Ganga Dussehra

About Ganga Dussehra

Significance

Ganga Dussehra celebrates the descent of the river Ganga from heaven to earth. The Valmiki Ramayana (Bala Kanda, sargas 38–44) tells the story: the sixty thousand sons of King Sagara were burnt to ashes by the sage Kapila, and only the waters of the heavenly Ganga could release them. After generations of effort, King Bhagiratha’s austerities won her descent; Shiva received the torrent in his matted locks so that the earth would not be shattered, and Bhagiratha led the river across the land to the ashes of his ancestors. The Bhagavata Purana (9.9) tells the same story.

The name Dasha-hara, the remover of ten, is traditionally explained as the removal of ten kinds of wrongdoing, of body, speech and mind. Dharmashastra digests quote a list of ten conjunctions, among them the month of Jyeshtha, the bright fortnight, the tenth tithi, a Wednesday and the nakshatra Hasta, whose coming together on this day is held to be especially sacred. Ganga Saptami in Vaishakha, the river’s rebirth from the sage Jahnu, is a separate observance.

How and where it is observed

The great gatherings are on the banks of the Ganga, at Haridwar, Rishikesh, Garhmukteshwar, Prayagraj, Varanasi and Patna, and the day is kept in towns along the river across Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal. Where people cannot reach the river, they bathe at home with water mixed with Gangajal or visit other sacred rivers and tanks.

Rituals

Pilgrims bathe in the river at dawn, offer flowers and lamps on leaf boats, and attend the evening Ganga aarti at the ghats. Many recite the Ganga stotra or the Gangavatarana story. Gifts in sets of ten, of sesame, grain, fruit or other items, are customary in many families, and in the summer heat water pots, hand fans and cooling foods are given away.

How the date is fixed

Ganga Dussehra is Jyeshtha Shukla Dashami, the same month name in the Amanta and Purnimanta calendars. It is kept on the day on which Dashami prevails at sunrise (udaya tithi); if Dashami is present at two sunrises the first day is taken, and if it touches no sunrise, the day that contains it. In a year with an Adhik (intercalary) Jyeshtha, the Dashahara is kept in the Adhik month, following the Dharma Sindhu, which permits this Ganga observance in an Adhik month.

Sources

• Valmiki Ramayana, Bala Kanda, sargas 38–44 (Sagara, Bhagiratha and the descent of the Ganga)
• Bhagavata Purana 9.9 (Bhagiratha brings the Ganga)
• Dharma Sindhu, Pariccheda 2, Jyeshtha (Dashahara, including its observance in an Adhik Jyeshtha)

Customs differ between regions, communities and families; this description is background, not a prescription. The date above is calculated by the rule shown on this page.