Ganga Dhyan Part 5- Why the Ganga flows from Shiva's matted locks

After failing to reach the Neelakantha Mahadev temple, i decided to head back into rishikesh to watch the evening Ganga aarathi. Ashok told me go and see it every time we met, so i thought that since i had a few hours of daylight left and i hadnt overly exerted myself, i'd go to the triveni ghat, the main ghat in rishikesh. The Ganga aarathi is a daily event in the foothills at many points in haridwar, rishikesh and other towns along the Ganga. It happens at around 6pm, just after sunset in january. Basically, lots of people congregate and sing aarathi songs etc while the priests do the aarathi. So i headed to triveni ghat with about an hour to go before the aarathi time. From the concreted space, sort of like a picnic area, which has stautes of various gods as well as the standard gitopadesam, one gets a fine view of the Ganga. Here, the terrain is virtually flat. On the opposite bank is a deciduous forest, which has a rather skeletal appearance in the winter. To the north is the Ganga winding down from the mountains. And downstream, the Ganga cascades around a bend as it flows into the plains. As the sun begins its descent in the western sky, the place takes on a magical atmosphere. The local townsfolk begin to file in dressed in their beautiful traditional costumes. I find the men's dress to be particularly qauint- traditionally tied dhoti, kurta and turban with a western style blazer. As the crowd built up, i sat down on a rock, ganga kinare, to observe events as they unfolded. People walked to the Ganga and offered their prayers, splashed themselves with the holy waters (symbolizing a ritual bath) and then offered those little cups made of some sort of leaf filled with flowers, sugar and of course, burning camphor. Offerings to the gods (Ganga is the favourite goddess of the foothills) form a very important part of indian culture- as krishna explains in the gita, the basic offerings are leaves, flowers, fruit and water (patram, pushpam, phalam, toyam). Fire is the symbol of cleansing and purity, hence the camphor. As i sat there basking in the setting sun, an old man came and sat on the rock next to mine. He closed his eyes and began doing pranayama and went into some sort of meditative state. He sat perfectly still (apart from his fingers doing the pranayama) for almost an hour; time during which i took some photos of the gorgeous sunset. During this time, there was a swan hunting fish in the Ganga. It would fly up about 30m, then glide down elegantly and cruise just above the water level looking for fish. As soon as it saw its prey it would dive straight down. It was an amazing sight, which i tried to capture on camera, unsuccessfully!! After about 45-50 minutes, the old man stopped meditating and got up to go. But as he turned around he saw me and gave me a look of surprise which quickly softened out into a smile. I think he wasnt expecting to see me still sitting there after nearly an hour. Anyway, he said to "aap bhi ganga dhyan kar rahe hein?" (were you also meditating on/by the ganga). Now, thats a reasonable question, one that i should have been able to answer quite easily. But i just sat there, unable to say a word. You see, while i can speak reasonable hindi, spontaneous conversation just does not come to me. Its been fourteen years since i've spoken hindi spontaneously..... So i just shook my head and mumbled something. It didnt bother the old man though, he sat down again and began talking to me about how beautiful the Ganga is and how he comes to meditate everyday etc. He actually turned out to be a priest from the temple in Gangotri. Gangotri is a shrine (of Ganga obviously) located at the head of the Ganga glacier, high up in the Himalayas. It is one of the sites in the famous 'char dham' pilgrimage (the others being yamunotri, badrinath and kedarnath at the heads of the yamuna, alakananda and mandakini rivers respectively which all eventually merge with the Ganga). During the winter season, when snowfall blocks access to the high mountain passes, he lives with his son who is a priest in a temple in rishikesh. He asked me if i wanted to hear a story about the Ganga, to which i answered, of course yes. So he proceeded to tell me a beautiful folk tale about how the Ganga came to flow out of the matted locks of Shiva. Ganga and Uma (or Parvati) were sisters who were both infatuated with Mahadeva, the lord of Kailash. But Shiva doesnt know about this, even when he marries Parvati. Ganga continues being devoted to Shiva, despite secretly feeling hurt that her sister was chosen to be Shiva's wife, not her. Eventually, Shiva finds out about all this. He says that he cannot marry Ganga, but rewards her instead by keeping her always near him, in his matted locks. Now i've forgotten all the little details that make the story so cool, i only remember the basic events in the story, which sort of sucks, because the fanciful brushstrokes added by generations of stroytellers is what makes these folk tales so magical....