#Rivers of india

[blackknight-100]

Not exactly mainstream mythology, but the past few days I've been thinking about how many goddesses and some gods are associated with rivers, and how their parentages changed over the years.

There is a Wikipedia page for the Rivers in Hinduism, and while I haven't been able to cross-reference some of these (Wikipedia, due to the nature of contributions, has a vast number of references from books, travelogues and anecdotes written by individual authors instead of actual scripture or local sources), many others are easily verifiable and extremely interesting. I'd still advise taking this with a grain of salt, though, because some might not be extensively true.

The south gets a separate post, and this one is a list of the most prominent rivers of the north:

1, Ganga: As the major river in the plains, Ganga has quite a few myths attached to her. There is, of course, the story of how she was brought down to earth, with a detour through Patala, by Bhagiratha, and the Ramayana makes her Parvati's sister and Himavat's daughter by his wife Mainavati, daughter of Mount Meru. During the descent, she floods sage Jahnu's aashram so the sage drinks her up completely. Bhagiratha comes to entreat him, and Jahnu, realising his mistake, lets her out of his ear. This is Ganga's rebirth, and also why so many people call her Janhavi.

Another myth that is attested in the Devi Bhagwata Purana labels her as Vishnu's wife, along with Lakshmi and Saraswati. Once Saraswati accuses Ganga of trying to steal Vishnu's love. Vishnu refuses to intervene in this, but Lakshmi tries to soothe Saraswati, who becomes angrier and curses Lakshmi to be born on earth as a river (which Vishnu later alters so she is born as both the Padma(vati?) river, and the Tulsi plant). Ganga gets upset that Lakshmi got cursed defending her, and curses Saraswati to become a river, and adds on that men will wash away there sins in her waters. Saraswati gets even madder and curses Ganga to also become a river with the same conditions . Then Vishnu intervenes, and declaring he will keep only Lakshmi as his wife, and sends Saraswati to Brahma and Ganga to Shiva. Which is a hell of a thing to say when you have three wives in who were quarreling for your affection and you did not interfere. Predictably, the three of them band together and Vishnu in the end has to back down. A third part of Ganga goes to Shiva's hair, a third into Bharata, and the full part (no I don't get the math either) stays with him at Vaikuntha. Similarly, the other two remain his wives in Vaikuntha, while simultaneously being rivers and all the other things they're supposed to be.

The story of Ganga marrying Shantanu and drowning seven of their eight kids is pretty popular, but this myth has a bit of a prequel, in which everyone gets cursed. Ganga (called Janhavi in the Mahabharata, because she was reborn to the sage Jahnu) and this other Suryavamshi King are attending Brahma's court with the other gods. Suddenly, the wind blows off Ganga's clothes, and everyone averts their eyes, except the King. Brahma is furious at the disrespect and curses him to be reborn on earth as a man, and Ganga, who apparently didn't mind as much, decides to follow him. In some versions, she also gets cursed because she enjoys the act of being watched and Brahma went "get a room and the room is the earth". As she is leaving the meeting, she runs across the Vasus, who also just got cursed, and offers to help them. Nice :)

Also the Devi Bhagawata Purana makes Shantanu a part of Vishnu to retain Ganga as Vishnu's wife, which, given that both he and Krishna did their best to cause war, makes sense in a weird type of way.

The sacredness of river Ganga comes from the fact that she interacts with all the three supreme gods. The Bhagwata Purana says that when Vamana Vishnu stepped for the second time, his toenail pierced the fabric of the universe and let in the water from outside in the form of Ganga (yes, this is exactly what is written. I'm not exaggerating one bit, they even call her Vishnupadi for this). Then she passes past the Saptarshis, into Brahma's city, and afterwards Shiva picks her up and ties her in his hair so her force will not shatter the earth.

The Agni Purana depicts her as a fair-complexioned goddess with a pot and a flower, and names her vehicle the crocodile.

2. Yamuna: She is very often referred to as Kalindi in later texts, and is included among Krishna's eight principal wives, and also plays an important role in Krishna's childhood myths. By and large, her parents are accepted to be Surya and Sanjana/Saranyu, which makes her related to a bunch of Kunti's children in some really complicated ways.

[Side note: despite Indra being the King of Gods, Surya appears to have a much broader influence in the genealogy of heroes and most of his children end up being kings and queens.]

