REMEMBERING KAHALGAON RIVER ISLANDS – WHERE MYTHOLOGY AND HISTORY EMBRACES EACH OTHER BY PRABUDDHA BISWAS

REMEMBERING KAHALGAON RIVER ISLANDS – WHERE MYTHOLOGY AND HISTORY EMBRACES EACH OTHER

(c) Copyright of Prabuddha Biswas

1. IT IS RELATED WITH THE FASCINATING MYTHOLOGY OF THE DESCENT OF THE RIVER GANGA FROM HEAVEN AND HER SUBSEQUENT JOURNEY TOWARDS SEA 

2. ENCOUNTER OF GANGA WITH SAGE JAHNU AND HER SUBSEQUENT RELEASE

3. WHEREABOUTS OF JAHNU’S HERMITAGE – SULTANGANJ OR KAHALGAON?

4. EXCERPTS OF ‘NARADIYA AND SKANDHA PURANAS’ CONTRADICT SULTANGANJ’S CLAIM AND DESCRIBE ‘KAHALGAON RIVER ISLAND’, AS THE LEGENDERY ‘SAGE JAHNU’S ASHRAM’

5. 11TH CENTURY BOOK, ‘TRISTHALISETU’ ALSO CONFIRMED SAGE JAHNU HERMITAGE TO BE AT KAHALGAON RIVER-ISLAND

6. XUANG ZANG VISITED THE KAHALGAON ISLANDS

7. GURU NANAK DEV ALSO VISITED THE KAHALGAON ISLANDS8. RIVER GANGES AND ITS ADJACENT LAND ROUTES PROVIDED THE MAIN LINK OF CULTURAL EXCHANGE BETWEEN THE NORTH AND EASTERN INDIA DURING SIXTH TO SIXTEENTH CENTURY AD.

SHORT COMMENTARY

The Kahalgaon River-Islands is related with the fascinating mythology of the descent of the river Ganga from Heaven and her subsequent journey towards sea under the stewardship of Bhagiratha – The Mythical Hero.

THE DESCENT OF GANGA FROM HEAVEN

1. Ganga, the Goddess of the sacred River Ganges, has a name of ‘Austric’ origin, and is one of the many ‘native’ goddesses of the Hindu pantheon.  

2. She is mentioned only twice in the Rig-Veda and does not occupy a prominent place in the other Vedas, but assumes a position of great importance in Puranas. Ganga was the daughter of ‘Himavat’ the personification of the Himalaya Mountains, and Mena, and was a sister of Parvati, Lord Siva’s wife. 

3. She often assumed human shape and sported in her river.

4. The background of the myth narrating the descent of the heavenly river Ganga (Ganges) to earth is a complicated story involving the ancestors of King Bhagiratha – the sixty thousands sons of Sagara – who are burnt to ashes by the wrath of an ascetic. A part of the last rites Bhagiratha must immerse their remains in the waters of the holy river to ensure the smooth passage of their souls to the world of ancestors. 

5. The following story about the River Ganges is elaborated in the famous epic, Ramayana: - 

i. Bhagiratha was without issue and in the hope of remedying this problem he performed great austerities at ‘Gokarna’. Eventually, Brahma, pleased with his devotion, appeared and asked him to express his wishes. 
(a) The King replied that his greatest desire was to offer the funerary libations to his ancestors. As part of the last rites the ashes had to be moistened by the water of the Ganga.  
(b) Bhagiratha’s second wish was for a son to continue his lineage. Brahma prophesied that a son would be born to the King in due course. 

ii. Furthermore, since the earth would not be strong enough to withstand the impact caused by the fall of the heavenly Ganga, Shiva himself would be charged with checking the progress of her descent. 

iii. Bhagiratha then resumed his penance and worship of Shiva. 

iv. After one year, the pleased God Shiva appeared and promised the King Bhagiratha that he would carry the Ganga on his head.

 v. The river plunged down from the sky with great force, landing on Shiva’s head, but lost her way, meandering amidst his matted hair. 

vi. For some years she wandered among Shiva’s locks. Eventually he let her flow into the lake Bindu. It was a magnificent site to see her flowing down from the sky, with all the Gods and celestial beings gathered to witness the exceptional event.  vii. Her waters were filled with quantities of crocodiles,, fish, all sorts of aquatic creatures, and swarms of geese which accompanied her on her way to earth.  viii. Through its contact with Shiva’s body, the water became endowed with the property of washing away sins. Everyone rejoiced, hosts of people bathed in the river and, refreshed, they followed her progress.

