The Ganges ( ;) or Ganga, ( Ganga ; Gônga), is a trans-boundary river of India and Bangladesh. The river rises in the western Himalayas in the Indian state of Uttarakhand, and flows south and east through the Gangetic Plain of North India into Bangladesh, where it empties into the Bay of Bengal. By discharge it ranks among the world's top 20 rivers. The Ganges basin is the most heavily populated river basin in the world, with over 400 million people and a population density of about .

The Ganges is the most sacred river to Hindus and is also a lifeline to millions of Indians who live along its course and depend on it for their daily needs. It is worshiped as the goddess ''Ganga'' in Hinduism. It has also been important historically: many former provincial or imperial capitals (such as Patliputra, Kannauj, Kara, Kashi, Allahabad, Murshidabad, Munger, Baharampur and Kolkata) have been located on its banks.

The Ganges ranks among the top five most polluted rivers of the world with fecal coliform levels in the river near Varanasi more than hundred times the official Indian government limits. Pollution threatens not only humans, but also more than 140 fish species, 90 amphibian species and the endangered Ganges river dolphin. The Ganga Action Plan, an environmental initiative to clean up the river, has been a major failure thus far, due to corruption and lack of technical expertise, lack of good environmental planning, Indian traditions and beliefs, and lack of support from religious authorities.

Course

The Ganges proper begins at the confluence of the Bhagirathi and Alaknanda rivers. The Bhagirathi is considered to be the true source in Hindu culture and mythology, although the Alakananda is longer. The headwaters of the Alakananda are formed by snowmelt from such peaks as Nanda Devi, Trisul, and Kamet. The Bhagirathi rises at the foot of Gangotri Glacier, at Gaumukh, at an elevation of .

Although many small streams comprise the headwaters of the Ganges, the six longest and their five confluences are considered sacred. The six headstreams are the Alaknanda, Dhauliganga, Nandakini, Pindar, Mandakini, and Bhagirathi rivers. The five confluences, known as the Panch Prayag, are all along the Alaknanda. They are, in downstream order, Vishnuprayag, where the Dhauliganga joins the Alaknanda; Nandprayag, where the Nandakini joins; Karnaprayag, where the Pindar joins, Rudraprayag, where the Mandakini joins; and finally, Devprayag, where the Bhagirathi joins the Alaknanda to form the Ganges River proper.

After flowing through its narrow Himalayan valley, the Ganges emerges from the mountains at Rishikesh, then debouches onto the Gangetic Plain at the pilgrimage town of Haridwar. At Haridwar, a dam diverts some of its waters into the Ganges Canal, which irrigates the ''Doab'' region of Uttar Pradesh, whereas the river, whose course has been roughly southwest until this point, now begins to flow southeast through the plains of northern India.

The Ganges follows an arching course passing through the cities of Kannauj, Farukhabad, and Kanpur. Along the way it is joined by the Ramganga, which contributes an average annual flow of about . The Ganges joins the Yamuna at the Triveni Sangam at Allahabad, a holy confluence in Hinduism. At their confluence the Yamuna is larger than the Ganges, contributing about , or about 58.5% of the combined flow.

Now flowing east, the river meets the Tamsa River (also called ''Tons''), which flows north from the Kaimur Range and contributes an average flow of about . After the Tamsa the Gomti River joins, flowing south from the Himalayas. The Gomti contributes an average annual flow of about . Then the Ghaghara River, also flowing south from the Himalayas, joins. The Ghaghara, with its average annual flow of about , is the largest tributary of the Ganges. After the Ghaghara confluence the Ganges is joined from the south by the Son River, contributing about . The Gandaki River, then the Kosi River, join from the north, contributing about and , respectively. The Kosi is the third largest tributary of the Ganges, after the Ghaghara and Yamuna.

Along the way between Allahabad and Malda, West Bengal, the Ganges passes the towns of Varanasi, Patna, Ghazipur, Bhagalpur, Mirzapur, Ballia, Buxar, Saidpur, and Chunar. At Bhagalpur, the river begins to flow south-southeast and at Pakur, it begins its attrition with the branching away of its first distributary, the Bhāgirathi-Hooghly, which goes on to become the Hooghly River. Just before the border with Bangladesh the Farakka Barrage controls the flow of the Ganges, diverting some of the water into a feeder canal linked to the Hooghly for the purpose of keeping it relatively silt-free. The Hooghly River, formed by the confluence of the Bhagirathi River and Jalangi River, has a number of tributaries of its own. The largest is the Damodar River, which is long, with a drainage basin of . The Hooghly River empties into the Bay of Bengal near Sagar Island.

After entering Bangladesh, the main branch of the Ganges is known as the Padma until it is joined by the Jamuna River, the largest distributary of the Brahmaputra. Further downstream, the Ganges is fed by the Meghna River, the second largest distributary of the Brahmaputra, and takes on the Meghna's name as it enters the Meghna Estuary, which empties into the Bay of Bengal.

The Ganges Delta, formed mainly by the large, sediment-laden flows of the Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers, is the world's largest delta, at about . It stretches along the Bay of Bengal.

Only the Amazon and Congo rivers have a greater average discharge than the combined flow of the Ganges, the Brahmaputra, and the Surma-Meghna river system. In full flood only the Amazon is larger.

Geology

The Indian subcontinent lies atop the Indian tectonic plate, a minor plate within the Indo-Australian Plate. Its defining geological processes commenced seventy-five million years ago, when, as a part of the southern supercontinent Gondwana, it began a northeastwards drift—lasting fifty million years—across the then unformed Indian Ocean. The subcontinent's subsequent collision with the Eurasian Plate and subduction under it, gave rise to the Himalayas, the planet's highest mountains. In the former seabed immediately south of the emerging Himalayas, plate movement created a vast trough, which, having gradually been filled with sediment borne by the Indus and its tributaries and the Ganges and its tributaries, now forms the Indo-Gangetic Plain.

The Indo-Gengetic Plain is geologically known as a foredeep or foreland basin.

Hydrology

The hydrology of the Ganges River is very complicated, especially in the Ganges Delta region. One result is different ways to determine the river's length, its discharge, and the size of its drainage basin.

The name ''Ganges'' is used for the river between the confluence of the Bhagirathi and Alaknanda rivers, in the Himalayas, and the India-Bangladesh border, near the Farakka Barrage and the first bifurcation of the river. The length of the Ganges is frequently said to be slightly over long, about , to , or perhaps . In these cases the river's source is usually assumed to be the source of the Bhagirathi River, Gangotri Glacier at Gomukh, and its mouth being the mouth of the Meghna River on the Bay of Bengal. Sometimes the source of the Ganges is considered to be at Haridwar, where its Himalayan headwater streams debouch onto the Gangetic Plain.

In some cases, the length of the Ganges is given for its Hooghly River distributary, which is longer than its main outlet via the Meghna River, resulting in a total length of about , from the source of the Bhagirathi, or , from Haridwar to the Hooghly's mouth. In other cases the length is said to be about , from the source of the Bhagirathi to the Bangladesh border, where its name changes to ''Padma''.

For similar reasons, sources differ over the size of the river's drainage basin. The basin covers parts of four countries, India, Nepal, China, and Bangladesh; eleven Indian states, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, West Bengal, and the Union Territory of Delhi. The Ganges basin, including the delta but not the Brahmaputra or Meghna basins, is about , of which are in India (about 80%), in Nepal (13%), in Bangladesh (4%), and in China (3%). Sometimes the Ganges and Brahmaputra–Meghna drainage basins are combined for a total of about , or . The combined Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna basin (abbreviated GBM or GMB) drainage basin is spread across Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, and China.

The discharge of the Ganges also differs by source. Frequently, discharge is described for the mouth of the Meghna River, thus combining the Ganges with the Brahmaputra and Meghna. This results in a total average annual discharge of about , or . In other cases the average annual discharges of the Ganges, Brahmaputra, and Meghna are given separately, at about for the Ganges, about for the Brahmaputra, and about for the Meghna.

The maximum peak discharge of the Ganges, as recorded at Hardinge Bridge in Bangladesh, exceeded . The minimum recorded at the same place was about , in 1997.

The hydrologic cycle in the Ganges basin is governed by the Southwest Monsoon. About 84% of the total rainfall occurs in the monsoon from June to September. Consequently, streamflow in the Ganges is highly seasonal. The average dry season to monsoon discharge ratio is about 1:6, as measured at Hardinge Bridge. This strong seasonal variation underlies many problems of land and water resource development in the region. The seasonality of flow is so acute it can cause both drought and floods. Bangladesh, in particular, frequently experiences drought during the dry season and regularly suffers extreme floods during the monsoon.

In the Ganges Delta many large rivers come together, both merging and bifurcating in a complicated network of channels. The two largest rivers, the Ganges and Brahmaputra, both split into distributary channels, the largest of which merge with other large rivers before themselves joining. This current channel pattern was not always the case. Over time the rivers in Ganges Delta have changed course, sometimes altering the network of channels in significant ways.

