valmikiramayan.net Prose Commentary

Desiraju Hanumanta Rao's prose rendering with embedded explanatory notes

The source appends a substantial endnote on Ganga's sanctity, drawing on multiple Puranic sources. The Vishnu Purana traces her origin to the nail of Vishnu's left big toe (gangaa deva anganaa...), which is why she first lands on Shiva's head before reaching earth. Govindaraja offers a complementary explanation -- 'nadii vegena sudhyati,' a river cleanses itself by its own rapidity -- so her sanctity after release from Shiva's hair comes from her speed. The Bhagavata Purana and Mahabharata are cited on Shiva himself becoming sanctified by bearing her waters, and the Adhyatma Ramayana has Vashishtha tell Vishnu that Shiva became pious by bearing the water of Vishnu's feet. The source also notes competing origin legends -- that Vamana's foot pierced the cosmic shell letting outside water (Ganga) flow in, or that Ganga arose from Brahma washing Vishnu's feet, or from dharma itself flowing as water at Brahma's command -- and reconciles them as successive attempts of increasing efficacy. A yogic reading treats Ganga, Yamuna, and Saraswati as the three subtle nerve-channels of the body (ida, pingala, sushumna), with vitality flowing between the crown and the base of the spine. Finally, the Markandeya Purana explains that all rivers menstruate for two months when the sun is in Leo-Cancer (the monsoon's new water), but Ganga, fed perennially from the Himalayas, carries no such blemish.