Live Your Myths

Indian Myth | The Origin Of River Ganges

By MeandDiamond

Myth Origins: India 

It is told that in ancient times there was a king who had 1001 sons obtained by a divine boon. He did Aswamedha Yagya, a sacred and rare fire sacrifice in which a royal horse is set loose with a tabloid on which it was written that on whatever lands the horse will step upon will come under the territory of the said King and whoever will stop the horse will have to fight a battle with the king's army and if he lost then he would have to submit. This is done only rarely by few kings who satisfy all the important needs to become an emperor as after the completion of this holy ritual, the king will be honored as the emperor.

The king sent his 1000 sons with the horse to look after it. Once, the King of Gods Indra, jealous by the increasing might of the King and in fear of his position on throne, stole the horse at night when everyone was sleeping. He hid the horse near a sage who was in deep meditation for years. In the morning, when the princes didn't see the horse, they followed the steps left by the horse and reached the sage's place of meditation. Thinking the sage had stolen the horse, they disturbed his meditation, calling him a thief and challenging him to a fight.

The sage had gathered a lot of divine cosmic energy during his meditation so when his meditation broke in middle, he opened his eyes and the energy burned up all the princes into ashes. The King was deeply saddened by this news but he knew that his sons were at fault.When his remaining son heard the news, he decided to help his brothers be liberated to heaven.He did extreme meditation for many years followed by his son and then his grandson Bhagiratha.

Pleased with the determination and hard meditation of the many generations, the creator God Brahma, one of the supreme holy divine trinity, materialised in front of Bhagiratha. He told him of the divine and holy river Ganga which flows in heaven. By the touch of those waters, his ancestors' sins would be washed away and they would be liberated. Bhagiratha then pleaded the river Ganga by deep meditation to accept his invitation to descend on Earth. River Ganga agreed to his request but raised the concern that she had such mighty flow that if she came onto Earth then the entire planet would be destroyed and drowned. She asked him to please Lord Shiva who was the third one in the holy divinity and also the Destroyer. Said to be very kind and easily pleased, Lord Shiva accepted Bhagiratha's request.

So Brahma washed the toe of the left foot of Lord Vishnu, the second one in the holy trinity and is the preserver of the worlds, and the river Ganga flowed out. Brahma gathered Ganga in his infinitely deep pot and slowly released her on earth. Below, Shiva gathered the mighty river flow in his locks of hair and held the entire river in the bun of his hairs. He loosened one lock and slowly ganga flowed out dripping from his hairs. River Ganga then followed the steps of Bhagiratha who took her to the place where his ancestors were burned. As soon as the Ganges holy and pure waters touched the ashes of the princes, all their sins were washed away and they were all liberated.

From there, Ganga went into the ocean but decided to stay on earth to wash away the sins of people and animals.

And this is how River Ganga came to Earth.