STORY OF GANGADHARA – SHIVA AND THEGANGES
Gangadhara Shiva
According to Hindu mythology, Gangadhara Shiva is
the form of Shiva that holds Ganga on his matted locks.
The story of Gangadhara Shiva is associated with the arrival of Ganga on earth.
There was a powerful king in India named King Sagar.
In order to declare his supremacy over the Gods,
he
decided to conduct Ashwamedha Yagna (a horse
sacrifice).
The King of Heaven, Indra grew jealous of
King Sagar, decided to steal the ritual horse. Indra
abducted the horse and tied him in the ashram of Sage
Kapil, who was in deep meditation for many years.
Infuriated King Sagar ordered his 60,000 sons to find out his sacrificial horse. After searching for a long time,
they found the horse tied at the ashram of Sage Kapil.
Thinking that the sage was the culprit, they assaulted
the great sage and awoke him from his trance state.
Out of severe anger, the sage killed all the sons.
Meanwhile, Anshuman. the grandson of King Sagar,
seeing his father getting killed, pleaded for forgiveness.
Bhagiratha Plea
The sage gave a condition that his father could be
saved, if he brings sacred river Ganga down from the
heavens to purify the souls of him and his ancestors and
help them attain salvation.
King Dilip, son of Anshuman pleaded with Lord Brahma
to help in bringing the Ganga to Earth. But he failed to
please Brahma. Then he asked his son, Bhagiratha to do
plead to Brahma. Finally, he succeeded to please Brahma
and ordered Ganga to descend to Earth.
Ganga's Ego
Ganga felt insulted and out of furiousness, She decided
to destroy Earth with her force while descending from
heaven. Brahma warned Bhagiratha that Earth will not
be able to hold Ganga coming from heaven with such
force, and asked to seek help from Lord Shiva, the only
one who can withstand the power of Ganga.
Bhagiratha
pleaded with Lord Shiva to help him and Shiva agreed to
receive Ganga in his matted locks. Lord Shiva agreed for
Ganga to first descend on his head, flow through his matted hair and then flow on earth. Hence, Lord Shiva
is also addressed as Gangadhara.
Ganga became arrogant and tried to drown Shiva by
pushing him to the core of the Earth, but the mighty
Shiva easily held her in his locks. Shiva’s tie was so
strong that Ganga became helpless.
Because of the prayer of Bhagiratha, Lord Shiva
released Ganga in seven streams namely, Bhagirathi,
Janhvi, Bhilangana, Mandakini, Rishiganga, Saraswati
and Alaknanda.
She followed Bhagiratha, leading her to
his ancestors to release their souls from their bondage
and suffering, with her purity. These seven tributaries
(streams) confluences at the five Prayags namely,
Vishnuprayag, Nandprayag, Karnaprayag, Rudraprayag
and Devprayag.
Ganga is considered to be the most sacred river in
India.
It originates from the depths of Gangotri glacier.
As it flows through the Himalayan ranges, is also called
Bhagirathi. Ganga also known as the Ganges, brings purity
to human life, as seen in many of our traditions
practised since ages for both joyous occasions such as
Diwali, and also to pay homage to our ancestors who
have crossed over.
Vyas Maharshi
In Mahabharata, Vyasa Maharishi mentions Ganga to be
the pure consciousness in every form of creation, like
how newborn babies are the reflection of perfection and
are believed to be enlightened. When Ganga submits
herself in devotion to Shiva, she crosses over her ego
and becomes pure.
The idea of Ganga being pure arises from this deep the tenet that Chaitanya Shakti passing through the seven
energy centres of the body brings purity not only to
one’s own body but to all around us. Individuals who
were such realized souls were called Theerthas.
“Bhagiratha Prayatna”
They
would bring purity to even the holiest of shrines. Many
say the “Bhagiratha Prayatna” is the effort
Bhagiratha undertook to walk across continents to
Kapilaranya [modern day California] to bring peace to
the Sagaras lineage.
Many others say it is the complete
surrender to the purpose of bringing Ganga to
Bharatavarsha(India). But the Ganga we know today,
lives the definition of the prayatna, every second. Ganga
Is The Bhagiratha Prayatna. Her waters are called
Theertha because it takes effort on the part of the
individual to cross over the five senses and bring purity
to himself and to the world.
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