The idea made Bhau, a believer, sit up and ponder. Bless my soul, if there’s a soul,” Inveterate agnosticism is common in South Asia despite the overwhelming prevalence of religion. He had smiled when I shared a Bertrand Russell-like quote with him: “O God, if there’s a God. For the salvation of Bhau’s soul one would want the story to be true. It’s a local tradition that believes Lord Ram during his exile travelled there and shot an arrow into the ground from where a sacred spring gushed forth. Bhau’s sister took his ashes not to River Ganga but to a water body called Baanganga in Mumbai. But he couldn’t cure his own galloping brain cancer, and passed away in Delhi as one held his hand during the last days at our home.
#GANGA JAMUNA SARASWATI NARMADA SWADHAYA PRO#
Recently, one performed the last rites of a Brahmin relative, a selfless doctor, professor at one of Mumbai’s leading medical colleges who never tired of pro bono work for the needy. Not every Hindu goes to the Ganga for salvation. It’s not clear how Godse’s ashes were retrieved, if they were, after his secret cremation at a remote riverbank. Nathuram Godse, hanged for killing Gandhi, wanted his ashes to be immersed in the Indus after the Pakistani river returned to India. Prime Minister Modi is there, for example, communalising the lore of Ganga. In India, the politics of rivers is hitched to stirred emotions. We’ve known of global and domestic disputes over the sharing of river waters. Ganga is regarded by orthodox Hindus as the holiest of seven rivers that wash away the sins of their devotees, the others being Narmada, Jamuna, Godavari, Kaveri, the mythical Saraswati and Indus. Read: Ahead of key polls, India's ruling BJP revives Hindu-Muslim dispute “Manmohan Brij ko rasiya.” That Muslim singers sang memorable compositions to Hindu gods underpins the tragedy being inflicted by India’s ruling zealots who find it inexpedient to hear of how large swathes of both communities have lived culturally intertwined for centuries. Faiyyaz Khan composed a persuasive praise for Krishna in Raag Paraj. Agra gharana’s Sharafat Husain Khan would sing an evocative composition in Raag Yaman to Shiva: “Darshan deo Shankar Mahadev.” Ram is petitioned persistently for help in Rasoolan Bai’s music. The legends have spawned musical overtures.
Jamuna is associated with Krishna’s heart-tugging pranks and miracles. Saryu in Ayodhya is the river into which Lord Ram immersed himself after finishing his work on earth. In India, Ganga is associated with Shiva’s prowess. Ancient deity Khnum, lord of water, created humans from the mud of the Nile flood. Herodotus summarised the importance of the Nile to the Egyptians saying: “Egypt is the gift of the Nile”. The deities of the Greek pantheon swore all their oaths upon the mythical Styx that flowed in the underworld. Rivers everywhere come with myths and legends.
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