There are a few early texts that equate Yami with Yamuna, and by that metric, here is another story about her. In one version, attested in the Rig Veda, Yami wishes to marry her brother Yama and gets rejected. It sounds like a dialogue between a little sister and her big brother, because all Yami says is, "Let's get married, and we will be beautiful and happy forever!" and Yama keeps dissuading her by saying things like, "No, that is wrong, that is sinful. You're going to get a lovely husband, don't worry." And then Yami gets upset and calls him a bad brother. But there is no basis for this, I just got those vibes. This is very likely a moral and social rejection of brother-sister marriage. In her book, The Indian Theogony, Sukumari Bhattacharji speculates that Yama-Yami may have been married at some point, as a parallel to all the married brother-sister couples across mythologies who retain their opposite and comparative nature, and Yama committed adultery to avoid laying with his sister.

Cute story about Yamuna and Yama: In my culture, and possibly some others as well, we say that Yamuna gives 'phota' to her brother Yama, and all sisters do the same to the brothers on Bhai-Phota to cover Yama's doors with thorns so he will never be able to take their brothers away. I think Bhai-Dooj, Bhai-Beej and Bhratri-Dwitiya are celebrated similarly.

There is another story, and this one involves coercive intimacy, so skip to #3 if this is uncomfortable for you. In the Bhagwata Purana (and the Agni Purana mentions this in passing), a drunken Balarama spots Yamuna and beckons her to come "play" with him (we all know what that means). She refuses and ignores his calls, so he gets mad and using his plow, diverts her waters into the orchard he was standing in. Now frightened, Yamuna apologises to him and agrees to "play" with him, explaining that she was unable to recognise him as the Supreme Lord. Evidently, this is supposed to be a metaphor for divertion of canals for irrigation.

The Agni Purana depicts her as a dark-complexioned goddess with a pot, and names the tortoise as her vehicle. It also names Yamuna's mother as Rajni, mother of Revanta and daughter of Raivata, and I have no idea who this is. There is one Raivata who is the father of Revati, Balarama's wife, but as far as I was aware he had no daughters named Rajni and Revanta was Sanjana's son so... Idk what happened here. The most likely option is that this Raivata is one of the Rudras, but he could also be the mountain Raivata or the fifth Manu Raivata, because the Agni Purana also mentions all of them them.

3. Sindhu: So, Wikipedia thinks this river is a goddess, sourced from a book called Rivers of the Rigveda by J.N. Ravi. I have always heard of Sindhu being labelled masculine (along with Brahmaputra) at least in my mother tongue. The Mahabharata calls him the Devanada - an exclusively masculine epithet meaning River of the Gods. But wisdom.lib, a mostly reliable website, notes that at one point Sindhu is invited to Parvati's meeting with other goddesses where they discuss the duties of women. I couldn't find it, but then again, Ctrl+F is useless in the MB pdf so eh.

The Rig Veda also appears to refer to Sindhu as a man. I have only the english version, so the accuracy of translation is difficult to pin down, however, Sindhu is compared to a king or lord leading an army (the confluence) and a fleet-footed stallion (but I've also seen a mare translation though smh). SIndhu is also considered to "unite" with several female rivers - Gomati, Shveti etc. And then, right after, Sindhu is called "as handsome as a beautiful woman". Also he is invoked with the goddess Aditi and Saraswati a bunch of times and is listed with the "Goddess Floods". So make of that what you will. Maybe Sindhu is a god who sometimes looks androgynous. Or he is trans as well. Or enby. Or something else. Idk.

Also in one version of Rig Veda I came across Sindhu being called the Dragon of the Deep and I think that's the coolest thing I've read while searching up the rivers.

Varuna is credited with charting out the river Sindhu's course, is very often invoked right before Sindhu, and is also said to glorify Sindhu (Mahabharata, Sabha Parva) so it is safe to say Varuna really likes him.

Interestingly, although he is supposed to be hailed before a battle or a sacrifice, Sindhu's chariot is said to perform no violent deeds. Whether this means the Sindhu river never flooded in those days* or something else, I am not very sure, but quite a few kings of the Bharata lineage sheltered in the Sindhu basin when attacked, so make of that what you will.

*This would be very strange because a) the Sindhu nowadays floods pretty often and b) Sindhu is also called "of the [mighty] floods" a bunch of times. His other epithet is "Sindhu with the path of gold" so it could also mean that Sindhu is a bounteous and fertile river.

