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🌼 The Story of Ganga 🌼
॥ ॐ श्री परमात्मने नमः ॥
🚩 The Story of Ganga 🚩
The Story of Shantanu and Ganga
A stunning woman caught King Shantanu’s attention as he was walking along the Ganga River. Shantanu was unaware that she was the Goddess Ganga. The king begged Ganga to marry him right away since he was so captivated by her beauty. He made this request of her while laying his heart, love, whole kingdom, and fortune at her feet. Ganga, pleased by the king’s affection, addressed him, saying, “O King! I’ll agree to marry you, but only under one restriction. You won’t ever inquire about my origins or where I’m from. No matter how wonderful or horrible my deeds are, you must never challenge me about them. You have to stand behind me no matter what. I’ll abandon you right there if you violate any of these terms.
Because of his intense love for Ganga, the monarch agreed to her terms, and they were married.
Ganga and Shantanu led a contented, loving, and tranquil life. The marriage was ideal. Shantanu became increasingly interested in Ganga because of her clean thoughts. After some time, they were fortunate to have a newborn boy.
Ganga brought the newborn to the Ganga and hurled him into the river, whereupon he drowned and perished instantly. After that, she returned to her kingdom grinning. Shantanu was frightened to death. Though he was still in shock at what he had just witnessed, he recalled his vow to Ganga. Considering the suffering he wished to inflict, Shantanu held back from questioning her. He didn’t inquire.
Ganga gave birth to six more children throughout the years, doing the same procedure with each one. She killed the baby as soon as it was born by throwing it into the river. Suffering from loss, Shantanu remained silent and controlled her emotions.
Shantanu lost his self-control when the eighth child was born, and Ganga made his way to the river with the same goal. He shouted, “Stop! You’re a nasty lady. Why are you engaging in this heinous behavior? How come you’re doing something that no mother can do? You are as gorgeous as you are crazy.
Ganga said, “Dear Rajan, you have betrayed the promise you made to me, and now it is time for me to leave you,” while Shantanu prevented Ganga from carrying out this heinous deed. But first, I’ll respond to your query, explain where I’m from, and explain why I’m acting the way I am.” “I am Goddess Ganga and am in this human form as a result of Sage Vasishta’s curse on the 8 Vasus.” The Vasus are Indra’s and later Vishnu’s helper deities in Hinduism. These eight elemental deities stand for different facets of nature. ‘Inhabitant’ is what the name Vasu implies. Out of the thirty-three gods, there are eight.
Ganga added, “One day, while on vacation with their wives, these eight Vasus discovered the hermitage of Sage Vasishta. They noticed “Nandini,” Vasishta’s heavenly cow, outside the hermitage. One of the women asked her husband, Prabhas, to bring the cow because she was so taken aback by its beauty. “Dear,” said Prabhas, “we are gods. What are the advantages of cows or cow’s milk for humans? We already have immortality since we are gods, even if she is Nandini, whose milk grants endless life.
Above all, it would be improper for us to betray Nandini’s loyalty because Sage Vasishta loves him so much.” Prabhas made numerous attempts, but his wife refused to comply. She begged and won Prabhas over. He consented, and before Vasishta could go back to his ashram, the eight Vasus forcibly abducted Nandini and her calf and vanished.
Using his divine sight, Vasishta realized what had happened when he returned and discovered Nandini missing. He cursed the eight Vasus to be born mortal humans in this world.
Upon learning of this punishment, the eight Vasus rushed to Vasishta and knelt at his feet, pleading for his pardon. According to Vasishta, he would have to go it alone because the curse cannot be lifted. However, the curse’s impact can be lessened. Go and beg the Goddess Ganga to become your mother on earth, he continued, and ask her to release you from your birth as quickly as possible so that you can go back to heaven without having to endure years of pain.
I grant this decrease in effect to the seven of you who assisted Prabhas in his theft. Prabhas will be subject to the full force of the curse, which requires him to spend his entire existence on earth as a human, because he had stolen the cow. He will, however, lead a wonderful life and be regarded as one of the greatest spirits to have ever lived. With these words, Vasishta entered a state of meditation.
Gladdened by this, the Vasus asked Ganga to become their mother on earth and toss them into the river at birth. Ganga consented, came to earth to finish this mission, and married Shantanu.
What became of the eighth child now? Ganga carried the baby with her as she left Shantanu after telling her tale. After raising him for a few years, Ganga returned the child to Shantanu and uttered the words, “O King. I have given birth to eight sons, including this one. Devavrata is his name. He is skilled in many areas of knowledge and archery, having learned the Vedas from Vasishta.
With his son gleaming like a divine entity, Shantanu was overjoyed to see him again. From then on, he raised his son with love. In the following chapter, this son, Devavrata, transforms into the well-known Bhishma.
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🕰️Ganga Jayanti 2025 Date & Time:📅
Ganga Saptami – Saturday, May 3, 2025
Ganga Saptami Midday Muhurat – 11:18 to 13:53
Duration – 02 hours 36 minutes
Ganga Dussehra – Thursday, June 5, 2025
Saptami Tithi Start – May 03, 2025, at 07:51
Saptami Tithi End – May 04, 2025, at 07:18
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💐The Birth of Ganga: 💐
The Goddess Ganga is said to have first appeared from Lord Vishnu’s perspiration and then from Lord Brahma’s kamandalu, according to Hindu mythology and scripture.
