The reality is that India’s population and industry have been rapidly growing. To them the lifeline never stops and they clearly accept it for what it is in order to make room for growth and also because they value their beliefs more than the physical realities. Somehow their faith allows them to ignore the realities of the illness it causes, as minor as a skin rash or as major as increased infant mortality rates, which only makes it worse (Hammer, 2007). In other interviews it is revealed that even in the parts that are the most polluted, people still revere the river as an earthly incarnation of a deity, “Mother Ganga,” who’s water purifies all simply through touch, consumption, or expression only in name. ‘We all get rashes,’ he replies, ‘but what can we do?'”(Hammer, 2007). ‘We know it’s poisonous,’ he says, ‘but after we swim we go wash off at home.’ ‘Why do you swim in the river?’ I ask one of the boys. “As we near the tanneries, a dozen boys frolic in the water, splashing in the river’s foulest stretch. Yet people still use the river and even children remember how the river has changed in their lifetime but still splash around as if it hasn’t, whether in religious practice or not. Surely the appearance of the river today doesn’t seem keen for bathing. “They live on the sandbar, feeding on the remains,” a fisherman tells us.” (Hammer, 2007) Pariah dogs prowl around the bones and bodies, snarling when we get too close. Although the state government banned the dumping of bodies a decade ago, many of Kanpur’s destitute still discard their loved ones clandestinely at night. The clothed body of a small child floats a few yards off the island. “It’s been rotting there for a month,” a fisherman tells us. “.just downstream from a Hindu cremation ground, we’re hit by a putrid smell and a ghastly sight: lying on the sand are a human rib cage, a femur, and, nearby, a yellow-shrouded corpse. Here Hammer reports what he sees in Kanpur, India: Joshua Hammer tours the foul sites with a 48-year-old environmental activist by the name of Rakesh Jaiswal as his guide. A journalist from the Smithsonian visited the Ganga to talk to environmentalists, scientists and local people. Though the traditional practices such as dumping corpses and ashes of the deceased are minor compared to the industrial practices, in terms of pollution, they still need to be considered as part of the culture. In contrast to the beauty of Ganga Aarti, funeration practices result in the foul sight and odor of corpses and decomposing human parts found floating in the water. Human corpse found in Varanasi (Image from Flickr Creative Commons) Ganga Aarti performed in Varanasi (Image from Flickr Creative Commons) Figure 2b. This powerful ritual is perfomed primarily in the three holy cities Haridwar, Rishikesh, and Varanasi in India. A diya (lamp) is lit with a candle and is floated down the river along with some flowers. Ganga Aarti is a ritual performed every evening in devotion to the Goddess Ganga using fire as the offering. In earlier days, the Hindus used to leave their dying kith and kin on its shores, or lodge them in Varanasi on its bank, so that their souls could ascend to heaven when they died” (Parua, 2010). They arduously trek to its source in a snow-bound Himalayan glacier, Gangotri and downstream at Haridwar, float lighted oil lamps on its water after dusk in memory of their deceased elders. “The Hindus sprinkle its water for purification and worship and take bath in it in the belief, supported by scriptures that it cleanses their sins. It is known as the Ganga in Indian languages though it is also called the Ganges River. The river is considered holy in India and was formally named the national river in 2008. The Ganga River Basin has been called the “lifeline of millions” since it is a trans boundary river with tributaries stretching through the Himalayas of Nepal and India, the great plains of India, West Bengal, and Bangladesh (Sanghi, 2014). Ganga River 26.667096, 82.386475 Ganga River Basin Introduction
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