Each nation has its own, individual and sincerely revered symbol, a religious talisman, or even the very embodiment of a higher power. The Indians have such a supreme and divine power that can be touched, is the Ganges River. If a traveler who finds himself in the spicy lands of India calls a blessed pond by the name that we know from the lessons of geography and history - the Ganges, the Indians will correct him with irritation: “Not the Ganges, but the Ganges”. Because they call the river in a feminine manner, identifying it exclusively with the feminine principle of the divine essence of the god Vishnu.
Revered as the earthly embodiment of universal power, the Ganges River gathers millions of people on its banks. They strive for sacred waters with an irresistible desire to wash away all sins, to be cleansed by the mind and body. Hindus believe that the Ganges River has healing properties and is a kind of shepherd forgiving sins. When a Christian wants to repent, he goes to church. When the Indian has a bad soul, and he wants to get rid of the yoke of sins, he plunges into the Ganges. It was thanks to India that the expression “wash away one’s sins” became famous throughout the world. The water of the river is considered sacred, the same can be said about cities located on the banks of the Ganges. These include Allahabad, Rishikesh, Varanasi, Hardwar and many others.
The rivers of India are a huge number of reservoirs flowing both in the mountains of the Himalayas and winding through the expanses of valleys and lowlands. However, not one of them is as revered and sacred to the Hindus as the Ganges. There are a huge number of legends associated with the emergence of this water sleeve. One of them reads as follows. A delightful river flowed in the heavenly paradise, the waters of which possessed healing and healing properties. Somehow, having learned about this, one Indian king Bagirat began to pray to the god Shiva (one of the hypostases of the god Vishnu) that he would give a piece of the magnificent reservoir to his children - Indians. The requests of man were heard, and since then the inhabitants of the country have been rejoicing at the sacred waters that the Ganges River gave them.
The second legend sounds completely different. It is told to me by the brahmanas at the Vaishno Devi temple in the Himalayas. Little is known that the wife of Shiva, Sati (Devi), had several forms, one of which was the feminine, the symbol of the mother is the goddess Mata Rani. It is with her name that the emergence of the river is connected.
Once upon a time in the high mountains of the Himalayas there lived a shepherd who devoted his whole life to the service of Mata Rani. In the same village lived the evil Bheiron, who did not believe in any powerful force except his own. He dreamed of eradicating the belief in a goddess and forcing all people to believe only in themselves. Bheiron sought to find Mata Rani and kill her. In order to give the man a chance to change his mind, the goddess hid in the Himalayan cave, on the way to which she hit the staff on a mountain mound. The earth split, and crystal clear water poured from it, which laid the foundation for the emergence of the Ganges River.
It is believed that the sacred waters not only wash away all sins, but also serve as a path to a new world for the dead - they are a guide to paradise. Therefore, it is not surprising that the Ganges River gives shelter to a huge number of dead Indians seeking to get there. The corpses of the deceased are burned at special funeral pyres. After burning, the dust is collected in an urn, and relatives, settled in a boat, dispel it over the sacred waters of the river.
