Ganges (2007) - S01E01 - Daughter of the Mountains
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00:00Nowhere else on earth are the natural and the spiritual worlds so intertwined as in India.
00:17This is a place where fire and air, animals and trees, mountains and rivers are revered as gods.
00:31One of the most powerful of these natural deities is the river Ganges.
00:39She is a water goddess who blesses the many faces of northern India in a thousand different ways.
00:48For millennia she has brought shape and life to a parched land
00:54and provided sustenance for both body and soul to the countless millions who have lived and worshipped along her banks.
01:08All around her the great cycles of birth, death and rebirth are endlessly played out.
01:15And flowing through these natural and spiritual worlds is the Ganges, India's river of life.
01:45India has many sacred rivers, but it's the Ganga, or Ganges, that lies at the very heart of the subcontinent.
02:05To reach its delta on the shores of the Bay of Bengal,
02:09the river has flowed for 1500 miles across northern India's hot and crowded plains.
02:17But the Ganges starts life in a very different realm.
02:22Cold and imposing, the high peaks of the Himalaya have another name.
02:29Devbhumi, the land of the gods.
02:34It's here that the Ganges is born.
02:40The source of the Ganges is a place of great significance.
02:46But where amongst these remote peaks and glaciers does India's most venerated river really begin?
02:56In this mystical landscape, divining the origin is as much a test of faith as of geography.
03:03Ancient temples honour four streams as the sacred sources of the Ganges.
03:13But which is the true source of the great river?
03:19By winter's end, the answer is as elusive as the Himalaya's most secretive mystery.
03:25The snow leopard is a fabulous, ghostly presence in this frigid world.
03:32Only a few now haunt the slopes, tracking bharal, or blue sheep, through the remotest valleys.
03:39After months of hardship, even an old goat carcass can mean the difference between life and death.
03:46And not just for scavengers like crows and jackals.
03:51But also for those who have lost their homes.
03:56And for those who have lost their homes.
04:01And for those who have lost their homes.
04:05And not just for scavengers like crows and jackals.
04:23But by the end of April, this icy world is set to change.
04:35As spring creeps up into the mountains, temples and villages abandoned for the winter start to thaw.
04:52And so does the Ganges.
04:55And so does the Ganges.
05:04Released from the grip of winter, water begins to flow again, for the first time in months.
05:13In turn, these streams set other journeys in motion.
05:19These pilgrims are climbing towards the first sacred source of the Ganges.
05:26They carry with them an effigy of Shiva, destined for its summer home in the village of Kedarnath,
05:333,500 meters up in the Himalayas.
05:38Unoccupied for the wintry months, this thousand-year-old temple is about to reopen.
05:45Peekers get a rude awakening from their long hibernation.
05:52Kedarnath is a hard four-day climb from the low villages,
05:57and the procession's arrival is a cause for great celebration.
06:02The procession's arrival is a cause for great celebration.
06:09In just a few days, the whole valley is magically transformed,
06:14as the counter-currents of water and people ebb and flow across the slopes.
06:24Through the short summer season, this lonely outpost can be seen again.
06:31Through the short summer season, this lonely outpost can be seen again.
06:36This lonely outpost will become the focus for hundreds of thousands of pilgrims from all over India.
06:46But while Kedarnath is revered as a sacred source,
06:50in truth, there are many streams that begin far deeper into the mountains.
07:01And all of them have a long journey ahead,
07:04before finally becoming part of the Ganges far below.
07:11And at these lower altitudes, spring has already arrived.
07:19As the strengthening sun warms the land, Lamagayas soar on the rising thermals.
07:26They scour the forested valleys, effortlessly covering 25 miles or more each day in their search for food.
07:41Lifted on wings three meters across, the Lamagaya is one of the world's largest birds of prey.
07:48Not that this intimidates the local crows.
07:55Despite their imposing size, they survive largely by scavenging on old bones.
