The Mighty Ganges River

The Ganges River is very sacred to the Hindus of India. The first photo shows the river early in the evening before nightly activities begin on its riverbank. The second photo shows Hindu priests taking part in the same ceremony that they perform nightly. By this time in the evening there are thousands and thousands of Hindus present. The next morning we got up about 4:00 a.m. to make sure we could see the sun rise on the Ganges; however, the sun rise was not all that we saw. The morning sun brings out hundreds of Hindus to the river who bath in the early morning light. The fourth picture is a crematorium where we could still see the smoke from burning bodies the night before. Finally, here I am in our boat with the ghats of the Ganges in the background. Ghats are the steps leading down to the river. By the way the Hindus believe that once a person dies they have to be cremated and the ashes put in the Ganges or one of its tributaries within a 10 or 12 day period.