Ancient Indian literatures depict Ganga as a mini cosmos in concept that spawns mythology, art, history and spirituality. Many citations in Vedas establish the significance of Ganga and hail about its mystic medicinal properties which is mainly due to the fact that Ganga water does not putrefy even after long periods of storage. The modern world requires validation of our ancient belief by subjective, analytical, and qualitative parameters, as qualified by science. CSIR-National Botanical Research Institute conducted a series of experiments with an objective to understand the remedial, therapeutic and antimicrobial effects of Ganga water, to explore the possibility of using it as a novel source of antimicrobial compounds. Concern over the prevalence of active pharmaceutical agents and subsequent occurrence of antimicrobial resistance in the environment is increasing. Incorruptible ability of Ganga water was evaluated using fresh, 8 and 16-years-old Ganga water samples spiked with pathogenic Escherichia coli serotype O157:H7. Survival of E. coli O157:H7 over the course of the experiment was 3, 7, and 15 days for fresh, 88 and 16-years-old Ganga waters, respectively. On the contrary, in Milli Q water the decline in viable count of E. coli O157:H7 up to 30 days was only 2 log units. Survival of E. coli O157:H7 was greater in boiled water compared with water after passage through a 0.2-u-pore-size membrane filter, indicating involvement of heat-labile agents influencing survival of E. coli O157:H7 in Ganga water, which seems to indicate the role of antimicrobial peptides. Functional diversity of Ganga water’s native microbial community structure as assessed with Biolog Eco plates was not affected even in the presence of a 5-fold log units higher pathogenic load of E. coli O157:H7. These findings suggest that Ganga water has certain novel antimicrobial attributes, besides its remarkable fluidity, which may provide a much-needed basis for the development of new antimicrobial compounds. The results of study re-validated Ganga water’s remarkable fluidity and adaptability and the river’s ‘‘magical’’ self-cleansing properties. The study was published in an International journal of repute (link.springer/article/10.1007/s00284-008-9260-3) and has received recognition on national platform and was broadcasted on Aaj Tak, July 14, 2014 in the series “Har Har Gange”,(trailing video) and on News Nation, July 19, 2014 in the series, “Rahasya: The Sacred Secrets of Ganga” (current video).
Posted on: Mon, 21 Jul 2014 08:11:44 +0000
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