The Ganges is a sacred and terrifying river. The waterway of India is the Ganges River.

First, let's give a brief geographical overview.

The Ganges is one of the deepest lowland rivers in South Asia, flowing through India. It is believed that Ganges water has healing properties due to its holiness. And this is not just an opinion - the Ganges has become a real cult, which annually attracts tens of millions of pilgrims to its shores! People stand in three-kilometer queues to approach the ablution places and sprinkle themselves with the water of the legendary river.

According to legend, sacred water not only heals illnesses and relieves all sorts of worldly misfortunes, it washes away all of a person’s sins.

But what does science say? The Ganges is practically the record holder among rivers for water pollution. This river collects colossal amounts of human and industrial waste. Some of the “sacred” areas of the river are described by researchers who took water samples as “a brown soup of excrement and industrial wastewater.” Feces, cholera and dysentery bacteria - this is what the Ganges is teeming with, healing the sick and holy fools. But that's not all the surprises!

In India, it is customary not to bury, but to cremate corpses. And what is the most the best place for cremation, according to Indians? Of course, the Ganges River! Otherwise, how can the deceased be cleansed of his lifetime sins? Custom dictates that bodies be burned on a bonfire made of natural wood (which, by the way, is very expensive in India), and after burning, the ashes from the wood and the body must certainly be thrown into the river so that it will carry the ashes of the deceased to better worlds. But due to the high cost of wood, many residents simply do not have enough money for proper cremation, so they throw the entire corpse into the Ganges so that it carries not ashes, but the whole body to better worlds. During the delivery process, the body, of course, decomposes and behaves as any dead body should behave. Some categories of people are not subject to burning at all. These are pregnant women, children and virgins - their corpses are also thrown into the river after death.

The Indian government is constantly fighting the pollution of the Ganges by building sewage treatment plants. However, this does not give much result. But here's what's remarkable. Scientists were amazed when they discovered the river's ability to clean itself. Despite all the monstrous pollution of the river, the level of cholera bacilli always remains at a certain level. The English physicist Hanbury Hankin, in a number of numerous experiments, was convinced that cholera bacilli died in the Ganges water in 6 hours; in distilled water they continued to multiply even after 48 hours. Some properties of the Ganges have not yet been studied. For example, how can a river retain oxygen in its waters? In the meantime, there is no exact data on this matter, we can assume that the Ganges will be the hope for healing for many believers for many years to come.

Emma MAMINEVA

I always knew that behind every MIRACLE there is a phenomenon of physics unknown to us... So the holiness of the waters of the Indian Ganga is also explained by science.

Many scientists, having analyzed the waters of the Ganga, confirm its incredible cleansing power. For example, it was found that Ganges water does not spoil even after long-term storage; moreover, it even becomes cleaner. It can be stored almost indefinitely, a quality that cannot be found even in distilled water. Scientists do not understand the spiritual power of the Ganges waters, and therefore are unable to give any satisfactory explanation for this phenomenon. Here I present the names of four scientists and the results of their experiments.

The Holy Ganges, called Ganga in India, is not just a river. It is a fusion of geography, religion and legend. Every river has a source and an mouth. But this is not quite the case with Ganga. The fact is that, according to Hindus, the Ganga first flows smoothly across the sky and is visible like the Milky Way from here. And only where the Ganga descends from the sky does the Earthly Ganga begin its flow. Geographically, this actually coincides with a very high point - Bagirathi Ganga, one of the two sources of the great Ganga, emerges from under the snow among the Himalayan peaks at an altitude of 4495 meters above sea level.

In the upper reaches of the Ganga it is not at all like the calm, dirty yellow river that it is known on the plain. Here these are stormy ice streams that are similar to the good destructive force god Vishnu.

According to myth, the Ganges, washing the shores of paradise, descended to Earth to help people wash away their sins. But its waters are so powerful that, falling down, the Ganga could destroy the Earth. And then, in order to save people, the god Shiva put his head under the icy water. Entangled in his hair, the Ganga split into seven streams, and now people can bathe in the sacred river.

Bathing in the Ganges is both a ritual and a daily activity. True, it becomes possible only near the holy city of Haridwar, where the waters of the Ganga are still just as cold, the current is fast, but no longer dangerous. In Haridwar, it is believed that the valley meets the Ganga, and here is the main ghat - the place of ritual ablutions and the goal of numerous pilgrimages. In Haridwar, every evening a puja is performed - a ritual dedicated to the Ganga. With sacred chants, well-dressed people descend to the Ganges and offer her milk and bread. The final part of the puja is especially beautiful, when hundreds of lanterns decorated with flowers are lowered into the water.

