Bhagavad Gita · Mahabharata Codex

Ganga

गङ्गा · gaṅgā

Goddess of the river Ganges; mother of Bhishma

She drowned seven sons as an act of mercy.

Ganga is the holiest of India's rivers, said to flow from heaven through Shiva's hair down to the plains. As King Shantanu's wife she bore the eight Vasus, who had been cursed to human birth, and released seven of them at once by giving them to her waters. The eighth she raised and returned to his father: Bhishma. Krishna says that among rivers he is the Ganga.