Rivers in Hinduism
In Hinduism, rivers are often personified as deities. In the Rigveda, there are mentions of holy rivers such as the Sarasvati. The river Ganges is considered to be most sacred, and is also personified as the goddess Ganga. Most of the rivers are represented in female form, with the notable exception of Brahmaputra, which is considered to be male. The most significant rivers in the faith are the Saptanadi and which includes the Ganges, Yamuna, Sindhu, Narmada, Godavari, Krishna, and Kaveri.
Deities
Ganga
The Vedas and Puranas mention the river Ganges to be the most sacred river. In some legends, the goddess Ganga is daughter of Himavan and Menavati. She is the sister of the mother goddess, Parvati. She is the goddess of purity and purification, as people believe that bathing in the Ganges removes sins and helps in gaining moksha. Her mount is a creature called the makara.A legend in the Bhagavata Purana and Devi Bhagavata Purana describes Ganga as originally being one of the three wives of Vishnu, along with Lakshmi and Saraswati. In the midst of a conversation, Saraswati observed that Ganga playfully kept glancing at Vishnu, behind Lakshmi and her back. Frustrated, Saraswati launched a furious tirade against Ganga, accusing her of stealing Vishnu's love away from her. When Ganga appealed to her husband to help her, he opted to remain neutral, not wishing to participate in a quarrel between his three wives, whom he loved equally. When Lakshmi attempted to soothe Saraswati's anger by reasoning with her, the jealous goddess grew angry with her as well, accusing her of disloyalty towards her. She cursed Lakshmi to be born as the tulasi plant upon the earth. Ganga, now enraged that Lakshmi had been cursed because she had defended her, cursed Saraswati that she would be incarnated as a river on earth. Saraswati issued the same curse against Ganga, informing her that sinful men would cleanse themselves of their sins with her water.
A prominent legend of Ganga is her descent from Svarga, the heaven of the devas. Bhagiratha, a king of the Solar dynasty, is stated to have performed a penance to propitiate Ganga, and urged her to descend upon earth from Svarga to liberate his ancestors' spirits, who had perished in Patala, the netherworld. She informed him that her descent would be powerful enough to flood the earth were she to directly land upon its ground, and hence told him to request Shiva to help. Bhagiratha performed another penance to propitiate the destroyer deity, and Shiva agreed to lend his assistance. When Ganga descended upon the earth, Shiva captured her waters in his matted hair, and released her gently upon the earth. Heeding Bhagiratha's request, she flowed to Patala to ritually cleanse his ancestors' spirits, and then flowed into the ocean.
Yamuna
Yamuna, or Yami, is the personification of the Yamuna river. She is described to be daughter of Surya, the sun god, and Saranyu, the cloud goddess. She is the goddess of life, and the twin of Yama, the god of the underworld. Her other sibling is Tapati, another river goddess. In later texts, she is known as Kalindi. In the Bhagavata Purana, in a legend that is associated with canal irrigation, the deity Balarama once wished to sport with some women in the Yamuna river. When he beckoned the goddess Yamuna to come to him, she refused to shift from her banks. Hence, Balarama used his plough, and forcibly dragged the river goddess to the orchard where he stood.Saraswati
The goddess Saraswati was originally represented as a river goddess, the goddess of the eponymous Saraswati River. She later developed into one of the principal goddesses in Hinduism, regarded to be the goddess of knowledge, music, speech, and art. The Sarasvati river is mentioned in the Rigveda, and is believed to have dried up through the course of time.In some texts, it is written that once there was a terrible battle between the Bhargavas and Hehayas, and from this an all-consuming fire called Vadavagni was born, which had the potential to destroy the whole world. Indra, Vishnu, and the devas visited Saraswati, requesting her to deposit the fire in the western ocean, in order to protect the universe. Saraswati told Vishnu that she would only agree to assist them if her consort, Brahma, told her to do so. Brahma ordered her to deposit the Vadavagni in the western ocean. Saraswati agreed, and accompanied by Ganga, she left Brahmaloka, and arrived at Sage Uttanka's ashrama. There, she met Shiva, who had decided to carry Ganga. He gave the Vadavagni in a pot to Saraswati, and told her to originate from the plaksha tree. Saraswati merged with the tree, and transformed into a river. From there, she flowed towards Pushkara. Saraswati continued her journey towards the ocean, and stopped once at Pushkarini, where she redeemed humans from their sins. At last, she reached the end of her journey, and immersed the fire into the ocean.