Thousands of man’s sins are destroyed by the holy sight of the Ganges, and he becomes pure, by the touch of Ganges water, by having it, or by just pronouncing ‘Ganga-Ganga’."

Thousands of man’s sins are destroyed by the holy sight of the Ganges, and he becomes pure, by the touch of Ganges water, by having it, or by just pronouncing ‘Ganga-Ganga’." ~ Says Lord Vishnu in Garuda Purana.

None of the rivers in the world has been able to win so much love and attention from people as Ganga. She is worshipped by the name Ganga Maa and is believed to wash away all sins and grants salvation to the devotee. No other river has been mentioned in the Puranas as much as the holy Ganges. It's believed that Ganga is the daughter of Brahma, born from his kamandala, when he was washing the feet of Vamana, The dwarf incarnation of Lord Vishnu.

As per Bhagwat Purana, when lord Vishnu appeared as Vamana in the yagna of Mahabali, he wanted to measure the universe. When he dig the hole with his feet, Water came out as Ganga. Having washed the lotus feet of Shri Vishnu and because it touched Shri Vshnus feet before descending the universe, Ganga is known as Bhagwat Padi or Vishnupadi, as it emanated from the feet of Shri Vishnu.

In Valmiki Ramayana, Ganga is depicted as the daughter of King Himavat and Queen Menaka. She is the sister of Parvati, Lord Shiva’s consort.
According to the Vishnu Purana, Ganga was created from the sweat of Lord Vishnu’s feet.

When finally Ganga had to descend on earth, it would have swept away everything that came her way as there is fierce power in the flow of her current. the impact of her fall would be so severe, that it could be borne by none less than Lord Shiva himself. So kind Shiva was requested to do something that could stop the mighty river from destroying the world. Therefore Bhagiratha went into meditation and obtained Shiva's consent after many austerities. Finally, the river came down and fell into Lord Shiva's matted hair. This manifestation of Lord Shiva is known as Gangadhara, from where she separated into seven streams. Shiva is known as Gangadhara as he absorbed the flow of Ganga and saved the earth from flooding, by receiving Ganga on his matted locks.!

Har Har Gange ~ Om Namo Narayana ~ Jai JataDharaya Jai GangaDharaya! 🌀🕉🙏