Jolly Miles

Human civilizations flourished and perished on the banks of rivers. Given the pivotal role of rivers in fostering civilizations, it is not surprising at rivers are revered and worshiped in many cultures around the world. Ancient civilizations often imagined rivers as extensions from the celestial worlds and their water as the life sustaining nectar of life. One such river is the holy Ganges or the Ganga in India. Ganga is intertwined with the Hindu way of life. Children are named and dead are cremated on its banks. The holy water from the Ganga or gangajaal is essential in Hindu rituals and people often carry gangajaal in plastic canisters which then finds its way to millions of households far and wide.

In purely geographical terms, Ganga actually originates at Dev Prayag (the confluence of river Bhagirathi and river Alaknanda). However, Hindu scriptures mentions that Ganga descended to the earth after severe penance by the saint Raja Bhagirathi who meditated at Gangotri for liberation of his ancestors (hence the name Bhagirathi river). The origin of river Bhagirathi is considered as the origin of river Ganga.

This October, I had the opportunity to trace the Ganga right to its origin – the Gangotri glacier at the foot of the Bhagirathi peaks in the Himalayas with a snout called the Gomukh. Gomukh is deep inside the Gangotri National Park, about 20 kms away from Gangotri, the spiritual place which is part of the Uttarakhand Char Dham circuit and has a temple of Mother Ganges (Ganga Maiya). Its takes an ardous two-day trek to reach the glacier which is located amidst the picturesque Bhagirathi peaks, Mt. Shivling, Mt. Meru and other beautiful Himalayan peaks. The river flows out from the Gomukh, the snout (a cave like opening) of Gangotri glacier, as a pure and transparent stream.

There is an eerie resemblance between the life of a human and that of a river. At Gomukh, Ganga resembles the youthfulness of a teenager away from the clutches of parents ready to take on the world. A turbulent stream, unaware of the challenges ahead and eager to explore the world in front of it. Perhaps it does not understand the burden it carries from the moment it leaves the darkness of the glaciers and flows into broad daylight. Yes, it feels independent and warm but there are big responsibilities on its shoulders or so to say its waters. It has to foster livelihoods and cities, wash way dirt and filth, cleanse souls, accept prayers, take other rivers along with its flow and finally subsume into the infinite, where there is no distinction, no credit.

Ganga is unique, along with being a stream of water – the source of life, it is also a goddess – a source of hope. Devotees undertake a long, enervating journey to reach Gangotri to pray before Maa Ganga and carry a part of it back home in bottles. Its actually hope that they carry to their homes – hope of blessings, hope of happiness and prosperity. But Ganga flows about 2,500 kms through the Indo-Gangetic plain so why do devotees undertake the long journey to Gangotri or the treacherous route further to Gomukh? Perhaps, to see and feel the river which they regard as mother in its most unadulterated form or seek her blessings when she is the purest without any burdens of religious offerings, human ashes, industrial effluents and cities sewage.

Why can’t Ganga remain as it is at Gomukh for the entirety of its journey? There are questions that begs more questions but little answer. Times have changed from the mythical ages where she descended to the earth and liberated the ancestors of Raja Bhagirathi from their sins only by her divine presence. Present times requires her to besmirch herself. The economic needs have far outpaced the spiritual needs of the Ganga. It has become a convenient outlet for rejecting whatever we don’t need – religious waste, industrial waste, sewage waste. The demands from the river are as perennial and turbulent as its flow, but who cares, we can simply be absolved of all the sins by one dip in its holy water. Easy trade off, isn’t it?

To leave with one final thought, the one who came to liberate us needs liberation from us, but are we as kind as her?

Itinerary:

Day 1: Delhi to Haridwar

Day 2: Haridwar to Uttarkashi

Day 3: Uttarkashi to Gangotri

Day 4: Gangotri to Bhojbasha

Day 5: Bhojbasha to Gomukh and back to Gangotri