Ganga Dasshara – 2

I am convinced that everything has come down to us from the banks of the Ganga – astronomy, astrology, spiritualism, etc. It is very important to note that some 2500 years ago at the least Pythagoras went from Samos to the Ganga to learn geometry.

– Francis M. Voltaire

The making of the Indian civilisation has happened on the banks of Ganga. A river which flows across the plains of India along a path of 2525 km is something which needs to be seen to believe. The cities, the towns and the pilgrimage places on its banks have prospered and thrived because of the Ganga, be it Delhi or Patna or Kolkatta.

The philosophers and their philosophies too have grown at Her banks. Jagannath Pandit, about whom we talked in the last blog is one of them. Many are known to us today and many are lost like the sophists of the west.

The age in which true history appeared in India was one of great intellectual and spiritual ferment. Mystics and sophists of all kinds roamed through the Ganga Valley, all advocating some form of mental discipline and asceticism as a means to salvation; but the age of the Buddha , when many of the best minds were abandoning their homes and professions for a life of asceticism, was also a time of advance in commerce and politics. It produced not only philosophers and ascetics, but also merchant princes and men of action.

– Arthur L.Basham in his book The Wonder That Was India.

The philosophies in the sacred scriptures Vedas and the Upanishads was/is practiced on Her banks. She is the one who provided place and time for the activists for their experimentation. As Swami Vivekanand rightly said

Gita and Ganga constitute, between themselves, the essence of Hinduism: one its theory, and the other is practice.

Swamiji further emphasizes Her importance thus :

Fool indeed is he, who, living on the banks of the Ganga, digs a little well for water. Fool indeed is the man who, coming to a mine of diamonds, begins to search for glass beads.

She is a treasure of all the possible beautiful things in this world. She has given us and still giving us selflessly without any concern about our attitude towards Her. So will end today with the words which are apt for Her, that

…the Ganga is more than a river. She is the Holy Mother. She is Ganga Maa.

– Ronald Barrett.

PS : Quotes – Courtesy respective books

Pics – Pythagoras – steemit.com

Flow of Ganga – Wikipedia