Ganga Puja

What is Ganga Puja?

Ganga Puja, widely known as Ganga Dussehra, celebrates the descent of Mother Ganga. Vaishnavas honour her as the water that has touched the lotus feet of Lord Vishnu. The festival is kept on the tenth lunar day of Jyaistha, which comes in May or June, and in 2027 that day is Sunday, 13 June.

Significance

Srimad-Bhagavatam relates that when Lord Vishnu appeared as Vamanadeva, He pierced the covering of the universe with the nail of His toe. Through that opening the pure water of the Causal Ocean entered the universe as the Ganges. Because she touches the Lord's lotus feet first, she is called Visnupadi. She is also called Jahnavi, and Bhagirathi after Bhagiratha, whose austerities brought her to earth. In the Bhagavad-gita Lord Krishna says that among flowing rivers He is the Ganges. Of her power to purify, the Bhagavatam says:

Every living being can immediately purify his mind of material contamination by touching the transcendental water of the Ganges, yet its waters remain ever pure.

Srimad-Bhagavatam 5.17.1

How to observe it

If you can reach the Ganga, bathe in her. If you cannot, purify yourself with Ganga water kept at home and offer prayers to Lord Vishnu, from whose feet she flows. Hear also the story of Bhagiratha, who prayed for the river to come down so that he could perform the rites for his ancestors, the sons of Sagara. This date is also the appearance day of Srimati Gangamata Gosvamini and the disappearance day of Sri Baladeva Vidyabhusana.