स्कंद पुराण में कहा गया है कि ’त्रिभिः सारस्वतं पुण्यं समाहेन तु यामुनम्‌। साद्यः पुनाति गांगेयं दर्शनादेव नर्मदा॥’ The Narmada River is considered the mother and giver of peace. Legend has it that the mere sight of this river is enough to cleanse one’s soul, as against a dip in the Ganga or seven in the Yamuna.

Those countries and those points of the compass that are destitute of the sacred waters of Ganga are like nights without the moon or like trees without flowers.

While the Ganga is mentioned only sparingly in the Rig Veda, it is in the Purans that the stories about the Ganga come into their own. Ganga, a beautiful vivacious young woman, it is said, was born out of Lord Brahma’s kamandalu (water vessel). There are two versions about this particular birth. One proclaims that Brahma washed Lord Vishnu’s feet after the latter got the universe rid of the demon Bali in his reincarnation as Vaman, and collected this water in his kamandalu.

LORD KARTIKEYA DESCRIBES THE MAJESTY OF KASHI

Sage Agastya and his wife Lopamudra circumambula…

Sage Agastya asked Lord Kartikeya how the sacrosanct place, Kashi came into being. He also asked how Kashi became famous as a place capable of giving salvation to a man…