Brahmputra- My Favorite River

Brahmputra- My Favorite River

One day suddenly a question cropped up in my mind what is the folk story behind river Brahmputra- according to folktales how it originated....the origin of Ganges is well known...seeing mighty Gangotri( on T।V। ofcourse...:)) I could visualize Ganges decending down from Heaven to Earth and Lord Shiva standing on Himalaya absorbing the might of Ganga in his tresses॥What a heavenly sight that might have been....River Brahmputra is equally mighty river, may be mighter, (The total length of Ganges is 2523 km while Brahmputra is 2880 km long) so I was curious to know about the folk tales attached to it....Well I went on a searching spree but to no avail....whatever books I could lay my hands on mentioned only one fact that Warrior Saint Parshuram washed his weapon in this river after murdering his mother and had no remorse...So disgusting...inT.V. programs I had often seen and heard about the havoc that Brahmputra creates for people living on its banks...yet somehow I like this river and I felt every thing can't be negative about it...Well! Well! finally I found a book in hindi titled "Brahmputra ki kahani" written by Shankar Baam published by Gyan Ganga,205-C,Chawri Bazar,Delhi-110006.


I found the story very endearing। Let me share a part of the story with you,I hope you will also find it as intersting as I found...I will be glad if any of my readers can add any more folktales related with this mighty River....
In India all rivers flow from one direction to another, that is either from north to south or from east to west and so on॥Brahmputra is the only river that flows in such a way that it moves in all four directions। We, Indians also have a tradition of addressing our rivers as either mother or sister or daughters, e.g., Ganges is called mother( Ganga Maiya), Sage Vishwamitr considered river Tamsa as his sister, river Yamuna is known as sister of Yamraj, the God of death, and river Tapti in Gujrat is also known as the daughter of Sun. Sun is considered to be father of Yamraj, so by default, Tapti also becomes yamraj's sister...but river Brahmputra is neither considered as mother nor sister of anybody. One of the stories from Brahmpuraan about the origin of Brahmputra is that once LOrd Brahma was requested to create the universe. Lord Brahma accepted this request and started creating the Universe. He created water, air, light, sun, moon, other planets, earth etc. This was a tedious task, he was totally faged out, sweating profousely he sat down on Kailas mountain to take some rest. When devatas saw this from heaven, they decided to dig a pond nearby and collect his sweat in that. Brahma ji was sweating so profousely that this pond got converted into a lake and is known as Mansarovar lake. This water remained unsued for number of years. One day when Brahma ji was relaxing, the goddess of that water started praying to please Brahma. Ultimately Brahma had to open his eyes, he saw a girl standing in front of him with folded hands. Brahma ji was surprised. He asked who are you and where do you stay? Have you prayed to get my attention? The girl bowed her head and informed him that she was born out of his own sweat and that she lives in Mansarovar lake. So I am your daughter in a way and you can give me any name of your choice. Brahma thought for a moment and then said "yes ! you are my daughter in a way and from today onwards you will be called Brahmputra".I am happy with your prayers and will be happy to grant a boon of your choice. (Now see the irony that struck me....here is a creator who is accepting that she is his daughter but gives the name Brahmputra. The literal translation of Brahmputra will be son of Brahm.. I wonder when this story was constructed what must be the attitudes of people towards females and males. Today we say that in Vedic times the status of women was much better and they were treated as equal to men, but this story smacks of prejudice against women.) Brahmputra starts saying that O Lord! three rivers-Ganga, Jamuna and Saraswati are considered very pure and the ones who can liberate human beings from the misery of birth and rebirth.People have lot of respect for them. Taking bath in these rivers is considered very pious act..not only that people even take their water at home and put it in the mouth of a dying person, so that he can get liberated from this world. Brahma lost his patience and said please come to the point..
Brahmputra said with all humility I want you to grant me a boon that I should be equally respected and should have equal powers as the other three rivers. Brahma smiled and started explaining to her that all five fingers of a hand are not equal, similarly you should not try to compare yourself with somebody else. Every one has their own specialities and that is why they have their own importance. Everybody enjoys, in their present lives, the fruits of their good deeds done in the past life. You are my daughter in this life but in the past you have done something because of which you have been cursed that you should live your present life in lonely, unhabitated, useless land where there will be snow and cold every where. Even if I grant your wish, because of that curse you will have to remain in this snow clad unhabitated place and you will be of no use to anybody.So leave this insane desire and be happy with whatever you have got. With these words Brahma ji left the place. Brahmputra kept quite but she was not satisfied with this situation. Her ambition to be equal to Ganga in stature was consuming her entire being. She kept walking on kailas moutain and reached at Lord Shiva's abode. Suddenly she saw a ray of hope. She sat down outside his house and started praying to please Lord Shiva. She was determined to please Lord Shiva with her prayers in such a way that he should be forced to grant her wishes. She prayed for number of years. She was totally oblivion to her surroundings or even towards her body while praying. Her body was covered with grass growing on it, the birds made nests, but she was oblivion to all this. Lord Indra sent Urvashi and Rambha from heaven to disturb her meditation but to no avail. They tried their level best to distract her but could not succeed. Finally, Lord Shiva was pleased and graced her with his presence. He asked her to ask for any boon. With all humility she repeated her desire that she should have same stature as Ganga and Jamuna and pople should pray to her also, that she should also have powers to liberate people of their sins and from the hassels of birth-rebirth. Lord Shiva granted her wish and said "So be it. Whatever benefit people get by taking bath in river Ganga and jamuna, the same benefit they will get by just looking at you", and from that day onwards, river Brahmputra started flowing from Mansarovar lake to north east parts of India before ending its journey in Bay of Bengal.
According to another folklore, Brahmputra is known as Sun's sister and yamuna's paternal aunt, that is father's sister/ bua....isn't it interesting॥
There is another folktale about the origin of Brahmputra॥that will be in next post....:)

ब्रह्मपुत्र ब्रहमा शिवा