Exploring Mother Ganga

‘Ganga’ will inevitably carry a vastly different meaning for a traveller or outsider than it would for those who’ve always known it. Ganga, or ‘Ganges’, as it’s known in the west, is to some far more than a body of water.

Many know Ganga as a living embodiment of divine grace, cosmic purity and maternal compassion.

Mythologically, Ganga was a celestial river residing in the heavens.

For millennia, Ganga has been the cradle of Indian civilisation, physically sustaining millions while serving as the centre of pilgrimage, philosophy and art along the Indo-Gangetic plain.

Through observing the devotion and ritual displayed along its banks, I slowly came to realise that indeed in the minds and hearts of many, Ganga resides in the heavens.

Exploring its banks was a pilgrimage in itself. I met these shipwrights in Varanasi repairing a boat with hand tools.

Their shipyard a yellow tarpaulin partially covering their workspace on the bare sand, with the hauling of the boat up and down the bank achieved through crude brute strength.

I met three other travellers and our explorations brought us north - the four of us on two hired motorcycles - closer to the source; the foothills of the Himalayas.

Here, away from the cities and crowds, Ganga has a different mood.

Away from the cities we were able to fully decompress. Matt, Hannah, Sandy and I rode through quiet villages, pausing at ashrams which each offered their own secluded slice of Mother Ganga.

Everything here looks and feels different to the south. Untainted by upstream settlements, the glacial meltwater takes on striking jade-green and teal hues. In person, these scenes seem silky and semi-opaque - translucent in shallow pools over flat rock, yet rich and saturated in deeper channels. Hannah looks stoked!

I feel we only scratched the surface, both in our exploring and understanding of this mythical water body. Matt did, however, strike the perfect Natarajasana. You very good yogi Matt, good yogi.