In India, rivers have a very deep sacred rank because they are undoubtedly life-givers. They are fosterers of agriculture, drink providers and settlement. It is this essential reliance that is the root of the high level of reverence by all things rivers, that are not just physical manifestations, but reality and life-givers to humankind that is fundamental to comfort and success in the Indian civilization.
Rivers are actually deified in Indian scriptures. They are also considered as deities (goddesses) in the Rig Veda with the Ganges (Ganga) being the most important one. It is believed that when one bathes in her waters it absolves sins and purifies the soul. Rivers are not simple objects, elements of the Lord, but living divine actors on the stage of spiritual liberty (moksha) as well as in the necessary rituals of Hindus.
The focus is personification. Rivers are treated as potent deities; Ganga as a merciful mother who falls down in the sky and Yamuna as a lover of Lord Krishna. This goddess represents the ideas of feminine beauty, fecundity and virginity, and life-giving force of the flowing water in the Indian religion.
India has her roots in sacred rivers which constitute an extremely important part of the culture and past of this country and nation. Existing in ancient cultures such as the Indus Valley, they raised and supported them. Millions are visiting its banks: countless pilgrimage sites (tirthas) abound. Rivers determine where people will live, what and how to farm, how communities are organized and establish an interdependent connection between religion, economy, and social organization.
This holy virtue necessitates the feeling of environmental custodianship. Defiling a deity is sacrilege. The original Indian philosophy is keen on peaceful coexistence with nature whereby rivers are considered as living, God-like things. Conserving their purity becomes a spiritual obligation that they cannot do away with considering their sacred status.
Conclusion :
It is considered sacred in India that rivers are the source of life, prosperity and civilization which are hard to deny. That they are expressly made personifications of gods in scriptures, an indispensable part of purification rites, and an embedded part of cultural identity puts them above geography. This respect creates the sense of spiritual mandate to safeguard these important manifestations of the divine.