It is likely that the region around the Sindhu River was known as Sapta Sindhu, after the seven sacred rivers - Sindhu, Vitasta (Jhelum), Asikli (Chenab/Chandrabhaga), Parushni (possibly Iravati, i.e. Ravi), Vipasha/Arjikiya (Beas), Shatadru (Sutlej) and Sarasvati.

4. Saraswati/Sarasvati: I am going to make a separate post for her because she is, by far, the most interesting of all the rivers when it comes to evolution pre and post Indra-supremacy age and there is a lot more to share.

[ecoharbor]

📍Valley of Waterfalls, Anini, Arunachal Pradesh, India 🇮🇳

[curtwilde]

Port workers of India stand with Palestine

[brunelsblog]

This post is so important to me. Al-Jazeera making me cry was not in my weekend bingo list but here we are. Curse you to anyone who is trying to turn this into a religious conflict when it's clearly about white supremacy. History will know you for the vile snakes that you are.

[pangeen]

" Eye to Eye with the Ghost " // © Shaaz Jung

[molkolsdal]

Arsalan Khan

[ayowotsdis]

THE STUDENTS OF BANGLADESH ARE DYING.

The so called students league called BCL or Bangladesh Chatro league, who are basically the rabid dogs of the rolling government of Bangladesh are attacking, assaulting and killing the students protesting against the Quota system that gives off government jobs for the children and grandchildren of freedom fighters of the liberation war. Our own prime minister called us rajakar (traitor who betrayed Bangladesh to Pakistan in 1971) and said anyone who isn't the child of declared freedom fighter is a child of a rajakar. So the students created a slogan "who am I? Who are you? Rajakar, rajakar!" Ignoring the irony of the slogan, the pm set her rabid dogs on the students, my people are dying because she (pm) refuses to let go of nepotism. We can't use our freedom of speech. Please help us.

Our Internet is being cut off, our accounts are being hacked, our electricity is said to be gone soon. SPREAD THE WORD.

[that-odd-puzzle-piece]

Something that Americans (and also other Western people, but especially Americans) need to understand is how much US hegemony affects non americans, and how much power you guys hold over us.

The only problems we talk about are the ones that the west notices, because all of social media, and honestly, all of power, is held by America and the west. We don't talk about genocides that have been happening for centuries and problems like caste that pervade south Asian and the treatment of indigenous populations in different countries because Americans don't talk about it.

The only reason the world is noticing Palestine is because the west decided to take interest, and the only way Palestine will be free and all these problems will be brought into the world's eye is through the west's (and Americans') continued interest.

Look into these problems, talk about these problems. We wear jeans and watch American shows and eat from American food joints. The kind of soft power you guys hold is unimaginable. Use it.

[noidea901]

Woollard sisters, the most gorgeous on earth

[psikonauti]

Swimmers diving from the Scindia Ghat temple, in the Ganges River, in Varansi, India, 1985

Photographed by Raghubir Singh

[uncharismatic-fauna]

Clap for the Indian Flapshell Turtle!

The Indian flapshell turtle, also known as Lissemys punctata is a species of softshell turtle found throughout India, as well as Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Myanmar. It prefers quiet, stagnant freshwater and muddy bottoms, and is most common in slow moving river and streams, marshes, ponds, lakes, and reservoirs. However, this species is also able to tolerate salt water to some degree, and therefore may also be occasionally found in salt marshes and estuaries.

L. punctata gets its common name from the leathery flaps of skin attached to its underbelly, which covers the limbs when they are drawn in and helps individuals retain moisture during the dry season. Female Indian flapshells are larger than males, with a maximum shell length of 35 cm (13 in) and a weight of up to 800 g (28.2 oz), while males reach a maximum of only 23 cm (9 in) and 550 g (19.4 oz). There are three subspecies of the Indian flapshell turtle which may be distinguished by the pattern on their shells. The nominal species, L. p. punctata and L. p. vittata both have smooth, dark brown or olive green shells, while L. p. andersoni has bright yellow spots along the head and back. The underbellies of all subspecies are typically white or pale yellow.

During the wet season, Indian flapshell turtles spend most of their time foraging for food. Their drab colouring allows them to hide easily along muddy bottoms or dense vegetation. L. punctata are opportunistic omnivores, meaning they will eat just about anything that they can find. They are known to feed on a variety of items, including aquatic vegetation, fish, shrimp, snails, crustaceans, mollusks, small mammals and amphibians, and carrion. Adults are predated upon by crocodiles; in the dry season, they may also be opportunistically predated upon by vultures, crows, and wild pigs, as this is when adults are more likely to either burrow into the mud to wait for rain, or move overland in search of water.

