Gaṅgāvataraṇa in the Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa

Gaṅgā is the celestial river. King Bhagīratha brought her to earth so that the ashes of his sixty thousand forefathers, the sons of Sagara, could be freed. The Brahmāṇḍa Mahā Purāṇa tells this in two places. The Pūrva Bhāga (Chapter 18) gives the sacred rivers of the Himālaya, Gaṅgā’s pride and the seven streams. The Madhyama Bhāga (Chapter 56) gives Bhagīratha’s tapas, Brahmā’s vara, the four branches and the freeing of the Sagara princes.

Pūrva Bhāga, Chapter 18

The Himālayan lakes and rivers

Before it tells of Gaṅgā’s descent, the chapter names great holy rivers that rise from lakes and mountains of the Himālaya.

  • Mānasa Lake (on Kailāsa): the river Mandākinī flows from it.
  • Soma-prabha mountain: the river Svacchodā flows from it.
  • Sūrya-prabha mountain: the river Lohitya (the Brahmaputra) flows from it.

These rivers rise in the holy ground of Kailāsa and the nearby Himālayan ranges. The account of Gaṅgā is set among them.

Bhagīratha’s tapas at Bindu-sarovara

The Bhāgīrathī is the earthly stream of the celestial Gaṅgā. It arose from the tapas (austerity) of the great king Bhagīratha. He performed it at Bindu-sarovara, the holy lake at the source of the Himālaya. He did it to free his sixty thousand forefathers, the sons of Sagara, who had been burned to ash by the anger of the ṛshi Kapila.

The chapter does not tell at length the earlier history of his line. It does not tell Sagara’s horse yajña, Aṃśumān’s search, or the line of tapas through Dilīpa. It goes straight to the result of Bhagīratha’s service to Gaṅgādevī.

Gaṅgā descends and Śiva is angry

Gaṅgā came down from svarga when Bhagīratha’s tapas was answered. The force of her fall was a danger to the earth. Bhagavān Śiva agreed to take her fall on his jaṭā (matted locks), so that the earth would not be broken by the great river.

The Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa adds one thing here. Gaṅgā herself became proud. She boasted that she would sweep even Bhagavān Śiva away with the force of her fall, and that no one, not even Mahādeva, could hold her. Her pride came to the knowledge of Bhagavān Śiva, and he was angry.

Because of her pride, more propitiation was needed before Bhagavān Śiva would let her go.

The seven streams

After her pride and Bhagavān Śiva’s anger had been settled, the great river was let go from his locks in seven streams. The Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa names them.

Three streams flowing east

  1. Nalinī
  2. Hodinī
  3. Pāvanī

Three streams flowing west

  1. Sītā
  2. Cakshu
  3. Sindhu

One stream flowing south, following Bhagīratha

  1. Bhāgīrathī, the earthly Gaṅgā. She followed Bhagīratha south to the ocean and freed the sons of Sagara.

The purifying of the lands

The Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa says that all the countries through which Gaṅgā’s waters ran were made pure by her descent. The Bhāgīrathī, the seventh and southern stream, made holy all the lands and peoples along her way as she followed King Bhagīratha to the sea.

The Aurva fire

The same chapter says that Aurva lives between the Cakra mountain and the Mainaka mountain in the ocean. Aurva is the fire under the sea, also called the Vāḍavānala. It consumed the śāpa-energy of the sons of the Bhṛgu line. It lies hidden in the western ocean.

Madhyama Bhāga, Chapter 56

Three generations of tapas

Three generations of Sagara’s line tried the tapas needed to bring Gaṅgā down: Aṃśumant, Dilīpa, and then Bhagīratha. Aṃśumant and Dilīpa both performed very hard tapas, but they did not reach the goal. Each left the world with the work unfinished.

Bhagīratha was born without the usual means of having children. His parents had died before sons were born to them, and he was born through divine help. He decided to do what his forefathers could not.

Bhagīratha’s tapas

Bhagīratha left his kingdom with his ministers and began tapas of a kind not seen since the great Prajāpatis. He stood on one foot with his arms raised. He lived on water alone, and then on air. His tapas made the three worlds hot.

Brahmā was moved by this tapas and appeared before him. Bhagīratha asked for two things. First, that Gaṅgā come down to earth to free his forefathers. Second, that the earth be strong enough to receive her. Brahmā gave both.

Brahmā told him that the force of Gaṅgā’s fall from the celestial sphere was so great that the earth could not bear it directly. Only Bhagavān Śiva could receive her. Bhagīratha was told to please Bhagavān Śiva.

Bhagavān Śiva carries Gaṅgā in his jaṭā

Bhagīratha turned his tapas to Bhagavān Śiva. Bhagavān Śiva was pleased and agreed to receive Gaṅgā on his head.

Gaṅgā came down from svarga with the full force of her celestial flow. She was taken into the wide, matted locks of Mahādeva, his jaṭā. There she went round and round for many years and could not find a way out. Bhagīratha performed tapas to Bhagavān Śiva again, and Bhagavān Śiva then let her go from his jaṭā.

The four holy branches

When she was let go from the jaṭā, Gaṅgā divided into four branches and flowed in four directions.

  1. Sītā flowed east. She runs through the mountains and at last reaches the ocean.
  2. Alakanandā flowed south-east through the valleys of the Himālaya.
  3. Sucakshu flowed west.
  4. Bhadravatī (also called Bhadrasomā) was the fourth branch, which completed the cross.

The branch that followed Bhagīratha south to the ocean is the Gaṅgā of the earth, who flows through Āryāvarta. All four branches together hold the full holiness of the river. Whichever branch one bathes in, one meets the same cleansing power of the first celestial stream.

Gokarṇa goes under the water

Gaṅgā’s waters spread south behind Bhagīratha’s chariot. They covered the holy tīrtha of Gokarṇa, one of the old tīrthas of Bhagavān Śiva. The Purāṇa records this as an important event: the descent of Gaṅgā was so great that even holy places were changed by it.

The sons of Sagara are freed

Led by Bhagīratha, Gaṅgā came down through the pit that the sixty thousand sons of Sagara had dug, and reached pātāla (the underworld), where their ashes lay. When her holy waters touched the heaps of ash, the sons of Sagara were made pure at once and freed. Their ātmās (souls) rose to svarga (heaven).

The heavy debt of their disrespect to Kapila muni was washed away by the waters of Gaṅgā, the highest cleanser.

What the Purāṇa teaches

The Gaṅgāvataraṇa is one of the best known of all Purāṇic narratives. It teaches that freeing the forefathers needs more than the effort of one person. It can ask for the tapas of many generations. It teaches that Gaṅgā’s waters are more than a river of water: they are the gathered śakti (power) of purification for all the world.

The Purāṇa also teaches that Bhagīratha’s name became a word for great effort in a good cause. The phrase Bhāgīratha-prayatna (Bhagīratha’s effort) came into Sanskrit for a very hard but noble task.

Sources

  • Brahmāṇḍa Mahā Purāṇa, Pūrva Bhāga, Chapter 18
  • Brahmāṇḍa Mahā Purāṇa, Madhyama Bhāga, Chapter 56