A name for the Gaṅgā (e.g., J.v.93, 255; Ap.ii.436). The river was so called because the sage Bhagīratha filled up the ocean with the Gaṅgā whom he made his daughter (Mahābhārata, iii. 107, 9961; v.178, 7096). It may also be the name of a separate river flowing from the Himavā and forming one of the chief sources of the Gaṅgā. The river flowed past Haṃsavatī (e.g., Ap.i.51; ii.343).