Ganga

HOW GANGA CAME DOWN TO EARTH

     Nidish is basking in the sun and chatting with one of his porters, seated on a low wall at the back of the courtyard. The goddess arrived at eight o’clock from Bhaironghati. Now she’s being washed and adorned before the installation, which starts at ten thirty. Men are strewing marigolds on the lane leading down from the bazaar. A few people are chatting idly at the edges of the courtyard. The tall metal grills guarding the steps that lead up to the temple are firmly locked. We have time to kill, so Nidish starts to tell me more of the story of how King Bhagirath brought Ganga down to earth.

    "There was a king called Sagar. He was a very great king and his biggest desire was to become the king of kings. So he organized an Ashwamedh Yagna - the horse sacrifice. Here, the horse was left on his own and the army followed the horse. Whoever caught the horse could challenge King Sagar and his army and become the king of kings."

     "So he gets the kingdom?" I interrupt very briefly.

     Nidish swats my question away: "He gets the kingdom." And returns to his storytelling.

      "Anyway, the horse was set loose. Now King Sagar also had two wives - one wife had sixty thousand sons, the other just one son." The sixty thousand sons of the first wife told their father, “There’s no need to send your army after the horse. We’ll do the job instead.” King Sagar agreed and the sixty thousand sons set out in pursuit of the horse.

    "One day the horse wandered into the forest. Inside the forest there was a saint called Kapil. He was meditating so the horse sensibly kept quiet. Meanwhile the sixty thousand sons burst through the trees into the clearing where Kapil sat, and what do you imagine they saw? Kapil rishi next to the horse and this could mean only one thing — this rishi was throwing down a challenge to their father! So they made a racket to let Kapil know they were around. The rishi was angry as they’d disturbed his meditation. So he opened his eyes and turned them all to ashes."

    "Months passed. No horse and no news back at court. King Sagar got worried. Should I send my army to look for them? Anshuman, the son of the second wife said, “Wait, let me go and see if I can find them.” His father reluctantly agreed. Finally, Anshuman arrived at the hermitage of Kapil rishi. What did he see but the horse grazing peacefully and the rishi meditating - and in front of the rishi a huge pile of ashes."

     Nidish is warming to his task, baseball cap pulled down, really into his story. "He couldn't understand what had happened but he smelt the (sic) rat. So he waited and waited till Kapil rishi opened his eyes and saw this stranger in front of him. 'What’s brought you here?' he asked him. So Anshuman told him the whole story and when he was done said, “I can see the horse right here. But where are my brothers?” The saint said, 'Oh, you are a sensible man, but your sixty thousand brothers were not - they came and disturbed me and I have burned them into ashes and now I cannot do anything!' The son replied, “I’m sorry on behalf of my brothers, but in our religion it’s very important that the souls of my brothers should go to heaven. What can we do?” Kapil replied that something could be done. He explained, “But first you’ll have to please Mother Ganga who flows in the heavens. If Ganga can be brought down into the earth, she will wash away all these ashes. Then only can their souls go to heaven.”

    "Anshuman thanked Kapil rishi and headed back to his father’s kingdom, the bearer of both good and bad news. King Sagar was shocked and saddened at the stupid behavior of his sons and went off into the forest to meditate, without much result. He died, his son and his grandson also meditated and in turn died, and now we come to his great-grandson Bhagirath, who also meditated right here where we’re sitting. Bhagirath performed his tapasya standing on one leg for a thousand years on a rock said to lie under the present-day temple."

    "And Mother Ganga was finally happy. She appeared and said, “Oh son! What do you want?” So Bhagirath told her the whole story all over again, and at the end turned to her, saying “Now we need you down here so that the ashes can be washed away.” Mother Ganga replied, “Yes, I’m very happy about the way you have meditated. But there’s a very real problem. If I come down from heaven to earth I will flood the entire earth and no one will survive.” Bhagirath asked her what the alternative was. Ganga had a suggestion. “I’m willing to come down but I don’t know how we’ll keep my waters in check. As far as I know there’s only one person who can control them and that’s Lord Shiva. So go and make Lord Shiva happy and if he says he can do this, I’ll come.”

    "Bhagirath went back to meditation for another very long period. Finally, Shiva appeared and was told the whole story. He said, ‘Yes, this is a noble purpose and I’m willing to help.’ Mother Ganga was called and Shiva took her into his hair. He then unwrapped one of his locks and let Ganga down from the heavens to earth, right here at Gangotri. So from the source till Devaprayag the river is known as Bhagirathi (though it is really Ganga) because the credit has been given to King Bhagirath, and from Devaprayag onwards we call it Ganga. And this place, this very place Gangotri, is where King Bhagirath meditated. This is the story of how Ganga was brought down to the earth."