Dictionary of Pali Proper Names v1.c14.52

v1.c14.52

The name of the Gaṅgā appears again and again in similes and metaphors in the Pāli books: its sands are immeasurable (S. iv. 376); its waters cannot be made bracken by adding to them a grain of salt (A. i. 250); it is full of foam, and yet its foam is empty (S. iii. 140); it were folly to wish to hold up the course of its waters with one’s fist (S. iv. 298); as the river finds repose only in the ocean, so do the followers of the Buddha find repose only in nibbāna (M. i. 493); some things are as inevitable as that the Gaṅgā should flow into the sea (S. iv. 179); there is no such thing as the Gaṅgā apart from its sand, its water, and its banks; to be cast on the other side of the Gaṅgā (pāragaṅgāya) is great misfortune (see, e.g., S. i. 207, SnA. i. 228). The Gaṅgā flows from west to east (pācīnaninnā, S. iv. 191); during the rains it is so full of water that even a crow could drink water from its bank (Vin. i. 230); sometimes the banks would be flooded and the buildings on them destroyed (SA. i. 164), and people would find difficulty in crossing; at others it was shallow and could be crossed by means of a reed bridge (SnA. i. 18); cattle could easily be driven from one bank to another (M. i. 225). At various spots were ferries where boatmen plied for hire (e.g., J. iii. 230). On its banks, on the higher reaches, were numerous snakes and parrots (J. ii. 145, iii. 491), and all along the banks were hermitages (e.g., J. iii. 476, v. 191, etc.). Men always bathed in the river, and on festival days even women of very good family came for water-sports, sometimes spending the whole day in the river; kings also came with their retinues (e.g., J. i. 295; MA. ii. 604; DhA. iii. 199).⁶ The junction of the Gaṅgā and the Yamunā is frequently referred to, and is used as a simile for perfect union (e.g., J. vi. 412, 415). A tributary of the Gaṅgā is mentioned which flows from Himavā, its name being Migasammatā (J. vi. 72). The ford at Pāṭaliputta, where the Buddha crossed on his way from Rājagaha to Vesāli, was called Gotamatittha (Vin. i. 230); its distance from Rājagaha was five leagues, and from Vesāli three (KhpA. 162-3). When the Buddha, after curing the plague at Vesāli, returned to Rājagaha, great festivities marked the event, and the celebration was known as the Gaṅgārohaṇa. The devas and the nāgas vied with each other to do honour to the Teacher, and there was a great assembly of all classes of beings, comparable to those on the occasions of the Twin Miracle and the Descent from Tusita (DhA. iii. 444). Among the nāgas who dwelt in the Gaṅgā is mentioned Eraka (DhA. iii. 231).