Ganga

Created by Jijith Nadumuri at 23 Jul 2011 13:17 and updated at 23 Jul 2011 13:17

VISHNU PURANA NOUN

vp.1.8 of immense extent, and difficult of access, and an object of universal veneration. Upon that glorious eminence, rich with mineral treasures, as upon a splendid couch, the deity siva reclined, accompanied by the daughter of the sovereign of mountains, and attended by the mighty adityas, the powerful Vasus, and by the heavenly physicians, the sons of Aswini; by Kuvera, surrounded by his train of Guhyakas, the lord of the Yakshas, who dwells on Kailasa. There also was the great Muni Usanas: there, were Rishis of the first order, with Sanatkumara at their head; divine Rishis, preceded by Angiras; Viswavasu, with his bands of heavenly choristers; the sages Narada and Parvata; and innumerable troops of celestial nymphs. The breeze blew upon the mountain, bland, pure, and fragrant; and the trees were decorated with flowers, that blossomed in every season. The Vidyadharas and Siddhas, affluent in devotion, waited upon Mahadeva, the lord of living creatures; and many other beings, of various forms, did him homage. Rakshasas of terrific semblance, and Pisachas of great strength, of different shapes and features, armed with various weapons, and blazing like fire, were delighted to be present, as the followers of the god. There stood the royal Nandi, high in the favour of his lord, armed with a fiery trident, shining with inherent lustre; and there the best of rivers, Ganga, the assemblage of all holy waters, stood adoring the mighty deity. Thus worshipped by all the most excellent of
vp.1.9 From the ocean, thus churned by the gods and Danavas, first uprose the cow Surabhi, the fountain of milk and curds, worshipped by the divinities, and beheld by them and their associates with minds disturbed, and eyes glistening with delight. Then, as the holy Siddhas in the sky wondered what this could be, appeared the goddess Varuni (the deity of wine), her eyes rolling with intoxication. Next, from the whirlpool of the deep, sprang the celestial Parijata tree, the delight of the nymphs of heaven, perfuming the world with its blossoms. The troop of apsarasas, the nymphs of heaven, were then produced, of surprising loveliness, endowed with beauty and with taste. The cool rayed moon next rose, and was seized by Mahadeva: and then poison was engendered from the sea, of which the snake gods Nagas() took possession. Dhanwantari, robed in white, and bearing in his hand the cup of Amrita, next came forth: beholding which, the sons of Diti and of Danu, as well as the Munis, were filled with satisfaction and delight. Then, seated on a full blown lotus, and holding a water lily in her hand, the goddess sri, radiant with beauty, rose from the waves. The great sages, enraptured, hymned her with the song dedicated to her praise 7. Viswavasu and other heavenly quiristers sang, and Ghritachi and other celestial nymphs danced before her. Ganga and other holy streams attended for her ablutions; and the elephants of the skies, taking up their pure waters in vases of gold, poured them over
vp.2.3 [paragraph continues] Mahendra, Malaya, Sahya, suktimat 2, Gandhamadana, Vindhya, and Paripatra are the seven mountain ranges: as subordinate portions of them are thousands of mountains; some unheard of, though lofty, extensive, and abrupt; and others better known, though of lesser elevation, and inhabited by people of low stature 3: there pure and degraded tribes, mixed together, drink 4 of the following streams: the stately Ganga, the Sindhu, and the Saraswati 5; the Godavari, Narmada, and the great river
vp.2.5 Below the seven Patalas is the form of Vishnu, proceeding from the quality of darkness, which is called sesha 4, the excellencies of which neither Daityas nor Danavas can fully enumerate. This being is called Ananta by the spirits of heaven, and is worshipped by sages and by gods. He has a thousand heads, which are embellished with the pure and visible mystic sign 5: and the thousand jewels in his crests give light to all the regions. For the benefit of the world he: deprives the Asuras of their strength. He rolls his eyes fiercely, as if intoxicated. He wears a single ear ring, a diadem, and wreath upon each brow; and shines like the white mountains topped with flame. He is clothed in purple raiment, and ornamented with a white necklace, and looks like another Kailasa, with the heavenly Ganga flowing down its precipices. In one hand he holds a plough, and in the other a pestle; and he is attended by Varuni (the goddess of wine), who is his own embodied radiance. From his mouths, at the end of the Kalpa, proceeds the venomed fire that, impersonated as Rudra, who is one with Balarama, devours the three worlds.
vp.2.8 Description of the sun: his chariot; its two axles: his horses. The cities of the regents of the cardinal points. The sun s course: nature of his rays: his path along the ecliptic. Length of day and night. Divisions of time: equinoxes and solstices, months, years, the cyclical Yuga, or age of five years. Northern and southern declinations. Saints on the Lokaloka mountain. Celestial paths of the Pitris, gods, Vishnu. Origin of Ganga, and separation, on the top of Meru, into four great rivers.
vp.2.8 From that third region of the atmosphere, or seat of Vishnu, proceeds the stream that washes away all sin, the river Ganga, embrowned with the unguents of the nymphs of heaven, who have sported in her waters. Having her source in the nail of the great toe of Vishnu s left foot, Dhruva 27 receives her, and sustains her day and night devoutly on his head; and thence the seven Rishis practise the exercises of austerity in her waters, wreathing their braided locks with her waves. The orb of the moon, encompassed by her accumulated current, derives augmented lustre from her contact. Falling from on high, as she issues from the moon; she alights on the summit of Meru, and thence flows to the four
