Week 7 Lecture 2: Flowing Faith: Pilgrimage and Practice along Sacred Rivers

Hinduism

River Goddesses

Most rivers in India are goddesses

Can be both creative and destructive

Running water = main agent of purification in the complex scheme of purity and pollution

• Purity concepts are central to social and religious life

Water absorbs pollution and running water carries this pollution away

Life would not be possible without water - rivers as mother

Bathing in rivers

One of the most effective ways to honour and celebrate a river goddess and take advantage of the sacred gifts she offers

Ganga Mata

Mother Ganga - both a goddess and a river

Her waters are said to be the liquid embodiment of Shakti

The entire length of the Ganga is sacred

Chanting Ganga’s name is said to relieve poverty, banish bad dreams, and grant perpetual protection

Moksa (liberation from the cycle of life and death) is said to result from bathing in the waters of the Ganga or being cremated at her banks

Ganga’s descent to earth myth

Fell from heaven in order to revive the sons of a king who had been burned by ascetic heat/ power

Knew she would shatter the planet if she came down

Shiva promised to catch her in his hair

Gangalahari

Hymn to the Ganga

Seven rivers of great sanctity

Ganga, Yamuna, Godavari, Sarasvati, Narmada, Sindhu, and Kaveri

If a person cannot go to the Ganga, going to another one of these is going to the Ganga

(Chota) Char Dham Yatra

Chota Char Dham Yatra= “Pilgrimage to the four sacred abodes”

Pilgrimage circuit of four sacred mountainous abodes devoted to different deities

Chota Char Dham

4 small/ minor seats

Sites in Uttarkhand: Gangotri, Yamunotri, Kedarnath, and Badrinath

All associated with the Ganga, near sources of tributaries

Haberman - Many believe it’s a once-in-a-lifetime sacred journey

Kedarnath temple

~3500 m above sea level

At the base of the Himalayas

The god Shiva is said to have manifested in the middle of a meadow in Kedarnath in the form of a rock formation

• This temple has stood over the formation for at least 1000 years

Kedarnath temple issues

Global temperature increase has contributed to glaciers melting and retreating

Mandalini (Ganga tributary) burst out of its banks, causing a landslide in 2013

• The temple was the only building not destroyed

Haberman interviews - belief that the gods are angry

Pilgrimage suspended in 2022

Yamunotri Temple

“Mouth of Yamuna” - source of the Yamuna river

A series of waterfalls (8000+ feet)

Temple dedicated to Yamuna

White, frothy water compared to milk

Has been destroyed twice by snow and flooding

Yamuna as a “dead” or “dying” river

Toxic foam since the late 1990s

Some publications consider it a river that causes death

Yamuna’s water compared to mother’s milk

Many pilgrims describe being spared death (Yama, her older brother, holds the Bhavacakra)

How can spiritual purification come from a river of death?

Temple of the Vrishabhavati River

Gali Anjaneya Temple dedicated to Hanuman

Built in the early 15th century by the Sage Sri Vyasa Raja

• Enamoured by the river

• Temple as memory of a lush island

• Monsoon as connection between realms

Srinivas discusses how the water used to be used to purify murtis

• Water can no longer be used

• Priests bought a filtration system

Vrishabhavati River

Full of sewage, heavy metals, toxic substances, acid

Ecological violences occurring

City is predicted to face a water crisis

These days, the river is frothy, toxic, and causes illness

Pollution of sacred rivers

Conceived of as Shakti - how can they still do this when the rivers are so polluted

Hinduism conceived of as riparian

Duality of revering the Ganga yet allowing her pollution

Contrast with US Christian Nationalists who use the Bible to deny anthropogenic climate change

• But Popes call for action via religion