According to the vedas the land of the Saptasindhu was the home of the most ancient Aryans , the rich Vedic people 'sindhu ' is the word used for a big river - Sapta sindhu ' the land watered by the seven big rivers - the main streams of the Ganga flowing in the Garhwal . the seven are The vishnu Ganga ( Alaknanda ) , the Dauhli Ganga , the Nandakini , The Pinder ,The Mandakini, the Bhagirathi and the Nayar .The confluence of the seventh river , Nayar with the main stream of the Ganga has been called ';sapta Samudrik teerth ' in the skanda purna .rising in the icy heights of himavat , at gangotri , the Ganges girdles the reign for nearly 500 kms , before it enters the plains , encompassing , since aeons , the life of the people of Garhwal.Cradle of the Ganga , and with the climate favourable for the development of terrestorial life , ' Garhwal was among the first to see the birth of Man's ancestor on the Earth - the primate . Described in the majority of the hymns or the Rigveda , the Ganga , emerges as the life stream of the entire Aryan race who migrated to India in 2000 B.C almost 4000 years ago . Through narrow winding georges , the mighty river carries the message of the snows into the distant plains , the sacred life river toiling millions , while in the mountain ranges ,m waterfalls break into a thousand - cornered spectorama of psychedelic clours and relentless glaciers wind their way down into the Himalayas are not to be seen anywhere here on this earth .

THE IMMMORTAL STORY OF THE IMMORTAL GANGA :

Aeons ago , whe n the world was still young and the himalayas in the procession of creation , rising from the sea to the mighty giants of today , the good king Sagar who reigned in what is now India having slain the demons of the earth , decieded to stage a 'horse sacrifice ', or Ashwamedh - yagya as a proclamation of his supremacy . the horse was to be escorted on an uninterrupted journey around Earth by his 60,000 sons born of queen Sumathi and the ine and only son , Asamanjas , born of his second Queen Kesoni , Meanwhile , Indra , supreme Ruler of the Kingdom of the Gods , was filled with fear thet he might lose his celestial throne in the' yagya ' was success .He came diwn the earth and stealing the horses in an unguarded moment .tied it a post near the 'ashram' of the meditating Sage kapil , from whom even the Gods trembled . Meanwhile the 60,000 sons searched high and low for the horse in order to find who had challenged the soverignty of their august father . finally they
rached the nether regions ,habitat of the hermit of sage , and wher preoaring to to storm the place the attack the meditating ' rishi ', when Kapil , his meditation disturbed , opened but one furious eye and reduced the 60,000 horses into ashes .
Asamanjas , alone lived to tell the tale to the sorrowing parents . it fell to King Sagar's grandson , Anshuman to recover the horse and attain salvation for his 60,0000 kin Kapil returned the Horse and told him that they were burnt because of his anger at being disturbed , they could he said save their souls if the Goddess Ganga come down from the heavens to cleanse their ashes . The Goddess Ganga , who lived in the Hindu Olympia , flowing demurely for the sole pleasure of the gods , was loth to come down and leave the heavens .The great task of bringing her down went on but the Goddesss was adamant . Anshuman failed and so did his son , Dilip, but his grandson was equally determined and
meditated on the glacial terrace `of Tapovan near the base of the mighty peak of Shivling at gangotri. Years rolled on , but King Bhagirath's meditation and devotion did not cease . Finally , gods relented and asked him his desire - he wanted but one boon -the descent of the divine lady who was still adamant and threatned to destroy the earth if forced to leave the heavens . As the matter was of some gravity , Shiva agreed to recieve the full force of the waters unleashed by the tempestous goddesss on his head. The Ganga descended and remain suspended on the coils of Shiva's matted hair .Sitting on his slab of ice (BHaghirath Shila ) in a deep gorge enclosed by glistening granite walls of the central axis of the great Himalayas ., Bhaghirath now meditated to porpitate Shiva .The god was pleased and released the Ganga as 
three streams one of which came to earth in the form of Bhagirathi . Blowing a conch shell , the king proceeded across the himalaya which rifted apart to allow the Bhagirathi to follow him and redesm the ashes of the 60,000 souls to their eternal rest . Nearly at the end of the gorge the Jadh Ganga or the Janhvi
joins the Bhagirathi . 
There is a strong belief that the Ganga is a canal designed by King Bhagirath , due to its canal - like fofmation inthe hills that has amazed and confounded several engineers . the river flows to the north at Gangotri , North-west up to Harsil and then turns abruptly to the south towards the land of king Bhaghirath . If the river had not changed its course at Harsil it could have flowed away to her domain . It is believed that Bhagirath is his mystic chariot guided the Gangato this course . Nature has endowed this area with unexcelled munificience .For the faithful and the nature lover , pilgrimage to Gangotri , the source of Ganga , is through magnificient scenery , . It almost seems as if the God's , inorder to soften the blow for Ganga , decked a bower for her reception as the gratified pilgrim , is greeted stage after stage ,with canyons , cascades and rushing rivulets to soothe the ardous of the journey . Ten thousand feet up in the sky , Gangotri rears its famous example on the right bank of the river .the Bhagirathi takes its rise from Gaumukh , while the Yamuna rises at Yamunotri , Both the points being hardly 70 kms apart as crow flies , but they flow nearly , 1000 kms to join at Prayag . Here the colour of the waters are yellowish grey , the yamuna waters are blue . The Bhagirathi rises from the snout of the Gangotri glacier at Gaumukh which , along with its tributary glaciers , covers a big area studded with and surrounded with snowy peaks .the river receives the waters of the Alaknanda and other tributaries , which bring much glacial debris - but the Yamuna at its source gets only the snow melted waters of the Bandepooonch, with much less debris hence the blue colour