Before the late 12th century the Bhagirathi-Hooghly distributary was the main channel of the Ganges and the Padma was only a minor spill-channel. The main flow of the river reached the sea not via the modern Hooghly River but rather by the Adi Ganga. Between the 12th and 16th centuries the Bhagirathi-Hooghly and Padma channels were more or less equally significant. After the 16th century the Padma grew to become the main channel of the Ganges. It is thought that the Bhagirathi-Hooghly became increasingly choked with silt, causing the main flow of the Ganges to shift to the southeast and the Padma River. By the end of the 18th century the Padma had become the main distributary of the Ganges. One result of this shift to the Padma was that the Ganges joined the Meghna and Brahmaputra rivers before emptying into the Bay of Bengal, together instead of separately. The present confluence of the Ganges and Meghna formed about 150 years ago.

Also near the end of the 18th century, the course of the lower Brahmaputra changed dramatically, altering its relationship with the Ganges. In 1787 there was a great flood on the Teesta River, which at the time was a tributary of the Ganges-Padma River. The flood of 1787 caused the Teesta to undergo a sudden change course (an avulsion), shifting east to join the Brahmaputra and causing the Brahmaputra to shift its course south, cutting a new channel. This new main channel of the Brahmaputra is called the Jamuna River. It flows south to join the Ganges-Padma. Since ancient times the main flow of the Brahmaputra was more easterly, passing by the city of Mymensingh and joining the Meghna River. Today this channel is a small distributary but retains the name Brahmaputra, sometimes Old Brahmaputra. The site of the old Brahmaputra-Meghna confluence, in the locality of Langalbandh, is still considered sacred by Hindus. Near the confluence is a major early historic site called Wari-Bateshwar.

History

The Late Harappan period, about 1900–1300 BCE, saw the spread of Harappan settlement eastward from the Indus River basin to the Ganges-Yamuna doab, although none crossed the Ganges to settle its eastern bank. The disintegration of the Harappan civilization, in the early 2nd millennium BC, marks the point when the center of Indian civilization shifted from the Indus basin to the Ganges basin. There may be links between the Late Harappan settlement of the Ganges basin and the archaeological culture known as "Cemetery H", the Indo-Aryan people, and the Vedic period.

This river is the longest in India. During the early Vedic Age of the ''Rigveda'', the Indus and the Sarasvati River were the major sacred rivers, not the Ganges. But the later three Vedas give much more importance to the Ganges. The Gangetic Plain became the cradle of successive civilizations, from the Maurya Empire to the Mughal Empire.

The first European traveler to mention the Ganges was Megasthenes (ca. 350–290 BCE).He did so several times in his work Indica: "India, again, possesses many rivers both large and navigable, which, having their sources in the mountains which stretch along the northern frontier, traverse the level country, and not a few of these, after uniting with each other, fall into the river called the Ganges. Now this river, which at its source is 30 stadia broad, flows from north to south, and empties its waters into the ocean forming the eastern boundary of the Gangaridai, a nation which possesses a vast force of the largest-sized elephants." (Diodorus II.37) In the rainy season of 1809, the lower channel of the Bhagirathi, leading to Kolkata, had been entirely shut; but in the following year it opened again, and was nearly of the same size with the upper channel; both however suffered a considerable diminution, owing probably to the new communication opened below the Jalanggi. On the upper channel.

In 1951 a water sharing dispute arose between India and Bangladesh (then East Pakistan), after India declared its intention to build the Farakka Barrage. The original purpose of the barrage, which was completed in 1975, was to divert up to of water from the Ganges to the Bhagirathi-Hooghly distributary in order to restore navigability at the Port of Kolkata. It was assumed that during the worst dry season the Ganges flow would be around , thus leaving for East Pakistan. East Pakistan objected and a protracted dispute ensued. In 1996 a 30-year treaty was signed. The terms of the agreement are complicated, but in essence they state that if the Ganges flow at Farakka was less than then India and Bangladesh would each receive 50% of the water, with each receiving at least for alternating ten day periods. However, within a year the flow at Farakka fell to levels far below the historic average, making it impossible to implement the guaranteed sharing of water. In March 1997, flow of the Ganges in Bangladesh dropped to its lowest ever, . Dry season flows returned to normal levels in the years following, but efforts were made to address the problem. One plan is for another barrage to be built in Bangladesh at Pangsha, west of Dhaka. This barrage would help Bangladesh better utilize its share of the waters of the Ganges.

Religious and cultural significance

Embodiment of sacredness

The Ganges is a sacred river along every fragment of her length. All along her course, Hindus bathe in her waters. All along her course, they pay homage to their ancestors and to their gods by cupping her water in their hands, lifting it and letting it fall back into her; they offer flowers and rose petals and float shallow clay dishes filled with oil and lit with wicks. On the journey back home from the Ganges, they carry small quantities of her water with them for use in rituals. When a loved one dies, they return to the Ganges to consign the ashes to her custody.

The Ganges is the embodiment of all sacred waters in Hindu mythology. Local rivers are said to be ''like'' the Ganges, they are sometimes called the local "Ganga." The Kaveri river of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu in Southern India is called the Ganga of the South; the Godavari, is the Ganga that was led by the sage Gautama to flow through Central India. The Ganges is invoked whenever water is used in Hindu ritual, and is therefore present in all sacred waters. In spite of this, nothing is more stirring for a Hindu than a dip in the actual river, especially at one of the famous tirthas such as Gangotri, Haridwar, Prayag, or Varanasi. The symbolic and religious importance of the Ganges is one of the few things that Hindu India, even its skeptics, are agreed upon. Jawaharlal Nehru, a religious iconoclast himself, asked for a handful of his ashes to be thrown into the Ganga. "The Ganga," he wrote in his will, "is the river of India, beloved of her people, round which are intertwined her racial 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."

''Avatarana'' or Descent of the Ganges

In late May or early June every year, Hindus celebrate the ''avatarana'' or descent of the Ganges from heaven to earth. The day of the celebration, ''Ganga Dashahara'', the ''dashami'' (tenth day) of the waxing moon of the Hindu calendar month Jyestha, brings throngs of bathers to the banks of the river. A soak in the Ganges on this day is said to rid the bather of ten sins (dasha = Sanskrit "ten"; hara = to destroy) or alternatively, ten lifetimes of sins. Those who cannot journey to the river, however, can achieve the same results by bathing in any nearby body of water, which, for the true believer, in the Hindu tradition, takes on all the attributes of the Ganges.

The ''avatarana'' is an old theme in Hinduism with a number of different versions of the story. In the Vedic version, Indra, the Lord of Svarga (Heaven) slays the celestial serpent, Vritra, releasing the celestial liquid, the ''soma'', or the nectar of the gods which then plunges to the earth and waters it with sustenance.

In the Vaishnava version of the myth, Indra has been replaced by his former helper Vishnu. The heavenly waters are now a river called ''Vishnupadi'' (''padi'': Skt. "from the foot of"). As he completes his celebrated three strides—of earth, sky, and heaven—Vishnu as Vamana stubs his toe on the vault of heaven, punches open a hole, and releases the ''Vishnupadi'', which until now had been circling around the cosmic egg within. Flowing out of the vault, she plummets down to Indra's heaven, where she is received by Dhruva, the once steadfast worshipper of Vishnu, now fixed in the sky as the polestar. Next, she streams across the sky forming the Milky Way and arrives on the moon. She then flows down earthwards to Brahma's realm, a divine lotus atop Mount Meru, whose petals form the earthly continents. There, the divine waters break up, with one stream, the Alaknanda, flowing down one petal into Bharatvarsha (India) as the Ganga.

It is Shiva, however, among the major deities of the Hindu pantheon, who appears in the most widely known version of the ''avatarana'' story. Told and retold in the Ramayana, the Mahabharata and several Puranas, the story begins with a sage, Kapila, whose intense meditation has been disturbed by the sixty thousand sons of King Sagara. Livid at being disturbed, Kapila sears them with his angry gaze, reduces them to ashes, and dispatches them to the netherworld. Only the waters of the Ganga, then in heaven, can bring the dead sons their salvation. A descendant of these sons, King Bhagiratha, anxious to restore his ancestors, undertakes rigorous penance and is eventually granted the prize of Ganga's descent from heaven. However, since her turbulent force will also shatter the earth, Bhagiratha persuades Shiva in his abode on Mount Kailash to receive Ganga in the coils of his tangled hair and break her fall. Ganga descends, is tamed in Shiva's locks, and arrives in the Himalayas. She is then led by the waiting Bhagiratha down into the plains at Haridwar, across the plains first to the confluence with the Yamuna at Prayag and then to Varanasi, and eventually to Ganga Sagar, where she meets the ocean, sinks to the netherworld, and saves the sons of Sagara. In honour of Bhagirath's pivotal role in the ''avatarana'', the source stream of the Ganges in the Himalayas is named Bhagirathi, (Sanskrit, "of Bhagiratha").

Redemption of the Dead

Since Ganga had descended from heaven to earth, she is also the vehicle of ''ascent'', from earth to heaven. As the ''Triloka-patha-gamini'', (Skt. ''triloka''= "three worlds", ''patha'' = "road", ''gamini'' = "one who travels") of the Hindu tradition, she flows in heaven, earth, and the netherworld, and, consequently, is a "tirtha," or crossing point of all beings, the living as well as the dead. It is for this reason that the story of the ''avatarana'' is told at ''Shraddha'' ceremonies for the deceased in Hinduism, and Ganga water is used in Vedic rituals after death. Among all hymns devoted to the Ganga, there are none more popular than the ones expressing the worshipers wish to breathe his last surrounded by her waters. The ''Gangashtakam'' expresses this longing fervently:

O Mother! ... Necklace adorning the worlds!
Banner rising to heaven!
I ask that I may leave of this body on your banks,
Drinking your water, rolling in your waves,
Remembering your name, bestowing my gaze upon you.

