Introduction; THE EPIC AND NUMINOUS:; The Descent of the Ganga-Robert P. Goldman (tr), from The R?m?ya?a of V?lm?ki; J.A.B. van Buitenen (tr), from The Mah?bh?rata; Anne Feldhaus, 'The Descent of the Ga?g?'; Poems and a Will-Shakuntala Varma, 'Prayer to Mother Goddess' - 1; Shakuntala Varma, 'Prayer to Mother Goddess' - 4; Shakuntala Varma, 'Sohar' - 10; Shakuntala Varma, 'Sohar' - 11; Chandrashekhar Kambar, 'APond Named Ganga'; Jawaharlal Nehru, 'Will and Testament'; HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES:; Jean Baptiste Tavernier, from Travels in India; Ahmad Behbahani, from Mir'at ul-Ahwal-i Jahan Numa; James B. Fraser, from Account of a Journey to the Sources of theJumna and Bhagirathi Rivers; Honoria Lawrence, 'Letter to a Friend'; E.B. Havell, 'On the Ganges'; CONTEMPORARY TRAVEL WRITING:; Eric Newby, 'The Way to Mirzapur'; Raghubir Singh, from The Ganges; Vijay Singh, 'Gangotri'; Ilija Trojanow, 'The Sage's Wet Hair'; Brij V.

Lal, 'Sunrise on the Ganga'; FICTION:; Manik Bandopadhyaya, from Padma River Boatman; Raj Kapoor, V.P. Sathe, and Jyoti Swaroop, Screenplay of R?m Ter? Gang? Mail?; Raja Rao, from On the GangaGhat; Adwaita Mallabarman, 'The Rainbow'; Vikram Seth, from A Suitable Boy; Amitav Ghosh, 'Beginning Again'; Shiv Prasad Mishra (Rudra Kashikey), 'The Drowsiness of Chait Dulls the Spirit'; RECENT SCHOLARSHIP:; Henry T. Bernstein, 'TheBengal Steam Department's Hindus and Muslims'; Steven G. Darian, 'The Ganges in Bengal'; Diana L. Eck, 'Ga?g?: The Goddess Ganges in Hindu Sacred Geography'; Ann Grodzins Gold, 'Why Sink Flowers? Bringing It All Back Home'; Kelly D. Alley, 'Separate Domains: Hinduism, Politics, and Environmental Pollution'; Richard Barz, 'Gangotri, Gomukh and the Sources of the Ganga'; Assa Doron, 'Hello Boat! The River Economy of Banaras'.