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Pilgrimage in Hinduism, as in other religions, is the practice of journeying to sites where religious powers, knowledge, or experience are deemed especially accessible.

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Popular pilgrimage places are rivers, but temples, mountains, and other sacred sites in India are also destinations for pilgrimages, as sites where the gods may have appeared in the world.

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While they dont have to be vegetarian, many Hindus refrain from eating meat during this trip because it minimizes hurting other life forms.

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What is one of the most sacred cities? Why?

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What is one of the most sacred cities? Why?

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Varanasi: Millions of pilgrims visit Varanasi in order to purify themselves by bathing in the River Ganges at sunrise. Some Hindus believe that if they die at Varanasi, they might be able to attain moksha sooner.

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Ihram clothing (Ahram clothing) includes men's and women's garments worn by Muslim people during the Ihram pilgrimage (Hajj) and or (umrah). The main objective is to avoid attracting attention. Men's garments often consist of two white un-hemmed sheets and are universal in appearance.

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Physiography

The Ganges rises in the southern Great Himalayas on the Indian side of the border with the Tibet Autonomous Region of China. Its five headstreams-the Bhagirathi, the Alaknanda, the Mandakini, the Dhauliganga, and the Pindar-all rise in the mountainous region of northern Uttarakhand state. Of those, the two main headstreams are the Alaknanda (the longer of the two), which rises about 30 miles (50 km) north of the Himalayan peak of Nanda Devi, and the Bhagirathi, which originates at about 10,000 feet (3,000 metres) above sea level in a subglacial meltwater cave at the base of the Himalayan glacier known as Gangotri. Gangotri itself is a sacred place for Hindu pilgrimage. The true source of the Ganges, however, is considered to be at Gaumukh, about 13 miles (21 km) southeast of Gangotri.

The Alaknanda and Bhagirathi rivers unite at Devaprayag to form the main stream known as the Ganga, which cuts southwestward through the Siwalik Range (Outer Himalayas) at the northern edge of the Indo-Gangetic Plain to emerge from the mountains at Rishikesh. It then flows onto the plain at Haridwar, another place held sacred by Hindus.

The volume of the Ganges increases markedly as it receives more tributaries and enters a region of heavier rainfall, and it shows a marked seasonal variation in flow. From April to June the melting Himalayan snows feed the river, and in the rainy season, from July to September, the rain-bearing monsoons cause floods. During winter the river's flow declines. South of Haridwar, now within the state of Uttar Pradesh, the river receives its two principal right-bank tributaries: the Yamuna River, which flows through the Delhi capital region and then roughly parallels the southeastward flow of the Ganges before joining it near Prayagraj (Allahabad), and the Tons, which flows north from the Vindhya Range in Madhya Pradesh state and joins the Ganges just below Prayagraj. The main left-bank tributaries in Uttar Pradesh are the Ramganga, the Gomati, and the Ghaghara.

The Ganges next enters the state of Bihar, where its main tributaries from the Himalayan region of Nepal to the north are the Gandak, the Burhi ("Old") Gandak, the Ghugri, and the Kosi rivers. Its most-important southern tributary is the Son River. The river then skirts the Rajmahal Hills to the south and flows southeast to Farakka in central West Bengal state, at the apex of the delta. West Bengal is the last Indian state that the Ganges enters, and, after it flows into Bangladesh, the Mahananda River joins it from the north. In West Bengal in India, as well as in Bangladesh, the Ganges is locally called the Padma. The westernmost distributaries of the delta are the Bhagirathi and the Hugli (Hooghly) rivers, on the east bank of which stands the huge metropolis of Kolkata (Calcutta). The Hugli itself is joined by two tributaries flowing in from the west, the Damodar and the Rupnarayan. As the Ganges passes from West Bengal into Bangladesh, a number of distributaries branch off to the south into the river's vast delta. In Bangladesh the Ganges is joined by the mighty Brahmaputra (which is called the Jamuna in Bangladesh) near Goalundo Ghat. The combined stream, there called the Padma, joins with the Meghna River above Chandpur. The waters then flow through the delta region to the Bay of Bengal via innumerable channels, the largest of which is known as the Meghna estuary.

The Ganges-Brahmaputra system has the third greatest average discharge of the world's rivers, at roughly 1,086,500 cubic feet (30,770 cubic metres) per second; approximately 390,000 cubic feet (11,000 cubic metres) per second is supplied by the Ganges alone. The rivers' combined suspended sediment load of about 1.84 billion tons per year is the world's highest.

Dhaka (Dacca), the capital of Bangladesh, stands on the Buriganga ("Old Ganges"), a tributary of the Dhaleswari. Apart from the Hugli and the Meghna, the other distributary streams that form the Ganges delta are, in West Bengal, the Jalangi River and, in Bangladesh, the Matabhanga, Bhairab, Kabadak, Garai-Madhumati, and Arial Khan rivers.