No place along her banks is more longed for at the moment of death by Hindus than Varanasi, the Great Cremation Ground, or ''Mahashmshana''. Those who are lucky enough to die in Varanasi, are cremated on the banks of the Ganga, and are granted instant salvation. If the death has occurred elsewhere, salvation can be achieved by immersing the ashes in the Ganges. If the ashes have been immersed in another body of water, a relative can still gain salvation for the deceased by journeying to the Ganga, if possible during the lunar "fortnight of the ancestors" in the Hindu calendar month of Ashwin (September or October), and performing the ''Shraddha'' rites.

Hindus also perform ''pinda pradana'', a rite for the dead, in which balls of rice and sesame seed are offered to the Ganga while the names of the deceased relatives are recited. Every sesame seed in every ball thus offered, according to one story, assures a thousand years of heavenly salvation for the each relative. Indeed, the Ganges is so important in the rituals after death that the ''Mahabharata'', in one of its popular ''ślokas'', says, "If only (one) bone of a (deceased) person should touch the water of the Ganges, that person shall dwell honoured in heaven." As if to illustrate this truism, the ''Kashi Khanda'' (Varanasi Chapter) of the Skanda Purana recounts the remarkable story of ''Vahika'', a profligate and unrepentant sinner, who is killed by a tiger in the forest. His soul arrives before Yama, the Lord of Death, to be judged for the hereafter. Having no compensating virtue, Vahika's soul is at once dispatched to hell. While this is happening, his body on earth, however, is being picked at by vultures, one of whom flies away with a foot bone. Another bird comes after the vulture, and in fighting him off, the vulture accidentally drops the bone into the Ganges below. Blessed by this happenstance, Vahika, on his way to hell, is rescued by a celestial chariot which takes him instead to heaven.

The purifying Ganges

Hindus consider the waters of the Ganges to be both pure and purifying. Regardless of all scientific understanding of its waters, the Ganges is always ritually and symbolically pure in Hindu culture. Nothing reclaims order from disorder more than the waters of the Ganga. Moving water, as in a river, is considered purifying in Hindu culture because it is thought to both absorb impurities and take them away. The swiftly moving Ganga, especially in its upper reaches, where a bather has to grasp a anchored chain in order to not be carried away, is especially purifying. What the Ganges removes, however, is not necessarily physical dirt, but symbolic dirt; it wipes away the sins of the bather, not just of the present, but of a lifetime.

A popular paen to the Ganga is the ''Ganga Lahiri'' composed by a seventeenth century poet Jagannatha who, legend has it, was turned out of his Hindu Brahmin caste for carrying on an affair with a Muslim woman. Having attempted futilely to be rehabilitated within the Hindu fold, the poet finally appeals to Ganga, the hope of the hopeless, and the comforter of last resort. Along with his beloved, Jagannatha sits at the top of the flight of steps leading to the water at the famous ''Panchganga'' Ghat in Varanasi. As he recites each verse of the poem, the water of the Ganges rises up one step, until in the end it envelops the lovers and carry them away. "I come to you as a child to his mother," begins the ''Ganga Lahiri''.

I come as an orphan to you, moist with love.
I come without refuge to you, giver of sacred rest.
I come a fallen man to you, uplifter of all.
I come undone by disease to you, the perfect physician.
I come, my heart dry with thirst, to you, ocean of sweet wine.
Do with me whatever you will.

Consort, Shakti, and Mother

Ganga is a consort to all three major male deities of Hinduism. As Brahma's partner she always travels with him in the form of water in his kamandalu (water-pot). She is also Vishnu's consort. Not only does she emanate from his foot as ''Vishnupadi'' in the ''avatarana'' story, but is also, with Sarasvati and Lakshmi, one of his co-wives. In one popular story, envious of being outdone by each other, the co-wives begin to quarrel. While Lakshmi attempts to mediate the quarrel, Ganga and Sarasvati, heap misfortune on each other. They curse each other to become rivers, and to carry within them, by washing, the sins of their human worshippers. Soon their husband, Vishnu, arrives and decides to calm the situation by separating the goddesses. He orders Sarasvati to become the wife of Brahma, Ganga to become the wife of Shiva, and Lakshmi, as the blameless conciliator, to remain as his own wife. Ganga and Sarasvati, however, are so distraught at this dispensation, and wail so loudly, that Vishnu is forced to take back his words. Consequently, in their lives as rivers they are still thought to be with him.

It is Shiva's relationship with Ganga, that is the best-known in Ganges mythology. Her descent, the ''avatarana'' is not a one time event, but a continuously occurring one in which she is forever falling from heaven into his locks and being forever tamed. Shiva, is depicted in Hindu iconography as ''Gangadhara'', the "Bearer of the Ganga," with Ganga, shown as spout of water, rising from his hair. The Shiva-Ganga relationship is both perpetual and intimate. Shiva is sometimes called ''Uma-Ganga-Patiswara'' ("Husband and Lord of Uma (Parvati) and Ganga"), and Ganga often arouses the jealousy of Shiva's better-known consort.

Ganga is the ''shakti'' or the moving, restless, rolling energy in the form of which the otherwise recluse and unapproachable Shiva appears on earth. As water, this moving energy can be felt, tasted, and absorbed. The war-god Skanda addresses the sage Agastya in the ''Kashi Khand'' of the ''Skanda Purana'' in these words:

One should not be amazed ... that this Ganges is really Power, for is she not the Supreme Shakti of the Eternal Shiva, taken in the form of water?
This Ganges, filled with the sweet wine of compassion, was sent out for the salvation of the world by Shiva, the Lord of the Lords.
Good people should not think this Triple-Pathed River to be like the thousand other earthly rivers, filled with water.

The Ganga is also the mother, the ''Ganga Mata'' (''mata''="mother") of Hindu worship and culture, accepting all and forgiving all. Unlike other goddesses, she has no destructive or fearsome aspect, destructive though she might be as a river in nature. She is also a mother to other gods. She accepts Shiva's incandescent seed from the fire-god Agni, which is too hot for this world, and cools it in her waters. This union produces Skanda, or Kartikeya, the god of war. In the ''Mahabharata'', she is the wife of Shantanu, and the mother of heroic warrior-patriarch, Bhishma. When Bhishma is mortally wounded in battle, Ganga comes out of the water in human form and weeps uncontrollably over his body.

The Ganges is the distilled lifeblood of the Hindu tradition, of its divinities, holy books, and enlightenment. As such, her worship does not require the usual rites of invocation (''avahana'') at the beginning and dismissal (''visarjana'') at the end, required in the worship of other gods. Her divinity is immediate and everlasting.

Ganges in classical Indian iconography

A counterpoise to the dazzling heat of the Indian summer, the Ganges came to be imbued with magical qualities and to be revered in anthropomorphic form. By the 5th century CE, an elaborate mythology surrounded the Ganga, now a goddess in her own right, and a symbol for all rivers of India. Hindu temples all over India had statues and reliefs of the goddess carved at their entrances, symbolically washing the sins of arriving worshippers and guarding the gods within. As protector of the sanctum sanctorum, the goddess soon came to depicted with several characteristic accessories: the ''makara'' (a crocodile-like undersea monster, often shown with an elephant-like trunk), the ''kumbha'' (an overfull vase), various overhead parasol-like coverings, and a gradually increasing retinue of humans.

Central to the goddess's visual identification is the ''makara'', which is also her ''vahana'', or mount. An ancient symbol in India, it pre-dates all appearances of the goddess Ganga in art. The ''makara'' has a dual symbolism. On the one hand, it represents the life-affirming waters and plants of its environment; on the other, it represents fear, both fear of the unknown it elicits by lurking in those waters and real fear it instils by appearing in sight. The earliest extant unambiguous pairing of the ''makara'' with Ganga is at Udayagiri Caves in Central India (circa 400 CE). Here, in Cave V, flanking the main figure of Vishnu shown in his boar incarnation, two river goddesses, Ganga and Yamuna appear atop their respective mounts, ''makara'' and ''kurma'' (a turtle or tortoise).

The ''makara'' is often accompanied by a ''gana'', a small boy or child, near its mouth, as, for example, shown in the Gupta period relief from Besnagar, Central India, in the left-most frame above. The ''gana'' represents both posterity and development (''udbhava''). The pairing of the fearsome, life-destroying ''makara'' with the youthful, life-affirming ''gana'' speaks to two aspects of the Ganges herself. Although she has provided sustenance to millions, she has also brought hardship, injury, and death by causing major floods along her banks. The goddess Ganga is also accompanied by a dwarf attendant, who carries a cosmetic bag, and on whom she sometimes leans, as if for support. (See, for example, frames 1, 2, and 4 above.)

