Though in India all the rivers have a divine status but Ganges is the most sacred of India's river. What makes Ganges a sacred river? A place where meditation is practiced over many years it automatically acquires certain powers. The place gets charged with the energy and vibration from peaceful thoughts depending on the intensity of the meditators. All these sages/seers/gurus were attracted to the Ganges for their meditation due to her mythological importance and energy when they meditated over many years then automatically as a result the Ganges charged up with energy and vibrations It was a kind of give and take business. For thousands of years many seers/sages/gurus have searched for God on the banks of the Ganges and when ever someone attained God the Ganges was not left untouched when this happened Ganges was also blessed. Lord Krishna said once that among the armed I am like Ram and I am like crocodile among fish and the Ganges among the rivers hence one can understand the importance of the Ganges.Take away the Ganges from India and all the literature of India will become incomplete.
What is so special about the Ganges. while there are larger and wider rivers than the Ganges in the world like Amazon Nile etc
There is some thing unique about the Ganges that is not found in any other rivers in the world. Despite making the Ganges polluted by throwing garbage etc it has some how managed to maintain its purity. Chemically it contains extra ordinary properties may be because it is coming from Himalaya and Himalaya is the home of almost 20000 hearbs and leaves and hundreds of them are used as medication in the Ayurveda and it brings with itself these herbs in the plains its water does not putrefy or deteriorate even if it is kept for a long time The mughal emperors like Akbar and Jehanjir used to drink Ganga water, even the Jaipur Maharja When he went to England he carried two huge containers of Ganga water to drink.
Edward Terry of England who visited India during the mughal emperor Jehangir's reign says in his book that "one pint of Ganga water weighs by an ounce "Well this discription makes the water extremely light and all the modern physicians and old vaids unanimously agree to one point that lighter the water the better it is for the human consumption.
Pilgrim centers, temples, ashrams yoga and meditation centers have been built on the bank of Ganges and most of the holy cities of India are located on the banks of Ganges like Rishikesh. Haridwar. Varanasi etc.
Besides other rituals, people take a dip into the holy Ganges in order to wash their sins. To cremate somebody besides the bank of the Ganges and thrown the ashes into the river even in these days supposed to be the best way of setting the soul free from the cycle of birth and death, even if some one dies with in the specific radius of Ganges is directly taken into the heaven or even after the cremation some where else if the ashes are thrown in to the Ganges then too the same purpose is solved .No Hindu can dare speak lie taking the Ganga water in his hand.
Geographically it is 3000 km long and starts in a place called Gomukh in Gangotri in the Himalayas and terminates in the Bay of Bengal. It covers an area of 1730000 sqkm.
It is the 11th largest and 17th longest river in the world and it is devided in three parts:
UPPER GANGES from Gangotri to Haridwar
MIDDLE GANGES from Haridwar to Bhagalpur in Bihar via Uttarpradesh
LOWER GANGES From Bhagalpur to Bay of Bengal