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Which is the Holy River of India

India is one of the four ancient civilizations and once created the famous “Ganges civilization” in human history. The Ganges, a world-famous river, is respected by the Indian people as “Holy River” and “Mother of India”.

Numerous myths and religious legends constitute the unique customs on both sides of the Ganges. The Ganges is the holy river of India with a long history and strong folk and cultural colors. Even after thousands of years of civilization, people on both sides of the Ganges still maintain ancient customs.

Many myths handed down since ancient times have made the Indian people have infinite nostalgia for the mother of the Ganges, imprinting an indelible complex. In this life, you must bathe in the Ganges River at least once, and let the holy river wash away all your sins.

In India, most Hindus have 4 great pleasures in their life: worshiping Lord Shiva, bathing and drinking the holy water of the Ganges, making friends with saints and living in the holy city of Varanasi.

The Ganges feeds people on both sides of the strait with its sweet milk, and together with their devout religious beliefs, it is regarded as a “holy river”. The Indians regard the Ganges as a holy river, regard the Ganges as the incarnation of the goddess, and reverence the Ganges reverently. It is said that it originated from a legend.

In ancient times, the Ganges River was turbulent and turbulent, often flooding, destroying fertile fields and killing life. In order to wash away the sins of the ancestors, a king asked the goddess in the sky to help tame the Ganges and benefit mankind. Lord Shiva came to the foot of the Himalayas, loosened his hair, and let the turbulent river flow slowly over his head, irrigating the fields on both sides, and the residents on both sides could live and work in peace and contentment.

Since then, Hinduism has regarded the Ganges as a god, worshiping Shiva and taking holy water baths as two major religious activities of Hindus.

The Ganges may be more religiously important than any river in the world. It has been revered since time immemorial and is today considered the most sacred river by Hindus.

While Hindu pilgrimage sites known as holy sites are spread across the subcontinent, those located on the banks of the Ganges have special significance. Among them is the confluence of the Ganges and Yamuna near Allahabad, where a bathing festival is held in March; hundreds of thousands of pilgrims are immersed in the river.

The Ganges pilgrimage site also includes the Gangodri and the confluence of the two sources of the Allegnunda and Pajileti rivers. Hindus scatter the ashes of the deceased onto the river, believing that the deceased will ascend directly to heaven, and crematoriums (temples built at the top of the steps by the river) have been established in many places on the banks of the Ganges. Some people will come to the Ganges River specially to wash away their own sins, including the elderly. It is natural that there are old people’s bodies on the Ganges River.

The Ganges River is quite polluted and affects the 400 million people who live near the river. Cities along the river discharge waste water into the river, and industrial waste and religious offerings wrapped in indestructible plastic add to the pollution as it flows through densely populated areas. The poor people around the river use the river water to bathe, wash and cook. It also exacerbates the water pollution problem.

The World Bank estimates India’s health costs from water pollution to be about 3% of GDP. According to the report , 80% of diseases and one-third of deaths in India are related to water-borne diseases.

However, although the environment of the Ganges is extremely dirty, there are often floating corpses not far from those who bathe in holy water in the Ganges, and people are at peace.

Several sites sacred to Hindus are located on the banks of the Ganges, including Haridwar and Varanasi.

The Ganges was named one of the five most polluted rivers in the world in 2007. The faecal coliform bacteria in water measured in Varanasi exceeded the standard value set by the Indian government by more than 100 times.

Pollution not only harms humans, but also threatens 140 species of fish, 90 amphibians and the endangered Ganges dolphin. However, the Ganges remediation plan, which aims to clean up the Ganges, has suffered major setbacks so far due to factors such as corruption, insufficient technology, lack of sound environmental plans, Indian traditions and beliefs, and lack of favorable religious support.

The “Holy River” Ganges is now seriously polluted, with overflowing garbage and turbid water, making it one of the most polluted rivers in the world.