In­dia has ap­prox­i­mate­ly 400 rivers which con­flu­ence in­to eight main riv­er sys­tems. Among them, the Ganges is the most im­por­tant. To­geth­er with spir­i­tu­al im­por­tance, it has many sci­en­tif­ic in­flu­ences on hu­man life.

In Hin­du prayers and pu­jas, Gana­ga­jal is very im­por­tant.

In Sanatan Dhar­ma, it is said that Gana­ga­jal orig­i­nat­ed from Lord Shi­va’s hair. Ac­cord­ing to sci­en­tif­ic ev­i­dence, the Riv­er Ganges con­tains sul­phur which does not al­low it to get dirty, it can ab­sorb more oxy­gen from the at­mos­phere, and it con­tains cal­ci­um and mag­ne­sium, which is very help­ful to the body.

Emerg­ing from the serene at­mos­phere of Gau­mukh deep in the Hi­malayas and flow­ing over 2,500 kilo­me­tres to join the Bay of Ben­gal, the boun­ti­ful is a Ganges of rev­er­ence to all Hin­dus. Not on­ly has it been a source of great pros­per­i­ty and hap­pi­ness when­ev­er it flowed, but on its banks are sit­u­at­ed great cen­tres of learn­ing and pil­grim­age that have al­ways been dear to the Gods and mankind.

The wa­ter of the Ganges is be­lieved to hold mag­i­cal prop­er­ties. The Ganges is con­sid­ered sa­cred, the ter­res­tri­al home of the God­dess Gan­ga. Al­so called Maiyya by her devo­tees, she is a sym­bol of pu­rifi­ca­tion and for­give­ness.

The God­dess Ganges wears white gar­ments that are pink-tinged. She holds a wa­ter pot in one hand and a white lo­tus in the oth­er. She sits on a croc­o­dile in a Hi­malayan lake.

In Hin­duism, Gan­ga is seen as a moth­er to hu­man­i­ty. Pil­grims im­merse the ash­es of their kin in the riv­er Ganges, which is con­sid­ered by them to bring the souls (pu­ri­fied spir­its) clos­er to mok­sha, the lib­er­a­tion from the cy­cle of life and death. Fes­ti­vals like Gan­ga Dussehra and Gan­ga Jayan­ti are cel­e­brat­ed in her ho­n­our at sev­er­al sa­cred places, which lie along the banks of the Ganges.

There was a king named Sagar who had 60,000 sons. These sons went look­ing for the horse of the Ash­wamedh sac­ri­fice. The horse had been stolen by In­dra and re­leased near a place where a sage, Kapil, was in deep med­i­ta­tion and penance. When the sons found the horse graz­ing there, they thought the sage had stolen it and raised ob­jec­tions. En­raged at be­ing dis­turbed in prayer, Kapil re­duced them to ash­es with his wrath.

Suc­ces­sors were told that the sons of Sagar could gain sal­va­tion on­ly if the Ganges flowed over their ash­es. Ganges be­ing heav­en, they were un­able to bring her to earth. Lat­er, a de­scen­dant, King Bha­gi­rath un­der­took penance, liv­ing in the forests in great dis­com­fort. When Brah­ma was con­vinced of Bha­gi­rath’s sin­cere penance, he grant­ed him a boon.

Re­search has con­firmed that wa­ter from the Ganges does not de­te­ri­o­rate on stor­age. With its health-pro­mot­ing qual­i­ties, Ganges wa­ter can be com­pared to ce­les­tial nec­tar or am­rit. It is sweet, rich in a va­ri­ety of min­er­als and de­stroys dis­ease.

Some peo­ple have re­port­ed ex­tra­or­di­nary cas­es of re­vival when Ganges wa­ter was giv­en to a dy­ing per­son. The ex­pe­ri­ence has been de­scribed as sim­i­lar to a foun­tain of life burst­ing in­side to re­vive the per­son. Many peo­ple be­lieve that at the time of death, a few drops of Ganges wa­ter and pieces of tul­si must be ad­min­is­tered to a dy­ing per­son.

Faith and de­vo­tion are im­por­tant to gain the full ben­e­fits of bathing in the Ganges.

Once Par­vati asked Shi­va, “Do peo­ple who bathe in the Ganges get ab­solved of their sins?”

Lord Shi­va re­spond­ed, “Who­ev­er has faith and de­vo­tion ben­e­fits from it. Oth­ers are more in­ter­est­ed in the fun and frol­ic.”

When Par­vati was not sat­is­fied with Shi­va’s re­sponse, he asked her to ac­com­pa­ny him, as she could then wit­ness the truth her­self. Lord Shi­va as­sumed the body of a lep­er and sat near the Ganges. Par­vati as­sumed the body of a beau­ti­ful woman and sat be­side him.

Crowds of peo­ple were com­ing and go­ing for a bath. When they saw a beau­ti­ful woman sit­ting next to a lep­er, af­ter a while, a man came, looked at them and com­pli­ment­ed the woman for the de­vo­tion to her hus­band. He told her how im­pressed he was and of­fered to help her hus­band take a bath in the Ganges.

Just then, Lord Shi­va as­sumed his re­al form and said, “Here is one who is tru­ly de­vot­ed and faith­ful. He is the on­ly one en­ti­tled to the virtues of bathing in the Ganges.”

The Gan­ga is al­so called the Gan­ga Ma­ta (Moth­er), and is revered in Hin­du wor­ship and cul­ture, ven­er­at­ed for her for­give­ness of sins and ca­pac­i­ty to cleanse mankind. Un­like var­i­ous oth­er god­dess­es, she has no de­struc­tive or fear­some as­pect, de­struc­tive though she might be as a riv­er in na­ture. She is al­so a moth­er to oth­er gods.