The River Ganges or Gaṅgā - XIII

Sage Nārada, the son of Brahmā, was extremely fond of singing, but his singing was not correct. As a result the rāgas (combinations of musical notes, evoking certain moods) suffered inexplicable agony. When Nārada comprehended the reason of the rāgas agony, he promised to sing only when he had properly learnt to do so. But the agony of the ragas had to be healed and thus a musical concert by a master musician had to be arranged. Besides Bhairav, who could be a better musician; hence, Nārada approached Maheś to sing and heal the ragas. Śiva agreed but on a condition that Viṣṇu and Brahmā should listen to his recital, as a master musician needed master listeners. Both Viṣṇu and Brahmā were delighted to have the opportunity to hear Bhairav sing and so they readily agreed.

At the first note of the concert, the ragas began to heal and soon they were all healed. So deep and soothing was Śiva's musical rendering, that Viṣṇu was transported to raptures of divine joy and actually began to melt. Now Brahmā collected the water emanating from the melting Viṣṇu in his kamandalu. After the concert was over, Brahmā created Gaṅgā out of this water. As her birth was under the most auspicious of circumstances, and being made out of the water that emanated from the melting of Viṣṇu, Gaṅgā by birth obtained the power of purifying anything that came in contact with her.