Consort.2C shakti and mother Ganges in Hinduism

shiva, gangadhara, bearing descent of ganga, goddess parvati, sage bhagiratha, , bull nandi on (circa 1740).

it shiva s relationship ganga best-known in ganga theology. descent, avatarana, not 1 time event, continuously occurring 1 in forever falling heaven locks , being forever tamed. shiva depicted in hindu iconography gangadhara, bearer of ganga, ganga, shown spout of water, rising hair. shiva-ganga relationship both perpetual , intimate. shiva called uma-ganga-patiswara ( husband , lord of uma (parvati) , ganga ), , ganga arouses jealousy of shiva s better-known consort parvati.

ganga shakti or moving, restless, rolling energy in form of otherwise recluse , unapproachable shiva appears on earth, showing how life on earth moving forward, never in same place. water, moving energy can felt, tasted, , absorbed. war-god skanda addresses sage agastya in kashi khand of skanda purana in these words:

one should not amazed ... ganga power, not supreme shakti of eternal shiva, taken in form of water?

this ganga, filled sweet wine of compassion, sent out salvation of world shiva, lord of lords.

good people should not think triple-pathed river thousand other earthly rivers, filled water.

the ganga mother, ganga mata (mata= mother ) of hindu worship , culture, accepting , forgiving all. unlike other goddesses, has no destructive or fearsome aspect, destructive though might river in nature. mother other gods. accepts shiva s incandescent seed fire-god agni, hot world, , cools in waters. union produces skanda, or kartikeya, god of war. in mahabharata, wife of shantanu, , mother of heroic warrior-patriarch, bhishma. when bhishma mortally wounded in battle, ganga comes out of water in human form , weeps uncontrollably on body. noted bhishma brought own downfall abducting , disgracing princess named amba wish married.

the ganga distilled lifeblood of hindu tradition, of divinities, holy books, , enlightenment. such, worship not require usual rites of invocation (avahana) @ beginning , dismissal (visarjana) @ end, required in worship of other gods. divinity immediate , everlasting, long river survives.