Gaṅgā
place · 4 works · 20 mentions · 34 anchored passages
also in the atlas: Gaṅgā the deity
Jāhnavī · Bhāgīrathī · the Gaṅgā · Ganges · Godā · Godāvarī · Jahnavi · Veṇī · sacred fords · the Gaṅgā flowing in three streams
spoken of as
1 expressionJāhnavī“Gaṅgā”2 mentions
Rigveda (Sanskrit)
Your ancient abode, your auspicious friendship, O heroes, and your wealth (are) on the Jāhnavī (Gaṅgā).
in the texts
Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa
The sacred river crossed by Rāma at the start of his exile.
The crossing of the Gaṅgā, the visit to Bharadvāja, and by Bharadvāja's leave the sight of Citrakūṭa —
Followed for a distance by the citizens and by his father Daśaratha, he dismissed his charioteer at Śṛṅgaverapura on the bank of the Gaṅgā.
I go to the Himālaya, the mountain mass of rock, on the northern bank of the Jāhnavī.
Vīramitrodaya
The sacred river Gaṅgā, primary site for eclipse bathing and source of comparative sanctity rankings
The Gaṅgās are three.
> All water is equal to the Gaṅgā;
The rule for the water for bathing is in the *Mahābhārata*:
Rigveda
The river Gaṅgā, named as the site of the Aśvins' ancient wealth and abode.
Your ancient abode, your auspicious friendship, O heroes, and your wealth (are) on the Jāhnavī (Gaṅgā).
Bearing wealth, good lordship, long life, and heroic might, O Nāsatyas — you came to the Jāhnavī river with prizes, as she who receives her share three times daily, with harmonious mind.
Cittaviśuddhiprakaraṇa
The river Ganges (and sacred bathing-fords generally), repeatedly invoked as the paradigm case of external ritual purification the text argues is spiritually ineffective.
Even though it swims in the Gaṅgā, a dog does not deserve to become pure;
This lump [of a body], thus born of impurity and filled with impurity — how could such a body be purified by bathing in the Gaṅgā?
It is certain that the wearing-away of sin does not come about by bathing either, since an increase of passion and the rest is seen in those who frequent the sacred fords.