While the metaphors of Ganga celebrate her godliness, the river itself chokes under the burden of our expectation of eternal purity, says Surabhi Jajodia
If you thought you knew all about the river Ganga or that its civilisational thread was over-exposed, you need to head to the largest exhibition on its mythologies, history and ecology at the National Museum. It is showcasing the origin and journey of the “purest” element on earth till June 20. The exhibition is inspired by the travelogue of Eric Newby titled Slowly Down the Ganges, which narrates the story of a 1,200 mile journey down the Ganges. Shakeel Haseen, a Boston-based artist and curator, has created a breath taking tale which kept us intrigued till the exit point.
People from all age groups trooped in to witness the river’s versatile journey at the museum. The magnificent artworks displayed at the exhibition have been borrowed by the National Museum, the Alkazi Foundation, the Kalakriti Archives, Hyderabad, as well as commissioned from several contemporary artisans. The exhibition mentions a lot of different theories without drawing a conclusive proof.
It revolves around Ganga’s origin and existence in all three forms of life — heaven, earth and underground. The Puranas and the epics give different versions of Ganga’s descent to earth. Starting from her origin in heaven, the journey unfolds Ganga, who is intimately related to Vishnu in all his avatars. It recreates the story of Ganga coming into existence during Brahma’s wedding. During the wedding Vishnu crossed the heaven in his second step and then Brahma washed Vishnu’s foot with water from his pot. This water fell on Mount Meru and then on to Shiva’s head. From then on, Ganga has been associated with all three Gods and thus called tri-devatya. Ganga is believed to have flown down from lord Shiva’s locks. There are several small paintings and contemporary works by Kanvinde illustrating Shiva bringing down Ganga in his matted locks.
Ganga, along with Saraswati and lakshmi, were all Vishnu’s co-wives as mentioned in Vishnupurana. Vishnu was extremely fond of Ganga, which aroused the jealousy of Saraswati, who one day saw them smiling at each other. She shared her thoughts with lakshmi, who said nothing on the matter. An incensed Saraswati cursed lakshmi to a life as a tree. Angered, Ganga cursed Saraswati, who cursed her in return. It fell upon Vishnu to deliver the three from their curses. He decreed that lakshmi, who was entirely innocent, would be born as Tulsi and marry asura Shankachuda, who was a devotee of Vishnu. She would eventually be restored to her place as Vishnu’s wife. Saraswati would leave Vishnu to be the wife of Brahma. Ganga, on the other hand, would become a river as per Saraswati’s curse. She would wash away the sins of people bathing in her waters. She would descend to earth following Bhagiratha’s penance and be the wife of samudra who was an ‘ansh’ of Vishnu.
As per Ganga avataran, the descent began with the powerful king Sagar sending out his ritual horse across the world to demarcate his territory. As Indra feared the growing power of the king, he hid the horse in the hermitage of the great sage, Kapila. Outraged, king Sagar sent his 60,000 sons to bring back the horse and destroy whoever stole it. His sons approached Kapila’s hermitage and interrupted his meditation. livid, Kapila burnt them to ashes with a single glance. Bhagiratha succeeded in obtaining a boon from Brahma, by which Ganga descended to earth to purify the souls of Sagar’s 60,000 sons. As Ganga was not pleased with Brahma’s decision, she threatened to crush earth with her fall. But Shiva, who is Gangadhara, the bearer of Ganga, agreed to accept her in his matted locks as she cascaded down to the earth.
Next are small displays on other religious and popular practices that revolve around the Ganga. During Muharram, in cities like Banaras and Calcutta, huge processions accompany the tazias to the river for immersion, similar to the immersion of idols in Hindu festivals, Kanwariya traditions during Shravana month, the Bera festival of Murshidabad (West Bengal) and the immersion of Durga Puja idol and images. This gave a unique perspective, to Ganga, which has primarily been thought of as a Hindu goddess. While the giant replicas of a tazia, bera raft and Durga idols, crafted by artisans, were beautiful, the accompanying texts lacked nuance. It seemed as though, without the already-enriching sculpture and miniature paintings at hand, the curators ran out of ideas of what to say and how to say it in order to do justice to the material.
The modern-day Ganga aarti at Dashashwamedh ghat is the only one that finds a mention in the exhibition. Established about a decade ago by a private organisation, the ghat has gone on to eclipse the smaller, more aesthetically appealing aartis that take place all along the banks.
The Ganga’s journey in history is also explored and it is called “the river of Indian civilisation.” Starting from the Stone Age to the Harappan civilisation and moving to the Mauryan empires, which brought out influential religious and artistic traditions, and the Mughal empire, which embedded Indic and Islamic traditions into the Ganga-Jamuni culture, the British empire, which focussed on trade expansion and industrial development, the Ganga has served as a continuous link.
The most popular section of the exhibition would be the one on Bollywood. A wall was flooded with posters of famous Bollywood films like Jis Desh mein Ganga Behti Hai, Jai Gangajal, Ganga Jamuna Saraswati, Ram teri Ganga Meli and it took us into Ganga’s metaphorical journey into Bollywood. The metaphors of virtue and purity embodied in the Ganga have been the inspiration for many feature films, which evoke the intrinsic values of India through the narrative of good versus evil and immortality.
This wall led to a contemporary installation and artworks on the pollution of the river, including a 15-foot painting by Madhubani artist Ajit Jha. This was the section which left the maximum impact. This section included a wide space with a Durga idol at the centre with a lot of waste plastics and garbage which we knowingly or unknowingly throw into the river. It looked like a school project which aimed to spread the message of environment protection. But the question is — are these projects actually reaching out to the common peopleIJ
Photos: Pankaj Kumar