Folk Lore Notes. Vol. I—Gujarat

by A. M. T. Jackson

The Puranas speak of fourteen worlds—the seven swargas (celestial regions) and the seven pātāls (nether regions)[413]. Underneath the seventh pātāl[414] lies Shesha (the divine cobra) who supports all the fourteen worlds on one of his one thousand hoods. On account of the heavy burden, the serpent-god sometimes gets tired, and tries to change his position. The result of the movement is an earth-quake.[408] According to another version, an earthquake occurs when Shesha changes his posture in sleep,[415] or is the result of a hair falling from the body of Shesha.[416] Some people say that ordinarily Shesha does not feel the weight of the fourteen worlds on his head; he bears the load as if it were only a single sesamum seed. But when too much sin accumulates in any of the regions, the burden becomes unbearable for him: he begins to shake under it, and an earthquake occurs.[417]

Some believe that there is a tortoise under the divine cobra who supports the world;[418] others go further, and add a frog below the tortoise:[419] and it is said that the slightest motion on the part of either the tortoise or the cobra is the cause of an earthquake.

Another belief is that earthquakes occur whenever there is tyranny or injustice on the part of a king, or whenever immorality spreads in society, because the earth is unable to bear the sin, and trembles at the sight of it.[420]

According to a different opinion, the earth is supported by the Pothia or the favourite bull of Shiva on one of his horns. An earthquake is caused whenever he transfers the earth from one horn to another in order to relieve the former from the constant pressure of the burden.[421]

There is also a belief that deities of some strange species reside in the nether regions, and the earth is shaken whenever these beings fight among themselves.[419]

According to the Varāha-sanhita, an earthquake is always the precursor of some unprecedented calamity.[422] The prevalent belief in the popular mind seems to be that an earthquake is the result of immorality and sin, and further that it forebodes some dire calamity, such as famine, pestilence, an outbreak of fire, a revolution, or a great war.[423] The phenomenon is, therefore, regarded with great fear; and when it occurs, people endeavour to avoid the contingent evils by such meritorious acts as the giving of alms, and generally by leading a virtuous life.[424]

The most popular of the holy rivers are the Ganges, the Jumna (or Jamuna), the Narbadā, the Saraswati (near Sidhpur), the Kāveri, the Godāvari, the Gandaki, the Sarayu, the Dāmodari, the Sindhu (or Indus), the Mahānad, the Gomati (near Dwārka), the Brahmaputra, the Sābarmati, the Ghels (near Gaddheda), the Tungabhadra, the Suvarnabhadrā, the Bhadrashitā, the Jambuvati, the Phalaku (or Phalgu), the Kaushiki, the Tāmraparni, the Sita and the Alakanandā. Any point where three rivers meet is also a sacred place. Most of the holy rivers are the subject of many traditions, and books have been written to celebrate their merits.

The Ganges, the Jumna, and the Godāvari are said to be the holiest of all rivers.[423] There are a number of beliefs about the origin of the Ganges. One of them is that the Ganges is the stream caused by King Bali washing the feet of Vāman (the Dwarf incarnation of Vishnu).[425] Another story relates that the god Brahma was exhausted by overwork at the time of the marriage of Shiva and Pārvati. The gods, therefore, created water from their own lustres, and gave it to Brahma in a gourd, to be used in a similar contingency. When Vishnu in his Vāman avatār (or Dwarf incarnation) bestrode the heavens with a single step, Brahma washed his toe in the water from this gourd. A stream was thus created called Swarga-ganga and brought down to the earth by Bhagīrath, the grandson of Sagar. When the Ganges fell from the heavens, it was supported and held fast by God Shiva in his jatā or matted hair. It was released by his loosening the hair, and in its course, inundated the sacrificial ground of King Jahnu. The latter, being angry, drank up its waters. On the entreaties of Bhagīrath, he released the stream by tearing off his thigh.[426] The river then flowed to the spot where the sixty thousand sons of Sagar were burnt to ashes; and it is said by some that one of the sixty thousand was saved at the end of each year up to the year 1955 of the Samvat era (corresponding to A. D. 1899), by the end of which period all the sixty thousand had attained salvation. From the earth the Ganges went to the nether regions. Thus flowing in the heavens, on the earth and in the Pātāl, the Ganges is called Tripathaga (i.e., flowing in three courses). In its divine form, the Ganges is the wife of Shiva. Owing to the curse of Brahma, she was born in human form in this world and was married to Shantanu, by whom she became the mother of Bhishma, the heroic uncle of the Kauravas and the Pāndavas.[427]

It is customary among Hindu pilgrims, when they visit Kāshi (Benares) to take with them copper-vessels filled with Gangājal (water of the Ganges), and to worship the Gangā when they reach their homes after the pilgrimage. A figure is drawn in seven different kinds of corn; the bowl is placed on it; abil gulāl (red powder), frankincense, and naivedya (an oblation of food) are offered: a ghi lamp is lighted: a Brahman woman is dressed as Uma, the wife of Shiva, and Brahmans are entertained at a feast, dakshina being given to them.[428]

The water of the Ganges, as well as that of the Jumna, is believed to be so pure that it cannot be affected by microbes, even if kept for years in the house. This quality is believed to be a manifestation of its divine nature. It is further called patit-pāvan (lit. purifier of the fallen), and exculpates the sinful from their sins, either by a single draught or by bathing in it.[429] Gangājal is kept in most Hindu families, a draught of it taken by a dying person being believed to secure moksha or eternal salvation for the soul.[430]