Dropping or Throwing coins into the rivers has been a religious practice in India from 1000’s of years. Although it was started by ancient Indians and is still being followed, A lot of people don’t know the real purpose of “Why Do We Throw Coins into Rivers”. Over the time people came up with new reasons, ideas & stories around this practice & Some of those are
- “Dropping coins in the river will help you wash out your sins”,
- “Throwing Coins in River brings Good Luck”,
- “Leaving something valuable in the rivers can make your wishes granted”.
But the real scientific reason is something useful for the mankind and the future generations health.
Why We Throw Coins Into Rivers ?
In the ancient days currency, which is coins, were made of copper unlike the stainless steel & aluminum coins of present day. Copper is a vital metal which is very useful to the human body. Water stored in copper containers is good for health. Mentions of storing water in copper and silver pots for purification of water is found in ancient Ayurvedic writings.
Quick Fact : Antimicrobial Copper and its alloys (e.g. brass and bronze) are registered with the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). As it is being able to kill greater than 99.9% of infection causing bacteria* within two hours of exposure.
In the present times, You can notice copper railings have been installed in public transport like buses & trains which prevents bacteria spreading from one person to another. Restaurants using copper glasses for drinking water to prevent bacteria.
Scientific Reason behind Why Indians Throw coins into the rivers
Throwing copper coins into holy rivers was one of the methods our ancestors came-up with to ensure infection free drinking water. Since rivers are the main source of drinking water placing copper coins underneath the water helps in killing the bacteria. If coins remain in rivers for a long time then it becomes beneficial for those who drink it & to the future generations.
Why It’s Of No Use Anymore ?
Making it a custom ensured that the future generations will follow the practice. For some generations it worked exceptionally well. But in these modern times, We are not using copper coins anymore. Our Currency is made of steel, Aluminum, Paper & recently everything went digital.
Throwing the steel & Aluminum coins into rivers out of belief is nothing wrong. We can follow that practice for as long as we can as a belief. But the real scientific purpose for which this method came into existence, That practice is no longer serving it’s purpose because of the change in currency element.
The pollution in present days is comparatively 1000’s of times higher than any other previous generations. While other countries are researching & learning from every other country’s traditional and cultural practices, Especially India’s & China’s, We Indians are busy defaming our own traditions in the favor of western life style.
Do understand that nothing in Ancient Indian culture & traditions is stupid. Our Ancient literature & practices are huge repositories of knowledge & Technological advancements. I do agree, There are some beliefs that are misused & some traditions were modified, & New traditions and beliefs have been created over the time to satisfy one’s own agenda & to favor one specific community or to suppress another.
Note : Please do Search about with the keywords “Copper and it’s alloys properties” to know more.
Sources :
Copper Used in Trains
Anti Microbial Properties of Copper
Hello Sasidharan…
First of all it's "THROW" not "through".. and another one.. it's "imagine" not "image". please work on your english..
&
Coming to your question… Stop Imagining Lakhs of Copper coins.. because. i'm sure.. there are crore of coins under our rivers.. (if you have doubt … go on.. count them.. no one's stopping you..)… (i spent my whole life till now in a holy city and i know what goes on there everyday)
and next one.. I've seen "NO" one throwing dead bodies into rivers.. what i know is we cremate dead bodies at the banks of holy river (Mostly Ganga River) or somewhere else and throw the "ASHES" only in to the river..
Please try to understand the real reasons behind what already exists.. don't try to create new "Traditions".. and stop being a pessimist
Hello Science Behind Indian Culture,
First of all you work on your language. You write like a kindergarten kid who has just started to use pencil. Your own language have lot of punctuation errors. Correct yourself first before barking on someone else.
These days indians not only throw coins but bottles, papers and other kind of litter. The only science behind this is degradation of culture.
If we try to live according to our ancient culture….. It may be difficult for some people but its not impossible… Then Our country will emerge to a new orientation and phase …which we can’t even imagine in our dream
This is pseudo-science at its best. You need tons and tons of copper to clean the rivers even at the local level. How can a few small coins clean such large rivers?
“in ancient india, coins were made of copper” I laughed so hard after reading this. yeah right, coins were made of copper. I wonder what they did with gold and silver🤔. copper was never the currency of india coz it was cheap and for utensils obiviously. prove me otherwise