Page:History of India Vol 9.djvu/238

There was a problem when proofreading this page.
194
THE ARAB AL-BIRUNI ON HINDU RELIGION

it. Now Mahadeva took the Ganges and put it on his head. When the Ganges could not move away, it became very angry and made a great uproar. However, Mahadeva held it firmly, so that it was not possible for anybody to plunge into it. Then he took part of the Ganges and gave it to Bhagiratha, and this king made the middle one of its seven branches flow over the bones of his ancestors, whereby they became liberated from punishment. Therefore the Hindus throw the burned bones of their dead into the Ganges. The Ganges was also called Bhagiratha, after the name of that king who brought it to earth."

A SACRED LAKE IN INDIA.

In every place to which some particular holiness is ascribed, the Hindus construct ponds intended for

This article is issued from Wikisource. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.