River Bhagirathi

Courtesy : Mr.Gopala Krishnan

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1.Introduction

Many of our iyer girls are named Bhaagirathi or Bhaagirathi Ammal, shortened to Bhagi and called sometimes. However there are Bhageeratha Iyers also. I could meet one Mr. Bhageeratha iyer from Trivandrum, if I recollect, in charge of Kalmandapam (Chennai) telephone exchange in 75's. Other Hindu communities too have name like Bhaagirathi Amma and Bhageerathan Nair as well as Bhagi.

It comes to me the painting of king Bhageeratha doing penance by Raja Ravi varma. This picture in which river Ganga is shown as Goddess with back ground of flowing water descending was adorning in one of the walls of my Pandalam samooha matam on those days. Though we say Bhagirathi is another name for Ganga actually it is a tributary of Ganga as we read through.

I have to mention also about word Bhageeratha Prayatnam a commonly used word for achieving some thing by very hard work in Malayalam as well as Tamil. I feel getting a suitable bride for a boy with in our community today is felt by many as an achievement by Bhageeratha prayatnam. Let me proceed with river Bhagirathi

2. Bhagirathi – origin

Bhagirathi is a turbulent Himalayan river in the state of Uttarakhand, India that is the source stream of the Ganges—the major river of the Gangetic plain of Northern India and the holy river of Hinduism.

2.Etymology

The word "Bhagirathi" (Sanskrit, literally, "caused by Bhagiratha") refers to a mythological Sagar Dynasty prince Bhagiratha , who, to gain the release his 60,000 great-grand fathers from the curse of saint Kapila, brought the goddess Ganga in the form of the river Ganges, from the heavens to the earth. Though all elders may well know for the sake of youngsters and kids let me just brief the story.

3.Mythology- Bhagirathy -The River From Heaven

According to the Indian mythology King Sagar had 60,000 sons. He defeated all the asuras in the earth and wanted to perform an Ashwamedha Yagya to declare his supremacy. For this as per the norms prevalent for Aswamedha yaga, he sent his horse across the earth accompanied by his sons

The King of Heaven, Lord Indra feared the power of King Sagar and desired to stop him. Indra stole the aswamedha horse and tied it to the ashram of Sage Kapil. When the 60,000 sons saw the horse in Kapil's ashram they got furious and started to attack the hermitage. Sage Kapil was in deep meditation and on hearing the disturbance he opened his eyes in anger and all the 60,000 sons of King Sagar were reduced to ashes, except for prince Asamanjas. His son was king Anshuman.
Slightly makku persons we call Asamanju. Do king Asamanju was a makku? There was a Tamil film named "Pareekshaikku neramachhu" acted by Late Sivaji Ganesan and Sujatha and YG Mahendra as the asamanju son…. Many may think of it now.

Anshuman the grandson of King Sagar brought the horse back from the Sage and asked for his forgiveness. Sage Kapil told him that the sons could be brought to life only if Ganga is brought from heaven to earth. Neither Anshuman nor his son Dilip could be successful in this task. But Dilip's son, Bhagiratha was determined to get this task done. SO EARLIER TO KING BHAGIRATHA HIS GRAND FATHER KING ANSHUMAN AND FATHER KING DILIP MADE PRAYERS TO BRING BHAGEERATHI TO EARTH.

King Bhageeratha started meditating intensely for several years and finally Ganga got pleased and descended to the earth. To prevent the earth from flooding, Lord Shiva received Ganga on his matted locks. King Bhagiratha then worshipped Lord Shiva and Shiva blessed him and released Ganga from his locks in seven streams. The water of Ganga touched the ashes of Sagar sons who rose to the their eternal rest in heaven. As I stated earlier Ganga is referred as Bhageerathi also.

The seven tributaries of Ganga are Bhagirathi, Janhvi, Bhilangana, Mandakini, Rishiganga, Saraswati and Alaknanda, which merge into Ganga at Devprayag.

The rock on which King Bhagiratha is believed to have meditated, is called Bhagiratha Shila and is located near the temple of Ganga.

