GANGOTRI.
Every great civilisation has been built on the banks of a great river- the Eygptian on the river Nile, the Sumerian Mesopotamian on the rivers Tigris and Euphrates, the Indus Valley and Mohenjodaro civilisation on the river Indus, and the Vedic/Indian civilisation on the river Ganges. The religion, rituals and rites, customs and beliefs, sacred literature, all spurred by this Ganges civilisation, is perhaps the only one that has continued to the present day!
The river Ganges, Ganga to the Hindus, is their most sacred river; to bathe in its waters is to absolve oneself of all sin, to die on its banks, especially at Varanasi, and be cremated there, ensures that all further earthly reincarnations cease!
Ganga, goddess of purity, anxious to cleanse mankind of their sins, came in great gushing streams on Earth. Fearing that this would cause deluge and drown civilisations, the great god Shiva prevented this flood by holding the waters in his matted hair, thus creating the various streams that became source of the river!
This river, 2500 kilometer long, has its source from a great glacier, Gangotri, in the Garhwal --northeast region of Uttarakhand (see post below.) Gangotri glacier, at around 25,440 feet at its highest elevation; the glacier is around 30 kilometers long and its water flow, source of the Ganges, emerges at a place, below the Gangotri ranges and glacier, called the Gaumukh. (Gau-cow mukh is mouth.....mouth of a cow.) Gaumukh is some 18 kilometers from the town of Gangotri, both places are very sacred to Hindus.
Gangotri.........getting there.
all pictures- Gangotri peaks and glacier; pics 5, 6 and 7- the Gaumukh-"glacier terminus" where water emerges to become the river Bhagirathi- main source of the Ganges. Pic 8- Bhagirathi waters gushing through the town of Gangotri some 12 kilometers downstream from the glacier terminus-Gaumukh; pic 9 -Gangotri temple.
No comments:
Post a Comment