The Ganga, Especially, Is the River of India, Beloved of Her People, Round Which Are Intertwined

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The Ganga, especially, is the river of India, beloved of her people, round which are intertwined her memories, her hopes and fears, her songs of triumph, her victories and her defeats. She has been a symbol of India's age-long culture and civilization, ever changing, ever flowing, and yet ever the same Ganga." - Jawaharlal Nehru, First Prime Minister of India, born in Allahabad on the Ganges.

The river known as the Ganges is officially and popularly known by its Hindu name, Ganga. The river has its source in the Himalayas on the Indian side of the Tibetan border. It is 1560 miles long and flows through China, India, Nepal and Bangladesh. The Ganges river basin is one of the most fertile and densely populated in the world and covers an area of 400,000 sq miles.The river flows through 29 cities with population over 100,000 and 23 cities with population between 50,000 and 100,000.

The Delta

The silt deposits of the delta cover an area of 23,000 sq miles. The rains from June to October cause most of the Bangladeshi delta region to flood, leaving the villages that are built on artificially raised land isolated. On the seaward side of the delta are swamplands and tidal forests called Sunderbans which are protected conservation areas under Indian and Bangladeshi law. The peat found in the delta is used for fertilizer and fuel. The water supply to the river depends on the rains brought by the monsoon winds from July to October and the melting snow from the Himalayas during the period from April to June. The delta also experiences strong cyclonic storms before and after the monsoon season which can be devastating. In November 1970, for example, 200,000 – 500,000 people were killed in such storms.

The delta used to be densely forested and inhabited by many wild animals. Today, however, it has become intensely cultivated to meet the needs of the growing population and many of the wild animals have disappeared. The Royal Bengal Tiger still lives in the Sunderbans and kills about 30 villagers every year. There remains a high fish population in the rivers which provides an important part of the inhabitants' diet. Bird life in the Ganges basin is also high.

Religious Significance

The people of the Ganges basin are of mixed origin. In the west and center of the region Turks, Mongols, Afghans, Persians and Arabs mixed with the original Aryans, while in the east and south (the Bengal area) the people come from a mixture of Tibetan, Burman and hill people. Hindus regard the Ganges as the holiest of rivers. It was named after the goddess Ganga, the daughter of the mountain god Himalaya. Many pilgrimage sites can be found along the river. Where the Ganges and the Tamuna tributary meet near the city of Allahabad, a bathing festival in January and February attracts hundreds of thousands of people. Other holy pilgrimage sites along the river include Haridwar, the place where the Ganges leaves the Himalayas, and Allahabad, where the mythical Saraswati River is believed to enter the Ganges. Water from the Ganges is used to cleanse any place or object for ritual purposes. Bathing in the river is believed to wash away one's sins. To bathe in the Ganges is a lifelong ambition for Hindus and they gather in incredible numbers for a variety of festivals. It is believed that any water that mixes with even the smallest amount of Ganges water becomes holy with healing powers. Hindus also throw the ashes of their dead in the river in the belief that this will guide the souls of the dead straight to paradise.

Economic Significance

The Ganges has been used for irrigation since ancient times. In the Ganges valley the use of irrigation canals has increased the production of cash crops such as sugarcane, cotton and oilseeds. Before the 19th century much of the Ganges was navigable but this declined with the construction of railroads and the increasing use of water for irrigation. West Bengal and Bangladesh, however, do still use the waterways to transport jute, tea, grain and other agricultural products. The hydroelectric potential of the Ganges is 13 million kilowatts, two fifths of which lies in India and the rest in Nepal.

Pollution

Pollution of the Ganges has become so serious that bathing in and drinking its water has become very dangerous. The major polluting industry along the Ganges is the leather industry especially near Kanpur, from which chromium and other chemicals leak into the river. Another huge source of pollution is that of the nearly 1 billion liters of mostly untreated raw sewage that enters the river every day. Inadequate cremation procedures result in partially burnt or unburnt corpses floating in the river. The Ganga Action Plan (GAP) was set up in 1985 by the Indian government with British and Dutch support to build a number of waste treatment facilities. Under the GAP, sewage is intercepted and water is diverted for treatment. The project is now in its second phase - GAP II.

The Ganges River Dolphin

The Ganges river dolphin is found in India, Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh, in the Ganges, Brahmaputra, Meghna, Karnaphuli and Hoogli river systems. The river water is so muddy that vision is useless and so these dolphins are blind and their eyes have no lenses. They use a sophisticated echo-location system to swim and find food. They eat shrimp and fish from the mud in river bottoms. They are solitary creatures and are only found in fresh water. The Ganges river dolphin is an endangered species as a result of a number of factors. These factors include the damming of rivers for hydroelectric and irrigation purposes, and the increase in boat traffic, fishing and pollution. They are also hunted by humans for meat and oil. There are only approximately 4000 - 6000 left.

Bibliography

·  "Ganges," Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2001 - http://encarta.msn.com

·  "Ganges River" Encyclopedia Britannica article - http://www.britannica.com

·  "The Ganga Basin" by Amitabha Mukerjee - http://www.cs.albany.edu/~amit/ganges.html

·  Animal Diversity Web - http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/platanista/p._gangetica$narrative.html

·  Cetacea - http://www.cetacea.org/ganges.htm

Written by Paula Abrams