4.Course of Bhagirathi

The headwaters of the Bhagirathi are formed at Gaumukh at an elevation of 3.9 KMs at the foot of the Gangotri glacier and Khatling glaciers in the Garhwal Himalaya. It is then joined by its tributaries; these are, in order from the source:

1.The Kedar Ganga at Gangotri 2.The Jadh Ganga at Bhaironghati 3.The Kakora Gad and Jalandhari Gad near Harsil 4.The Asi Ganganear Uttarkashi and finally 5.The Bhilangna near Old Tehri . The first three tributaries meet Bhageerathi at an elevation above 2.5 KMs and the later two at an elevation about 1 KM. We have excellent bathing ghats on Bhagirathi at Gangothri. I have also stayed in a Hotel by name Gangothri near Bangalore majestic bus stand .

The Bhilangna itself rises at the foot of the Khatling Glacier at an elevation of 3.7Kms and approximately 50 km south of Gaumukh.

Bhagirathi flows from its source for 205 km before meeting the Alaknanda River at an elevation of 475 m in the town of Devprayag. I hope many may recollect Malayalam Doordarsan TV channel newsreader by name Alaka Nanda. I did never know when she appeared first on News channels, Alakananda was the name of a river at all. It is a very strange name among women of Kerala.

Downstream of this confluence, considered holy by Hindus, the river is known as the Ganga or Ganges River. The controversial Tehri dam lies at the confluence of the Bhâgirathi and the Bhilangna near Tehri.

5. Dams across Bhagirathi

Really while updating from wikipedia my datas, I was astonished to read other than two dams existing another 16 are under construction/ planning across Bhagirathi River .
5.1 Tehri Dam

Tehri Dam is the primary dam of the Tehri Hydro Development Corporation Ltd., a major hydroelectric project cantered near Tehri Town. Located on the Bhagirathi River, the principal tributary of the sacred River Ganges, the Tehri Dam has a height of 855 feet making it the 5th tallest dam in the world.

5.1.1 Tehri dam - Overview

The dam's intended capabilities include a power generation capacity of 2400 MW, provision of irrigation to an area of 270,000 hectares, irrigation stabilization to an area of 600,000 hectares, and a supply of 270 million gallons of drinking water per day to the industrialized areas of Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. There is another smaller dam 14 km downstream at Koteshwar that will produce 400 MW of electricity, and is still considered part of the TDP hydroelectric plan.

5.1.2 Issues raised by Environmental organizations

The Tehri Dam has been an object of active protestation by environmental organizations and local people of the region. In addition to the human rights concerns, the project has spurred concerns about the environmental consequences of locating a large dam in the fragile ecosystem of the Himalayan foothills. There are further concerns regarding the dam's geological stability. The Tehri dam is located in the Central Himalayan Seismic Gap, a major geologic fault zone. This region was the site of a 6.8 magnitude earthquake in October 1991, with an epicenter 500 km from the location of the dam. Dam proponents claim that the complex is designed to withstand an earthquake of 7.2 magnitude, but some seismologists say that earthquakes with a magnitude of 8.5 or more could occur in this region. Were such a catastrophe to occur, the potentially resulting dam-break would submerge numerous towns downstream, whose populations total near half a million.

The relocation of more than 100,000 people from the area has led to protracted legal battles over resettlement rights, and ultimately resulted in the project's delayed completion.

Since 2005 as such filling of the reservoir has led to a reduced flow of Bhagirathi water from the normal 1000 ft³/s to a mere 2 ft³/s. This reduction has been central to local protest against the dam, since the Bhagirathi is considered part of the sacred Ganges whose waters are crucial to Hindu mythology.

At some points during the year, the tampering with Bhagirathi waters means this tributary stops flowing. This has created resentment among many Hindus, as the sanctity of the Ganges has been greatly compromised for the generation of electricity. In spite of concerns and protestation, operation of the Tehri Dam continues, and the complex generated its first unit of electricity in June 2006.

Dear members, many among us are interested in these type of details as a lot of information is provided like a spoon-feeding as a member mentioned in his response. These are all interesting for me also. ( Not interested can simply delete)

5.2 Maneri Bali Dam

Another dam under operation is Maneri Bali dam
It is 78 metres height, produce 90 KW power.

6. Dams under construction and planning

The dams under construction are Lohari nagar Pala, Pala maneri, Koteshwar and Kotibel.
The dams proposed are at Kamoli, Gangothri, Jhat Ganga, Bhairong ghati, Harsil, Bhilagana etc. At some places more than a Dam is proposed.
knr
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