08:09The solitary youngster must spend several months perched precariously on the ground,
08:14before finally being ready to follow its parents into the thin mountain air.
08:30Bathed in spring sunshine, the valleys of the foothills are bursting with life.
08:45Water-loving birds like redstarts and forktails are busy attending to their hungry nestlings.
08:57These lower slopes provide a safe haven for the Lamagayas,
09:02as they continue their search for food.
09:14The forests were once cloaked in rich forest. Now this woodland is confined to just a few protected valleys.
09:22The dominant tree here is the Deodha.
09:25These 60-meter giants are known locally as the Tree of the Gods,
09:29an appropriate home for one of India's most divine creatures.
09:36Langurs are revered as the earthly warriors of Hanuman, the monkey god.
09:42After a winter surviving on a meager diet of bark and dead leaves,
09:47the spring greenery brings an appetizing change.
09:52These mountain monkeys have occasionally been seen wandering the highest slopes,
09:57which may have given rise to the legends of the Yeti.
10:03In these magical forests, it seems natural that mythical beasts and gods could be embodied in the same creature.
10:12And at the heart of this awakening world is the growing presence of Ganga, the river goddess.
10:24With each passing day, the spring meltwater surges down towards the plains.
10:41In the lower reaches of the mountain rivers, Himalayan marsil are gathering.
10:52The world's largest carp, these powerful fish cruise the rivers with the seasons,
10:58migrating between spawning grounds in mountain torrents and these more placid lowland waters.
11:05But today these are perilous journeys as poaching takes a heavy toll on their numbers.
11:15One of the few sanctuaries now left to them are the ceremonial steps or carts at riverside temples.
11:26Here they grow huge on handouts from priests and worshippers.
11:35The largest might be a meter long and weigh over 50 kilos.
11:50But in these increasingly crowded valleys, they have to share these sacred waters
11:56as the tributaries of the Ganges are having ever greater demands placed upon them.
12:05Villagers use every stream pouring down from the mountains
12:10to irrigate tier upon tier of terraces carved into the precipitous slopes.
12:19Winter-sown crops like barley and millet quickly ripen in the strong sun.
12:27And come May, it's not just the villagers reaping the benefits.
12:32Even as the crops are being cut, troops of macaques are waiting in the wings
12:38ready to mop up any overlooked ears and seeds.
12:43Despite appearances, time is of the essence.
12:49Almost as soon as the crop has been gathered, these tiny fields are ready to be harvested.
12:56The harvest is not far off.
12:59It's just a matter of time before the crop is ready to be harvested.
13:03Despite appearances, time is of the essence.
13:09Almost as soon as the crop has been gathered, these tiny fields are ploughed,
13:14then flooded and planted with rice to be harvested in the autumn.
13:25This intensive farming is only possible because of the huge quantities of melt water
13:30flooding down from the peaks.
13:34This predictable and plentiful supply of water is the Ganges' first great gift to northern India.
13:41Without it, the entire region would be a wasteland.
13:52Small wonder that for millennia this gift has been seen as a blessing from the mountain gods
13:58and the river itself revered as a goddess possessed of abundant supernatural powers.
14:20By May, the mountains are bathed in summer heat
14:24and the first rush of melt water is beginning to subside.
14:29Shepherds drift their flocks up through the forests towards the summer pastures.
14:36Their guard dogs wear metal collars,
14:40vital protection against the lethal bite of the most feared forest predator.
15:05Today, leopards thrive around these mountain pastures,
15:09attracted by the goats and the chance of an easy kill.
15:18And these goat herds have brought other changes to the hills.
15:23Voracious and indiscriminate eaters,
15:26their grazing dramatically slows the regeneration of the forests.
15:29Rhododendrons are one of the few plants that appear immune to this onslaught.
15:34And by June, they are in full bloom.
15:51Migrating butterflies fuel up at the brilliant flowers.
16:00While rose finches,
16:03tits
16:05and warblers feed on other insects attracted to the flowers.