vp.2.8 quarters of the earth, for its purification. The sita, Alakananda, Chakshu, and Bhadra are four branches of but one river, divided according to the regions towards which it proceeds. The branch that is known as the Alakananda was borne affectionately by Mahadeva, upon his head, for more than a hundred years, and was the river which raised to heaven the sinful sons of Sagara, by washing their ashes 28. The offences of any man who bathes in this river are immediately expiated, and unprecedented virtue is engendered. Its waters, offered by sons to their ancestors in faith for three years, yield to the latter rarely attainable gratification. Men of the twice born orders, who offer sacrifice in this river to the lord of sacrifice, Purushottama, obtain whatever they desire, either here or in heaven. Saints who are purified from all soil by bathing in its waters, and whose minds are intent on Kesava, acquire thereby final liberation. This sacred stream, heard of, desired, seen, touched, bathed in, or hymned, day by day, sanctifies all beings; and those who, even at a distance of a hundred leagues, exclaim Ganga", Ganga," atone for the sins committed during three previous lives. The place whence this river proceeds, for the purification of the three worlds, is the third division of the celestial regions, the seat of Vishnu.
vp.2.9 pieces by the wind, then watery stores descend, bland, and freed front every impurity by the sweetening process of time. The sun, Maitreya, exhales watery fluids from four sources, seas, rivers, the earth, and living creatures. The water that the sun has drawn up from the Ganga of the skies he quickly pours down with his rays, and without a cloud; and men who are touched by this pure rain are cleansed from the soil of sin, and never see hell: this is termed celestial ablution. That rain which falls whilst the sun is shining, and without a cloud in the sky, is the water of the heavenly Ganges, shed by the solar rays. If, however, rain falls from a bright and cloudless sky whilst the sun is in the mansion of Krittika and the other asterisms counted by odd numbers, as the third, fifth, &c., the water, although that of the Ganga of the sky, is scattered, by the elephants of the quarters, not by the rays of the sun: it is only when such rain falls, and the sun is in the even asterisms, that it is distributed by his beams 4.
vp.4.4 The son of Ansumat was Dilipa 5; his son was Bhagiratha, who brought Ganga down to earth, whence she is called Bhagirathi. The son of Bhagiratha was sruta 6; his son was Nabhaga 7; his son was Ambarisha; his son was Sindhudwipa; his son was Ayutaswa 8; his son was Rituparna, the friend of Nala, skilled profoundly in dice 9. The
vp.4.7 PURURAVAS had six sons, ayus, Dhimat, Amavasu, Viswavasu, satayus, and srutayus 1. The son of Amavasu was Bhima 2; his son was Kanchana 3; his son was Suhotra 4, whose son was Jahnu. This prince, whilst performing a sacrifice, saw the whole of the place overflowed by the waters of the Ganges. Highly offended at this intrusion, his eyes red with anger, he united the spirit of sacrifice with himself, by the power of his devotion, and drank up the river. The gods and sages upon this came to him, and appeased his indignation, and reobtained Ganga from him, in the capacity of his daughter (whence she is called Jahnavi) 5.
vp.4.20 Descendants of Kuru. Devapi abdicates the throne: assumed by santanu: he is confirmed by the Brahmans: Bhishma his son by Ganga: his other sons. Birth of Dhritarashtra, Pandu, and Vidura. The hundred sons of Dhritarashtra. The five sons of Pandu: married to Draupadi: their posterity. Parikshit, the grandson of Arjuna, the reigning king.
vp.4.20 The son of santanu was the illustrious and learned Bhishma, who was born to him by the holy river goddess, Ganga; and he had by his wife Satyavati two sons, Chitrangada and Vichitraviryya. Chitrangada, whilst yet a youth, was killed in a conflict with a Gandharba, also called Chitrangada. Vichitraviryya married Amba and Ambalika, the daughters of the king of Kasi; and indulging too freely in connubial rites, fell into a consumption, of which he died. By command of Satyavati, my son Krishna dwaipayana, ever obedient to his mother s wishes 4, begot upon the widows of his brother the princes Dhritarashtra and Pandu, and upon a female servant, Vidura. Dhritarashtra had Duryodhana, Duhsasana, and other sons, to the cumber of a hundred. Pandu having incurred the curse of a deer, whose mate he had killed in the chase, was deterred from procreating children; and his wife Kunti, bare to him in consequence three sons, who were begotten by the deities Dharma, Vayu, and Indra; namely, Yudhishthira, Bhima, and Arjuna: and his wife Madri had two sons, Nakula and Sahadeva, by the celestial sons of Aswini. These had each a son by Draupadi. The son of Yudhishthira was Prativindhya; of Bhima, srutasoma; of Arjuna, srutakirtti; of Nakula, satanika; and of Sahadeva, srutakarman. The Pandavas had also other sons 5. By his wife Yaudheyi, Yudhishthira had Devaka.
vp.5.38 destroys it. In the birth of thy fortunes Janarddana was thy friend; in their decline, thy enemies have been favoured by Kesava. Who would have believed that thou shouldst slay all the descendants of Kuru, and kindred of Ganga? Who would have believed that peasants should triumph over thee? Be assured, son of Pritha, that it is but the sport of the universal Hari that the Kauravas have been destroyed by thee, and that thou hast been defeated by herdsmen. With respect to the women whom thou lamentest, and who have been carried off by the thieves, hear from me an ancient story, which will explain why this has happened.

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