GANGA’S JOURNEY TOWARDS THE SEA

1. Bhagiratha led the way in his royal chariot and the Ganga followed in his tracks through the plains of ‘Aryabarta’ towards the east........

2. Then Ganga flowed through the plains with great force, and it flowed through the Ashrama of a sage called Jhanu. 

3. The sage was so angry he simply took the Ganga and swallowed it. 

4. Then Bhagiratha prayed to Jahnu, “Please release it.” Then he released it through the ear. 

5. Because it [Ganga] came out of the ear of Jahnu Rishi, Ganga is called by another name, JAHNAVI. 

6. Then it flowed, and it flowed and at last they arrived on the shore of the ocean and entered into the huge hole previously dug by the sons of Sagara. As soon as their ashes came into contact with the water they ascended to the world of Gods. 

7. Since her presence on earth is due to King Bhagiratha, hence Ganga is also known as BHAGIRATHI, the daughter of King Bhagiratha. 8. Since, Shiva carried the Goddess in his head, Shiva’s another name is GANGADHARA (the carrier of Ganga).

THE POPULAR BELIEF SAYS – “SAGE JAHNU’S ASHRAM WAS THE PRESENT-DAY ISLAND OF AJGAIBINATH AT SULTANGANJ”

1. Close to Sultanganj, on the river Ganges is a rocky island called as JAHNGIRA. 

2. The river takes a turn to the north and a rocky promontory of the mainland, facing the island, is known as ‘Bais Karan’. 

3. Both the spots had thus acquired sanctity and had been adorned with monuments from ancient times. 

4. The sanctity of the place is locally associated with the famous epic legend of Sage JAHNU which makes the River Ganges the ‘daughter of this royal sage and whence the river is also known as JAHNAVI’.

5. From the contents of this legend it would appear that the original Sanskrit name of the place was ‘JAHNAVIGIRI’ from which the existing name has been corrupted in an abbreviated form.

EXCERPTS OF ‘NARADIYA AND SKANDHA PURANAS’ CONTRADICT SULTANGANJ’S CLAIM AND DESCRIBE ‘KAHALGAON RIVER ISLAND’, AS THE LEGENDERY ‘SAGE JAHNU’S ASHRAM’

1. According to Naradiya Purana, that Ganga is known by ‘Jahnu-Hrad (Jahnu Lake) near Kahalgaon, where there was sage Jahnu’s Hermitage, where he drank the whole water of GANGES. 

2. Naradiya Purana (Uttara Khand) describes ‘Sultanganj’ as the KALASH TIRTHA and next comes the JAHNU-HRAD (further east), which is the SANGAM (meeting point) of rivers Ganga and Kaushiki (River Kosi). 

3. KAUSHIKI has been described as the sister of sage Vishwamitra in the Puranas. 

4. In the ancient period, the river Kosi used to meet Ganga in front of Kahalgaon town and later the ‘meeting point’ shifted further north towards ‘Bateshwar Sthan (Pattharghata)’. 

5. Now the meeting point has shifted 10 Km downstream towards north-east from Kahalgaon. 

6. The ‘Skandha Purana (Rewa Khand)’ further substantiates ‘Naradiya Purana’ that the hermitage of Sage Jahnu was at Kahalgaon by describing, “After the great penance and worship of King Bhagiratha; the sage JAHNU released GANGA, who then moved northwards (Uttar Vahini)”.

11TH CENTURY BOOK, ‘TRISTHALISETU’ ALSO CONFIRMED SAGE JAHNU HERMITAGE TO BE AT KAHALGAON RIVER-ISLAND

1. This is to be noted that in Sultanganj, River Ganga flows towards north for few miles but Ganga flows for ‘TWO YOJANAS (16 KM)’, where there was JHANU’S HERMITAGE, according to the 11TH CENTURY BOOK, ‘TRISTHALISETU’. 

2. The northward flow of river Ganges near Kahalgaon starts from ‘Ghogha railway station to ‘Jarlahighat’ and ‘Karhaghat’ in the north spanning about 16 KM stretch, where rivers Ganga and Koshi meet.

3. Interestingly, the 16 Km stretch of Ganges from the three River-islands towards north; resembles an ‘GIGANTIC LAKE (JAHNU HRAD) as mentioned in both Puranas.. 

