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Several bathers in the Ganges River; Varanasi, India
About this photograph
- Creator
- Margery H. Freeman
- Date created
- Unknown
- Location
- Varanasi, India
- License
- This photograph copyright ©2007. Terms of use
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- Search LEARN NC for bathing, Ganges River, Hinduism, India, and Varanasi.
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Bathers, mostly male, wade in the Ganges River at Varanasi, India. Some stand on shore at the end of a set of steps called a ghat that leads to the water. Several boats are docked at shore.
For Hindus, the Ganges River is the personification of the goddess Ganga and is therefore sacred. They bathe in it, wash their clothes and cooking dishes in it, and even drink from it. However, high levels of contaminants in the river including sewage, trash, and even half-cremated bodies make the Ganges one of the most polluted rivers in the world and a potential health hazard to those who come in contact with it.