16:13These tangles of rhododendron and the higher mountain meadows
16:18are home to one of the most secretive creatures of the Himalayas.
16:22Musk deer are shy and retiring,
16:26and for very good reasons.
16:29They tend to emerge at dawn and dusk
16:33to feed on the lichens which festoon these forest hideaways.
16:39The male's tusks have more to do with fighting
16:43than with eating.
16:45But what really sets them apart are the musk glands under their tails.
16:51Musk is highly prized by the perfume industry
16:55and in traditional medicine,
16:58so these tiny deer have been hunted for centuries.
17:04Although now very rare,
17:07the musk deer have been hunted for centuries.
17:10Although now protected,
17:13thousands are still illegally killed in the Himalayas every year.
17:22Despite the idyllic surroundings,
17:25life in these high valleys is tough.
17:29Casualties don't go unnoticed for long.
17:33A lama gaya is first on the scene.
17:36It won't be alone for long.
17:50Plucky crows push to get in on the act.
17:57But they're not the main threat.
18:00Griffin vultures home in on the carcass from miles away.
18:04And once the discovery's been made,
18:07others won't be far behind.
18:30The solitary lama gaya doesn't have a chance
18:34among these aggressive and noisy scavengers.
18:37It must step aside and wait for scraps.
18:59But it's the returning shepherds with their dogs
19:02that settle the dispute once and for all.
19:19Forty miles and several valleys to the west of Kedarnath
19:23is the village of Yamnotri,
19:26the second sacred source of the Ganges.
19:30In reality, this temple marks the starting point
19:34of the Ganga's sister river, the Yamuna,
19:37and is not in any sense the true source of the Ganges.
19:42But this stream and temple
19:45is still hugely significant for Hindus.
19:48Before paying their respects,
19:51pilgrims must take a ritual bath
19:54in the natural hot springs beneath the temple.
19:57Devotees cook rice as an offering
20:00to their river goddess.
20:05But the real significance of Yamnotri
20:08is what these steaming sulphurous pools
20:11are used for.
20:14This is the place where the Yamuna
20:17and the Ganges meet.
20:20This is the place where the Ganges
20:23meets the Yamuna.
20:26What do these pools say about the deep
20:29and violent origins of the Himalaya?
20:32Origins that stretch back into the mists of time.
20:39For 70 million years,
20:42India has been drifting slowly northwards
20:45and ploughing its way into Asia.
20:48The land caught between the two converging continents
20:51has been squeezed and folded upwards
20:53to form the Himalaya,
20:56a 1,500-mile-long crumple zone.
21:02And they are still rising
21:05by about five millimetres a year.
21:17As the mountains continue to grow,
21:20the meltwater rivers must carve their way
21:23into the rocks.
21:38But thawing glaciers and melting snow
21:41are not the only sources of water
21:44that feed the Ganges.
21:47As the Indian summer progresses,
21:49these streams are about to get a very welcome top-up.
21:56Mountains create their own weather,
21:59and in the biggest range in the world,
22:02this can have a devastating intensity.
22:12Sudden storms pepper the hills with hail,
22:15returning the summer meadows
22:17to a brief wintry white.
22:34Yet even as the summer begins to deteriorate,
22:37pilgrims are still making journeys across the mountains.
22:48Many are heading deep into the hills
22:51to Badrinath,
22:54the third of the sacred sources of the Ganges.
23:04Close to the Tibetan border,
23:07the brightly coloured temple is over 500 years old,
23:10but the site's religious significance
23:13goes back much further.
23:16Animal gods carved into its façade
23:19are a reminder of just how intertwined
23:22the natural and spiritual worlds are in Hindu beliefs.
23:28Surrounded by some of India's highest peaks,
23:31Badrinath attracts the worst of the weather
23:34and some of the most determined pilgrims.
23:37Those who can, walk.
23:40Those who can't, are carried.
23:43The pull of these remote shrines is powerful.
