{"id":86133,"date":"2026-02-05T17:21:53","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T11:51:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=86133"},"modified":"2026-02-05T17:22:56","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T11:52:56","slug":"phalgu-river","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/phalgu-river\/","title":{"rendered":"Phalgu River, Origin, History"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Phalgu River, also called Falgu, is an important river in Bihar. It is a sacred river for Hindus, Buddhists, and Jains.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>About Phalgu River<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Phalgu river is formed by the <\/span><b>confluence of the Lilajan and Mohana rivers <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">near Gaya and eventually joins the Punpun River which is a tributary of the Ganga.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Phalgu river is often referred to as the <\/span><b>&#8216;hidden Ganga&#8217; (Gupta Ganga)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> because it flows below a wide, sandy bed, appearing dry on the surface for most of the year.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is historically known as the <\/span><b>Niranjana river <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">where Buddha attained enlightenment.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Sujata stupa <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">lies across the Phalgu river. The stupa is dedicated to Sujata, a milkmaid, who offered milk and rice to Gautama Buddha after he had spent many years in deep meditation and severe ascetic practices. This meal helped him regain strength before he attained enlightenment.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is also a major site for Hindu pilgrimage, especially for <\/span><b>Pind Daan<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (ancestral rituals), performed on the banks of the river near the <\/span><b>Vishnupad Temple at Gaya<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. In this ritual, people visit the river to remember their ancestors. They offer prayers, flowers, and food, and pray for the peace and salvation of their forefathers.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to legend, a demon named Gayasur received a boon that anyone who saw him would attain salvation. As even sinful people began getting moksha, the natural order was disturbed. To restore balance, Lord Vishnu pushed Gayasur into the netherworld by placing his foot on his head, leaving his footprint on a rock at Gaya. Before leaving, Gayasur asked for food, and Vishnu blessed him that anyone who offered food to him would gain salvation. This belief led to the tradition of performing Pind Daan at Gaya.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<table style=\"border-collapse: collapse; width: 93.9083%; height: 193px;\">\n<tbody>\n<tr style=\"height: 25px;\">\n<td class=\"tb-color\" style=\"width: 118.362%; text-align: center; height: 25px;\" colspan=\"2\"><strong>Also Check Other River System<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"height: 25px;\">\n<td style=\"width: 49.4963%; text-align: center; height: 25px;\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/upsc-exam\/godavari-river-system\/\" target=\"_blank\">Godavari River System<\/a><\/strong><\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 68.8654%; text-align: center; height: 25px;\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/upsc-exam\/tapti-river-system\/\" target=\"_blank\">Tapti River System<\/a><\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"height: 25px;\">\n<td style=\"width: 49.4963%; text-align: center; height: 25px;\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/upsc-exam\/kaveri-river-system\/\" target=\"_blank\">Kaveri River System<\/a><\/strong><\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 68.8654%; text-align: center; height: 25px;\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/upsc-exam\/mahanadi-river-system\/\" target=\"_blank\">Mahanadi River System<\/a><\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"height: 25px;\">\n<td style=\"width: 49.4963%; text-align: center; height: 25px;\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/upsc-exam\/ganga-river-system\/\" target=\"_blank\">Ganga River System<\/a><\/strong><\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 68.8654%; text-align: center; height: 25px;\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/upsc-exam\/narmada-river-system\/\" target=\"_blank\">Narmada River System<\/a><\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"height: 25px;\">\n<td style=\"width: 49.4963%; text-align: center; height: 25px;\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/upsc-exam\/yamuna-river-system\/\" target=\"_blank\">Yamuna River System<\/a><\/strong><\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 68.8654%; text-align: center; height: 25px;\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/upsc-exam\/krishna-river-system\/\" target=\"_blank\">Krishna River System<\/a><\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"height: 25px;\">\n<td style=\"width: 49.4963%; text-align: center; height: 25px;\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/indus-river-system\/\" target=\"_blank\">Indus River System<\/a><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 68.8654%; text-align: center; height: 25px;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/brahmaputra-river-system\/\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Brahmaputra River System<\/strong><\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Phalgu River, known as the hidden Ganga, holds spiritual significance in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism and is central to Pind Daan rituals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":86150,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[5176],"class_list":{"0":"post-86133","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-prelims-current-affairs","8":"tag-phalgu-river","9":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86133","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86133"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86133\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":86191,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86133\/revisions\/86191"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}