Source: International Mission Board, January 4, 2019<\/p>\n
The Ganges River begins in the Himalayan mountain range in northeast India, near the border of China. It meanders southeast across the plains of northern India, delivering offshoots of its holy water via new rivers as it makes its way toward the Bay of Bengal on the coast of Bangladesh.<\/p>\n
All along, as far back as history has recorded, people have asked more from the Ganges than fish, hydration, and a good bath. As early as one thousand years before Christ, people who would eventually be known as Hindus viewed the Ganges as a birthplace of the divine. It\u2019s believed to be a crack in our physical world where the supernatural can slip through and immerse us mortals in its wonders.<\/p>\n
Hindus have submitted various creation narratives about how the Ganges River came into existence. [Some] hold that the river not only sprung from a god but is itself a goddess. Rajiv Malik, a writer for Hinduism Today<\/em>, summarized this view by writing, \u201cGanga is a living Goddess who can be felt in one\u2019s life and can have a positive and profound impact every time one has her divine [viewing].\u201d People with Malik\u2019s view will refer to the river as Mother Ganga.<\/p>\n Despite the varied opinions, the cornerstone of most Hindu beliefs about the Ganges River is that because of its divine origin, it offers divine opportunity. For that reason, people travel for days and stay weeks along the riverbanks, hoping to siphon a bit of blessing and peace.<\/p>\n \u00bb Read full story<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u00bb Let\u2019s pray for the up to 150 million people who will participate in this year\u2019s Kumbh Mela pilgrimage. See Why Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj Is Festival to End All Festivals<\/a> or see it in dramatic pictures<\/a> (The Guardian). See also In a Muslim-Majority Country, a Hindu Goddess Lives on<\/a> (National Geographic) or watch the Prayercast video on praying for Hindus<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Source: International Mission Board, January 4, 2019 The Ganges River begins in the Himalayan mountain range in northeast India, near the border of China. It meanders southeast across the plains of northern India, delivering offshoots of its holy water via new rivers as it makes its way toward the Bay of Bengal on the coast … Continue reading INDIA: Hindus and the Ganges River<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8309","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-briefs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8309","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8309"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8309\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8310,"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8309\/revisions\/8310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}