Ganga Saptami 2026 Vrat Katha: According to Panchang, the festival of Ganga Saptami is celebrated on the Saptami Tithi of Shukla Paksha every Vaishakh. This year the festival of Ganga Saptami is being celebrated today, Thursday, 23 April 2026. On this day, bathing in the holy river Ganga, especially in Haridwar etc. is important. People also worship Mother Ganga.

Ganga Saptami day is associated with the descent of Mother Ganga from heaven to earth. But its story is very interesting, which you must know. Also, by reading or listening to this story related to Ganga Saptami fast on this day, one gets a lot of virtue.

Ganga Saptami fasting story (Ganga Saptami Story in Hindi)

There are many stories related to the appearance and birth of Mother Ganga. According to one legend, Ganga is related to Lord Vishnu and Brahma. According to this story, Lord Vishnu in Vaman incarnation asked for three steps of land from King Bali and measured the entire earth in the first step and the entire universe in the second step. There his feet reached Brahmalok and Lord Brahma washed his feet with holy water and kept this water safely in his kamandalu. According to the story, with time this water appeared in the form of a divine girl. Lord Brahma handed over the girl to Himavan, who was named Ganga. It is said that the day Ganga appeared in its divine form was the seventh day of Shukla Paksha of Vaishakh month. Therefore this day is celebrated as Ganga Saptami.

Mother Ganga came to earth from the penance of Bhagiratha

Another story of Ganga Saptami is related to Bhagiratha, according to which, Bhagiratha performed rigorous penance to bring Mother Ganga from heaven to earth.

Bhagiratha was a mighty and pious king. Bhagiratha’s ancestors were burnt to ashes due to the curse of Maharishi Kapil. In Bhagiratha’s dream he saw his ancestors who were suffering the tortures of hell. Because he did not get salvation after death. Bhagiratha asked the sage the solution to the salvation of his ancestors. The sage said that they can get salvation only by the holy water of Mother Ganga. Then Bhagiratha started performing rigorous penance to bring Ganga from heaven to earth. Ganga was pleased with the penance of Bhagiratha and asked him to ask for a groom.

Bhagiratha said, Mother Ganga, please incarnate on earth, so that the souls of my ancestors can get salvation. Mother Ganga gave a boon to Bhagiratha that he would come to earth. But the problem was that Mother Ganga could not come directly from heaven to earth, because her velocity was very high, which the earth could not bear.

To solve this problem, the sage sent Bhagiratha to Lord Shiva. Bhagiratha also pleased Lord Shiva with his penance and prayed to Lord Shiva to bring Ganga to earth. Lord Shiva accepted Bhagiratha’s prayer. Shiva held Ganga in his hair and through Shiva’s hair, Ganga slowly flowed on the earth. According to the story, Ganga descended on earth after dividing into seven streams. After this, Bhagiratha’s ancestors got freedom from the touch of Ganga water. This is the reason why Ganga also has a name Bhagirathi.

Also read: Ganga Saptami 2026: Why is there so much importance of bathing in Haridwar on Ganga Saptami? Know the auspicious time and good results
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