Bathing in Mother Ganga

NaPoWriMo ’24, day 19 of 30

On the maps published by Western nations, it’s typically labelled The Ganges River, but in India it’s the Ganga, or more respectfully, Mother Ganga, which is the earthly manifestation of Ganga, the Hindu goddess of purification and forgiveness. For Hindus, this is the holiest body of water in all of India, and nowhere are the special properties of its waters more powerful than in Varanasi, the holiest city of Hinduism (which is among the oldest continually inhabited places on Earth — over 4,000 years.)

Bathing in the Ganga is a purification of body, mind and soul. Hindus believe their life is incomplete without having at least once performed this ritual, and best if you’ve made the pilgrimage to Varanasi to do it. Drinking water from the Ganga is believed to cure ills of the body and spirit, so many Hindus carry vials water from the river, and keep them in their households. 

Ultimately, dying in Varanasi, or having your body brought there, where it can be ritually burned on the shore and your ashes released to the river, will immediately bypass the multiple lives of suffering, samsara, we must endure before attaining nirvana.