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The purifying properties of the Ganges are attributed to the medicinal secretions of herbs and minerals from the Himalayas that get mixed into the water. Studies from the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) have proven that the Ganges decomposes organic waste 15 to 25 times faster and retains dissolved oxygen much longer than other rivers. It is said that water collected from the Ganges in its pure state does not become contaminated even after being kept for several years. But the untreated human sewage discharged into the river has now overwhelmed these properties. And while the physical quality of the river has dangerously deteriorated, its spiritual value has not - creating a serious public health problem.

V.B. Mishra is the head priest of the Sankat Mochan Temple in Varanasi, one of the prominent temples in Varanasi, but he is also a renowned scientist heading a crusade to save India's most sacred river. Hindu mythology portrays the Ganges, or Mother Ganga, as a goddess brought to earth carrying all the powers of the universe to cleanse the world from sin. At sacred centers along the riverbank, people worship Mother Ganga by performing the religious right of 'achmaan' Ð taking a holy dip, symbolically offering water to the gods, and drinking a few drops.

Mishra is now in his seventies, and despite his knowledge of the river's pollution, the priest continues to take a daily dip each morning, refusing to swear off his devotion to the water's holy powers. Though he recognizes the contradiction between scientific knowledge and religious devotion, Mishra won't abandon Mother Ganga. "We, the people of the Ganges," he says, "will disappear with the river. Our religious practices will always continue - despite the increasing pollution, however dangerous it might get."

The intense religious devotion that the Ganges inspires in Hindus means that few people pay attention to the river's pollution. There is a firm belief that the Ganges will eventually clean and rejuvenate itself. Anthropologist Kelly Alley points out in her work that for faithful Hindus the notions of purity and cleanliness are entirely independent from each other. Something that is clean is not necessarily pure, while something pure could be unclean at the same time. Accordingly, Ganga's purity is regarded as completely transcendental and already fixed by a cosmological order while her physical uncleanliness is transitory, meaning that the continuous billowing of waste into the water doesn't challenge the purity of the river. "Ganga will always be Ganga," states one devotee on the banks of the Ganga, "and in spite of any pollution increase, it will always remain pure."

Continued
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