A detached Ganga had given birth to Devavrata for keeping her words she had given to Ashtavasus but in thirty-six years' time when he was with her Ganga had developed great affection for him. It was further deepened by her son's noble deeds: his pledge not to ever marry for his father's happiness, forego his claim to throne, his adherence to righteousness, his loyalty to the throne of Hastinapur beyond his personal feelings, and much more. Hence a loving mother, Ganga was always protective to her son and watched his life with a mother's concern. For plotting against him she even fought with Amba, the daughter of the king of Kashi, frustrated in love for the failure of which she considered Bhishma responsible. Towards the end of his life, when hit by Arjuna's arrows Bhishma lay on the bed of arrows awaiting the sun to move to Uttarayana - auspicious period for relinquishing 'prana' - life, Ganga sent to Bhishma sages doing penance on her banks, in their transform as geese, for blessing him in her behalf. Ganga herself appeared to quench her son's thirst when he asked for water and Arjuna pierced the earth by his arrow for draining it. With 'Bana' - arrow, being the source of her emergence, texts name this transform of Ganga as Banaganga.
Ganga's crocodile-riding reliefs on door-jambs had become an essential component of temple-architecture from fourth-fifth century itself. This status of Ganga as the guardian deity was ever since unsurpassed. Temples built by all major building dynasties, the great Guptas, early and late Western and Eastern Chalukyas, Gurjara-Pratihara, Pallava, Pala, Sena, Vakataka, Rashtrakuta, Pandya, Hoyshala, Chola among others covering, besides India, also Nepal, Java and Bangladesh, have on their doorjambs statues of Ganga and Yamuna as their guardian deities. The Chola king Rajendra not only have images of Ganga on the doorjambs of his Shiva temple named Gangaikondacholapuram but also built a tank named Cholaganga and fetched a lot of Ganga-water for filling it. He is known to have invaded subcontinent's northern part and the defeated kings were required to pay him the tribute only in the form of Ganga-water to fill Cholaganga.
RE(5):GANGA, THE MOTHER OF BRAVE AND MIGHTY SONS
17/01/2011 18:03
GANGA'S PRESENCE IN LIERATURE, ART AND INDIAN LIFE
Ganga, the river or the goddess, is the story of India's civilization and culture, of the rise and fall of mighty empires, great kings, proud cities, venerated institutions, industry and trade, and adventures and endeavours of man. She does not have any significant presence in the Rig-Veda or rather in texts prior to the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, though the role and the decisive personality that she has in the epics suggest that Ganga might have taken a considerable period of time to attain such mythical status, in hierarchy and in mythical geography. Significantly, once she makes a debut, her presence floods all creative domains - literature, architecture, sculpture and coins. The renowned second century Sanskrit poet Kalidasa has lauded Ganga in almost all his works, Raghuvansha, Meghaduta and Kumarasambhava in special. In sculptures also, she begins appearing from second century. A number of Satavahana and Kushana sculptures, both from the second century A. D., are found representing Ganga in her Nadi-matrika manifestations.
RE(4):GANGA, THE MOTHER OF BRAVE AND MIGHTY SONS
17/01/2011 18:03
GANGA AND 'THREE'
'Tri' - 'three', has strange co-relation with Ganga. As river, from the north she flows southwards, then she takes an eastward turn, and finally before joining the sea, turns again to south - a 'Tri-bhanga' or three-curved form. Mythically she has her origin in Vaikuntha, then through celestial region falls on the earth and then proceeds to nether world where the ashes of Bhagiratha's ancestors lay. Thus, traversing all three worlds she is 'Tripathaga'. With a touch of Vishnu's feet simple water of Brahma's 'kamandala' expands into a mighty stream which Shiva bears on his head when it descends and then releases. Later, sage Jahnu does the same. Thus born of threes sources, Vishnu's feet, Shiva's coiffure and sage Jahnu's ear, Ganga is said to be 'Trisrota'. At Allahabad, she is joined by Yamuna and the unmanifest Saraswati and becomes known as Triveni - confluence of three rivers.
RE(3):GANGA, THE MOTHER OF BRAVE AND MIGHTY SONS
17/01/2011 18:03
For giving birth to a mighty son like Bhishma, and for being instrumental in the birth of Karttikeya, the Commander-in-Chief of gods, Ganga is often revered as Vira-mata, the mother of brave and mighty sons. A strange co-incidence, one of her two sons Bhishma chose death when lying on the bed of Sharas - arrows, while the other, Karttikeya chose the bed of Sharas - grove of reeds, to be born on. Texts have called Ganga Nadi-matrika, the river-mother, for not a mere stream, with her bounties Ganga feeds many crores of people covering about one-third of the Indian subcontinent irrigating around one million kilometers of area. In many early sculptures dating back to the second century A. D., of Satavahanas from Amaravati and of Kushanas from Mathura, Ganga has been represented mostly as Nadi-matrika. Whatever her personality as a goddess, or wife, if the great river were a woman, as she essentially was and is, bounteous Ganga, the giver of food, water and refuge to every self, is the motherhood incarnate, the most accomplished aspect of womanhood.
RE(2):GANGA, THE MOTHER OF BRAVE AND MIGHTY SONS
17/01/2011 18:02
Bhishma was bound to the throne of Hastinapur and thereby to Kauravas but in his heart he loved Pandavas, Arjuna in particular. As reveals in a number of episodes in the Mahabharata, the son's inclination was also the mother's. This reflects in Ganga's protective treatment of Pandavas to which those inhabiting her, Nagas - her essential components in particular, were also a part. During his exile one day when Arjuna went to Ganga for a bath, Ulupi, a Naga-kanya - mermaid, fell in love with him. Before Arjuna left, after staying with her in Ganga's bottom - Ulupi's abode, for a night, Ulupi pronounced that no aquatic creature would ever harm him and all those born of water would be under him. With designs to kill Bhima, the mighty Pandava, Kaurava prince Duryodhana invited Pandavas to a garden on Ganga's banks under the pretext of water-sports. When with the effect of drug administered to them Pandavas swooned, Duryodhana got Bhima's hands and legs roped and threw him into Ganga. But instead of killing him Ganga conducted him to her bottom which Vasuki, the king of Nagas - serpents, inhabited with his Nagas. Vasuki not only recognized Bhima but also welcomed him and gave him ambrosia to drink which redeemed him of his swoon and gave him timeless youth.
