Sacred Ganges

At least thirty religious pilgrims were reported dead this week, when panic broke out among an estimated 100 million pilgrims in India.  (Some claim the government is covering up the true toll of death and injuries.)  

The tragedy occurred during the peak moments of Maha Kumbh Mela.  The Kumbh Mela festival occurs only once every twelve years, and involves bathing in the Ganges river, which is believed to wipe out one's sins.  This year's celebration, the Maha Kumbh Mela, marks the completion of a full twelve-cycle circle of the twelve-year old cycles, making the 2025 celebration an event that occurs only once in 144 years.  

The most favorable spot to bathe is Prayagraj, where the Yamuna river (which flows through Delhi and Agra) flows into the Ganges.  These two "real" rivers are met at that spot by a third, invisible, mystical river called the Sarasvati.

By some celestial coincidence -- or maybe it was planned? -- the peak of the celebration, when the tragedy occurred, was the date of the second lecture on "rivers" by the University of Washington history department.   That second lecture, by Professor Anand Yang, discussed the Ganges river.  Professor Yang was himself born in India; he graduated from Swarthmore, and received his doctorate at the University of Virginia.  He speaks quietly and eruditely, and his lecture was well illustrated by projections of ancient art and some modern photographs., 

Even more than the Nile, discussed last week, the Ganges is a holy river, within Hinduism.  Professor Yang discussed the importance to Hindus of immersion in the river, and of having samples of the river in the home.  If curious, he remarked, you can obtain small vials of the Ganges water on Amazon at a reasonable price.  The Wikipedia article discussing Kumbh Mela states that the twelve-year cycle is based on the time that the planet Jupiter takes to make one complete revolution.**  No further information is provided.  I'm not sure whether the planet's actual revolution is studied, or whether this is a mystical revolution in the same sense as the Sarasvati is a mystical river.

I will publicly expose no further my ignorance of Hinduism, and especially of this festival.

Like the Nile, the deposits from the Ganges create rich agricultural soil, which historically allowed India to feed its enormous populations.  

The Ganges, together with its tributary the Yamuna, is also a major east-west transportation route across northern India, originating in the Himalayas, and swinging eastward into the Bay of Bengal.    As such, it has also facilitated several conquests of India by outside forces, including most recently the conquest from west to east by the Mughals from the Afghanistan area, and, from east to west, by the British from the Bay of Bengal.

Professor Yang devoted significant attention to the Ganges's pollution problem.  The Ganges is by far the most polluted river in the world.  It's a sewer for human waste, as well as for industrial waste.  It is valued as a holy depository for the ashes from cremation.  Many of the devout spend their last days beside the Ganges, so that their ashes can be swept off the ghats, where the cremations occur, directly into the river.  Professor Yang noted that not all bodies are fully cremated before being pushed into the river.

The government talks seriously about cleaning up the river, but -- I gather -- like most governments, hasn't yet made any significant inroads into the problem.  Think of that before buying your vial of Ganges water on-line.

Like last week's, this week's lecture was fascinating and very well presented.  It makes me want to know much more about India and, to some degree, about Hinduism.  I've visited Delhi and Agra, following a trek in the Ladakh Himalayas, and have paid a short visit to Mumbai, but I've never been to Calcutta or the Ganges plain.  I think such a visit would be worthwhile.

What little I know about Indian history comes not from a scholar, but from a British author, writing for mass audiences -- William Dalrymple.  His book White Mughals follows the life of a British "Resident" in Hyderabad, but in so doing, also portrays an interesting look at the British East India Company's headquarters in Calcutta shortly before and after the year 1800.  At a younger age, Dalrymple wrote City of Djinns, an engaging picture of Delhi, both as it is at present (or in 1993,when the book was written), and as it has evolved over the centuries, surviving and rebuilding following a series of invasions and conquests.  

Those books won't make you (or me) an expert on India, but they should whet your appetite for learning more.  Meanwhile, I look forward to next week's lecture on the Rio Grande (Rio Bravo) river.    

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Photo of the aftermath of this week's panic at Maha Kumbh Mela, beside the Ganges. New York Times photo.

** (1-31-25) Looking up Jupiter's physical characteristics, I see that the planet rotates in just under ten hours. But it orbits the sun in just under 12 years, which must be what the Expedia article meant by "rotation." Trivial, but some readers with an astronomy background might be interested.