4. Incidentally, the northward flow of the River Ganga at Sultanganj was for only few miles from ancient times and the old stream is originally flowed eastward.

MYTHOLOGY AND HISTORY EMBRACES EACH OTHER IN KAHALGAON

THE ROCK-CUT TEMPLE IN THE SOUTHERN ISLAND

1. Cunningham visited the three river-islands in 1879-80 and found the rock-cut temple in the southern island. 

2. It is carved out of a single boulder of granite, the shrine chamber inside being only 4’ deep, 1’ 10” broad and 2.5’ high. 

3. Externally it is 12’ x 11’ and 20’ high with its roof imitating the horse-shoe vault as seen in Buddhist caves in Western India. 

4. According to Bloch, the temple may not be later than 800 to 900 AD.

5. Cunningham observed that the rock cut temple was the Brahmanical Temple referred to by Xuan Zang (Hiuen Tsang) in 7th Century AD.

6. Guru Nanak Dev also visited Kahalgaon and had been to River-Islands in the 15th Century.

THE AGE OF COMPILATION OF ‘NARADIYA AND SKANDHA PURANAS’

1. The Puranas (Sanskrit: पुराण purāṇa, "of ancient times") are Hindu religious texts that are part of the Vedas. 

2. They contain narratives about the history of the Universe from creation to destruction and the genealogies of kings, heroes, sages, and demigods. Some of the Puranas are discourses on cosmology, geography and Hindu philosophy. They are usually written in the form of a dialogue.

3. Vyasa, the narrator of the Mahabharata, is traditionally considered the compiler of the Puranas. 

4. The earliest written versions were compiled during the time of the Gupta Empire (4 - 6 century CE) and much of the material may be dated, through historical references and comparative studies, to this period and the succeeding centuries. 

5. The texts were collected from all over India and because of the similarities that are found throughout the texts, it is not possible to trace the line of influence of one Purana upon another, so the corpus is best viewed as a synchronous whole. 

6. The date of the earliest written texts does not define the date of origin of the Puranas. They were transmitted orally before being written down, while at the same time, they have been modified well into the 16th century and beyond.

7. Serious work on the Puranas began when the All India Kashiraj Trust was formed under the patronage and guidance of Dr. Vibhuti Narayan Singh, the Maharaja of Kashi, which, in addition to producing critical editions of the Puranas, also published the journal Puranam.

8. Rocher Wilson states that Naradiya Purana are of likely recent composition, probably 16th or 17th century, because the five manuscripts he reviewed had verses mentioning certain events after Islamic invasion and control of the Indian subcontinent. The Naradiya Purana, was likely composed after the Brihannarada Purana i.e. after 11th Century AD, according to R. C. Hazra. 9. Skandha Purana existed in the 9th Century AD.

THE FINAL OBSERVATION

1. From the 6th Century AD on wards some changes occurred in the social organisation.

2. In the Gangetic plains, in North India the vaishyas were regarded as free peasants, but land grants created landlords between the peasants on the one hand, and the King on the other, so that the vaishyas became as good as the shudras.

3. In this way the old Brahmanical order was modified. 

4. This modified social order spread from North India into Bengal and South India as a result of land-grants to the Brahmanas, brought from the north, from 5th-6th Centuries onwards.

5. In the outlying areas from North India, we find mainly two orders, the Brahmanas and Shudras.

6. The status of woman was degraded, though SHAKTI worship was manifested in various forms and rituals.

7. The’ wish was for a son’ to continue the lineage; had been the typical mindset of male dominated Patriarchal society, was set in; which signaled that the medieval period had set in.

8. The glorification of the River Ganga signify the triumphant march of new concept of agricultural society of Northern India towards the virgin land of the east and converting the tribal economy to self-sufficient village based feudal economy.

9. Lastly, the River Ganges and its adjacent land route provided the main link of cultural exchange between the North and the eastern India during sixth to 16th Century AD.

PICTURES

1. Descent of Ganga from Heaven by Raja Ravi Verma

2. Goddess Ganga on ‘Makara’

3. Sage Jahnu drinking water of Ganges

4. Three River Islands

5. The Rock-cut Temple of Kahalgaon

6. Kahalgaon Ganga resembling Gigantic Lake (Jhanu Hrad)

7. Returning from visiting three Islands

8. Two of the three islands from the River Bank during sun-set

(c) Copyright of Prabuddha Biswas