Rivers are India’s sustenance and relish a superior place in prayers and its traditional practices. There are speckled religious activities which Indians indulge in, perhaps the one considered most divine and sacred is taking a dip in the waters of holy rivers.
We consider that taking a dip in the sanctified rivers would free our souls from the accrued sins and can release us from the wrench of life. So here we list 7 sacred dips in India:
1. The Holy Ganges
Ganga Ghats located at Varanasi is considered to be the most divine places in India. The Ganga Ghats are always full of wayfarers who flock to the place to take a holy dip in the river Ganges. Be it any distinctive festival or daily ritual a holy dip in the Ganges is believed to forgive all from the pains of birth and death.
According to Hindu mythos, Varanasi, the city of Lord Shiva, unshackles souls from the human body.
2. The Brahmagiri Origin: Cauvery
River Cauvery is considered to be a very blessed river of the southern region of India. The river flows through the states of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka in the south-eastern direction. Thousands of believers and wayfarers take a holy dip in Cauvery and worship Lord Shiva during several festivals as mentioned in the Tamil calendar.
The believers indulge themselves in the holy dip and prayer with the credence of attaining Moksha.
3. The Dakshin Ganga
The river Godavari begins at the Western Ghats and flows towards the Eastern Ghats in the southern region of India.
A dip in the river Godavari is considered very sacred. It is believed that according to the Hindu calendar any individual who will take a holy dip here in the month of Makar or Shravan will be able to cleanse his/her sins. After the dip, people take darshan of Lord Shankara in the Someshwar and Kapaleshwar temples.
4. The Yamunotri Origin: Yamuna
Yamuna River is a major river but the most contaminated river of the Indian subcontinent, rising from Yamunotri in the Himalaya Mountains and unites with the Ganges at Triveni Sangam, Allahabad, the site for the Kumbha Mela.
5. The Metaphysical River: Saraswati
Saraswati is a primordial river that flowed in northern India during the Vedic era. Although the river does not have a physical existence today, the ancient river lost in the desert. The Triveni Sangam in Allahabad is a convergence of 3 rivers, the Ganges, Yamuna, and Saraswati, of these three the mythical Saraswati River is indiscernible and is said to flow subversive and join the other two rivers from below and the point of convergence is a sanctified place for Hindus.
6. The Rewa River
The Narmada another holiest of the seven holy rivers of India. Narmada River originates from the Maikala ranges at Amarkantak in Madhya Pradesh and flows between the Vindhya and Satpura ranges in a generally south-western direction and emptying into the Gulf of Cambay, an inlet of the Arabian Sea India.
Lord Shiva’s Omkareshwar temple is on the banks of Narmada River situated in the Khandwa district of Madhya Pradesh. Huge flocks of pilgrims visit this holy place.
7. The Shipra River
The Shipra, also identified as the Kshipra rises in the Vindhya Range and flows south across the Malwa Plateau to join the Chambal River. It is one of the hallowed rivers in Hinduism. The holy city of Ujjain is situated on its right bank.
Ujjain is a prehistoric city of Malwa region in central India and well-known for one of the twelve celebrated Jyotir Lingas in India known as Mahakaleshwar. In every 12 years, the Kumbh Mela festival takes place on the city and masses of people take holy dip and bath in the holy river Shipra.
