They may not be regarded as the explorer’s favorite destination; polluted by avarice, neglect, and the needs of a burgeoning population they are certainly not an ecological Xanadu, but ask the millions of pilgrims and tourists that converge on the banks of India’s sacred rivers to partake in their promise of eternal salvation, and they will beg to differ.
The rivers are the axis mundi of Hindu belief; the Ganges for example embodies the water of life. Hindus believe that bathing in the sacred rivers will result in the remission of sin and will circumvent rebirth, thus guaranteeing a berth in the heavens. This is not surprising considering the importance of water, and the dependence of human life on it. As a primordial element water has inspired myths and legends throughout the world. Every culture and religion has a myth dedicated to water bodies. The Vedas and Puranas state that all inhabitants on earth emerged from the sea, thus it makes sense that prayers to Varuna ‘god of the sea’ were amongst the earliest prayers composed. The change from Vedic Brahmanism to Hinduism diluted many ancient practices but managed to preserve the sanctity of nature divinities.
All major civilizations in the world have sprung up along the banks of rivers, thus water divinities of various kinds appear in the mythologies of many cultures. The world abounds in sacred springs, rivers, and lakes. Early Egyptian scrolls make references to Hapi, the presiding spirit of the Nile, who according to the legend defies all description and sculptural depiction and whose true dwelling can never be found. The Babylonians worshipped the Euphrates and the Tigris as gods and the Greek and Roman renaissance which placed human spirit above religion (virtually abolishing religion) surprisingly venerated water bodies, Homer projected the ocean as a serpentine river embracing the earth.
Even in the Judeo-Christian tradition which generally avoids the veneration of natural phenomenon, there are numerous examples of holy rivers, wells, and springs. The river Jordan is held sacred because according to legend Jesus Christ was baptized in it by John the Baptist. Islam may have a disdain for iconic imagery but this did not prevent them from adopting the pre-Christian belief of water being revered as a life force. The well of Zamzam is located within the Masjid al Haram in Mecca, near the Kaaba, the holiest place in Islam. Muslims believe that the well was revealed to Hagar, handmaiden to Sarah, Abraham's (Ibrahim) wife, and the mother of Abraham's son Ishmael. She was desperately seeking water for her thirsty infant, but found none. Mecca is located in a parched valley with few sources of water. Muslim tradition states that Hagar ran several times in the scorching heat between the hills of Safa and Marwa in search of water. God then sent the angel Gabriel, who scraped the ground, causing the spring to gush out. But historians believe that the well might have been of importance to the pre-Islamic inhabitants of Mecca, and perhaps one of the reasons that Mecca became a pilgrimage site and trading centre.
While some rivers may have disappeared into subterranean passages their existence preserved only as myths in the minds of the devout, most survived the vicissitudes of time, and the rise and fall of civilizations. In most civilizations the major rivers were conferred with the status of father figures while the tributaries were nymphs. In the Indian subcontinent the determinant was probably topography; the broader Indus, Brahmaputra, Sonabhadra, Gogra, and a few others are male; while the Ganga, Yamuna, Saraswati, Narmada, Cauvery and Godavari are female.
The Puranas state that the Ganga, Yamuna, Saraswati, Godavari, Narmada, Sindhu (Indus) and Cauvery were the most sacred. But yes there was a hierarchy, and the Ganges managed to dominate the order. Her perennial flow, potent sin washing powers, and immense popularity (that made her an integral part of Puranic lore) ensured this position. As she washed sin whitest, her popularity never waned; while rivers like the Narmada gave her stiff competition, she was not to be outdone, and the Narmada had to content with being represented and worshipped as an icon inside a shrine, while the Ganges continued to receive daily obeisance and pollutants along her course. The prayer rituals on the banks of the Ganges in Haridwar are testimony to this; at sundown thousands of worshippers pray to the Ganges in a ritual that has been followed since time immemorial. This popularity also led to the rivers decline, the Ganges and her tributary the Yamuna are India’s most polluted rivers.
We present the tale of two rivers; two symbols of piety that have been defiled over the centuries by the apathetic pious. This journey starts in the glaciers of the western Himalayas; we descend with the Ganges and the Jamuna from their glacial sources into the plains of Uttaranchal and continue our journey eastward until we reach the Bay of Bengal. As we followed the course of the Ganges and Yamuna we revelled in the piety of our people, but were appalled at their lack of civic sense and insensitivity to the environment. Unfortunately, in India, places of pilgrimage are amongst the most appalling in terms of sanitation and cleanliness. Religion is such a powerful medium of change; I hope that our religious leaders and politicians use it as a vehicle of change rather than a tool for propagating demagoguery.
In this photo essay we focus on the symbiosis between the river and communities that live along it, in a journey that is both magical and distressing. Ironically while following the course of the Ganges and Yamuna a substantial portion of our daily budget was spent towards buying bottled water. We hope our appeal will result in the sustained wellbeing of people and issues that we focus on. By rousing collective consciousness and conscience, we hope to spark a debate. To claim that our singular effort will result in cleaner rivers will be an untruth. But yes if the pundit and the pilgrim; the politician and bureaucrat, and the millions who depend on the rivers for sustenance can be encouraged to treat the rivers with greater respect, it would spell victory for us and a rebirth for the sacred rivers.
