84000 Glossary of Terms

Our trilingual glossary combining entries from all of our publications into one useful resource, giving translations and definitions of thousands of terms, people, places, and texts from the Buddhist canon.

གང་ག | Glossary of Terms

  • གང་ག

  • གང་གའི་ཀླུང་།
  • ཆུ་བོ་གང་ག
  • སི་ཏ།
  • gang ga
  • gang ga’i klung
  • chu bo gang ga
  • si ta
  • gaṅgā
  • gaṅgānadī
  • Note: this data is still being sorted
  • Place
Publications: 47

The Gaṅgā, or Ganges in English, is considered to be the most sacred river of India, particularly within the Hindu tradition. It starts in the Himalayas, flows through the northern plains of India, bathing the holy city of Vārāṇasī, and meets the sea at the Bay of Bengal, in Bangladesh. In the sūtras, however, this river is mostly mentioned not for its sacredness but for its abundant sands‍—noticeable still today on its many sandy banks and at its delta‍—which serve as a usual metaphor for infinitely large numbers.

According to Buddhist cosmology, as explained in the Abhidharmakośa, it is one of the four rivers that flow from Lake Anavatapta, and cross the southern continent of Jambudvīpa‍—the known human world or more specifically the Indian subcontinent.

2 Related glossary entries:

ཆུ་ཀླུང་སྐལ་ལྡན་ཤིང་རྟ།

  • bhāgīrathī
  • bhāgīrāthī
  • Bhāgīrathī
  • Bhāgīrāthī

གང་ག་མ།

  • gaṅgā
  • Gaṅgā