Gangadheeswaram Shankaram!
This is just few days after Mahashivarathri. I invoke the blessings of Lord Shiva before I take up this humble task of narrating His stories.
I had told you that we would be looking at stories related to the various names of Lord Shiva. Here is the first post in this Series and its titled "Gangadhara".
This story needs a little bit of background. So hang on to this.
There was a king named Sagara in the Ishvaku dynasty. He had sixty-thousand sons. King Sagara once performed the Ashwamedha yagna. The sons of Sagara followed the horse for its protection. It so happened that the horse, while wandering, disappeared. The sons of Sagara were in great distress. When they reported this to the king, Sagara ordered them to look in patala(one of the lokas). When the sons went to patala, Kapila muni was meditating there. The horse was standing right beside him. Mistaking Kapila muni to be the thief of the horses, they threatened Kapila. Kapila was furious and burnt all the sixty thousands sons to ashes. (In the book: The Voice of God: Mahaperiyaval mentions the place where Kapila was meditating was known as kapilaranya which then came to be known as kaliparanya or the modern California..interesting..infact there are 2 islands nearby Ash and Horse island!!).
Sagara was extremely depressed to know about this. One of his grandsons pleased Kapila and obtained the horse back. However Kapila said that the sons of Sagara could be purified only by the waters of Ganga.
One must understand that in the India tradition, Ganga is not considered a normal river where people go fishing. Ganga is a celestial river and her presence purifies the entire nation. That is why we see millions of people flocking at the bank of Ganga in Prayag, Hrishikesh and Haridwar. She is known by different names in different places. Alaknanda, Vishnupaada, bhagirathi and many such names. Though geographically we trace the birth place of Ganga to be Gangotri(Gomukh), the Siva Purana points that Ganga first descended on Kailash from where she flowed down. Siva purana also mentions that Ganga is Himavan's daugther and the sister of Parvathi.
Lets continue from where we left.
Bhagiratha was a descendant of the Sagaras. In order to rescue his ancestors, he was in deep penance to bring Ganga down to earth. Pleased with his penance, Ganga appeared before him and agreed to descend on earth but she was so arrogant that she said she would break the earth to pieces with her force. Ganga then descended on the earthwith tremendous force from the celestial spheres. The devas were aware that the earth will not be able to bear the force of Ganga. Shiva caught Ganga in his jata: matted locks and kept here there for thousands of years. In due course Ganga's force and arrogance reduced as she found her way through Shiva's complicated jata and flowed through a single strand of hair.
Hail Gangadhara : The one who holds the Ganga
This is just few days after Mahashivarathri. I invoke the blessings of Lord Shiva before I take up this humble task of narrating His stories.
I had told you that we would be looking at stories related to the various names of Lord Shiva. Here is the first post in this Series and its titled "Gangadhara".
This story needs a little bit of background. So hang on to this.
There was a king named Sagara in the Ishvaku dynasty. He had sixty-thousand sons. King Sagara once performed the Ashwamedha yagna. The sons of Sagara followed the horse for its protection. It so happened that the horse, while wandering, disappeared. The sons of Sagara were in great distress. When they reported this to the king, Sagara ordered them to look in patala(one of the lokas). When the sons went to patala, Kapila muni was meditating there. The horse was standing right beside him. Mistaking Kapila muni to be the thief of the horses, they threatened Kapila. Kapila was furious and burnt all the sixty thousands sons to ashes. (In the book: The Voice of God: Mahaperiyaval mentions the place where Kapila was meditating was known as kapilaranya which then came to be known as kaliparanya or the modern California..interesting..infact there are 2 islands nearby Ash and Horse island!!).
Sagara was extremely depressed to know about this. One of his grandsons pleased Kapila and obtained the horse back. However Kapila said that the sons of Sagara could be purified only by the waters of Ganga.
One must understand that in the India tradition, Ganga is not considered a normal river where people go fishing. Ganga is a celestial river and her presence purifies the entire nation. That is why we see millions of people flocking at the bank of Ganga in Prayag, Hrishikesh and Haridwar. She is known by different names in different places. Alaknanda, Vishnupaada, bhagirathi and many such names. Though geographically we trace the birth place of Ganga to be Gangotri(Gomukh), the Siva Purana points that Ganga first descended on Kailash from where she flowed down. Siva purana also mentions that Ganga is Himavan's daugther and the sister of Parvathi.
Lets continue from where we left.
Bhagiratha was a descendant of the Sagaras. In order to rescue his ancestors, he was in deep penance to bring Ganga down to earth. Pleased with his penance, Ganga appeared before him and agreed to descend on earth but she was so arrogant that she said she would break the earth to pieces with her force. Ganga then descended on the earthwith tremendous force from the celestial spheres. The devas were aware that the earth will not be able to bear the force of Ganga. Shiva caught Ganga in his jata: matted locks and kept here there for thousands of years. In due course Ganga's force and arrogance reduced as she found her way through Shiva's complicated jata and flowed through a single strand of hair.
Hail Gangadhara : The one who holds the Ganga
Bhagiratha Penanace Panel at Mahabalipuram
I found this blog today with a more detailed version of the story http://mantrashlokas-madhuri.blogspot.de/2011/06/mistery-behind-name-bhagirathi.html
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