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As I discuss in this question, Vishnu's incarnation sage Kapila burnt the sons of the Rama's ancestor Sagara to ashes. And at the time there was no sacred body of water in the area to put the ashes in. (Because Agastya drank the ocean as I discuss here.) So Sagara's descendant Bhagiratha engaged in Tapasya to get the Ganga river, which was a river in Devaloka, to descend to the Earth so that he could finally scatter the ashes of Sagara's sons. Brahma appeared before Bhagiratha and granted his boon, but the goddess Ganga did not want to leave Devaloka. So she tried to flood the Earth, but then Shiva caught the Ganga river in his hair, and released her in a more measured fashion.

So the Ganga river is said to have its origin point in Shiva's head. Yet Shiva lives on Mount Kailash, and the origin point of the Ganga river is Gangotri. And Gangotri is over 200 kilometers from Mount Kailash. So my question is, why are Gangotri and Mount Kailash so far apart?

What does Hindu scripture say on the subject? One thought I had is that Gangotri is the source of the Bhagirathi river, which is the source stream of the Ganga, but the Ghagara river, another tributary of the Ganga, has its origin point near Kailash. So could it be the Ghagara river, not the Bhagirathi, that originates from Shiva's head? Or could it be that there's a form of Shiva who dwells in Gangotri, and it's from his head that the Bhagirathi originates?

Note that I don't want scientific speculation; I want to know what Hindu scripture says.

SwiftPushkar
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Keshav Srinivasan
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  • You must also consider that Ganga is a river coming from another loka, so the force with which she came cascading down would have required a much bigger form of Mahadeva to trap her in his locks. Obviously he was not 6'2" or something when he trapped Ganga. So maybe the larger form explains the distance. – Surya Apr 14 '17 at 04:15
  • @Surya But isn't the Ganga supposed to be still flowing down from Shiva's hair? By the way, the Ganga river originates from the slow melting of the Gangotri glacier. Perhaps the Gangotri glacier is a form of Shiva. – Keshav Srinivasan Apr 14 '17 at 04:22
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  • The earthly mount kailash is only a reflection of the original kailash. 2. You should avoid deliberate attempts to plug your other questions and answers by providing superfluous references and historical information.
    • –  Apr 14 '17 at 04:27
  • @moonstar2001 OK, but regardless of the status of the "original" Kailash in Shivaloka or wherever, what's relevant here is the Earthly Kailash, because it was on Earth that the Ganga river descended and Shiva caught it. – Keshav Srinivasan Apr 14 '17 at 04:31
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    @moonstar2001 And I don't think these references are superfluous at all; it's valuable to provide context for those who may not be familiar with the story. – Keshav Srinivasan Apr 14 '17 at 04:32
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    @Keshav I don't think Shiva has an endless supply of Ganga in his hair. IMO he brought the river to the glacier and let nature do the rest. Because if I am right, his role was to bring down the force of the river, not act as a supplier of Ganga waters to earth. – Surya Apr 14 '17 at 05:48
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    "what's relevant here is the Earthly Kailash, because it was on Earth that the Ganga river descended and Shiva caught it." No, it is not relevant. All that is relevant is the place that Ganga landed on the earth. Its relative distance from earthly kailash is not of much consequence. –  Apr 14 '17 at 07:15
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    " it's valuable to provide context for those who may not be familiar with the story." That's my contention. They do not provide context; the question would still be complete without these references. They serve to promote those other questions/answers. –  Apr 14 '17 at 07:16
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    Adding 'so what does scripture say' does not make it a valid question. What is the scriptural source for your speculations? Speaking from personal experience, having been to Gangotri and Gomukh, at Gangotri there are rock formations that resemble long locks of hair. I think the story 'grew' around the formation of rocks, in other words, the rocks were there first. But remember, Gangotri and Gomukh are the source of Mother Ganga - not Shiva. Is not Shiva infinite? Cannot He reside on Mount Kailash and have his hair locks flow a few hundred kms if He is infinite? – Swami Vishwananda Apr 14 '17 at 07:31