Maa Ganga (Goddess Ganga) Mantras

The sixty thousand sons of King Sagara, searching for a lost sacrificial horse, dug furiously into the earth and wrongly accused the meditating sage Kapila, who reduced them to ashes with a single glance. Their souls could find no rest, for only the waters of the heavenly Ganga, brought down to touch their ashes, could grant them liberation.

Generations later their descendant King Bhagiratha undertook tremendous penance to bring the celestial Ganga down to earth. Pleased, Ganga agreed to descend — but her torrent was so mighty that her fall would have shattered the world. So Bhagiratha prayed to Lord Shiva, who stood beneath the descending river and caught her in his matted locks, releasing her gently in streams upon the Himalayas.

Following Bhagiratha's chariot, the Ganga flowed across the land to the sea and down even to the netherworld, where her waters touched the ashes of Sagara's sons and bore their souls to heaven. For this she is called Bhagirathi, and her descent is honoured as Ganga Dussehra. To this day a single drop of her water — or even her name — is believed to wash away the sins of lifetimes.