Merging and diverging with the tributaries of the Hooghly, Mahananda, and Yamuna, changing names along the way, spreading up to one and a half kilometers wide, the flat Ganga smoothly follows to its delta, the largest in the world. This giant triangle, covering an area of ​​105,640 km², is home to more than 240 rivers. Made up of river branches, alluvial islands and lakes, the Ganges delta is constantly changing its shape.

In hot India, the Ganges is the center of life. Europeans are shocked that they bathe and do laundry in water that is considered sacred. Rituals of greeting the river and funeral rites are held near the water, throwing ashes into the same water. But for Indians, communication with themselves is harmonious and understandable. big river and the largest shrine.

Hindus call the Ganges "Dasahara", which means "washing away ten sins".

1. The English physicist S.E. Nelson made a report indicating that samples of Ganga waters from the very polluted mouth of Gugli remained fresh throughout the entire journey on the ship to England.

2. English physicist E. Hanbury Hankin describes in his article in the journal “Annales de l"Institut Pasteur” the results of an experiment in which cholera bacilli died in Ganges water within 6 hours, while in distilled water they continued to multiply even after 48 hours Even when he poured the contaminated water into the Ganges water, they died after 6 hours.

3. The French scientist Gerelle was very surprised when he discovered that in the water of the Ganges in the place where the corpses of people who died of dysentery or cholera lay on the shore, there were no pathogens that should have been there in millions of quantities, according to scientific ideas .

4. Just recently, an Indian defense specialist environment D.S.Bhargabe researched unique ability The waters of the Ganga are self-purifying. Based on the results of his experiments, he claims that its waters reduce the biochemical demand for oxygen much faster than the waters of other rivers and decompose sewage 15-20 times faster.

And everything is explained very simply - under the surface of the river bottom lies a rich deposit of copper. The cleansing properties of copper are known not only to science, but also to us. mere mortals...

The amazing water artery - the Ganges River, takes pride of place as one of the most deep rivers in the world. After the wide South American Amazon and life-giving African river Congo, Indian Ganges rightfully takes third place. The length of the river is 2700 km.
Hindus equate the life-giving Ganges with a deity. This river is sacred in India.

Source

The mighty water artery originates in the mountain ranges of the Himalayas, on the Gangotri glacier. High mountains in their depths they give birth to the source of the Ganges, which is formed thanks to two mountain streams: Bagirathi and eastern Alaknanda.

Flowing through the sacred places of the Himalayas, near the Deoprag temple and the sacred place of Haridwar, the source of the great Ganges seems to absorb divine energy and peacefully carries it in its mighty current to Indian soil and the Bay of Bengal. Ganges India – these two words are inseparable. Without the “first” there can be no “second”. The whole history, the whole life, the whole philosophy of India is connected with this greatest river. On the banks of the mighty Ganges they are born, and on its banks they are escorted into another world.

Legends of the Ganges

The greatest epics of mankind, the Ramayana, the Vedas and the Mahapharata, tell in their legends, tales and myths the events that gave birth to the sacred river of India - the Ganges. The origin narratives vary, but they are all connected by the feminine Divinity.

Along the river, Hindus see the image of the goddess Ganga, the patroness of motherhood and fertility.
Some sources say that the river got its name in honor of the goddess Ganga, who first lived in the celestial waters milky way, and then descended to Earth and gave birth to the sources of the great river.

Other tales tell the legend that Ganges appeared during the reincarnation of God Vishnu into God Vamana. The divine spirit wanted to measure the three worlds in three steps. The idea somehow didn’t work out. Having caught the nail of his left foot on a part of the Universe, God tore it apart. The Goddess Ganga, who came out from under her finger, fell from heaven. The force of the fall was catastrophic. God Shiva, protecting the Earth, took the blow upon himself. The water power fell with such force on the head of the deity that it formed seven streams (the Ganges delta).

There is a beautiful tale about the lost souls of King Sagar's sons. The sons of the ruler performed the sacred Ashwamedha ritual. They accidentally disturbed the meditation of sage Kapila. The angry sage at that very moment glared at the scoundrels. Only the goddess Ganga could save the unfortunate souls. The grandson of King Sagar, grieving over the loss of his beloved sons, Anusman, managed to persuade the goddess to descend to earth. Her fall was the salvation of the ruler’s sons and the beginning of the emergence of the Indian River.

