Ganga's descent from heaven; And why she chose to come through Shiva's hair

King Sagar, the ruler of Ikshvaku dynasty, was unhappy as he had no sons. He prayed to the Gods for a son for many years and his wishes were granted. One of his wives gave birth to a son and the second delivered a gourd. Seeing the gourd, the king ordered it to be thrown away. But the Gods intervened and told him to nurture the seeds of the gourd as a thousand strong sons would be born out of them. Sagar did as he was told. Soon his sons were born and grew up to be young men. Once, while the king was performing the Ashwamedh Yagya (the ritual prayer in which a horse is let lose and whichever territory he covers becomes the property of the king performing the rites. If there is any resistance then the armies of the king take care of it), the horse which was let loose disappeared when it reached the ocean.

The sons, who had accompanied the horse, searched for it everywhere. The sons started digging the bottom of the ocean and reached the abode of Vishnu. Vishnu had assumed the persona of Rishi Kapil, and next to him, the lost horse was peacefully grazing. The sons of Sagar were angry and insulted the Rishi by calling him a thief. The Rishi's eyes glowed with anger. The moment he looked at the sons of Sagar, all were turned into ashes. A celestial voice then declared that their ashes would have to wait for their proper ceremonies till one of their descendants, Bhagirath, succeeded in bringing Ganga, the celestial river, to the earth.

Meanwhile, the king waited for the return of his sons and then sent his grandson, Anshuman, to search for his uncles. Anshuman reached the place where Rishi Kapil lived. He paid his respects to the Rishi with great humility and requested him to give the horse to him. The rishi, pleased by Anshuman, granted him the horse and a boon. So Anshuman asked that his uncles be forgiven. The saint assured him that his grandson Bhagirath would bring the River Ganga to earth and then the ashes of his uncles would be purified and their souls liberated.

Anshuman ruled for many years and had a son Dileep and both of them tried to think of ways to bring Ganga to earth. When Dileep's son Bhagirath learnt of the fate of his forefathers, he left his kingdom and went in search of Ganga. He went to the Himalayas and prayed to the Gods for thousands of years. Ganga appeared before him and agreed to accompany him to earth. Ganga knew that as she fell from the sky, her force would ruin the world. She suggested that Bhagirath request Shiva to hold her in his hair as she fell. Bhagirath went to the Mt. Kailash on the Himalayas and prayed to Shiva to hold Ganga

. So Ganga descended with full force to the Earth and Shiva held her in his great locks. She spent years wandering in the locks of Shiva and then descended to the earth. She went with Bhagirath to the ashes of his forefathers and as the water touched the ashes, all the sons of Sagar were redeemed. From there she flowed on and reached the ocean where she filled it up with water again. This is the story of how Ganga came to the earth and refilled the ocean.