Editing Ganges (section)

===Redemption of the Dead===
[[Image:HinduCremationVaranasi1903.jpg|thumb|upright|Preparations for cremations on the banks of the Ganges in Varanasi, 1903. The dead are being bathed, wrapped in cloth, and covered with wood. The photograph has a caption, "Who dies in the waters of the Ganges obtains heaven."]]
As the Ganges had descended from heaven to earth in the Hindu tradition, she is also considered the vehicle of ''ascent'', from earth to heaven.<ref name=eck1998-p145-146>{{Harvnb|Eck|1998|pp=145–46}}</ref> As the ''Triloka-patha-gamini'', (Sanskrit: ''triloka'' = "three worlds", ''patha'' = "road", ''gamini'' = "one who travels") of the tradition, she flows in [[Svarga|heaven]], [[Prithvi|earth]], and the [[Patala|netherworld]], and, consequently, is a "tirtha" or crossing point of all beings, the living as well as the dead.<ref name=eck1998-p145-146/> It is for this reason that the story of the ''avatarana'' is told at ''[[Śrāddha|Shraddha]]'' ceremonies for the deceased in Hinduism, and Ganges water is used in [[Vedic rituals after death]].<ref name=eck1998-p145-146/> Among all hymns devoted to the Ganges, there are none more popular than the ones expressing the worshipper's wish to breathe his last surrounded by her waters.<ref name=eck1998-p145-146/> The ''Gangashtakam'' expresses this longing fervently:<ref name=eck1998-p145-146/><blockquote>O Mother!&nbsp;... Necklace adorning the worlds!<br />Banner rising to heaven!<br />I ask that I may leave of this body on your banks,<br />Drinking your water, rolling in your waves,<br />Remembering your name, bestowing my gaze upon you.<ref>Quoted in: {{Harvnb|Eck|1998|pp=145–46}}</ref></blockquote>
No place along her banks is more longed for at the moment of death by Hindus than Varanasi, the Great Cremation Ground, or ''[[Shmashana|Mahashmshana]]''.<ref name=eck1998-p145-146/> Those who are lucky enough to die in Varanasi, are cremated on the banks of the Ganges, and are granted instant salvation.<ref name=eck1982-p215>{{Harvnb|Eck|1982|p=215}}</ref> If the death has occurred elsewhere, salvation can be achieved by immersing the ashes in the Ganges.<ref name=eck1982-p215/> If the ashes have been immersed in another body of water, a relative can still gain salvation for the deceased by journeying to the Ganges, if possible during the lunar "fortnight of the ancestors" in the Hindu calendar month of [[Ashwin]] (September or October), and performing the ''Shraddha'' rites.<ref name=eck1982-p215/>

Hindus also perform ''[[Pinda (riceball)|pinda]] pradana'', a rite for the dead, in which balls of rice and sesame seed are offered to the Ganges while the names of the deceased relatives are recited.<ref name=eck1982-p215-216>{{Harvnb|Eck|1982|pp=215–16}}</ref> Every sesame seed in every ball thus offered, according to one story, assures a thousand years of heavenly salvation for each relative.<ref name=eck1982-p215-216/> 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."<ref>Quoted in: {{Harvnb|Eck|1982|p=216}}</ref> 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 (Hinduism)|Yama]], the Lord of Death, to be judged for the afterworld. Having no compensating virtue, Vahika's soul is at once dispatched to [[Naraka (Hinduism)|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 event, Vahika, on his way to hell, is rescued by a celestial chariot which takes him instead to heaven.<ref name=eck1982-p216>{{Harvnb|Eck|1982|p=216}}</ref>