mortal who had such audacity to solicit her help. Therefore, the Ganga decided to destroy Mother Earth upon her descent!

During her long drop downward, the Ganga was so angry that huge, steaming fumes were coming out of her in all directions. In fact, she got so hot that the entirety of the Ganga began to boil and turned into a giant tunnel of steam! Thankfully, steam is not nearly as harmful as water can be. The Ganga continued rushing towards Earth, but the Earth was no longer in danger. The steam reached Earth and dissipated, so quietly that hardly even a mouse would have noticed. But Bhagiratha was watching, and was much dismayed. He thought his brothers would never be saved with the Ganga having completely disappeared. Little did he know, the droplets of steam did not actually disappear, as much as separate from one another. Many of the droplets fell right to the Earth, landing on the soil and in the great oceans. However, exactly 108 droplets were carried off by the strong winds. These droplets landed in various sacred places throughout Mother Earth, but one such droplet is of significance for this story. That was the droplet which landed on the souls of Bhagiratha’s brothers.

Bhagiratha’s brothers were saved! He was overjoyed! Now he knew with certainty that his wonderful brothers would be able to reach the heavens and live on in the afterlife in peace and happiness. No longer hindered by his burning guilt regarding his many fallen brothers, Bhagiratha went on to live a happy, wonderful life. He fell in love, traveled throughout the lands, and raised a beautiful family. Our sacred places of today come from the places on Earth where the Ganga landed. The number 108 is used for meditation training because this is how many droplets landed on the Earth. This number is sacred and represents a tie to our past, to the time of the Ganga’s descent. The end.



(Image from Wikimedia)


Author’s note: I chose this story because I was fascinated by the story of the Ganga and I also really enjoy personifying things/animals. It was especially challenging to personify the Ganga’s emotions; doing this with animals in the past was much easier for me! Working with only the inner thoughts of the Ganga and limited outward expression forced me to think outside the box, which is why I thought of the Ganga’s entire being reverberating with her rage—something I myself have felt, but never literally experienced in the way the Ganga of my version did. I chose the picture above because it shows a lot of steam blowing off, but it is actually from a volcano—not a giant mystical river! It looks similar to how I imagined the Ganga would have looked, though. The original story tells of another god coming down and literally holding up the Ganga to prevent her from smashing the Earth to pieces. In my version, the anger of the Ganga is what prevents the Ganga from destroying the Earth. I liked this twist because the story becomes more than just a story; it teaches a lesson: when you allow yourself to be angry, you often thwart your own plans. I think this is an important lesson for everyone to learn and one that I myself struggle with more than any other form of self-control and self-discipline.


Bibliography:

Narayan, R.K. (1972) The Ramayana, Naray.