the very deities with Vasava at their head. Those
wretches among men that are destitute of humility or modesty of behaviour
and that are exceedingly sinful, become righteous and good, O Brahmana,
by betaking themselves to the side of Ganga. As Amrita is to the deities,
as Swadha is to the Pitris, as Sudha is to the Nagas, even so is Ganga
water to human beings. As children afflicted with hunger solicit their
mothers for food, after the same manner do people desirous of their
highest good pay court to Ganga. As the region of the self-born Brahma is
said to be the foremost of all places, even so is Ganga said to be
foremost of all rivers for those that desire to bathe. As the Earth and
the cow are said to be the chief sustenance of the deities and other
celestials, even so is Ganga the chief sustenance of all living
creatures.[238] As the deities support themselves upon the Amrita that
occurs in the Sun and the Moon and that is offered in diverse sacrifices,
even so do human beings support themselves upon Ganga water. One
besmeared with the sand taken from the shores of Ganga regards oneself as
a denizen of heaven, adorned with celestial unguents. He who bears on his
head the mud taken from the banks of Ganga presents an effulgent aspect
equal to that of Sun himself bent on dispelling the surrounding darkness.
When that wind which is moistened with the particles of Ganga-water
touches one's person, it cleanses him immediately of every sin. A person
afflicted by calamities and about to sink under their weight, finds all
his calamities dispelled by the joy which springs up in his heart at
sight of that sacred stream. By the melody of the swans and Kokas and
other aquatic fowls that play on her breast, Ganga challenges the very
Gandharvas and by her high banks the very mountains on the Earth.
Beholding her surface teeming with swans and diverse other aquatic fowls,
and having banks adorned with pasture lands with kine grazing on them.
Heaven herself loses her pride. The high happiness which one enjoys by a
residence on the banks of Ganga, can never be his who is residing even in
heaven. I have no doubt in this that the person who is afflicted with
sins perpetrated in speech and thought and overt act, becomes cleansed at
the very sight of Ganga. By holding that sacred stream, touching it, and
bathing in its waters, one rescues one's ancestors to the seventh
generation, one's descendants to the seventh generation, as also other