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CULTURAL DATA IN TILAKAMANJARI
189
Amaranimnagā' is another variant for nākamandākini. Bhāgirathi according to Dr. B. C. Law is the same as the river Gangā?. This river is mentioned in the Harivanía (I. 15) and in the Yoginītantra (2, 4, 128-29). It is so called because Bhagiratha brought this sacred river (Brahmändapurāņa II 18. 42). A sacred spot called Hamsaprapatana lay to its east (Matsyapurāņa 106. 32 Brahmānda Purāņa IV 12.44) According to the Vāyupurāņa (77.93) it was fit for Śrāddha. It flows through Suhma in Bengal. According to Sena and Candra copper plates, the Bhāgīrathi is the Ganges. The Naihāti Copper plate of Ballālasena pointed out that the Bhāgirathi was regarded as the Ganges and the queen mother performed a great religious ceremony at its banks on the occasion of the solar eclipse. The Govindapura Copper plate of Lakṣmaṇasena states that the Hooghly river was called Jāhnavi which flowed by the side of Betad in the Howrah district.
Dr. Law has treated' Bhāgirathi Gangā, Mandākini as a complete system known as Ganges system which includes the rivers of the Mid land (Madhyadeśa). The number of its tributaries, as known to the classical writers was nineteen. Though the Ganges and the Indus' were known to them as the two largest rivers in India, the former was taken as the greater of the two. The Ganges is known by various other names such as Vişnupadī, Jāhnavī, Mandākini, Bhāgirathi etc. The Mahābhārata traces the sources of the Ganges to Bindusara. The Pāli works refer to the southern face of the Anottata lake as the source of the Ganges. According to modern Geographers the Bhāgirathi first comes to light near Gangotri in the territory of Garhwal. At Devaprāg it is joined on the left side by the Alaknandā. From Devaprāg the united stream is called the Ganges. Its descent by the Dehra Dun is rather rapid to Haridvār, also called the Gangādvāra or the Gate of the Ganges. From Haridvār down to Bulandshahr the Ganges has a southerly course, after which it flows in a south-easterly direction up to
1. TM Vol. III. p. 155. 2. HGAI p. 171. 3. Dhoyi's Pavanadūta V. 36. 4. Inscriptions of Bengal Vol. III p. 97. 5. Ibid. p. 74. 6. HGAI pp. 252-53. 7. HGAI p. 35-37. 8. MC Crindle Ancient India 136 ff. 9. See 285 above.
