THE GIANT RIVER - GANGA

 

Ganga is Great River of the plains of North India, holds sacred by people of Hindu faith.  India owes much to the River Ganga for her material prosperity and cultural evolution. Starting the career with the Indus Valley Culture, they gradually gained importance, soon eclipsed the popularity of the Rivers Yamuna and Sarasvati and ultimately became the symbol of Indian Culture, With scores of tirthas and centres of learning, springing up on their banks and attracting pilgrims and scholars from all parts of the country, these rivers became the nerve - centres of socio religious and intellectual activities of the people. They inspired a unique sense of national unity and realisation of the higher ideals of Hindu life, Sanskrit literature abounds in description of these two rivers. Inscriptions and foreign works contain numerous allusions to them, Indian art, being the true reflection of the society, could not ignore these life-streams of Indian thought. The adoption of the Ganga as motifs was an important event in the history of Indian art providing new openings to Indian genius.

In Vedic literature the stories regarding the brigin of the Ganga are not found. In the tenth mandala of the Rgveda. The Nadi-Sukta contains mention of the Ganga and the Yamuna. At another place the word Gangya has been used as an adjective of the Urukaksha. In later Vedic literature, however, the mention of the Ganga, Bhagiratha, Kapila, Jahnu, Santanu and Gautama, etc., is found.  In the Valmiki Ramayana the birth of Kartikeya and the descending of Ganga from the heaven on the earth by the efforts of Bhagiratha, are described.  Rshi Visvamitra is said to have told these stories to Rama and Lakshmana. The first story is found before the second one as a background. The Valmiki Ramayana also deposes that while crossing the Ganga and the Yamuna on her way to the forest, Sita promised to propitiate both the river goddess with numerous gifts, should they ensure her safe return along with Rama and Lakshmana to Ayodhya.  In the work Yoga Vaasiahtha Ramayana, the origin of the Ganga by the efforts of Bhagiratha is mentioned in a different way. The story regarding the origin of the Gariga is described by Vasishtha at the request of Rama. In the Ramayana, however, the story is told by Visvamitra. The stories regarding the Ganga are found in the Mahabharata also. According to the first story the Ganga came on the earth as the result of the curse of Brahma and there she got married to Santanu. Ganga  gave birth to Bhishma. She helped Bhishma in his fight against Parasurama and cursed Amba. Again when Bhishma was lying on the arrows after his final battle with the Pandavas, she sent Munis to see him in the guise of geese. She cried bitterly on the death of Bhishma. According to the second story of the Mahabharata. River Ganga came here on the earth for the welfare of the people due to Bhagiratha'a penance. The deity-cum river form of the Ganga is represented in this story. The representation of the Ganga as a river is also depicted in Anusasana Parva. The seven streams of the River Ganga are mentioned in the Bhishma Parva,

Alakananda, Bhagirathi, Mandakini, Dhauli-Ganga and Pindara are five head-streams of the River Ganga all rise in the Uttarkhand division of the Indian State.  On its 1,557 – mi (2,506-km) course the River Ganga flows in a southeasterly direction across Uttar Pradesh through the Indian states of UttaraKhand, Bihar and West Bengal.

Its major tributaries include Yamuna, Ramaganga and Ghaghara rivers in Uttar Pradesh; and the river Gandaki, Burhi Gandaki and Kosi rivers in Bihar.  In central Bangladesh River Ganga is joined from the north by the Great River Brahmaputra near Goalundo Ghat and from the north east by the Meghna River above Chandrapur.  Their combined waters empty into the Bay of Bengal through innumerable channelsthat traverse a delta measuring 200 mi (320 km) from east to west.

The Plain of the River Ganga is one of the most fertile and densely populated territories in the world, the river Ganga, for most of its course, is a wide and sluggish stream.  Its total drainage basin covers an area of about 376,800 sq mi (975,900), or roughly a quarter of the territory of India, and supports more than 300,000,000 people.  Most of the original natural vegetation and wild animals have disappeared from the basin as a whole, and the land is now intensely cultivated to meet the needs of a growing population.

Use of water for irrigation, either when the Ganga River floods or by means of gravity canals, has been common since early times.  Irrigation has increased the production of such food and cash crops as wheat, sugarcane, cotton and oilseeds in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarkahnd and Bihar.  River traffic is insignificant above the Middle Ganga Basin around Allahabad, where railways serve region, but the rural people of West Bengal and Bangladesh continue to rely on the waterway to transport jute, tea, grain and other agricultural products.

Modern industries have been established in many locations in the valley of River Ganga, exploiting local raw materials and the availability of cheap hydroelectric power.

Those who are interested may participate in the https://clap4ganga.com/ganga-quest

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