Das and Giles Elgood. More from Reuters. Sign up for our newsletter Subscribe for our daily curated newsletter to receive the latest exclusive Reuters coverage delivered to your inbox. Sign up. Hindu belief holds that bathing in the river on certain occasions causes the forgiveness of transgressions and helps attain salvation.
Many people believe that this will come from bathing in Ganga at any time. Hindus also believe life is incomplete without bathing in the Ganga at least once in their lifetime. In Hinduism, the nature of the universe and the structure of society are closely linked. Brahman is the ultimate reality and also the name given to the highest priestly caste. The concept of dharma describes both cosmic law and the conduct of individuals in society, including adherence to the social order.
Castes in orthodox Hindu society distinguished among people of priestly, military, merchant, peasant, and untouchable individuals with no social standing castes—now known as dalits and the focus of positive discrimination legislation and job quotas in today's democratic India.
India's most revered river, the Ganges, or Ganga, is formed by the merging of two mountain streams, the Bhagirathi, which is fed by the melting of the Gangotri glacier, and the Alaknanda, at the village of Deoprayag in the foothills of the Himalayas.
The Ganges flows parallel to, but several hundred miles south of, the Himalayas as it crosses northern India on its route east to the Bay of Bengal. Its tributaries bring down sediment-filled water from the mountains, which help create a wide, fertile plain that provides food and sustenance for nearly a billion people.
The river has played a vital role in the growth of the civilizations that developed along its shores, not only in terms of agriculture but commerce as well, and been worshipped by Hindus since ancient times.
According to Hindu mythology, the Ganges is a goddess, Ganga, who dwelled in the heavens until a human king, Bhagiratha, prayed to the god Brahma to have her descend to Earth. Bhagiratha made this request in order to help cleanse and release the souls of his ancestors who had been burnt to death and condemned to wander in the nether-world.
Although Brahma granted Bhagiratha's wish, Ganga was displeased and threatened to descend with such force that it would destroy the Earth.
Bhagiratha then prayed to the god Shiva , who caught Ganga in his hair and released her in small streams to the Earth. A daily garment worn by women throughout India, the sari, also spelled saree, is a single piece of seamless cloth that is five to nine yards long and draped around the body. Thought to be in use in the Indian subcontinent for thousands of years, the sari can be wrapped in numerous ways, depending on the region, social class, and ethnic background of the wearer.
Today, the Nivi style, which began to be widely adopted in the midth century, is the most popular. Woven on both hand and power looms, saris are made of cotton, silk, and synthetic fibers and commonly worn with two foundational garments: the pavada, a thin, cotton petticoat that extends to the ankles and is secured at the waist with a drawstring and a tailored short-sleeve or sleeveless blouse that is fitted and covers the bosom.
In the Nivi style, most of the cloth is wrapped around the lower part of the body and pleated and tucked into the pavada at the center of the waist.
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