The Ganga’s birth is connected to another tale. That says that Ganga was reborn on earth on the day of Ganga Saptami. The place was called Kosala, and the king of that place was Bhagirath. King Bhagirath was having a lot of trouble, and there were a lot of disruptions. He realized that this is because of his deceased ancestors’ immoral deeds and bad karma.
He asked the gods for assistance in order to cleanse his ancestors’ spirits and get rid of the previous karma in order to get out of this predicament. He learned that the Ganga is the only river that can purify it as a result. After a long period of penance, Lord Brahma eventually gave Bhagirath the assurance that Goddess Ganga would come to earth to assist him.
However, there was still a significant problem because the Ganga’s speed was so high that it might wipe out the entire planet. Since only he had the ability to regulate the Ganga’s flow, Lord Brahma instructed Bhagirath to beseech Lord Shiva to release the river from his hair. Since Lord Shiva accepted Bhagirath’s sincere repentance and devotion, Ganga reincarnated on Earth, and that day is today known as Ganga Saptami.
However, the Ganga River washed away Sage Jahnu’s ashram while she was traveling. Sage Jahnu swallowed all of the Ganga water in a moment of rage. Bhagirath begged the sage once more and gave him all the details. Following the sage’s release of Ganga from his ear when his rage abated, Ganga Saptami is now also known as Jahnu Saptami.
⛱️The Descent of Ganga⛱️
Another Hindu legend describes how the goddess Ganga descended from the sky to the land; this tale serves as the foundation for the Hindu belief that Ganga cleanses sin.
A king by the name of Sagara had 60,000 sons in the past. The Ashvamedha ceremony, in which a horse is dispatched throughout the land to conquer and acquire new kingdoms and establish power, was one day chosen by King Sagara.
But since he was envious of Sagara, Lord Indra chose to steal the horse and conceal it in the underworld. The horse was located in the underworld close to the meditating sage Kapila after King Sagara’s sixty thousand sons searched the entire planet. They started insulting the great sage because they thought Kapila was the thief, which disrupted his rituals. Using his spiritual strength, Kapila burned all sixty thousand sons to ashes after opening his eyes, which had been closed for years.
For Hindus, the immersion of ashes is one of many lengthy and complex rites that must be carried out after death. These sixty thousand sons, however, wandered as ghosts for years because no one could complete their funeral rites because they were deep in the abyss.
For many generations, King Sagara’s descendants made fruitless attempts to entice Ganga to come to Earth in order to purify his sixty thousand sons. Years later, Bhagiratha, a descendant of King Sagara, swore to perform severe penance in order to summon Ganga herself from the sky to cleanse his ancestors’ ashes, so absolving them of their misdeeds and releasing their spirits. Following a great deal of penance, Brahma granted Bhagiratha’s request and commanded the Ganga to flow to the ground.
But the Ganga is brimming with holy energy, or shakti. She is unruly and uncontrollable. Therefore, she swept away everything in her path as she started to descend. Since Lord Shiva was the only one with the strength to stop Ganga’s flow, Bhagiratha begged him to do so. Ganga was so entangled in Shiva’s hair as she descended from the sky. Shiva’s touch sanctified the Ganga, which was then released from his hair in serene streams to flow on Earth and into the underworld, purifying and releasing not only Bhagiratha’s forefathers but all of the earth’s inhabitants.
💐Mythological story of the origin of the Ganges💐
The story goes that a king by the name of Raja Bali had conquered the planet by claiming to be Lord Vishnu and experiencing the sensation of being God. Raja Bali challenged Devraj Indra to a fight at Chur Chur. In the dairy plant on Swargalok, Dev Indra Lord Vishnu helped create the Virgin Islands. Then, for Raja Bali, Lord Vishnu took on the avatar of Vaman.
Raja Bali was conducting the Ashwamedha Yagya at the same time in order to ensure the pleasure and prosperity of his kingdom. whereby he provided them with Dakshina and arranged a large Brahmin supper. Then, in the avatar of Vaman, Lord Vishnu is present close to Raja Bali. Bali knew that he had been visited by Lord Vishnu himself. Following Raja Bali’s request for a donation from the Brahmin, Lord Vaman took a seat on three steps of land that Raja Bali had donated.
This surprised Raja Bali, who gladly accepted. Then Lord Vishnu took on his ferocious appearance. His feet became so large that he used one to cover the entire planet and the other to span the entire sky. Lord Vaman then inquired as to where he should put his third peg. ‘I have nothing else to give,’ murmured King Bali, and he bowed his head before putting his third peg on his torso. King Bali then entered the netherworld, and Lord Vaman followed suit.
Mythology states that Brahma cleaned his feet and filled the water in a kamandal when Lord Vishnu lifted his second foot toward the heavens. In Brahma’s circle, Mother Ganga was created with the force of water. After a while, Parvataraja Himalaya, a daughter of Brahma, received the kingdom.
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