The ''purna kumbha'' or full pot of water is the second most discernible element of the Ganga iconography. Appearing first also in the relief in Udayagiri Caves (5th century), it gradually appeared more frequently as the theme of the goddess matured. By the seventh century it had become a established feature, as seen, for example, the Dashavatara temple, Deogarh, Uttar Pradesh (seventh century), the Trimurti temple, Badoli, Chittorgarh, Rajasthan, and at the Lakshmaneshwar temple, Kharod, Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh, (ninth or tenth century), and seen very clearly in frame 3 above and less clearly in the remaining frames. Worshipped even today, the full pot is emblematic of the formless Brahman, as well as of woman, of the womb, and of birth. Furthermore, The river goddesses Ganga and Saraswati were both born from Brahma's pot, containing the celestial waters.

In her earliest depictions at temple entrances, the goddess Ganga appeared standing beneath the overhanging branch of a tree, as seen as well in the Udayagiri caves. However, soon the tree cover had evolved into a ''chatra'' or parasol held by an attendant, for example, in the seventh-century Dasavatara temple at Deogarh. (The parasol can be clearly seen in frame 3 above; its stem can be seen in frame 4, but the rest has broken off.) The cover undergoes another transformation in the temple at Kharod, Bilaspur (ninth or tenth century), where the parasol is lotus-shaped, and yet another at the Trimurti temple at Badoli where the parasol has been replaced entirely by a lotus.

As the iconography evolved, sculptors in the central India especially were producing animated scenes of the goddess, replete with an entourage and suggestive of a queen en route to a river to bathe. A relief similar to the depiction in frame 4 above, is described in as follows:

A typical relief of about the ninth century that once stood at the entrance of a temple, the river goddess Ganga is shown as a voluptuously endowed lady with a retinue. Following the iconographic prescription, she stands gracefully on her composite ''makara'' mount and holds a water pot. The dwarf attendant carries her cosmetic bag, and a ... female holds the stem of a giant lotus leaf that serves as her mistress's parasol. The fourth figure is a male guardian. Often in such reliefs the ''makara'''s tail is extended with great flourish into a scrolling design symbolizing both vegetation and water.

Kumbh Mela

Kumbh Mela is a mass Hindu pilgrimage in which Hindus gather at the Ganges river. The normal Kumbh Mela is celebrated every 3 years, the ''Ardh'' (half) Kumbh Mela is celebrated every six years at Haridwar and Prayag, the ''Purna'' (complete) Kumbh takes place every twelve years, at four places (Prayag (Allahabad), Haridwar, Ujjain, and Nashik). The ''Maha'' (great) Kumbh Mela which comes after 12 'Purna Kumbh Melas', or 144 years, is held at Allahabad.

The major event of the festival is ritual bathing at the banks of the river in whichever town it is being held. Other activities include religious discussions, devotional singing, mass feeding of holy men and women and the poor, and religious assemblies where doctrines are debated and standardized. Kumbh Mela is the most sacred of all the pilgrimages. Thousands of holy men and women attend, and the auspiciousness of the festival is in part attributable to this. The sadhus are seen clad in saffron sheets with ashes and powder dabbed on their skin per the requirements of ancient traditions. Some, called ''naga sanyasis'', may not wear any clothes even in severe winter.

Irrigation

The Ganges and its tributaries, especially the Yamuna, have been used for irrigation since ancient times. Dams and canals were common in gangetic plain by fourth century BCE.

Canals

Megasthenes, a Greek ethnographer who visited India during third century BCE when Mauryans ruled India described the existence of canals in the gangetic plain. Kautilya (also known as Chanakya), an advisor to Chandragupta Maurya, the founder of Maurya empire, included the destruction of dams and levees as a strategy during war. Firuz Shah Tughlaq had many canals built, the longest of which, , was built in 1356 on the Yamuna River. Now known as the Western Yamuna Canal, it has fallen into disrepair and been restored several times. The Mughal emperor Shah Jahan built an irrigation canal on the Yamuna River in the early 18th century. It fell into disuse until 1830, when it was reopened as the Eastern Yamuna Canal, under British control. The reopened canal became a model for the Upper Ganga Canal and all following canal projects. The Western and Eastern Yamuna Canals are regulated by the Tajewala barrage on the Yamuna River.

The Agra Canal, off the Yamuna River, opened in 1874. It was used for irrigation and navigation until 1904, since when it is used solely for irrigation.

There are plans for possible large-scale irrigation and navigation canal projects such as the Indian Rivers Inter-link and the Sutlej Yamuna link canal.

Dams and barrages

A major barrage at Farakka was opened on 21 April 1975, It is located close to the point where the main flow of the river enters Bangladesh, and the tributary Hooghly (also known as Bhagirathi ) continues in West Bengal past Calcutta. This barrage, which feeds the Hooghly branch of the river by a long feeder canal, and its water flow management has been a long-lingering source of dispute with Bangladesh. Indo-Bangladesh Ganges Water Treaty signed in December 1996 addressed some of the water sharing issues between India and Bangladesh.

Tehri Dam was constructed on Bhagirathi River, tributary of the Ganges. It's located 1.5 km downstream of Ganesh Prayag, the place where Bhilangana meets Bhagirathi. Bhagirathi is called Ganges after Devprayag. Construction of the dam in an earthquake prone area was controversial.

Bansagar Dam was built on the Son River, a tributary of the Ganges, for both irrigation and hydroelectric power generation.

Economy

The Ganges Basin with its fertile soil is instrumental to the agricultural economies of India and Bangladesh. The Ganges and its tributaries provide a perennial source of irrigation to a large area. Chief crops cultivated in the area include rice, sugarcane, lentils, oil seeds, potatoes, and wheat. Along the banks of the river, the presence of swamps and lakes provide a rich growing area for crops such as legumes, chillies, mustard, sesame, sugarcane, and jute. There are also many fishing opportunities to many along the river, though it remains highly polluted. Kanpur, largest leather producing city in the world is situated on the banks of this river.

Tourism is another related activity. Three towns holy to Hinduism Haridwar, Allahabad, and Varanasi attract thousands of pilgrims to its waters. Thousands of Hindu pilgrims arrive at these three towns to take a dip in the Ganges, which is believed to cleanse oneself of sins and help attain salvation. The rapids of the Ganges also are popular for river rafting, attracting hundreds of adventure seekers in the summer months.

The Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna basin has a huge hydroelectric potential, on the order of 200,000 to 250,000 megawatts, nearly half of which could be easily harnessed. As of 1999, India tapped about 12% of the hydroelectric potential of the Ganges and just 1% of the vast potential of the Brahmaputra.

Pollution

The Ganges suffers from extreme pollution levels, which affect the 400 million people who live close to the river. Sewage from many cities along the river's course, industrial waste and religious offerings wrapped in non-degradable plastics add large amounts of pollutants to the river as it flows through densely populated areas. The problem is exacerbated by the fact that many poorer people rely on the river on a daily basis for bathing, washing, and cooking. The World Bank estimates that the health costs of water pollution in India equal three per cent of India's GDP. It has also been suggested that eighty per cent of all illnesses in India and one-third of deaths can be attributed to water-borne diseases.

Varanasi, a city of one million people that many pilgrims visit to take a "holy dip" in the Ganges, releases around 200 million litres of untreated human sewage into the river each day, leading to large concentrations of faecal coliform bacteria. According to official standards, water safe for bathing should not contain more than 500 faecal coliforms per 100ml, yet upstream of Varanasi's ghats the river water already contains 120 times as much, 60,000 faecal coliform bacteria per 100 ml.

After the cremation of the deceased at Varanasi's ghats the bones and ashes are thrown into the Ganges. However, in the past thousands of uncremated bodies were thrown into the Ganges during cholera epidemics, spreading the disease. Even today, holy men, pregnant women, people with leprosy/chicken pox, people who had been bitten by snakes, people who had committed suicide, the poor, and children under 5 are not cremated at the ghats but are floated free to decompose in the waters. In addition, those who can not afford the large amount of wood needed to incinerate the entire body, leave behind a lot of half burned body parts.

After passing through Varanasi, and receiving 32 streams of raw sewage from the city, the concentration of faecal coliforms in the river's waters rises from 60,000 to 1.5 million, with observed peak values of 100 million per 100 ml. Drinking and bathing in its waters therefore carries a high risk of infection.

Between 1985 and 2000, Rs. 1,000 crore (Rs. 10 billion, around US$ 226 miilion, or less than 4 cents per person per year) were spent on the Ganga Action Plan, an environmental initiative that was "the largest single attempt to clean up a polluted river anywhere in the world." The Ganga Action Plan has been described variously as a "failure," a "major failure, a "colossal failure," and a "widely recognized failure." According to one study,

The Ganga Action Plan, which was taken on priority and with much enthusiasm, was delayed for two years. The expenditure was almost doubled. But the result was not very appreciable. Much expenditure was done over the political propaganda. The concerning governments and the related agencies were not very prompt to make it a success. The public of the areas was not taken into consideration. The releasing of urban and industrial wastes in the river was not controlled fully. The flowing of dirty water through drains and sewers were not adequately diverted. The continuing customs of burning dead bodies, throwing carcasses, washing of dirty clothes by washermen, and immersion of idols and cattle wallowing were not checked. Very little provision of public latrines was made and the open defecation of lakhs of people continued along the riverside. All these made the Action Plan a failure.

