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The 'Ganges' (, also 'Ganga' , Devanāgarī: गंगा, in most Indian languages, ) is a major river in the Indian subcontinent flowing east through the eponymous plains of northern India into Bangladesh. The 2,510 km (1,557 mi) long river begins at the Gangotri Glacier in the Indian state of Uttarakhand in the central Himalayas and drains into the Bay of Bengal through its vast delta in the Sunderbans. It is held sacred by Hindus and is worshipped in its personified form as the goddess ''Ganga''.
The Ganga and its tributaries drain a large and fertile basin with an area of about one million square kilometres that supports one of the world's highest density human populations.
In his book Discovery of India, Jawaharlal Nehru says:

"...The Ganges, above all is the river of India, which has held India's heart captive and drawn uncounted millions to her banks since the dawn of history. The story of the Ganges, from her source to the sea, from old times to new, is the story of India's civilization and culture, of the rise and fall of empires, of great and proud cities, of adventures of man..."

Contents

Course

Historically

Religious significance

History

Economy

Ecology

See also

References

External links

Course

The Ganges originates in the Himalayas after the confluence of six rivers – Alaknanda meets Dhauliganga at Vishnuprayag, Mandakini at Nandprayag, Pindar at Karnaprayag, Mandakini at Rudraprayag and finally Bhagirathi at Devaprayag(from here onwards, it is known as Ganga) in the Indian state of Uttarakhand. Out of the five, the Bhagirathi is held to be the source stream originating at the Gangotri Glacier at an elevation of 7,756 m (25,446 ft). The streams are fed by melting snow and ice from glaciers including glaciers from peaks such as Nanda Devi and Kamet.
After travelling 200 km through the Himalayas, the Ganges emerges at the pilgrimage town of Haridwar in the Shiwalik Hills. At Haridwar, a dam diverts some of its waters into the Ganges Canal, which links the Ganges with its main tributary, the Jamuna. The Ganges which till this point flows in a south-western direction now begins to flow in a south-eastern direction through the plains northern India.
From Haridwar the river follows an 800 km (500 mi) winding course passing through the city of Kanpur, before being joined by the Yamuna from the southwest at Allahabad. This point, known as the Sangam, is a sacred place in Hinduism. According to ancient Hindu texts, at one time a third river, the Sarasvati River, met the two rivers at this point.^[1]
Joined by numerous rivers such as the Kosi, Son, Gandak and Ghaghra, the Ganges forms a formidable current in the stretch between Allahabad and Malda in West Bengal. On its way it passes the towns of Mirzapur, Varanasi, Patna and Bhagalpur. At Bhagalpur, the river meanders past the Rajmahal Hills, and beings to change course southwards. At Pakaur, the river begins its first attrition with the branching away of its first distributary, the River Bhagirathi, which goes on to form the River Hooghly. Close to the border with Bangladesh, the Farakka Barrage, built in 1974 controls the flow of the Ganges, diverting some of the water into a feeder canal linking the Hooghly to keep it relatively silt free.
After entering Bangladesh, the main branch of the Ganges is known as Padma River until it is joined by the Jamuna River the largest distributary of the Brahmaputra. Further downstream, the Ganges is fed by the Meghna River, the second largest distributary of the Brahmaputra and takes on its name entering the Meghna Estuary. Fanning out into the 350 km (220 mi) wide Ganges Delta, it empties out into the Bay of Bengal. Only two rivers, the Amazon and Congo have a higher discharge than the combined flow of the Ganges, the Brahmaputra and the Surma-Meghna river system.

Historically

Until the end of the 18th Century, the Ganges River separately discharged into the Bay of Bengal a few kilometers west of the Meghna Estuary. The Brahmaputra River flowed to the east of the Madhupur Tract (upland) and after joining with the Meghna River their combined flow fed into the estuary following approximately the same alignment as the present Lower Meghna River. Between the end of the 18^th Century and early 19^th Century, the Brahmaputra River increased its diversion via the Jamuna River and joined with the Ganges at Aricha.^[2] This change was hastened by the 1897 earthquake.'

Religious significance

Main articles: Ganga in Hinduism



The Ganga is mentioned in the Rig-Veda, the earliest of the Hindu scriptures.
The Ganga is mentioned in the nadistuti (Rig Veda 10.75), which lists the rivers from east to west. In RV 6.45.31, the word Ganga is also mentioned, but it is not clear if the reference is to the river.
According to Hindus the river Ganga (feminine) is sacred. It is worshipped by Hindus and personified as a goddess, who holds an important place in the Hindu religion ^{[3] [4]} . Hindu belief holds that bathing in the river on certain occasions causes the forgiveness of sins and helps attain salvation. Many people believe that this will come from bathing in Ganga at any time. People travel from distant places to immerse the ashes of their kin in the waters of the Ganga; this immersion also is believed to send the ashes to heaven. Several places sacred to Hindus lie along the banks of the river Ganga, including Haridwar and Kashi. People carry sacred water from the Ganges that is sealed in copper pots after making the pilgrimage to Kashi. It is believed that drinking water from the Ganga with one's last breath will take the soul to heaven.
Hindus also believe life is incomplete without bathing in the Ganga at least once in their lifetime.
In most Hindu families, a vial of water from the Ganga is kept in every house. This is done because it is auspicious to have water of the Holy Ganga in the house, and also if someone is dying, that person will be able to drink its water. Many Hindus believe that the water from the Ganga can cleanse a person's soul of all past sins, and that it can also cure the ill. The ancient scriptures mention that the water of Ganges carries the blessings of Lord Vishnu's feet; hence Mother Ganges is also known as ''Vishnupadi'', which means "Emanating from the Lotus feet of Supreme Lord Sri Vishnu."
Some of the most important Hindu festivals and religious congregations are celebrated on the banks of the river Ganga such as the Kumbh Mela and the Chhat Puja.
It has hundreds of temples along the banks of the Ganga which often get flooded during the rains. This city, especially along the banks of the Ganga, is an important place of worship for the Hindus as well as a cremation ground.

