A ROUTE TO HEAVEN AND A HIGHWAY OF FLESH

One of the more alarming issues facing everybody remotely related to the river are the dead bodies of both humans and cattle which serenely float by almost completely unnoticed, or perhaps consciously ignored by busy bathers hoping to purify their souls.
The bodies are released into the river with a hope that the soul will be saved and be immediately received by heaven.
Right: A body washed up on the banks near Varanasi

Ganges river pollution and the nectar of God

One of the biggest reason why the river has quite literally been shat upon in the past 20 years is because good old fashioned human denial and ignorance.
The problems have been allowed to escalate to the dangerously high proportions we have today because of that fact that Hindus simply do not want to accept that their 'mother Ganga', nectar of God, bringer of hope and purifier of souls is or can be responsible for bringing them illness and misery. Instead claims of record pollution fall on deaf ears.
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Below: A human body passes while a man washes in the river, Varanasi