Why Ganga?
In Hinduism, there
is an ongoing struggle between the gods and the demons. At
one
point during this battle, Agastya swallowed the whole ocean, exposing
the
demons so they could easily be eliminated. Once their mission was
accomplished, the gods told him to let the ocean back out.
However, Agastya informed the gods that he had digested the ocean and
would not be able
to
refill it. The gods then asked Lord Vishnu what to
do. He
told them it was to come that Ganga, "the heavenly river", would fill
up the ocean, meeting all the thirsts of its inhabitants.
Now
King Sagara had already begun the rituals that would result in bringing
Ganga to earth. He let loose a white horse that was
free to wander
anywhere on earth, and his army followed it. They
followed it and were victorious over
everyone they came upon for many years. The army grew, and
eventually his
sons became leaders. They followed the horse to an old sage named
Kapila's retreat. The god
Indra,
the "Lord of heaven", however hid the horse.
Indra had
heard of Sagara's growing power, and feared it might pose
a challenge to his power. The
army, now up to
sixty thousand sons, rushed at the Sage who was meditating, and the
whole army
became ashes. King Sagara was devastated by his sons'
death. He
believed they had died an untimely death and therefore needed to purify
their
souls.
The
King asked many for advice, but it seemed that only Ganga
could purify all who crossed her path. She was said to be able to
wash away the sins of all sixty thousand in the army by
washing away their ashes in her flow. Upon hearing this, Sagara
petitioned to Brahama to let Ganga flow to the
earth. Though his heart was
sincere, he died before Ganga came to
earth. Generations after him appealed
to Brahama for Ganga with no reward.
Finally, Brahma was happy with
Bhagiratha,
one of
King Sagara's
descendant's, plea and conduct. Brahma agreed, but warned
Sagara's descendant that Ganga was dangerous,
flowing with a driving force.
He was worried that if she came straight to earth, all life would be
demolished
in her flood. They prayed to Lord Shiva and asked that he help
withstand Ganga's fall.
Lord
Siva agreed to soften Ganga's
fall. Things were not easy from there. Bhagiratha
had
many challenges ahead. Ganga
was restless and mischievous and there were many struggles before she
could finally wash away the ashes of King Sagara's sons.
Eventually she did reach the son's ashes and freed them from their sins.
Analysis:
I tell the story of how Ganga came to be in order to understand
better
Gangas role in the story of the eight Vasus's in the Mahabharata.
In the story of the eight
Vasus, Ganga agrees to become a woman and give
birth in human form to eight Vasus in order to live out their
curse.
These Vasus had angered Vasishtha in a previous life by stealing his
cow, and Vasishtha
promised to punish them with a human incarnation. Ganga birthed the Vasus with King Santanu,
and after each birth, she returned the babies to her waters.
By comparing Ganga's role in the story of the eight Vasus
to her role with Sagara's sons,
we learn that Ganga is a purifier. It
was through Bhagiratha's prayers and
devoted relationship to his ancestors that Ganga was finally able to purify King
Sagara's army of sons. Ganga similarly
purified the Vasus of their curse.
There are many similarities
in these stories. In both cases, she
took on a new form for her purification.
In the case of Bhagiratha, she came flowing down to earth. In the story of the Vasus, she became a woman
in order to give earthly birth. Both
stories have an angry Sage, causing the need for purification. Some of the details in these stories are
vastly different, but both hold true to Ganga's role as purifier.
Ganga uses her virtues to purify the Vasus
from their sin through human
birth. She shows compassion by making
their
human incarnation short, which is why she drowns them after birth. This is the same idea of purification she did
for King Sagara's descendants. Because of
Bhagiratha's prayers and
devoted
relationship to his ancestors she freed them from their iniquities also
using
water, but this time covering their ashes.
It
has come to be my understanding that this was less about Ganga's karma
and more about her role as a purifier. Ganga is sacred. It
may be that the number of Bhagiratha's
ancestors needing purification was so high, she was the only way to
purify them
and keep their karma clean from that life.
Likewise, the Karma the eight Vasus had from the curse placed on
them for
stealing Vasishtha's cow could only be
purified by Ganga.
I
believe comparing these two stories makes it clear to see what an
important
role Ganga
plays in fulfilling Karma. She
is being used to fulfill others Karma through her gifts of purification.