Nesting for L. punctata typically occurs at the start of the wet season and continues from June to November. Adult males seek out females and court them by stroking her shell with his flippers. If she is receptive, the pair mirror each other and bob heads before copulation. Afterwards, the female digs a nest close to the edge of the water and lays anywhere from 2-16 eggs. She may lay up to three clutches over the course of the wet season. Incubation typically takes 200-300 days, although some clutches may take up to 400 days to hatch.

Indian flapshell eggs are highly resistant to flooding, and may survive up to 24 hours of submersion. After hatching, the young are completely independent; survival is therefore quite low. Those that make it to adulthood begin reproducing at 2-3 years old, and may live to be up to 20 years.

Conservation status: The IUCN currently lists the Indian flapshell turtle as Least Concern, although recent studies have recommended the species be upgraded to Vulnerable. They are primarily threatened by hunting for meat and medicinal value, as well as poaching for the pet trade. Secondary threats include habitat loss or degredation and road moralities.

Want to request some art or uncharismatic facts? Just send me proof of donation of any amount to any of the fundraisers on this list, or a Palestinian organization of your choice!

Photos

Harikrishnan S

avrajjal via iNaturalist

makarandsaraf via iNaturalist

L. Shyamal

[omgindiablog]

Umngot River, Meghalaya, India: The Umngot River, also known as the Dawki River and Wah Umngot, is a river that flows through Dawki, a little town located at the bottom of the Jaintia Hills in West Jaintia Hills district in the Indian state of Meghalaya. The town is relatively busy and serves as a trade route between India and Bangladesh. Wikipedia

[fishenjoyer1]

Fish of the Day

Today's fish of the day is about the goonch by special request!

The gooch, also known as the giant devil catfish, is a fish that I've written about before, and those of whom have been on this email list may remember from back in February 2022. Known by the scientific name Bagarius yarrelli and synonym Bagarius bagarius (which may be another smaller species, and may simply be a misnamed juvenile goonch catfish), this fish is well known for their huge size. Found across the Indian subcontinent and Southern Asia, particularly the basins of Indus and Ganges. Living in particular in shallow beds, underwater caves, and submerged cliff faces, as these fish are known for frequenting areas of both shallows and of great depth. Most of the resources on this fish are based around the fishing legend of them. As such a large, fast, and violent fish, many anglers have created almost a mythology around them, based around tales of man eating fish, and of the skill required to find and catch them.

Very little is known about the goonch catfish, and most public perception of it comes from the American TV show Animal Planet segment called River Monsters, which searches to catch large and dangerous fish worldwide. An episode of this show covered the mythology of the Goonch, specifically after a series of people were pulled underwater the Kali River of India. It was found that a particularly large goonch (as long as 6ft 7inches, and weighing over 160 pounds) was the cause of the attacks, sightings supported this, and all local crocodiles were too small or not known to be in the area of attack, with no other large predators as far upriver. However, other than humans, on occasion of getting large enough to forcibly drown them, the diet of the goonch is entirely carnivorous. Goonch eat: invertebrates, crustaceans, amphibians, and fish. Although when larger they've also been recorded taking down much larger prey, such as water buffalo.

There is almost no knowledge about the reproduction of goonch catfish. All research I have done suggests there are no instances of captive breeding, and no observations of wild spawning. Most catfish spawn in the warmer months of summer, with female catfish releasing anywhere between 3,000 to several hundred thousand a season, with male fish releasing milt to fertilize these eggs. During these spawning seasons, catfish often meet in rocky crevasse at nests, where sometimes one parent will watch the eggs in species of monogamous fish. However, there is some more knowledge about the goonch catfish itself.  Their wild lifespan is unknown, but in captivity Goonch Catfish live anywhere between 5 to 10 years, and display no sexual dimorphism between male and female goonch.

That's the goonch catfish, everybody! Have a wonderful day!

[sunbeamsinapinecone]

Kerala. November 2024.

[orlaite]

Brief Encounter (1945) - The Passionate Friends (1949) - Summertime (1955) - The Bridge On The River Kwai (1957) - Lawrence of Arabia (1962) - Doctor Zhivago (1965) - Ryan's Daughter (1970) - A Passage To India (1984)

[ocelotrevs]

17th December 2024 II

West India Quay Station

ig: walkuponacloud