The failure of the Ganga Action Plan, has also been variously attributed to "environmental planning without proper understanding of the human–environment interactions," Indian "traditions and beliefs," "corruption and a lack of technical knowledge" and "lack of support from religious authorities."

In December 2009 the World Bank agreed to loan India US$ 1 billion over the next five years to help save the river. According to 2010 Planning Commission estimates, an investment of almost Rs. 7,000 crore (Rs. 70 billion, approximately US$ 1.5 billion) is needed to clean up the river.

In November 2008, the Ganges, alone among India's rivers, was declared a "National River", facilitating the formation of a Ganga River Basin Authority that would have greater powers to plan, implement and monitor measures aimed at protecting the river.

The river's long-held reputation as a purifying river appears to have some basis in science. Its waters have been found to have unusual antimicrobial properties, shortening the survival time of pathogens. The underlying mechanism is unknown; possible explanations include antimicrobial peptides and bacteriophages. Even so, the incidence of water-borne and enteric diseases – such as gastrointestinal disease, cholera, dysentery, hepatitis A and typhoid – among people who use the river's waters for bathing, washing dishes and brushing teeth is high, at an estimated 66% per year.

Ecology and environment

Human development, mostly agriculture, has replaced nearly all of the original natural vegetation of the Ganges basin. More than 95% of the upper Gangetic Plain has been degraded or converted to agriculture or urban areas. Only one large block of relatively intact habitat remains, running along the Himalayan foothills and including Rajaji National Park, Jim Corbett National Park, and Dudhwa National Park. As recently as the 16th and 17th centuries the upper Gangetic Plain harbored impressive populations of wild Asian elephants (''Elephas maximus''), tigers (''Panthera tigris''), Indian Rhinoceros (''Rhinoceros unicornis''), gaurs (''Bos gaurus''), barasinghas (''Rucervus duvaucelii''), sloth Bears (''Melursus ursinus'') and lions. In the 21st century there are few large wild animals, mostly deer, boars, wildcats, and small numbers of wolves, jackals, and foxes. Bengal tigers survive only in the Sundarbans area of the Ganges Delta. Crocodiles and barasingha are also found in the Sundarbans. The Sundarbands freshwater swamp ecoregion, however, is nearly extinct. Threatened mammals in the upper Gangetic Plain include the tiger, elephabt, sloth bear, and chousingha (''Tetracerus quadricornis'').

Fish are found in all the major rivers of the Ganges basin, and are a vital food source for many people. In the Bengal area common fish include featherbacks (Notopteridae family), barbs (Cyprinidae), walking catfish (''Clarias batrachus''), gouramis (Anabantidae), and milkfish (''Chanos chanos''). The critically endangered Ganges shark (''Glyphis gangeticus'') is also found in the river and other places in south Asia.

Many types of birds are founds throughout the basin, such as myna, parrots, crows, kites, partridges, and fowls. Ducks and snipes migrate across the Himalayas during the winter, attracted in large numbers to wetland areas. There are no endemic birds in the upper Gangetic Plain. The Great Indian Bustard (''Ardeotis nigriceps'') and Lesser Florican (''Sypheotides indicus'') are considered globally threatened.

The natural forest of the upper Gangetic Plain has been so thoroughly eliminated it is difficult to assign a natural vegetation type with certainty. There are a few small patches of forest left, and they suggest that much of the upper plains may have supported a tropical moist deciduous forest with sal (''Shorea robusta'') as a climax species.

The Ganges River itself supports the mugger crocodile (''Crocodylus palustris'') and the gharial (''Gavialis gangeticus''). The river's most famed fauna is the freshwater dolphin ''Platanista gangetica gangetica'', the Ganges River dolphin, recently declared India's national aquatic animal.

A similar situation is found in the lower Gangetic Plain, which includes the lower Brahmaputra River. The lower plains contain more open forests, which tend to be dominated by ''Bombax ceiba'' in association with ''Albizzia procera'', ''Duabanga grandiflora'', and ''Sterculia vilosa''. There are early seral forest communities that would eventually become dominated by the climax species sal (''Shorea robusta''), if forest succession was allowed to proceed. In most places forests fail to reach climax conditions due to human causes. The forests of the lower Gangetic Plain, despite thousands of years of human settlement, remained largely intact until the early 20th century. Today only about 3% of the ecoregion is under natural forest and only one large block, south of Varanasi, remains. There are over forty protected areas in the ecoregion, but over half of these are less than . The fauna of the lower Gangetic Plain is similar to the upper plains, with the addition of a number of other species such as the Smooth-coated Otter (''Lutrogale perspicillata'') and the Large Indian Civet (''Viverra zibetha'').

Ganges river dolphin

The Ganges River Dolphin, which used to exist in large schools near to urban centres in both the Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers, is now seriously threatened by pollution and dam construction. Their numbers have now dwindled to a quarter of their numbers of fifteen years before, and they have become extinct in the Ganges's main tributaries. A recent survey by the World Wildlife Fund found only 3,000 left in the water catchment of both river systems.

The Ganges river dolphin is one of only four freshwater dolphins in the world. The other three are the baiji (''Lipotes vexillifer'') of the Yangtze River in China, now likely extinct, the bhulan of the Indus River in Pakistan, and the boto of the Amazon River in Brazil. There are several marine dolphines whose ranges include some freshwater habitats, but these four are the only dolphins who live only in freshwater rivers and lakes.

Water shortages

Along with ever-increasing pollution, water shortages are getting noticeably worse. Some sections of the river are already completely dry. Around Varanasi the river once had an average depth of , but in some places it is now only .

:"To cope with its chronic water shortages, India employs electric groundwater pumps, diesel-powered tankers and coal-fed power plants. If the country increasingly relies on these energy-intensive short-term fixes, the whole planet's climate will bear the consequences. India is under enormous pressure to develop its economic potential while also protecting its environment—something few, if any, countries have accomplished. What India does with its water will be a test of whether that combination is possible."

The effects of climate change on the river

The Tibetan Plateau contains the world's third-largest store of ice. Qin Dahe, the former head of the China Meteorological Administration, said that the recent fast pace of melting and warmer temperatures will be good for agriculture and tourism in the short term; but issued a strong warning:

"Temperatures are rising four times faster than elsewhere in China, and the Tibetan glaciers are retreating at a higher speed than in any other part of the world.... In the short term, this will cause lakes to expand and bring floods and mudflows. . . . In the long run, the glaciers are vital lifelines for Asian rivers, including the Indus and the Ganges. Once they vanish, water supplies in those regions will be in peril."

In 2007, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), in its Fourth Report, stated that the Himalayan glaciers which feed the river, were at risk of melting by 2035. The IPCC has now withdrawn that prediction, as the original source admitted that it was speculative and the cited source was not a peer reviewed finding. In its statement, the IPCC stands by its general findings relating to the Himalayan glaciers being at risk from global warming (with consequent risks to water flow into the Gangetic basin).

Illegal mining and stone crushing in Ganga river bed

Illegal mining in Ganga river riverbed for stones and sand for construction work has been a long problem in Haridwar district, Uttarakhand, where it touches the plains for the first time. This is despite the fact that quarrying has been banned in Kumbh Mela area zone covering 140 km² area in Haridwar. On June 14, Swami Nigamanada, a 34-year old monk who was fasting since February 19, 2011 against illegal mining and stone crushing along the Ganga near Haridwar, died at the Himalayan Hospital in Jollygrant in Dehradun, after alleged poisoning by stone crushing mafia. His death put spotlight on the activity including intervention by Union Environment minister.

See also

Ganges Fan

List of rivers of India

National Waterway 1 (India)

Swach Ganga (Clean Ganges) Campaign

Inline citations

References

Further reading

External links

ON THINNER ICE 如履薄冰: signs of trouble from the Water Tower of Asia, where headwaters feed into all the great rivers of Asia (by GRIP, Asia Society and MediaStorm)

Ganges in the Imperial Gazetteer of India, 1909

Melting Glaciers Threaten Ganges

Bibliography on Water Resources and International Law. Peace Palace Library

Ganga Ma: A Pilgrimage to the Source a documentary that follows the Ganges from the mouth to its source in the Himalayas.

An article about the land and the people of the Ganges

Category:Rivers of India Category:National symbols of India Category:Rivers of Uttarakhand Category:Rivers of Uttar Pradesh Category:Rivers of Bangladesh Category:International rivers of Asia Category:Sacred rivers Category:Rigvedic rivers Category:Geography of Uttar Pradesh Category:Geography of Uttarakhand Category:Ganges basin Category:Bangladesh–India border

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Coordinates	32°30′20″N45°49′29″N
name	The Scaffold
background	group_or_band
origin	Liverpool, England
genre	Pop music
years active	1964–1977
label	ParlophoneIslandWarner Bros.Bronze
associated acts	GrimmsLiverpool poetsWings
past members	Mike McGearRoger McGoughJohn Gorman }}

The Scaffold were a comedy, poetry and music trio from Liverpool, England, consisting of Mike McGear (real name Peter Michael McCartney, the brother of Paul McCartney), Roger McGough and John Gorman

Career

The Scaffold performed a mixture of comic songs, comedy sketches and the poetry of McGough, as evidenced on their 1968 live album, and released a number of singles and albums on Parlophone and EMI between 1966 and 1971, with several more on Island, Warner Bros. and Bronze thereafter.

