Gangoutrī (Ganga avatari) marked 10,319 feet above the sea, is the celebrated place of pilgrimage, near to which the river Ganges issues; its course has not been traced beyond Gangoutrī, for the stream, a little farther, is entirely concealed under a glacier or iceberg, and is supposed to be inaccessible. The small mandap here is of stone, and contains small statues of Bhagiratha, Ganga, and other local deities: it stands on a piece of rock, about twenty feet higher than the bed of the Ganges, and at a little distance there is a rough wooden building to shelter travellers. Notwithstanding the great efficacy attributed to this pilgrimage, Gangoutrī is but little frequented. The accomplishment of it is supposed to redeem the performer from many troubles in this world, and ensure a happy transit through all the stages of transmigration he may have to undergo. A trifle is paid to the Brahmān for the privilege of taking the water, which the Hindūs believe is so pure, as neither to evaporate or become corrupted by being kept and transported to distant places. The Ganges enters the plains at Hurdwar, flows on to Prāg, where it is joined by the Jumna; and, after receiving various rivers in its course, it passes through that labyrinth of creeks and rivers called the Sunderbands into the sea.
Captain J. A. Hodgson thus describes Gangoutrī:—
“A most wonderful scene: the B’hàgirat’hí or Ganges issues from under a very low arch at the foot of the grand snow-bed. The river is here bounded to the right and left by high snow and rocks; but in front, over the Debouche, the mass of snow is perfectly perpendicular; and from the bed of the stream to the summit we estimate the thickness at little less than three hundred feet of solid frozen snow, probably the accumulation of ages; it is in layers of some feet thick, each seemingly the remains of a fall of a separate year. From the brow of this curious wall of snow, and immediately above the outlet of the stream, large and hoary icicles depend; they are formed by the freezing of the melted snow-water of the top of the bed, for in the middle of the day the sun is powerful, and the water produced by its action falls over this place in cascade, but is frozen at night. The Gangoutrī Brahmin who came with us, and who is only an illiterate mountaineer, observed, that he thought these icicles must be Mahádéva’s hair, whence, as he understood it is written in the sha’stra, the Ganges flows. I cannot think of any place to which they might more aptly give the name of Cow’s Mouth than this extraordinary Debouche.
“We were surrounded by gigantic peaks, entirely cased in snow, and almost beyond the regions of animal and vegetable life; and an awful silence prevailed, except when broken by the thundering peals of falling avalanches. Nothing met our eyes resembling the scenery in the haunts of men; by moonlight all appeared cold, wild, and stupendous, and a Pagan might aptly imagine the place a fit abode for demons. We did not even see bears, or musk deer, or eagles, or any living creature, except small birds. The dazzling brilliancy of the snow was rendered more striking by its contrast with the dark blue colour of the sky, which is caused by the thinness of the air; and at night the stars shone with a lustre which they have not in a denser atmosphere.” “It falls to the lot of few to contemplate so magnificent an object as a snow-clad peak rising to the height of upwards of a mile and a half, at the horizontal distance of only two and a half miles.”
“She is called Ganga on account of her flowing through Gang, the earth: she is called Jahnavi, from a choleric Hindū saint: she is called Bhagirathi, from the royal devotee Bhagiratha, who, by the intensity and austerity of his devotions, brought her from heaven to earth, whence she proceeded to the infernal regions, to reanimate the ashes of his ancestors: and lastly, she is called Triputhaga, on account of her proceeding forward in three different directions, watering the three worlds—heaven, earth, and the infernal regions,—and filling the ocean, which, according to the Brahmanical mythology, although excavated before her appearance, was destitute of water.”
Hurdwar, at which place the Ganges issues on the plains, is put down on the map.
The impracticable deserts of snow and rocks in these lofty regions alone prevent the pilgrim from going directly from one place to another. Thus, eleven days’ journey are spun out from Gangoutrī to Kedarnāth; while seven or eight days are expended in reaching Bhadrināth from the latter place.
On the map a beautiful range of mountains now appear, crowned with the Jaunti Peak, 21,940 feet; next is Sir Kanta, and then the pass of Bamsera.
JUMNOTRĪ.
Bandarponch is 23,916 feet above the sea, and the Peaks of Jumnotrī, 20,120. Jumnotrī itself, the source of the Jumna, is marked below in the map at the elevation of 10,849 feet.