23:47To visit the sacred sources
23:50brings great blessings upon the pilgrims,
23:53helping speed their journey to a better life.
23:59But once again,
24:02as with the first two sacred sources,
24:05this fierce torrent cannot be seen
24:08as the primary source of the Ganges,
24:11the river at Badrinath is fed by
24:14thousands of rain-swollen streams
24:17tumbling down from some of the most remote
24:20and awe-inspiring corners of the Himalayas.
24:26Dominating the scene is Nandardevi,
24:29India's second highest peak.
24:33Regarded as a goddess in her own right,
24:36she shelters the Bayandhar valley,
24:38one of the most magical places in India.
25:08Covered in snow for much of the year,
25:11the valley is transformed during the short summer
25:14into a botanical wonderland,
25:17the Valley of Flowers.
25:23Who could not believe that this is a blessed place?
25:26Every day, clouds wash over these high meadows,
25:29coaxing new blooms from the rich glacial soils.
25:56Over 600 plant species have been found here,
25:59and by the end of July,
26:02Himalayan balsam cloaks the valley in pink.
26:15Through the short summer season,
26:18the valley is abuzz with activity.
26:26Male monal pheasants are getting a little overheated,
26:29trying to attract a mate.
26:37And in the warm air,
26:40newly emerged insects gather in mating swarms.
26:45But for others, life in the valley is more relaxed.
26:51Coral are small goat and pig species,
26:53perfectly suited to life on the rugged grassy hillsides.
27:05Small family groups must make the most of the rich grazing
27:08before the summer ends.
27:23The profusion of meadow flowers
27:26provides the local hill people
27:29with one of their most treasured harvests.
27:42In these remote valleys,
27:45virtually everything has to be homegrown.
27:54Watered by mountain streams
27:57and warmed by the late summer sun,
28:00the village terraces are bursting with new life.
28:03It feels like a high-altitude Garden of Eden.
28:11But harsh realities are never far away.
28:18In just two months,
28:20hundreds like it across the high valleys
28:23will be abandoned for the winter.
28:35And even the summer nights hold an unwelcome chill.
28:51After dark,
28:54the village takes on a siege mentality.
28:59Stock is brought in,
29:02dogs are chained,
29:05and doors are bolted.
29:21The villagers close themselves off
29:24from some very unwelcome visitors.
29:35Asiatic black bears weigh as much as a man,
29:38and late summer is the time for them
29:41to make the most of the season's bounty
29:44as they stock up for the coming winter.
29:47The village terraces are irresistible.
29:53And it's not just bears on the prowl.
30:02Foxes take their pick of the fallen apples.
30:06And in the shadows,
30:09an even more sinister presence is lurking.
30:17Although the leopards are mainly attracted
30:20to the village dogs,
30:23they have a darker side
30:26and are not above attacking people.
30:30This isn't new.
30:33These valleys have often been plagued by man-eaters.
30:37In the 19th century,
30:40the black bears were the only
30:43In the 1920s,
30:46one male leopard killed
30:49at least 126 people,
30:52many of them pilgrims en route to the high temples.
31:01Today, such events are unlikely to be repeated.
31:06The old foot trails have been largely replaced by roads.
31:13Which means thousands of pilgrims
31:16can now easily reach even the remotest of mountain shrines.
31:29And this one,
31:32the last of the four sacred sources of the Ganges,
31:35is the busiest and most important temple of them all.
31:43This is Gangotri,
31:46the place where Hindus believe
31:49the Ganges first appeared on earth.
31:54As a goddess,
31:57Ganga originally watered the gardens of heaven.
32:00But her purifying powers were needed on earth
32:03to cleanse the ashes of the Ganges.
32:06The Ganges,
32:09which was the source of the Ganges,
32:12was now dead.
32:16Ganga agreed to come to the aid of humankind.
32:20But the impact of her descent
32:23would have destroyed the earth.
32:28So another god, Shiva, intervened.
