Bhagiratha is the god who brought the River Ganges back to the Earth from the heavens. It was in the divine and Sapphic that his arrival on Earth originated. The king of the Sun Dynasty, Maharaja Dilipa had no heir and was on the verge of death. A declaration was made by Shiva that the two widows of the king could together produce a true offspring after which Bhagiratha was born.
He came to know about the awful end of his forefathers when he became the Sagara Dynasty prince. His forefathers were not able to achieve region of gods and so he handed over his kingly duties with a sorrowful heart to his minister and went to the Himalayas to practice austerity. As per the god timeline, he did penance for a 1000 years on the advice of Trithala, his guru in an effort to please Ganga. This would help release his 60,000 uncles from Saint Kapilas’s curse. Ganga told the guru that sustaining her forceful descending to the earth from the sky would be difficult. Many years would have to be spent in prayer and tapasya to get back Ganga to Earth, which was a near to impossible task.
Accordingly Shiva granted a boon after the guru’s severe penance. Goddess Ganga descended to earth, eventually in the form of the Ganges river to fill the sea, drunk up by Jahnu. The river’s headstream is called Bhagirathi, in commemoration of efforts taken by him. The river meets River Alaknanda at Devprayag.