Sacred places of the Ganges. Stunning Varanasi

The river washes many Indian cities with its beneficial waters: Kanpur, Allahabad, Patna, Bhagalpur and others. Most attention The indigenous people and numerous tourists of India are attracted by the sacred place - the city of Varanasi, known as the “city of 1000 temples”. The city is located between Delhi and Kolkata. This place is sacred for Hindus. Here life and eternity, wisdom and enlightenment come together. In this place, the Gods descend to Earth and give bliss to unfortunate people. It is no coincidence that the festivals of the Ganges River are held here in the spring.

What is traditional for one nation often causes confusion among residents of another country. A holiday in Varanasi reveals a different India to tourists. Here you begin to see and understand this country differently: either you fall in love with it completely, or you are once again convinced that this country is not for a European.

From time immemorial, the Ganges in India has personified the waters of purification and enlightenment. Only the Ganges is able to wash away sins and cleanse the heart, only the Ganges is able to take away the most valuable thing that was once given to a person - Life. Thousands of Hindus arrive in the city of the dead - Varanasi - to perform the ablution ritual. They take with them the bodies of their recently deceased relatives, dear to them, in order to give them to the waters of the sacred stream, capable of force their sacred origins to transport the soul of the deceased to Paradise.

Sacred bonfires are lit on the banks of the river, in which the bodies of the dead are cremated, and the ashes are lowered into the waters of the Ganges. The poor people of India, who do not have the opportunity to burn the bodies of relatives, immediately throw them into the sacred stream. In the fertile waters of the river, revered since ancient times, for many days after the end of the Varanasi holiday, funeral fires blaze, and hundreds of bodies float down the stream.

The Indians are not at all embarrassed by this proximity. On the day of celebration, while some say goodbye to their deceased relatives, others take water procedures, perform sacred ablutions, enjoy life, and meditate. The steps leading into the waters of the Ganges are full of people performing their rituals until sunset. Surprisingly, not a single native of India complains about uncleanliness.

Despite the fact that scientists have proven that there is no longer any “ clean water“, Hindus drink it reverently and bathe daily.

The most revered river in India, the Ganges, has been giving the people of this country life, joy, grace, enlightenment, happiness, and harmony for centuries. The living embodiment of the Goddess of Fertility Ganga attracts millions of tourists to its shores, because only on these shores can one comprehend the sacred essence of India, feel the life of this ancient civilization.

February 3, 2014

The Ganges is a river sacred to every resident of India. This - real symbol Indian nation. The Ganges means as much to India as the Yellow River to China and the Nile to Egypt.

The legend of the origin of the Ganges

It is believed that the Ganges originates not on Earth, but in the sky. People see it as the Milky Way flowing smoothly across the sky.

Legend has it that previously amazing river flowed in paradise. Then she sank to Earth so that people in her waters could wash away their sins. But the stream was so strong that it could destroy the Earth, pouring heavily and powerfully over its expanses.

The inhabitants of the planet were saved from death by God Shiva by placing his head under icy water. The river became entangled in his hair and split into seven smaller streams.

Since then, people have been able to take a bath in the waters of the Ganges.

The many faces of the divine Ganges

The source of the river lies with geographical point view, high in the Himalayas, at an altitude of about 5000 meters. The Ganges flowing through the plains is very different from the part of the river that passes through the mountains.

Such turbulent streams descend from the Himalayas ice water that it is simply impossible to perform daily ablutions in them. Sins can be washed away with water only when the river passes the city of Haridwar. The current here is fast, the water is cold, but it poses almost no danger.

The deep-flowing Ganges is a sacred river on the banks of which more than 145 million Indians live. Residents of the country bathe in it, wash themselves, perform rituals and even float it down the river. last way ashes of the dead. Everything revolves and seethes around the waters of this multifaceted river, despite the fact that floods claim hundreds of thousands of lives.

