Ganges has been personified by goddess Ganga who according to Hindu mythology has descended from the heaven into the Himalayas and then it flows into the Indian plains. Ganga is thus believed to be a bridge between the heaven and the earth. As a goddess she has flown among the great celestial of Hinduism, sometimes the daughter of Brahma, the wife of Shiva, the metaphysical product of Vishnu and sometimes the mother of the Vasus and the Kartikeya. Can a river so divine be ever polluted? The holy water of Ganga plays a vital role in religious Hindu ceremonies, in rituals of birth and initiation of marriage and death. The water that is said to purify all. How can itself be polluted? Besides the river Ganga has been the cradle of human civilization since time immemorial. It was on the banks of this great river that many beautiful kingdoms and towns came up. It was again on the banks of this mighty river that the great Indian race discovered and nurtured its deep philosophical moorings.

My conviction that Ganga can never be polluted finds its roots in this very faith and belief. But it derives its strength from certain scientific facts. And for my dear opponents who seem to be cynical about our cultural beliefs, i have some factual details which would certainly stir their rational but rigid minds. Ganga is a perennial river whose source is still a mystery for the geologists. It is first seen at goumukh and above goumukh it flows for a long distance beneath the glaciers .it is a snow –fed river having a voluminous flow and thus can never be polluted.

The water of this river is considered pure not just because the Puranas, the Mahabharata and the Ramayana have sung the glory of it but because there are scientific reasons behind. Ganga water never gets polluted even when stored. It also has a microorganism known as bacteriophage, which has the special property of killing the bacteria present in the water and this has been proved by studies carried on in 1983. .it was seen that many organisms like e coli, faecal streptococci, vibrio cholerae organisms die two or three times faster in Ganga water as compared to any other river water. Scientists are also of the opinions that Ganga flows through certain rocks of sulphur origin. Sulphur in turn gives Ganga its self- purification power

I rest my case with a quote from Jawaharlal Nehru “she is a symbol of India’s age long culture and civilization, ever flowing and yet ever the same Ganga.”

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