A HUMBLE PRAYER TO THE RIVER GANGA

A HUMBLE PRAYER TO THE RIVER GANGA

O my holiest Mother Ganga, please be kind to a sinner like me,
Please cleanse, risen in me for years, the accumulated rigid grime,
Please scale the plaque-like sediments deposited in me since long,
Please rinse, collected in me the hill-high dirts, shameless and strong!

O my most sacred Mother Ganga, please take pity on a Satan like me,
Please wash away the amassed filth of mine,
Please purify my Self to breathe pure air and shine,
Please Sanctify my Being to glitter at length, and gleam!

O my most pious Mother Ganga, please be bounteous to a wretched like me,
Please snap the roots of my unholy tree beside your august brink,
Please fell the fulsome trunk grown unreasonably fat in me,
Please flow me away drifting until I mingle with the Sea, and sink!

O my most Generous Mother Ganga, may my prayers be kindly, soon, heard,
May I be delivered by the blessings of Your Heart, benevolent, munificent and broad!

N.B: The Ganges (/ˈɡændʒiːz/ GAN-jeez), also known as Ganga (Hindustani: [ˈɡəŋɡaː]), is a trans-boundary river of Asia which flows through the nations of India and Bangladesh. The 2,525 km (1,569 mi) river rises in the western Himalayas in the Indian state of Uttarakhand, and flows south and east through the Gangetic Plain of North India. After entering West Bengal, it divides into two rivers: the Hooghly River and the Padma River. The Hooghly, or Adi Ganga, flows through several districts of West Bengal and into the Bay of Bengal near Sagar Island. The other, the Padma, also flows into and through Bangladesh, and also empties into the Bay of Bengal.

Ganges River (Ganga)
The Ganges in Varanasi
Country	Bangladesh India
Tributaries
- left	Ramganga, Gomti,Karnali, Gandaki,Koshi, Mahananda
- right	Yamuna, Tamsa, Son,Punpun
Cities	Rishikesh, Haridwar,Kannauj, Kanpur,Raebareli, Fatehpur,Allahabad, Varanasi,Buxar, Patna, Munger,Farakka, Murshidabad,Plassey,Nabadwip Mayapur,Kolkata
Source	Gangotri Glacier, Satopanth Glacier, Khatling Glacier, and waters from melted snow from such peaks as Nanda Devi, Trisul, Kedarnath, Nanda Kot, and Kamet.
- location	Uttarakhand, India
- elevation	3,892 m (12,769 ft)
- coordinates	30°59′N 78°55′E
Length	2,525 km (1,569 mi) [1]
Depth	17 m (56 ft)
Basin	1,080,000 km2(416,990 sq mi) [2]
Discharge	for Farakka Barrage
- average	16,648 m3/s (587,919 cu ft/s) [3]
- max	70,000 m3/s (2,472,027 cu ft/s)
- min	2,000 m3/s (70,629 cu ft/s)
Discharge elsewhere (average)
- Bay of Bengal	38,129 m3/s (1,346,513 cu ft/s) [3]
Map of the combined drainage basins of the Ganges (orange), Brahmaputra (violet), and Meghna (green)

The Ganga is one of the most sacred rivers to Hindus.^[4] It is also a lifeline to millions of Indians who live along its course and depend on it for their daily needs. It is worshipped in Hinduism as the goddess Ganga.^[5] It has also been important historically, with many former provincial or imperial capitals (such as ^[6]Kannauj, Kampilya, ^[6] Kara, Prayag or Allahabad, Kashi, Pataliputra or Patna, Hajipur, Munger, Bhagalpur, Murshidabad, Baharampur, Nabadwip, Saptagram, Kolkataand Dhaka) located on its banks.

Copyright: Dr. Shankar D Mishra Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India  09.12.2021

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