There are beguiling stories on the river Brahmaputra, if one gleans through the pages of Hindu & Buddhist Literature. While Tibetan Buddhists believe that an ancient Boddhisattava decided to cut an outlet (that came to be known as Tsang Po) of the divine lake of Chang Tan (1/n) https://twitter.com/zLaTaNPiKaPi29/status/1286992905291198464

Plateau so that humans in the mainlands can get a share of the divinity of the magical waters, Hindus opine that Rishi Shantanu decided to hide the baby river deity in a kamandal (a pot) near a glacier, encompassed by the 4 grand mountains : Kailash, Gandhamadhana, (2/n)

Jarudhi & Sambwartakka. As days passed by, the waters amassed enough droplets to tumble out of the pot & grew to a grand lake: Brahmakunda, whose waters were blessed with powers of washing off any sinner's crimes. Being trapped in that zone since childhood, (3/n)

the deity always longed for freedom to flow & meander across the majestic plains of Bharatvarsh. Finally, it was Parashurama who freed him when he split the mountains with his axe, as he wanted to wash off his sin of his mother's death at his hands with the pristine waters (4/n)

of Brahmakunda. The site where the legendary Parashuram is rumored to have underwent a deep penance as atonement for his inexcusable sin is known as Parshuram Kund, which is pilgrimage site situated in Lohit district of modern-day Arunachal Pradesh, on the verge of the lower(5/n)

reaches of the Lohit river (a tributary of Brahmaputra). There is another story in the Kalikapurana chronicling Maharishi Vasishtha's curse on the Brahmaputra, as he flooded his Ashram & created havoc. The curse robbed the Brahmaputra of his purifying powers. Finally, with (6/n)

Brahmaputra offering a heartfelt apology, Vasishtha decided to reduce the penalty with a boon that Brahmaputra would attain his sanctity & healing powers only on the day of Shuklastami in the month of Chaitra, while maintaining his curse for the rest of the year as a (7/n)

deterrent for his irresponsible disquietude. The day of Shuklastami is celebrated as Ashokastami today in Assam, as on this day, bathing on the Brahmaputra can purify one's soul of the burden of sins, which otherwise is permitted only in the River Ganga. In short, on this (8/n)

day of the year, Brahmaputra is as sacred as the Ganga. Moreover, the name of Brahmaputra in Assam : "Luit" has also its roots in the Mahabharata. The Assamese word "Luit" is derived from the Sanskrit word "लोहित", which means "blood-red" colour, & this connotation can be (9/n)

attributed to the famous battle between Dwarka's Sri Krishna & Sonitpur's Banasura : a famed battle where Sri Krishna cut off the thousand arms of Banasura with his Sudarshan Chakra, with Banasura's blood dripping from his arms fusing with the Brahmaputra's rivers,flooding (10/n)

the entire valley with waters, marked by a tinge of reddish hue.

Nature worship is deeply ingrained within the framework of Hinduism, with each river in India attributed to a deity. If one dives deep into the etymological meanings of the Sanskrit names of the rivers, one (11/n)

can witness a classification of rivers along the two genders, with rivers like Ganga, Narmada, Tapti, Mahanadi etc. personifying the feminine trait of Nature, while Brahmaputra, Damodar, Ajay, etc. epitomising Nature's masculinity.

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