Ganges, the most sacred river of the Hindus, is a perennial stream of many myths and legends. But if we observe the geographical journey of it, we shall find that it is also the river which flows between its anonymities. It’s extreme ends are lost in many multitudes.
Ganges is not called by this name at the point of its origin. Nor it is called Ganges at the point of its flowing into the sea. It is made of many streams and in return it also breaks apart in many streams. Between these two anonymous multitudes, it drains the most fertile plain of South Asia, the Gangetic plain.
What is the exact origin of Ganges? Not Gangotri, but Gomukh. But the river originating from Gomukh is called Bhagirathi, not Ganges. When it flows into sea, far away in Bengal, it is called Hooghly or Meghana, nor Ganges.
When it is first called by its own name, the Ganges? In Devprayag, the fifth and last of the Panch-Prayag. Devprayag is situated at the confluence of Bhagirathi and Alakhnanda rivers. Many consider Alakhnanda as the main stream of Ganges. Panch-Prayag are also situated at the banks of Alakhnanda. And yet it’s the Bhagirathi which is considered the main channel.
Almost all of the major rivers in the Northern India of Gangetic plains somehow end up being a part of Ganges. Some of the gigantic rivers like Son, Gandak, Ghaghara, Kosi become one with Ganges. The most revered of them all, Yamuna, meets her in Allahabaad, the Teerthraj Prayag. At the point of confluence, Yamuna is said to be the more prominent of two, but she loses her identity in that of Ganges nonetheless.
In Bengal, Ganges again splits in two. One stream is, again, called Bhagirathi. Known by its more popular name Hooghly. After Kolkata it flows into the sea. Other stream is called Padma. It flows drains the fertile lands of Bangladesh. The gigantic Brahmaputra meets Padma and still the stream is called Padma. Finally it meets Meghana and becomes Meghana at the point of its flowing into sea, forming the majestic Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghana delta, the largest in the world. Ganges break into countless streams in Sundarbans.
A polyphonic end to what was a polyphonic beginning. And Ganges? Well, it simply flows between its two multiple ends.
The myth of the Sumeru is that it could not be found. The myth of the Saraswati is that it was lost. The myth of the Dwarka is that it drowned in the sea. And the myth of the Ganges is that she is Ganges, multiple as well as one.
