Mother Ganga
Mandi, c 1650-75
Size: Image 311*184 mm; Sheet 352*225 mm
Artist : Unknown
Philadelphia Museum of Art
“O Mother! Necklace adorning the world!
Banner rising to heaven!
I ask that I may leave of this body
On your banks
Drinking your water, rolling in your waves,
Remembering your name,
Bestowing my gaze upon you.”
These beautiful lines from Ganga Stotra written by Adi Shankaracharya in the 8th C.E. summarises the ultimate desire of a devout Hindu to breathe his last on the banks of River Ganga for salvation. As Ganga descended from heaven, she is a vehicle of ascent for these very people from earth to heaven. From time immemorial people of this land have travelled to the banks of Ganga to have a dip in the holy water and atone for their sins. They have immersed the ashes of their kith and remembered their ancestors by cupping the water in their hands, lifting it up and letting it fall back into the River with complete submission. On their journey back they have carried the sacred water in a Kuju or a copper pot and stored it to sip and sprinkle in all their religious ceremonies of life and death for purification. And at the time of the last breath, the holy water has been given to the dying to let the soul merge with the Brahman - Divine forever with ultimate reality. The painting is a personification of the mighty river who guides and purifies the man to cross the sansar, the worldly life.
In ancient Indian mythology water has been described as the foundation of the whole world, the basis for life and elixir of immortality. The Chhandogya Upnishad, 8th BCE, says “Prithivya Apo Rasa” i.e “The water is the essence of Earth”. Rivers have been revered in India, but Ganga is supreme and embodies the most prominent purifying liquid power. “She is the liquid essence of the scriptures, the Gods and the wisdom of the Hindu tradition. She is liquid in essence, in sum, of Shakti – the energy and power of the Supreme, flowing in the life of the world. Because she is already overflowing with the sacred, there is no need for the usual rites of avahana and visarjan which invite the Gods to be present at the beginning of worship and give them their leave to go at the end.”1 The Ganga is every drop a Mother and Shakti to all.
Long ago Ganga had agreed to flow upon the earth from heaven after Brahma granted a boon to a King named Bhagirath, the ancestor of Lord Ram. In her great mercy, she came to the aid of the king as his ancestors, sixty thousand of them, had been burned to ash by the fierce glance of an angry ascetic. Their souls had wandered as Ghosts as their final rites had not been performed. The pure and divine water of Ganga could have lifted them up again to live in peace in heaven. Bhagirath persuaded Shiva to catch the Ganges in his jata, his maited hair, so that the earth would not be shattered by her torrential force. And she plummeted down from heaven to the Himalayas from the toe-nail of Lord Vishnu, where she entered the tangled jata joot locks of Shiva. The Ganges followed Bhagirath from the Himalayas across the plains through Haridwar and Kashi and finally merging into the sea at Ganga Sagar. She entered the netherworld and restored the dead ancestors of Bhagirath. She became Triloka-patha-gamini, one who travels in the three Lokas or worlds.
In the course of painting this image, the hill painter would have given a thought to the very belief and tradition of the sacred water in every Hindu household. The tradition of worship and utility of Ganga thereof both in Karamkand (paraphernalia necessary for the practice of religion, rites and rituals) and Gyankand (pursuit of knowledge as path to Salvation) leading into the oneness of the Divine must have resonated in the mind of the artist. The white robed goddess looks whiter than frost or the pearl and wears an opaque and delicate head scarf. She adorns a saffron tilak or Kungu, as locally known, on her forehead and on her palms and wears jewellery as thin and light to give a picture of grace and auspiciousness. She gives a compassionate look holding a vessel of the sacred river or purna kumbha in one hand and a lotus flower in the other, signifying purity and abundance. She wears a garland of white flowers upto her waist just as she garlands the Earth to prosperity and fertility. The rippling waves of water have been created with irregular lines drawn with white pigment on grey background giving a magnificent look like a full moon. She sits on an enormous makara, her vahan, surrounded by two gharials or crocodiles and an elephant, associated with water and marine animal in Indian paintings. The makara, a crocodile like under sea monster with a tail of a dolphin, extends with great flourish into a scrolling design symbolising both water and vegetation. The makara represents fear, both fear of the unknown which it elicits by lurking in those waters and real fear which it instils appearing in sight. White birds fly across the monsoon dark clouds with the sky having a dash of orange colour of the setting sun.
The painter creates an image of purity and a sense of coolness prevails as one looks at the painting. The coolness required to remove the heat produced by Traitap (three forms of agonies that torment a man-Daikih- related to body; Bhautik- related to other terrestrial creatures; Daivik – related to malignant stars). Ganga is pure and cleansing and this purity requires the cultural understanding of what it means for something to be pure or impure, clean or dirty. One cannot forget to remember the beautiful lines of Tulsidas from Vinay Patrika sung by millions standing near her ghats every evening:
“Jai Jai Bhagirath Nandini, Muni Chai Chakor Chandini, Nar nag Bibudh Bandini Jai Jahanu Balika, Bisnu Pad Saroj Jasi, Eees Seespar Vibhasi, Tripath Gasi, Putrurasi, Paap Chalika” (O’ Daughter of Bhagarathi, Glory to you; For the sages represented by Chakors, you are the moon; Humans, serpents and Gods pray and sing your glory. O’ daughter of Jahanu! Glory to you; Born from the feet of Lord Vishnu, you adorn the head of Lord Shiva and flow in three streams. You are a treasury of righteousness, scrupulousness and good fortunes. You wash away the sins and evil.)
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This painting belongs to the first phase of the Mandi Hand paintings (middle of the 17th C) with a style which had a Mughal influence. This style of paintings completely evaporated by the time the illustrious Raja Sidh Sen became the ruler of Mandi at the end of the 17th C. The style moved to being more localised, folk based and unique leaving out the fineness as seen in the first phase to which this painting belongs.
1. 1. Ganga:Sacred River of India by Raghubir Singh
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