32:32At Gangotri,
32:35he caught the falling river in his hair,
32:38cushioning her arrival and channeling the flow
32:40of her dreams.
32:51The spectacular waterfall here
32:54is a very earthly reminder of that tumultuous descent.
33:00But even Gangotri can't be the true source either.
33:07The river here is already wide and powerful,
33:10fed by one of the Himalayas' largest glaciers
33:13higher up the valley.
33:17Just a few hundred years ago,
33:20that same glacier filled this valley,
33:23reaching right down to the village.
33:26Now, in the face of rising temperatures,
33:29it's retreated over 12 miles.
33:32Only the most determined make the final journey up valley
33:35to the farthest extremity of the river.
33:41Their destination is Gaumukh,
33:44the Cow's Mouth,
33:47an ice cave from which flows a milky stream.
33:52This cold and lonely place
33:55is considered by many to be the source of the Ganges.
33:59For most pilgrims, it's a fleeting visit,
34:02just time for a few prayers and a little rest.
34:05But for the most determined,
34:07it's a fleeting visit,
34:10just time for a few prayers and a ritual bath
34:13in the frigid waters.
34:22Yet even here,
34:25it's faith rather than geography
34:28that is defining the source.
34:38Higher still,
34:41up above the glacier,
34:44there is more running water.
34:48If the source of a river
34:51is the point farthest from the sea,
34:54then it's here, in the meadows at Tapovan,
34:57that the spiritual and geographic origins of the Ganges
35:00finally come together.
35:03Surrounded and protected by the mountain gods,
35:06nowhere could be more fitting
35:09as the birthplace of India's holiest river.
35:21Few visit this wild place.
35:24Only the hardiest sadhus or holy men
35:27come to pay their respects
35:29at the very heart of the Hindu world.
35:33These mountain slopes feed
35:36the true headwaters of the Ganges.
35:45A thin covering of grasses
35:48attracts blue sheep, or bharal, down to graze.
35:52Their phantom-like predator follows.
36:00At over 4,000 meters,
36:03the summer heat keeps the streams running by day,
36:06but at night most freeze over.
36:09This daily round of freeze and thaw
36:12prizes rocks away from the unstable slopes.
36:30These landslips expose
36:33just what the bharal are looking for.
36:39They are still shedding their thick winter coats.
36:42In doing so, they lose minerals
36:45which must be replaced if they are to stay healthy.
36:49Freshly exposed salt licks are sought out.
36:52The salt licks are removed
36:55and the landslips are covered.
36:57Freshly exposed salt licks are sought out
37:00no matter what the danger.
37:04For the unwary,
37:07these isolated meadows become a final resting place.
37:15Hindus believe the source of the Ganges
37:18is a crossing point between heaven and earth.
37:28By late summer,
37:31there's a very powerful meteorological reminder
37:34of that mythological connection.
37:43The monsoon has arrived.
37:53These torrential storms contribute over
37:55half the total annual flow of the river
37:58in just a few weeks.
38:05A destructive power is unleashed across the Himalaya,
38:08one that echoes the descent of Ganga from the heavens.
38:21All this mud and rock wrestled up
38:23out of the mountains
38:26is destined to become the river's second great gift
38:29to northern India.
38:35Over two billion tons of sediment
38:38is spread over the plains each year
38:41by the monsoon floods,
38:44creating and replenishing the most fertile soils on earth.
38:48Right across the mountains,
38:50the floodwaters carve their way southwards.
39:00On this tumultuous descent,
39:03streams merge and tributaries unite.
39:11Each confluence, or prayag,
39:14is an auspicious place to worship,
39:17marking points where Ganga's waters
39:20crossed by the locks of Shiva are reunited.
39:27The most important to fall is at Dev Prayag,
39:30but bathing here during the monsoon
39:33is a life-threatening devotion.
39:51Dev Prayag is significant for other reasons too.
39:56The rivers that meet here
39:59are known only by their local names,
40:02the Alaknanda and the Bhagirathi.
