Delhiwale: A house for the river goddess

In Old Delhi, a small, lesser-known temple dedicated to Ganga ji features an idol of the river goddess and a poignant tribute to its revivalists.

The temple priest is concentratedly washing the temple’s checkered marble floor early this morning. The water flowing from his plastic hose has most likely come from Yamuna ji, the sacred river that runs through Delhi and supplies much of the city’s water. The same Yamuna ji, further downstream along its course, flows past the Taj Mahal before merging with the great Ganga ji at the Sangam in Allahabad, now called Prayagraj.

Shri Diwan Swaroop Lal and Shrimati Panno Devi gaze directly toward Ganga ji’s idol on the opposite wall.

One imagines Ganga ji to have countless temples devoted to her. Yet they are difficult to find, at least in Delhi. One temple stands here in Old Delhi, beside Gali Mira Wali Khurd, near Chawri Bazar. Despite its rarity, the temple remains little known, perhaps because it is so small that most passers-by fail to notice it.

Anyhow, Shri Ganga ji Mandir consists of a single hall, bearing idols of many divinities, including of Shiv ji Bhagwan, from whose divine locks Ganga ji descended to our mortal world. But where is Ganga ji herself in this temple named after her?

The priest wordlessly gestures towards an idol in sequinned cloth. Ganga ji is standing in a central alcove, wearing a beatific smile. One hand holds a golden kalash. Another appears to hold a lotus.

At this early hour, the temple is quiet. A strong breeze rushes in from the deserted street outside, lifting the wall calendar. The priest points to words painted on one of the marble walls. They date the temple’s original edifice to more than a century ago. Above it is displayed a depiction of the “Ganga Avataran,” the descent of the sacred river to Earth from Bhagwan Vishnu’s feet.

The curious eyes next dart around the temple walls, looking for the possible presence of a celebrated Hindi couplet that describes the holy river’s descent:

Achyuta-charana-tarangini, Shiva-sir-malati-maal,

Hari na banayo sursari, keejo indav-bhaal.

Often recited by devotees of Ganga ji, the aforementioned doha is by poet Rahim, whose tomb in Delhi stands not far from the banks of Yamuna ji. The lines, however, are nowhere to be spotted on these walls.

More than anything else, the temple’s most poignant aspect is its back wall, which holds a framed photograph of an elderly man and woman. Per an inscription elsewhere in the temple, the man was responsible for “reviving” Shri Ganga ji Mandir more than fifty years ago. To tell the truth, there is something surreal about looking at the two figures. From within their garlanded frame, Shri Diwan Swaroop Lal and Shrimati Panno Devi gaze directly toward Ganga ji’s idol on the opposite wall, as though keeping a sacred vigil before the river goddess. See photo.