The Scaffold achieved Top 10 success in the UK with:

"Thank U Very Much" (# 4), composed by McGear;

"Lily the Pink" (# 1), based on a traditional song about Lydia Pinkham. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc.

"Liverpool Lou" (# 7) (written by Dominic Behan), recorded during the 1974 ''McGear'' sessions with Wings.

In addition to the hit singles, The Scaffold's output included four albums: ''The Scaffold'' on Parlophone in 1968, ''L. the P.'' on Parlophone in 1969, ''Fresh Liver'' on Island in 1973, and ''Sold Out'' on WB in 1975. The Scaffold's first greatest hits album, entitled ''Singles As & Bs'', was released on See For Miles Records in 1982. This was followed by a second greatest hits collection, the first on Compact Disc, ''The Scaffold: The Songs'', in 1992. Three additional compilations of the band's Parlophone tracks have since been released (two of which also include the Warner Bros. “Liverpool Lou” track).

Jack Bruce, Elton John, Graham Nash and Jimi Hendrix were among the session musicians who performed on The Scaffold's early records (since none of the trio was a musician). Tim Rice, who was at that time an assistant to their producer Norrie Paramor, contributed backing vocals to some of their material.

In 1970, The Scaffold appeared in a children's television series, ''Score With The Scaffold''.

In early 1971, they provided some catchy tunes for inclusion in a television publicity campaign heralding the introduction of decimal currency to the UK. In this series of five-minute programmes, titled Decimal Five and shown on BBC1, they sang such inspired lyrics as "Give more, get change" and "Use your old coppers in sixpenny lots".

In 1972, they made a ½ hour musical movie called "Plod" based on an earlier stage production. The film was made on location in Liverpool, and included boys from the Liverpool Institute High School, earlier attended by the McCartney brothers and Beatle George Harrison.

In 1973, The Scaffold transferred to Island Records and released one album, ''Fresh Liver'', from which no singles were released. The group then merged into the expanded line-up of Grimms with the likes of Neil Innes, Andy Roberts,Viv Stanshall, Adrian Henri and Brian Patten.

After the 1974 success of "Liverpool Lou," recorded with Paul McCartney and Wings, The Scaffold reunited for their final album, ''Sold Out'', on Warner Bros. Records. The B-side of "Liverpool Lou", "Ten Years After on Strawberry Jam", was an instrumental composed by Paul and Linda McCartney and performed by Wings. The Scaffold moved to the Bronze Records label in 1976, and continued touring through 1977. After that the group disbanded, although there have been occasional reunion performances. The group also reunited to record a new track for a special album, commemorating Liverpool’s 2008 "European Capital of Culture" event. Michael McCartney & John Gorman represented The Scaffold in the No One Concert in the 10,500-seater Echo Arena and received a standing ovation from the capacity audience. In 2009, the group were re-united in Ronnie Scott's London Jazz Club for a BBC TV programme In October 2010, The Scaffold re-united for a Gala Concert in Shanghai, to celebrate the end of the Liverpool Pavilion as part of the World Expo. They shared the concert with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, OMD and the Liverpool Chinese Children's Pegoda Orchestra

Discography

Singles

UK Releases

"2 Days Monday" / "3 Blind Jellyfish" (Parlophone R 5443) May, 1966

"Goodbat Nightman" / "Long Strong Black Pudding" (Parlophone R 5548) Dec., 1966

"Thank U Very Much" / "Ide B The First" (Parlophone R 5643) Nov, 1967

"Do You Remember?" / "Carry On Krow" (Parlophone R 5679) Mar., 1968

"1-2-3" / "Today" (Parlophone R 5703) June, 1968

"Lily the Pink" / "Buttons Of Your Mind" (Parlophone R 5734) Oct., 1968

"Charity Bubbles" / "Goose" (Parlophone R 5784) June, 1969

"Gin Gan Goolie" / "Liver Birds" (Parlophone R 5812) Oct, 1969

"All The Way Up" / "Please Sorry" (Parlophone R 5847) June, 1970

"Bus Dreams" / "If I Could Start All Over Again" (Parlophone R 5866) Oct, 1970

"Do The Albert" / "Commercial Break" (Parlophone R 5922) Oct., 1971

"Lily the Pink" / "Thank U Very Much" / "Do You Remember?" (EMI 2085) Nov., 1973

"Liverpool Lou" / "Ten Years After on Strawberry Jam" (Warner Bros K 16400) May, 1974

"Mummy Won't Be Home For Christmas" / "The Wind Is Blowing" (Warner Bros K 16488) Dec., 1974

"Leaving of Liverpool" / "Pack Of Cards" (Warner Bros K 16521) Mar., 1975

"Wouldn't It Be Funny If You Didn't Have A Nose" / "Mr. Noselighter" (Bronze BRO 33) Oct., 1976

"How D'You Do" / "Paper Underpants" (Bronze BRO 39) Apr., 1977

"Lily the Pink" / "Thank U Very Much" / "Do You Remember?" / "Gin Gan Goolie" (EMI 2690) Oct., 1977

US Releases

"Thank U Very Much" / "Ide B The First" (Bell 701) Jan, 1968

"Do You Remember?" / "Carry On Krow" (Bell 724) May, 1968

"Lily the Pink" / "Buttons Of Your Mind" (Bell 747) Dec., 1968

"Charity Bubbles" / "Goose" (Bell B-821) Aug., 1969

"Jelly Covered Cloud" / "Liver Birds" (Bell B-849) 1969

"Liverpool Lou" / "Ten Years After on Strawberry Jam" (Warner Bros WBS 8001) July, 1974

Canadian Releases

"Thank U Very Much" / "Ide B The First" (Capitol 72524) Feb., 1968

"Lily the Pink" / "Buttons Of Your Mind" (Capitol 72562) 1968

"Liverpool Lou" / "Ten Years After on Strawberry Jam" (Warner Bros WBS 8001) July, 1974

Albums

UK releases

''McGough and McGear'' (Parlophone PMC 7047 [mono], PCS 7047 [stereo]) [LP] May, 1968

''The Scaffold'' (Parlophone PMC 7051 [mono], PCS 7051 [stereo]) [LP] July, 1968

''L. the P.'' (Parlophone PMC 7077 [mono], PCS 7077 [stereo]) [LP] May, 1969

''Fresh Liver'' (Island ILPS 9234) [LP] May, 1973

''Sold Out'' (Warner Bros. K 56067) [LP] Feb., 1975

''The Scaffold Singles A's and B's'' (See For Miles CM 114) [LP] Oct., 1982 [Compilation, containing 22 EMI and Warner Bros tracks]

''McGough and McGear'' (Parlophone PCS 7332) [LP] Apr., 1989 [Reissue of the 1968 album]

''McGough and McGear'' (EMI CDP 7 91877 2) [CD] Apr., 1989 [Reissue of the 1968 album]

''The Best of the EMI Years: The Scaffold, The Songs'' (EMI CDP 7 985022) [CD] Feb., 1992 [Compilation, containing 20 EMI tracks]

''The Very Best of The Scaffold'' (Wise Buy WB 885572) [CD] Feb., 1998 [Compilation, containing 12 EMI and Warner Bros tracks]

''The Scaffold at Abbey Road, 1966-1971'' (EMI 7243 496435 2 9) [CD] Aug., 1998 [Compilation containing 27 EMI tracks, including 7 previously unreleased]

''The Very Best of The Scaffold'' (EMI Gold 7243 5 38474 2 5) [CD] Mar., 2002 [Compilation, containing 26 EMI and Warner Bros tracks]

''Live at The Queen Elizabeth Hall 1968'' (Él ACMEM63CD) [CD] Jan., 2006 [Reissue of the 1968 album, ''The Scaffold'']

''Liverpool - The Number Ones Album'' (EMI 50999 5 19522 2 8) [CD] Feb., 2008 [Multi-artist commemorative album, including one newly-recorded track by Scaffold]

US release

''Thank U Very Much'' (Bell 6018) [LP] Sept., 1968

Japanese releases

''Sold Out'' (Muskrat RATCD 4228) [CD] Aug, 2004 ''[Reissue of the 1975 album]''

''Fresh Liver'' (Island UICY 94110) [CD] May, 2009 ''[Reissue of the 1973 album]''

Discography notes

The album, ''McGough and McGear'', is by Roger McGough and Mike McGear. All other releases by The Scaffold.

Tracks which were first released from 1973 onward show the artist as Scaffold (rather than The Scaffold).

See also Mike McGear Discography.

See also Grimms Discography.

There were probably other albums released in Japan. The two above are included because they have not been released on CD in the UK.

There has been considerable debate as to the meaning of the place, item, person or event described in the lyric of the song ''Thank U Very Much'' as the Aintree Iron. The song-writer himself, Mike McGear, has apparently refused to divulge its identity.

See also

Liverpool poets

References

External links

Scaffold; Airbrushed from history? - Independent article on the history of The Scaffold. Endorsed by the band members.