40:06But downstream from this promontory,
40:09the larger river is officially called the Ganga
40:12for the first time.
40:15The river may have reached the gentler foothills,
40:17but there's life in her yet.
40:47This region is known as the Shivalik Hills.
41:03These are the ancient remnants of mountains
41:06much older than the Himalaya.
41:09Rock the powerful Ganges has been wearing down
41:12for millions of years.
41:18Now the river's character begins to change.
41:23The rapids become separated
41:26by increasingly longer stretches
41:29of deeper, more placid water.
41:33The first large towns
41:36begin to appear on her banks.
41:41The 120-meter-long Lakshman Jhula footbridge
41:44spans the Ganges
41:47at the town of Rishikesh.
41:55Every day,
41:58thousands pass back and forth
42:01going about their daily business.
42:04Although not everyone uses
42:07the more conventional route.
42:17The chaos of the bridge
42:20is ripe for exploitation,
42:23and the resident macaques
42:26know just how to work it
42:29to their advantage.
42:32They miss little,
42:35and there's nothing subtle
42:38about their tactics.
42:48If begging doesn't work,
42:51direct action usually does.
43:02They may not have the same protection
43:05of more sacred animals,
43:08but Hinduism has a fundamental respect
43:11for all life, and so they are tolerated.
43:14Their antics just an accepted,
43:17mundane part of everyday life
43:20around the town.
43:36The Rishikesh macaques span two worlds.
43:39With one foot in the Shivalik forests
43:42and the other in the urban jungle,
43:44they are the many creatures
43:47that have adjusted well to modern life.
43:50But just as the pace of life
43:53in the foothills is quickening,
43:56the river begins to slow.
43:59As the gradient slackens,
44:02the Ganges and her tributaries
44:05begin to wander across
44:08an ever-widening valley.
44:14The animals of the high Himalaya
44:17have been left far behind,
44:20and the river gathers a new cast of players.
44:23Animals better able to use
44:26the slower, deeper water
44:29of the main channel.
44:40Forests now cloak the banks,
44:42providing sanctuary for some of
44:45India's most distinctive animals.
44:48Some will be intimately connected
44:51with the Ganges for the rest
44:54of her long journey to the sea.
44:57A few are thriving,
45:00others now have only a tenuous
45:03foothold along the river.
45:08For the moment,
45:10smooth-coated otters can still enjoy
45:13carefree fishing in the foothill streams,
45:16but for how much longer is hard to tell.
45:29As people press in on all sides,
45:32these creatures must find their way
45:35in an increasingly crowded world.
45:41Still only 150 miles
45:44from its true source above Gangotri,
45:47the Ganges finally bursts
45:50from the last line of hills
45:53out onto the plains.
46:11Haridwar is one of the holiest places
46:14in India, drawing Hindu pilgrims
46:17from all over the subcontinent
46:20to celebrate and worship their
46:23divine river goddess.
46:30Every evening, devotees gather
46:33on the temple steps to take part
46:36in a mass festival of light,
46:38in her honor.
46:45In many ways, Haridwar is where
46:48the Ganges really begins.
46:51Upstream, she is a wild and elusive
46:54river, her sources shrouded
46:57in myth and mystery.
47:00Only at Haridwar are those
47:03mountain torrents finally drawn
47:05and the river truly befits
47:08her godly status.
47:11Now the Ganges enters a very
47:14different, very human world,
47:17in which her sacred waters
47:20must now clean cities,
47:23irrigate vast fields,
47:26and nourish the bodies
47:29as well as the spirits
47:32of over half a billion people.
47:35These nightly gatherings
47:38are just a taste
47:41of what is to come
47:44as the Ganges embarks
47:47on the next stage
47:50of her epic journey
47:53to the sea.
48:05At Haridwar,
48:08the daughter of the mountains
48:11has grown up to become Ganga Ma,
48:14mother Ganges,
48:17India's river of life.
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