History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v5.c74.127

v5.c74.127

The Viṣṇupurāṇa eulogises¹³²⁹ the Ganges as follows: The Ganges purifies all beings from day to day when its name is heard, when one desires to see (it), when it is seen or touched or when its waters are drunk or when one plunges into it or when one takes (or sings) its name; when people utter the name 'Ganges' even though living at a distance of hundreds of yojanas, their sins accumulated in three births are destroyed ' The Bhaviṣyapurāṇa¹³³⁰ has a similar verse 'one becomes free from sins at once by seeing the Ganges or touching it or drinking its water and by uttering the name Gaṅgā and also by remembering it.'¹³³¹ The Matsya, Kūrma, Garuda and Padma remark that the Ganges is easy of access everywhere but is difficult to reach at three places viz at Gaṅgādvāra (Haridvāra), at Prayāga and where it joins the sea and that those who bathe therein reach heaven and that those who die there are not born again The Nāradīyapurāṇa, on the other hand, says that the Ganges is difficult of access everywhere, but much more so at three places The man, whether desiring it or not, who draws near the Ganges and dies (near it) secures heaven and does not see hell (Matsya 107.4).¹³³² The Kūrmapurāṇa represents that the Ganges¹³³³ is equal to all the 35 millions of holy places declared by Vāyu in the heaven, in mid region and on the earth and that all of them are represented by the Ganges The Padmapurāṇa asks 'what is the use of sacrifices rich in large wealth, what is the use of very difficult austerities when there is the Ganges honoured easily and gracefully that yields Heaven and moksa'? A similar verse occurs in the Nāradīya-purāṇa 'what is the use of Yoga with its eight aṅgas, of austerities, of solemn (Vedic) sacrifices? Residence on the Ganges alone is superior to all these'¹³³⁴. Two verses of the Matsya-purāṇa¹³³⁵ deserve mention here 'even a man of sinful deeds, on remembering the Ganges even at a distance of thousands of yojanas, attains the highest goal. A person is delivered from sin by uttering the name (of the Ganges), on seeing it a person sees happiness; by bathing in the Ganges and drinking its water he purifies his family up to the seventh ancestor'. It is stated in the Kāśīkhaṇḍa that on the banks of the glorious Ganges all times are auspicious as well as all countries, and all men are fit for receiving gifts