Ganges River photo

The Holy Ganges begins as a crystal clear river from the Gangotri glacier in the Himalayas. It ranks 3rd in the world in terms of water content after the Amazon and Congo. But the further the sacred Ganges flows, the dirtier it becomes. It is “killed” along the entire route by human waste, as well as industrial wastewater, which turns the river into a toxic reservoir. Let's follow great river from its mountain spring to the metropolis of Kolkata, where it flows into the Bay of Bengal. Almost a billion Hindus worship this river. It is the main source of water for 400 million people - more than any other river in the world. 1. This is the confluence of the Alaknanda and Bhagirathi tributaries, from here the Ganges begins. The tributaries of the Ganges vary in type and origin into several types. First, these are rivers and streams that form in the Western Himalayas in the area of ​​​​the Gangotri glacier. Here in Devprayag it is very clean. (Photo by Danish Siddiqui | Reuters):
Sin cannot be redeemed. (Photo by Danish Siddiqui | Reuters):
Here - complete harmony with nature. Here are Hindu priests sitting in a cave and praying on the banks of the Ganges River in Devprayag. (Photo by Danish Siddiqui | Reuters):
Ganges in Hindu mythology- a heavenly river that descended to earth and became the Ganges River. Since ancient times it has been considered a sacred river for Hindus. But let's move on. (Photo by Danish Siddiqui | Reuters):
Evening prayers on the banks of the Ganges River in Haridwar. Haridwar city in Indian state Uttarakhand is one of the seven major holy cities of Hinduism. (Photo by Danish Siddiqui | Reuters):
Here the river is still clean, but signs of trouble are already visible. Thousands of Hindus immerse themselves in the waters of the Ganges every day, believing that it frees life from sins. The figures of the gods are also immersed here. Some of the gods are here and remain forever. (Photo by Danish Siddiqui | Reuters):
Young people bathe in the Ganges River in Kanpur. It is one of the most populated cities in India in the state of Uttar Pradesh. Located on the Ganges River south of Lucknow. And something is no longer right - it’s clear that the water is completely dirty and opaque. In India, people drink water from the river, use it to irrigate crops, wash themselves and immediately wash their clothes. Children who bathe in the Ganges are regularly treated for water-borne diseases - dysentery, cholera and severe diarrhea, which is one of the leading causes of child mortality here. (Photo by Danish Siddiqui | Reuters):
In the industrial city of Kanpur, the water turns dark grey. Industrial waste and wastewater is poured into the river without hesitation. For example, leather production. Where to put the black technical waste? Of course to the Ganges. (Photo by Danish Siddiqui | Reuters):
Raw materials for leather production. (Photo by Danish Siddiqui | Reuters):
In these places, clouds of foam are already floating on the surface of the Ganges. (Photo by Danish Siddiqui | Reuters):
In one section the river turns completely red. This is all the city of Kanpur. (Photo by Danish Siddiqui | Reuters):
Ganges River in Kanpur. Yes, she doesn't look like her at all anymore. clean river from the first photos. (Photo by Danish Siddiqui | Reuters):
Another industrial waste stream flowing into the Ganges. It is better for goats to step over it. (Photo by Danish Siddiqui | Reuters):
Another waste dump. Sewage flows into the Ganges River in Kanpur. (Photo by Danish Siddiqui | Reuters):
And we are already in Mirzapur - a city in northern India, in the state of Uttar Pradesh. The sewerage from the residential area flows directly into the sacred river. (Photo by Danish Siddiqui | Reuters):
Nearby, some industrial filth with foam flows into the river. (Photo by Danish Siddiqui | Reuters):
Where do they dump it? household waste in Mirzapur? Of course, on the banks of the Ganges. (Photo by Danish Siddiqui | Reuters):
Varanasi (lit. “between two rivers”) is considered a holy city for Buddhists and generally the holiest place in the world in Hinduism (like the center of the Earth in Hindu cosmology). One of oldest cities world and possibly the oldest in India. IN muddy water Here they plunge headlong, gargle, and drink. Clothes are washed nearby. Women do not have swimsuits; here it is customary to swim directly in clothes. And a hundred meters above the current, ritual cremation is carried out and ashes from funeral pyres are thrown into the waters of the Ganges. (Photo by Danish Siddiqui | Reuters):
Nearby, relatives of the deceased are immersing his body in the river. At this point, the Ganges is no longer at all similar to what once descended from the Himalayas. It's already a dump. Although sacred. (Photo by Danish Siddiqui | Reuters):
Immersion in the sacred Ganges continues before cremation. After cremation, the ashes end up here. (Photo by Danish Siddiqui | Reuters):
A boy is washing nearby. This is all Varanasi. (Photo by Danish Siddiqui | Reuters):
This is already Calcutta. This is what the banks of the Ganges look like. (Photo by Danish Siddiqui | Reuters):
In Kolkata, next to the river there is a large brick factory, all the wastewater from which also ends up in the river. More than two thirds Wastewater, generated in 118 cities along the Ganges River basin, end up in the river without treatment. (Photo by Danish Siddiqui | Reuters):
And here is some water from the Ganges River in Calcutta. You do not want?