Ganges

Ganges (gàn´jêz) or Ganga, chief river in India, c.1,560 mi (2,510 km) long, considered sacred by Hindus. It rises in the Himalayas and flows generally east-southeast through a wide and densely populated plain to join the BRAHMAPUTRA R. in Bangladesh. The combined river then continues through a vast and fertile delta on the Bay of BENGAL, which it enters as the Padma and other distributaries. Hardwar, Allahabad, and Varanasi (Benares) are especially holy bathing sites along its banks. The Ganges is a major source of water for irrigation in both India and Bangladesh, but because of its location near major population centers it is heavily polluted.

The Ganges is 2525 kilometers long. Along its course, 27 major towns dump 902 million liters of sewage into it each day. Added to this are all those human bodies consigned to this holy river, called the Ganga by the Indians. Despite this heavy burden of pollutants, the Ganges has for millennia been regarded as incorruptible. How can this be?

Several foreigners have recorded the effects of this river's "magical" cleansing properties:

  1.Ganges water does not putrefy, even after long periods of storage. River water begins to
     putrefy when lack of oxygen promotes the growth of anaerobic bacteria, which produce the
     tell-tale smell of stale water.

  2.British physician, C.E. Nelson, observed that Ganga water taken from the Hooghly---one of
     its dirtiest mouths---by ships returning to England remained fresh throughout the voyage.

  3.In 1896, the British physician E. Hanbury Hankin reported in the French journal Annales de
     l'Institut Pasteur that cholera microbes died within three hours in Ganga water, but
     continued to thrive in distilled water even after 48 hours.

  4.A French scientist, Monsieur Herelle, was amazed to find "that only a few feet below the
     bodies of persons floating in the Ganga who had died of dysentery and cholera, where one
     would expect millions of germs, there were no germs at all.

More recently, D.S. Bhargava, an Indian environmental engineer measured the Ganges'
remarkable self-cleansing properties:

     "Bhargava's calculations, taken from an exhaustive three-year study of the Ganga,
     show that it is able to reduce BOD [biochemical oxygen demand] levels much faster
     than in other rivers."

Quantitatively, the Ganges seems to clean up suspended wastes 15 to 20 times faster than
other rivers.

(Kalshian, Rakesh; "Ganges Has Magical Cleaning Properties," Geographic, 66:5, April 1994.)

• _Beowulf_ mentions 'Ganges waters, whose flood waves ride down into an unknown sea near Eostre's far home.'
• track _Ganges By Full Moon_ MP3 (160k) by Adham Shaikh
• ethno techno release _East Of The River Ganges_ CD by Kumba Mela Experiment on Liquid Sound Design (2001)
  • 4. _Spiritual Journey (Mother Milk Edit)_ MP3 (192k)
• ethnic fusion track _The Ganges Swimmer_ MP3 (256k) by Muslimgauze off of Izlamaphobia CDx2 (gatefold sleeve limited edition 600) on Staalplaat #001 (1995)
• vocal jazz track _Moonlight On The Ganges_ MP3 (160k) by Sarah Vaughan off of _Sassy_ 12" on EmArcy (1956)

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