Category:English pop music groups Category:British comedians Category:Music from Liverpool Category:Parlophone artists Category:Comedy rock

de:The Scaffold no:The Scaffold sv:The Scaffold

Coordinates	32°30′20″N45°49′29″N
name	Richie Ray
background	solo_singer
birth name	Ricardo Maldonado
alias	El Embajador del Piano(The Piano Ambassador)
birth date	February 15, 1945
origin	Brooklyn, New York, United States
genre	Salsa
occupation	SingerPianistMusic arrangerComposerReligious minister
years active	1965–present
notable instruments	}}

Ricardo "Richie" Ray (born February 15, 1945) is a virtuoso pianist, singer, music arranger, composer and religious minister known for his success beginning in 1965 as part of the duo Richie Ray & Bobby Cruz. He is known as "El Embajador del Piano" (The Piano Ambassador).

Early life

Ray (born "Ricardo Maldonado") was born in Brooklyn, New York City of Puerto Rican parents. They lived in Hoyt Street. Ray's father, Pacifico Maldonado, was an accomplished guitarist in his native Bayamón, and as such was the Maldonado family's early musical influence.

Ray's parents had him take lessons and he started to play the piano when he was only seven years old. His life-long partnership with Bobby Cruz started five years later in 1957 when Ray played bass in a group led by Cruz. This combination was the beginning of one the greatest salsa duos in the salsa music industry.

He attended the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, the famed High School of Performing Arts, and the Juilliard School of Music. This experience served to further develop and refine his musical training. In addition, he became well versed in various Latin music genres which were popular at that time the Guajira, the Cha-cha-cha, the Bolero and others.

Musical career

Ray left Juilliard in 1963, after just one year. He made this choice so that he could get organized and dedicate himself to his own band. This was a year after Cruz joined in as the lead vocalist. In 1964, he signed with Fonseca Records and released his debut album, Ricardo Ray Arrives-Comején. The album included the outstanding hit songs "Mambo Jazz", "Comején", "Viva Richie Ray", "El Mulato", "Suavito", "Pa' Chismoso Tú" and the bolero-cha "Si Te Contaran". The famous pair recorded some of their finest work during the period that they were with the Fonseca label.

In 1966, the group switched to the Alegre label, coinciding with the arrival of the boogaloo. Ray recorded nine albums with Alegre. He was a part of Tico/Alegre Records until 1970, and during that time he produce such hits as "Richies Jala Jala", "Mr. Trumpet Man", "Señor Embajador", "Aguzate" (Gold Record Award winner), "Amparo Arrebato", "Traigo De Todo", and the Spanish version of Frank Sinatra's "My Way", called "A Mi Manera". This song went on to be the most radio played Spanish version of "My Way" during 1970; the song also won the duo a Gold Record Award.

While with Alegre, Ray also recorded two albums for UA Latino. These included "Viva Ricardo" and "El Diferente" (Gold Record Award winner). The band scored a number one hit with the song "Colorín Colorado", while "El Diferente", "Feria En Manizales" and "Ay, Compay!", became number one hits in Latin America.

In 1968, Ray and Cruz had been together professionally for five years, had written most of their songs together, and for the first time in the album Los Durísimos, they shared equal billing in an album cover. This album had such hits as "Agallú", "Pancho Cristal", "Adasa", and "Yo Soy (Babalú)". Since then the band became officially known as Richie Ray and Bobby Cruz.

The 1970s

In 1970, Ray and Cruz left New York and moved to San Juan, Puerto Rico, for professional and personal reasons. They opened a nightclub, but managing it required too much of their time. Shortly after, they decided to sell the establishment to focus on their artistic commitments. That same year, Ray and Cruz signed with the new Vaya Records label, a subsidiary of Fania Records.

In 1971, they released "El Bestial Sonido de Ricardo Ray y Bobby Cruz", the first ever release on Vaya Records, and was one of their better albums on that label. The album went gold, and it took them to the top of the charts once again. It included hits such as Joan Manuel Serrat's "Señora", the bolero version of the Gardel/Lepera tango "Volver", and the Rubén Blades composition "Guaguancó Triste", as well as the salsa version of James Taylor's "Fire And Rain". This album also included his most impressive and well-known hit called "Sonido Bestial", which has a Latin-flavoured arrangement of Chopin's Etude 10/12, and is considered a classic masterpiece of salsa music.

In 1974 The Dynamic Duo won the title "The Kings Of Salsa" at the "Coliseo Roberto Clemente" in San Juan, Puerto Rico. For a period of 12 hours, 24 bands had competed for the coveted title, and Ray and Cruz emerged triumphant. Contracts started to pour in, requests for interviews and TV appearances, and even movie offers.

Born-again Christian

All of these things spoke of success, but Ray suffered strong emotional problems during this time. The despair he felt led him into alcohol and drug abuse. He felt tormented by his addictions, however, and wanted to change his life.

In August of that year, he surprised many when he announced that he had become a born-again evangelical Christian. The professed experience radically changed his career and life. At first, Cruz refused to accept Ray's change, but within four months Cruz himself became a convert.

In spite of these dramatic changes, Ray & Cruz fans continued to support the duo. The 1976 release of Reconstrucción went "Gold" (their ninth). The album included their smash hit single "Juan En La Ciudad". They followed with Viven in 1977, De Nuevo 'Los Durísimos' Again (1980), and their final release on Vaya Records, Inconfundibles (1987) in which Ray and Cruz announced their retirement from Salsa music. All of these were successful releases.

Richie Ray and Bobby Cruz lost most of their fans and found opposition among the members of their own faith when they suggested the idea of Christian Salsa. They stood their ground, however, and little by little, they started to regain the confidence of their fans and fellow Christians. They abandoned secular salsa and recorded salsa with a Christian message, reworking many of their worldly hits into religious themes. Some of these include "El Sonido La Bestia", "Más Que Vencedores", and "Aguzate". They also created some new ones, like "Los Fariseos", "Timoteo", and "Sipriano"

The sincerity of their Christian beliefs was not just conveyed in their music. Both Ray and Cruz are pastors, and they have founded more than 20 churches throughout Puerto Rico and the United States. In addition, Ray founded the Salvation Records label as an outlet for Christian music. Then, he continued his music career although his long-time friend, Cruz, had retired. During "retirement", however, both Cruz and Ray released albums with previously recorded numbers and with other bands or singers. Richie Ray is now a pastor in Cape Coral under the CLM fellowship.

In 1991, Ray and Cruz reunited for successful concert appearances in San Juan and again in New York. They reunited again in 1999 for the "Sonido Bestial" concert in the Coliseo Rubén Rodríguez located in Bayamón, they sang some of their early hits together with some of their religious songs and the concert was recorded live. The outcome was so impressive that they were offered a contract by Universal Records, the recording was selected as one of the best recordings of 1999 and helped bring the pair back into the limelight of the Puerto Rican music scene. The pair has continued active in the music scene since.

Later years

In 2000, Ray and Cruz held a series of concerts that were completely sold out at the Antonio Paoli Hall of the Luis A. Ferre Center of Beautiful Arts in San Juan. They were also honored with a National Day of Salsa in Bayamón. In 2002, Richie Ray and Bobby Cruz were inducted into the International Latin Music Hall of Fame.

In 2003, Ray recorded "''Al Ritmo del Piano''" for Warner Music Latina. Ray and Cruz continue to make appearances in places such as the Copacabana Club in New York. In December 2005 Ray & Cruz release a totally *new* album under the label Tropisounds the album was recorded in Colombia under the musical direction of its producer by Diego Galé, Que Vuelva La Música has 14 new tracks "El gallo y la vaca", "La bailarina", "Quim Bon Bori", "Vive contento", "Soy boricua" y "Va a llover" are just a few of the titles. The Album was an instant hit in Colombia and Latin America. "El gallo y la vaca" (25th Nov) and "Salsa La Celebracion" (7th two weeks in April) appeared in the top 100 salsa songs charts in North America through 2006. In 2006 Richie Ray and Bobby Cruz won a Latin-Grammy Award for "Lifetime Achievement", this year they also recorded a CD and DVD titled "A lifetime of hits" (live at Centro de Bellas Artes, San Juan, Puerto Rico) which was nominated for a Latin Grammy in the "Best Contemporary Tropical Album" category.

Ray currently lives in Florida with his wife Angie Ray and besides being musically active, he is also busy attending the churches which he and Cruz found in the United States, Caribbean and Latin-America. Ricardo "Richie" Ray is still considered along with Eddie Palmieri and Papo Lucca one of the best and more influential pianists of all times in Salsa music. On August 16, 2008, Richie Ray & Bobby Cruz celebrated 45 years in the musical business, with a concert at José Miguel Agrelot Coliseum. Prior to the presentation, the duo noted that the concert would last at least three hours. The duo has expressed that this might be their last "big scale concert".