History

During the early Indo-Aryan Ages, the Indus and the Sarasvati were the major rivers, not the Ganga. But the later three Vedas seem to give much more importance to the Ganga, as shown by its numerous references.
Possibly the first Westerner who mentions Ganga is Megasthenes. He does so several times in his work Indika:

"India, again, possesses many rivers both large and navigable, which, having their sources in the mountains which stretch along the northern frontier, traverse the level country, and not a few of these, after uniting with each other, fall into the river called the Ganges. Now this river, which at its source is 30 stadia broad, flows from north to south, and empties its waters into the ocean forming the eastern boundary of the Gangaridai, a nation which possesses a vast force of the largest-sized elephants." (Diodorus II.37.)

In Rome's Piazza Navona, there is a famous sculpture ''Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi'' (fountain of the four rivers), a marvelous sculptural and architectural creation by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, set up in 1651. It symbolises four of the world's great rivers (the Ganges, the Nile, the Danube, and the Rio de la Plata), representing the four continents known at the time. The picture alongside shows River Ganges as visualised by Bernini.

Economy

The Ganges Basin with its fertile soil is instrumental to the agricultural economies of India and Bangladesh. The Ganges and its tributaries provide a perennial source of irrigation to a large area. Chief crops cultivated in the area include rice, sugarcane, lentils, oil seeds, potatoes, and wheat. Along the banks of the river, the presence of swamps and lakes provide a rich growing area for crops such as legumes, chillies, mustard, sesame, sugarcane, and jute. Fishing also provides opportunities to many along the river, though the river remains highly polluted.
Tourism is another related activity. Three towns, holy to Hinduism – Haridwar, Allahabad, and Varanasi attract thousands of pilgrims to its waters. Thousands of Hindu pilgrims arrive at these three towns to take a dip in the Ganges, which is believed to cleanse oneself of sins and help attain salvation. The rapids of the Ganges also are popular river rafting area, attracting hundreds of adventure seekers in the summer months.

Ecology

Main articles: Pollution of Ganga



The Ganges collects large amounts of human pollutants as it flows through highly populous areas e.g. ''Schistosoma mansoni'' and ''faecal coliforms'' (therefore, carrying high health risk of infection through the fecal-oral route and bathing). These populous areas, and other people down stream, are then exposed to these potentially hazardous accumulations. While proposals have been made for remediating this condition so far no great progress has been achieved.
The major polluting industries on the Ganges are the leather industries, especially near Kanpur, which use large amounts of chromium and other chemicals, and much of it finds its way into the meagre flow of the Ganga. Unfortunately, this is a boom time for leather processing in India, which many view as a form of eco-environmental dumping on the third world, and with the lax and lubricable implementation systems of the Uttar Pradesh government, it does not seem likely that this will go down. The World Bank report of 1992, which focused on the environmental issues, mentions the dissolved-oxygen and the river-borne decomposing material at two focal points on the Ganga.
However, industry is not the only source of pollution. The sheer volume of waste — estimated at nearly 1 billion litres per day, of mostly untreated raw sewage — is a significant factor. Also, inadequate cremation procedures contributes to a large number of partially burnt or unburnt corpses floating down the Ganga, in addition to livestock corpses.
The Ganga Action Plan has been set up under the Indian government and is attempting to build a number of waste treatment facilities, under Dutch and British support, and to collaborate with a number of voluntary organizations. India's government has already spent over $33 million to address the overwhelming sewage problem. In December 1984, an action plan was prepared for the immediate reduction of pollution load on the river Ganga. The Cabinet approved the GAP (Ganga Action Plan) in April 1985 as a 100 per cent centrally sponsored scheme.
A well-known self-purificatory characteristic of Ganga water is mentioned in connection with the discovery of bacteriophages and many other microbes.
A UN Climate Report issued in 2007 indicates that the Himalayan glaciers that feed the Ganges may disappear by 2030, leaving the river a seasonal occurrence from Monsoons. The Boston Globe

See also

★ Ganges Basin

★ Ganges Delta

★ Ganges Fan

★ Swatch Ganga (Clean Ganga) Campaign

References

★ On the Banks of the Ganga: When Wastewater Meets a Sacred River, , Kelly D., Alley, University of Michigan press, 2002, ISBN 0-472-06808-3

★ Sacred Waters: A Pilgrimage up the Ganges River to the Source of Hindu Culture, , Stephen, Alter, . Harcourt, 2001, ISBN 0-15-100585-0

★ A Walk Along the Ganges, , Dennison, Berwick, , ,

★ The Ganges in Myth and History, , Steven G, Darian, The University Press of Hawaii, Honolulu, 1978, ISBN 0-8248-0509-7

★ Slowly down the Ganges, , Eric, Newby, , 1966, ISBN 0-86442-631-3

★ Ganga The River Goddess - Tales in Art and Mythology, by Sri Nitin Kumar.

★ From the Ocean to the Sky: Jet Boating Up the Ganges, , Edmund, Hillary, Ulverscroft Large Print Books Ltd, 1980, ISBN 0-7089-0587-0

★ Gangasmriti & Other Poems, , Subhash, Misra, Writers Workshop, 2005, ISBN 81-8157-331-5

External links

★ Ganges (Ganga)

★ Melting Glaciers Threaten Ganges

★ Holy Ganges in Uttarakhand