Ganga

"The stream merged in Ganga it became Ganga itself."

"I will lay my bones by the Ganges that India might know there is one who cares."

"The Ganga is the symbol of India's culture, the source of our legend and poetry, the sustainer of millions. Today it is one of the most polluted rivers. We will restore the pristine purity of the Ganga. A Central Ganga Authority will be set up to implement an action plan to prevent the pollution of the Ganga and its tributaries."

"Many environmentalists say that the Ganges has become an embarrassing symbol of government indifference and neglect in a country that regards itself as an economic superpower. "We can send a shuttle into space, we can build the [new] Delhi Metro [subway] in record time. We can detonate nuclear weapons. So why can't we clean up our rivers?" Jaiswal laments. "We have money. We have competence. The only problem is that the issue is not a priority for the Indian government.""

"O water of the river Ganges, thou rememberst the day When our torrent flooded thy valleys..."

"Jaharnavi (Jahnavi) was brought by the ascetic Bhagiratha..."

"If the wine is made from the waters of Sursuri (Ganges), the saintly persons do not drink it; if the impure wine or any ,jf other water, mixes with Sursuri, it becomes the Sursuri itself."

"My desire to have handful of my ashes thrown into the Ganga at Allahabad has no religious significance so far as I am concerned. I have no religious sentiments in the matter. I have been attached to the Ganga and the Jumna rivers since my childhood. As I have grown older, this attachment has also grown. I have watched their varying moods as the seasons changed, and have been though of the history and myth and tradition and song and story that have become attached to them through long ages and become part of their flowing waters. The Ganga, especially, is the river of India, beloved of her people, round which are intertwined her memories, her hopes and fears, her songs of triumph, her victories and her defeats. She has been a symbol of India's age long culture and civilization, ever changing, ever flowing, and yet ever the same Ganga. She reminds of the snow-covered peaks and deep valleys of the Himalayas, which I have loved so much, and of the rich and vast plains below, where my life and work have been cast."

"For India's devout Hindus, the sacred River Ganges is always clean and always pure -- even if its waters are a toxic mix of human sewage, discarded garbage and factory waste. ... Ganges water is well known for its extraordinary resilience and recuperative capacity."

"I am convinced that everything has come down to us from the banks of the Ganges, – astronomy, astrology, metempsychosis, etc."