S*Poo Nai's Norska Skogkatter: Etymology S*Poo Nai's Goddess Ganga

S*Poo Nai's
Goddess Ganga

Goddess Ganga Ganges - a holy river, a godess The Ganges, Ganga in Hindi, is a godess and a holy river which drainage is covering a third of India's whole land area, and influence the life of 300 Millions of people. The origin spring at a glacier in Himalaya is named Bhagirathi. King Bhagiratha, in the Hindi mythology had a grand grandfather, Sagara. Sagara had one son, Bhagiratha's grandfather with one of his two wifes, and 60000 sons with the other. The 60000 sons, who among other things digged a huge crater when searching for a sacrificial horse, hade been burnt to ashes in the infernal (Patala). King Bhagiratha induced through asceticism Brahma to let the godess Ganga to leave the sky and water the earth. Shiva catched her with his hair to save the earth from being crashed. His hair devided the godess in seven parts of which one is the river Ganges. Eventually she reached the crater which the 60000 sons digged and created the sea, Sagara. She continued down to Patala where the ashes from the 60000 sons was cleaned and they were relieved to Swarga (Indra's heaven). Ganges join Brahmaputra in Bangladesh and forms a large delta before they enter the sea. The delta, suffers from large floodings under the monsoon. Huge amounts of mud is transported to the sea. Waste water from households and industry causes a severe pollution of the water. In the city of Varanasi (Benares) many times the only half cremated bodies from the ghats are discarded in the purifying holy water. The scavenger soft-shell terrapins, which previously kept the river cleaner, is now endangered. Despite all these threats there is still fish in the river. Freshwater fish is an important source of protein in Indian inland. The first book in the word describing the fish fauna of a particular river treats the fishes of the Ganges (1822).

Godess Ganga reaches the earth. The king and queen of the serpent gods (Nagas) are swimming upstreams to wish the holy river welcome. On both sides of the river are people and animal honouring. 700th century relief on the rock in Mamallapuram near Chennai (Madras). Interpretation according to V. Ions, 1983. Indian Mythology. London. Photo: Erik Åhlander, 1990.

The first book about the fishes of the Ganges.
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Text: Suzanne Wejland (suzanne.wejland@telia.com)
Technical support: Erik Åhlander (erik.ahlander@telia.com)