Selected discography

! Fonseca Records	! Alegre Records	! '''United Artists''
Ricardo Ray Arrives - Comején 1964	Se Soltó (On the Loose) 1966	El Diferente 1969
On the Scene 1965	''Jala Jala y Boogaloo'' 1967	Viva Ricardo 1969
3 Dimensions 1966	Jala Jala y Boogaloo Vol. 2 1968
Richie Ray IntroducingBobby Cruz A-Go-Go 1966	Los Durísimos/The Strong Ones 1968
En Fiesta Navideña 1966	Let's Get Down to the Real Nitty Gritty 1968
	Los Durísimos y Yo (Nidya Caro) 1969
	Aguzate 1970
! Vaya Records	! Ray & Bo Records	! Appearances with Fania All-Stars
El Bestial Sonido 1971	A su nombre Gloria 1978	Our Latin Thing 1971 ''Ahora Vengo Yo''
Felices Pascuas 1972	Renovando la Salsa 1979	Live at the Red Garter Vol. 1 1972 (1968) ''Richies Bag''
Jammin' Live 1972	Abriendo Surcos 1979	Fania All Stars at the Cheetah Vol. 2 1974 (1971) ''Ahora Vengo Yo''
Amor en la Escuela 1974	En Familia 1983	Live at the Yankee Stadium Vol. 2 1975 ''Hermandad Fania''
1975 (1974)	Más que Vencedores 1984
10 Aniversario 1975	Maravilloso 1985
Reconstrucción 1976	Adelante Juventud 1988
Viven 1977	Angie, Mi Piano y Yo 1992
El Sonido de la Bestia 1980
Las Águilas/The Eagles 1982
! Los Inconfundibles 1987	! Releases After the Year 2000	!
Voz Palabra Y Jubilo 2000WEA Latina	Lo Nuevo y Lo Mejor 2001WEA Latina	Caminando 2002Rejoice Music
Casa De Alabanza Vol 1 2003(Rejoice Music) WEA Latina	40 Aniversario En Vivo 2004Combo Records	Que Vuelva La Música 2005Tropisounds
A Lifetime of hits (Live at Centro de Bellas Artes de Puerto Rico 2006

See also

List of famous Puerto Ricans

References

External links

Biography at Popular Culture's

Discography

Bobby's Biography

Category:1945 births Category:Living people Category:Puerto Rican singers Category:Puerto Rican musicians Category:Puerto Rican composers Category:Salsa musicians Category:Puerto Rican Christians

de:Ricardo Ray es:Richie Ray fr:Richie Ray

Coordinates	32°30′20″N45°49′29″N
Name	Bobby Cruz
Background	solo_singer
Birth date	February 01, 1937
Origin	Hormigueros, Puerto Rico
Genre	Salsa
Website	}}

Bobby Cruz (born February 1, 1937) is a salsa singer and religious minister. He is well known for his success beginning in 1965 as part of the duo Richie Ray & Bobby Cruz. His seminal professional pairing with Richie Ray is one of the longest-lived partnerships in Latino music, lasting over 40 years. His wide vocal range and quiet, gentlemanly demeanor has earned Cruz enormous popularity over the years.

Early years

Cruz was born in Hormigueros, Puerto Rico and raised in the humble surroundings on his family's farm; his father was a sugar cane fields worker who later became a workers' union leader. When a child, his parents moved to New York where he was educated; there he enjoyed singing; he considered El Gran Combo's style of music as the most influential in his life.

Cruz meets Richie Ray

In New York in 1964 Bobby Cruz met fellow Puerto Rican multi-instrumentalist Richie Ray and soon joined his orchestra as a back-up singer. In 1966, Cruz was the lead singer on the English-language song "Mr. Trumpet Man" (an attempt at recording boogaloo which became a major hit in New York and other salsa markets).

Between 1964-74, the pairing of Richie Ray and Bobby Cruz had become one of the most popular salsa duets in the world. Ray and Cruz had a considerable influence in the Latino music world just because of four accomplishments:

Their orchestra's all-trumpet ''sonora'' sound, reminiscent of that of the Sonora Matancera, was called by that orchestra's founder Rogelio Martínez as "the best tribute the band ever had."

Inadvertently, Ray and Cruz misinterpreted a comment by a Venezuelan television announcer during a visit to the country, and popularized the term "salsa" as a result (they thought the announcer's reference to a tomato paste product was a slang reference to their music, and they incorporated it into their act).

They are partially credited with keeping the Anglo style of Rock n Roll from invading Puerto Rico. (Curiously enough, at one time, the band's horn section featured an entirely non-Latino lineup) Ray in particular is credited with bringing his classical musical influences to the band's mix, and taking advantage of Cruz's almost-operatic vocal range as a result.

Cruz is credited for assisting Ruben Blades into getting work at Fania Records. Cruz's band even recorded some of Blades' earliest compositions, particularly ''"(Yo Soy) Cipriano Armenteros",'' part of a four-song saga about the fictional character recorded by Ray and Cruz, Ismael Miranda, and Blades himself.

Gold record awards

Ray and Cruz won a total of nine gold record awards during this period with hits such as:

"Aguzate" (Get Wise);

"A Mi Manera" (a remake of the French song My Way);

"Sonido Bestial" (Beastly Sound);

"Amparo Arrebato"

"El Diferente" (The Different One), and

"Mi Bandera" (My Flag, a non-controversial homage to the Puerto Rican flag that has become a patriotic and cultural reference in the country since)

Return to Puerto Rico

In 1970, Cruz and Ray opened a nightclub in San Juan, Puerto Rico. However they found that managing the club required too much of their time as they had a lot of other commitments to attend to and so decided that it would be much better if they sold the nightclub.

In addition to the duets, Cruz also sang solo when in 1972 he recorded ''Bobby Cruz canta para Tí'' (Bobby Cruz sings for You), produced by Richie Ray. He also reached No.1 in the Latin Music Hit Charts with '''Ya ni te Acuerdas''" (You don't even Remember).

In 1974, they won first place in the Festival of Orchestras for the composition "La Zafra", whose lyrics describe the struggles of sugar cane workers in western Puerto Rico and elsewhere. Later that year Ray became a Christian convert. Initially Cruz refused to accept his friend's change, however four months' later he himself became a convert.

As an experiment, they recorded what would become their most popular song, the salsa-merengue fusion "Juan en la Ciudad" (Juan in the City), in which Cruz's lyrics narrate the Parable of the Prodigal Son. It became a huge salsa hit in Latino markets in the United States and in Latin America, mostly because of its catchy, danceable refrain/chorus. Two full albums followed with religious-themed songs. "Pa' Atrás y Pa' Atrás" (Backwards and Backwards) was a minor hit at the time.

Christian Salsa

The change to a religious focus was not easy and they lost many of their fans and found opposition amongst the members of their own faith when they suggested the idea of Christian Salsa. They stood their ground and little by little they started to regain the confidence of their fans and fellow Christians, when they recorded salsa songs with a religious message. However, as to concentrate in their religious ministries, Ray and Cruz decided to record one last "secular" salsa song together: "Adios a la Salsa" (Goodbye to Salsa) was a farewell tribute to the style of music which gave them fame and fortune.

Ray and Cruz founded over 20 Christian churches during the time they retired from popular music, which lasted about 16 years. However, hardcore salsa fans constantly pressured them to return to secular work. After considerable reluctance (they feared "selling out" to secular music and alienating their religious followers), they gave away to fans' wishes, and played sold-out return concerts in Puerto Rico, Miami and New York, to their own surprise. Even when specifying that these joinings were to be sporadic and occasional, popular demand for their music remained constant; the Ray and Cruz orchestra played to sold out crowds in the few tours that followed. They changed the lyrics of some of their old songs as to reflect their religious beliefs, particularly their old hits "Agúzate" (where its old santeria references gave way to references to the Holy Spirit) and "Lluvia" (where an innocuous reference to a fool getting caught in the rain became a suggesting petition for the listener to convert to Christianity).

In 1998, Cruz published a book titled ''Cuando era un Niño'' (When I was a Child). In 1999, Richie Ray and Bobby Cruz held a concert in the Rubén Rodríguez Coliseum in Bayamón, where they sang some of their early hits together with some of their religious songs. The result was so impressive that they were offered a contract by Universal Records to record their concerts.

Later years

In 2000, Cruz and Ray held a series of concerts that were completely sold out at the Antonio Paoli Hall at the Luis A. Ferre Fine Arts Center in San Juan. They were also the main honorees at the Puerto Rican National Day of Salsa in Bayamón. In 2002, Bobby Cruz and Richie Ray were inducted into the International Latin Music Hall of Fame.

Cruz and Ray currently continue their music and evangelical ministries. Ray occasionally plays Latin jazz as part of experimental musical collective Orquesta La Experimental. Occasionally, they perform "secular" salsa music (mostly in concerts), perhaps with less popularity than in their heyday, but still influencing a new generation of performers.

On April 19, 2008, Bobby Cruz was the pastor who pronounced the marriage vows between Jackie Guerrido and Don Omar in a ceremony held at the Ritz Carlton Hotel of San Juan. On August 16, 2008, Richie Ray & Bobby Cruz celebrated 45 years in the musical business, with a concert at José Miguel Agrelot Coliseum. Prior to the presentation, the duo noted that the concert would last at least three hours. The duo has expressed that this might be their last "big scale concert".

See also

List of famous Puerto Ricans

Puerto Rican Songwriters

References

External links

Popular Culture

Category:1937 births Category:Living people Category:Puerto Rican singers Category:Puerto Rican singer-songwriters Category:Puerto Rican composers Category:Puerto Rican male singers Category:Converts to Protestantism Category:Salsa musicians Category:Fania Records artists Category:Latin Grammy Award winners

de:Bobby Cruz es:Bobby Cruz fr:Bobby Cruz gl:Bobby Cruz