Bhagirath

In Hindu mythology, the single person
most responsible for bringing the celestial Ganges down to earth. The river
Ganges and the goddess Ganges are the
same, hence the river is considered holy.
Bhagirath is the great-great-grandson of
King Sagar, whose 60,000 sons have
been burned to ash by the sage Kapila’s
magic power when they erroneously
accuse Kapila of being a thief. The sage
later tells Anshuman, King Sagar’s
grandson and sole surviving descendant, that the only way to bring peace to
their souls is to bring the Ganges from
heaven down to earth. Anshuman
strives to do this for the rest of his life, as
does his son Dilip after him, but both
are unsuccessful. Dilip’s son Bhagirath
takes their efforts to heart and retires to
the Himalayas, where he performs
asceticism until the gods finally agree to
send the Ganges down to earth. Yet
Bhagirath’s efforts are not over. He next
has to appease the god Shiva so that the
deity will agree to take the shock of the
falling river on his head, since its force
will otherwise destroy the earth. When
all is finally in place, the Ganges falls to
earth onto the head of Shiva. From there
Bhagirath leads the river out of the
mountains to the sea, where she touches
his ancestors’ ashes, after which they
find peace at last.