The Ganges, as well as its tributaries and distributaries, is constantly vulnerable to changes in its course in the delta region. Such changes have occurred in comparatively recent times, especially since 1750. In 1785 the Brahmaputra flowed past the city of Mymensingh; it now flows more than 40 miles (65 km) west of it before joining the Ganges.

The delta, the seaward prolongation of sediment deposits from the Ganges and Brahmaputra river valleys, is about 220 miles (355 km) along the coast and covers an area of some 23,000 square miles (60,000 square km). It is composed of repeated alternations of clays, sands, and marls, with recurring layers of peat, lignite, and beds of what were once forests. The new deposits of the delta, known in Hindi and Urdu as the khadar, naturally occur in the vicinity of the present channels. The delta's growth is dominated by tidal processes.

The southern surface of the Ganges delta has been formed by the rapid and comparatively recent deposition of enormous loads of sediment. To the east the seaward side of the delta is being changed at a rapid rate by the formation of new lands, known as chars, and new islands. The western coastline of the delta, however, has remained practically unchanged since the 18th century.

The rivers in the West Bengal area are sluggish; little water passes down them to the sea. In the Bangladeshi delta region, the rivers are broad and active, carrying plentiful water and connected by innumerable creeks. During the rains (June to October) the greater part of the region is flooded to a depth of 3 or more feet (at least 1 metre), leaving the villages and homesteads, which are built on artificially raised land, isolated above the floodwaters. Communication between settlements during that season can be accomplished only by boat.

To the seaward side of the delta as a whole, there is a vast stretch of tidal mangrove forests and swampland. The region, called the Sundarbans, is protected by India and Bangladesh for conservation purposes. Each country's portion of the Sundarbans has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage site, India's in 1987 and Bangladesh's in 1997.

In certain parts of the delta there occur layers of peat, composed of the remains of forest vegetation and rice plants. In many natural depressions, known as bil s, peat, still in the process of formation, has been used as a fertilizer by local farmers, and it has been dried and used as a domestic and industrial fuel.

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Ganges River | History, Map, Location, Pollution, & Facts

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Ganges River, Hindi Ganga, great river of the plains of the northern Indian subcontinent. Although officially as well as popularly called the Ganga in Hindi and in other Indian languages, internationally it is known by its conventional name, the Ganges. From time immemorial it has been the holy river of Hinduism.

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VARANASI

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Tutorial:

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Textual scholars found the earliest reference of a Hindu pilgrimage in Rigveda around 1500 BC in which the "wanderer" is praised.

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ULAANBAATAR (Reuters) - Mongolia has extended school winter holidays in the world's coldest capital and many families have sent children to live with relatives in the vast, windswept grasslands to escape choking smog and respiratory diseases such as pneumonia.

The temperature is expected to drop to minus 32 degrees Celsius (minus 26F) in Ulaanbaatar on Monday night, as residents burn coal and trash to try to keep warm and concentrations of smog particles known as PM2.5 routinely exceed 500 mg per cubic meter, 50 times the level considered safe by the WHO.

Mongolia, a former Soviet satellite landlocked between Russia and China, has invested public money and foreign aid to tackle pollution, but improvement has been slow, with residents saying inaction has been compounded by a corruption scandal that has paralyzed parliament.

In a crowded township more than 40 miles from Ulaanbaatar, Jantsandulam Bold's five grandchildren are breathing more easily after fleeing the capital.

"Fresh air and sun are most important for kids to grow healthy and robust," says Jantsandulam, 57, making milk tea for her grandchildren in her home, a thickly padded felt hut known as a "ger", or in Russian, a "yurt".

"This little one had flu when he came here but the fresh air has treated him well," she said, pointing at her five-year-old grandson.

The children are nearing the end of a two-month break, with schools due to reopen next Monday.

About 60 percent of Mongolia is covered by grassland, where the mining of copper, gold, coal and other minerals provides employment, while the Gobi desert envelops the South. But almost half the population live in Ulaanbataar.

Reuters calculations based on U.S. Embassy data show annual average PM2.5 concentrations hit 100 micrograms in Ulaanbaatar in 2018. They soared to 270 in December. PM2.5 in China's most polluted city of Shijiazhuang stood at an average 70 micrograms last year, down 15.7 percent from 2017. The World Health Organisation recommends a concentration of no more than 10 micrograms.

The WHO said 80 percent of Ulaanbaatar's smog was caused by coal burning in "ger" districts, where thousands of rural migrants, used to a nomadic lifestyle, have pitched huts. It estimates air pollution causes more than 4,000 premature deaths a year.

A joint study by the U.N. International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and Mongolia's National Centre for Public Health said children living in one smog-prone district of Ulaanbaatar had 40 percent less lung function than those living in the countryside.

"Air pollution aggravates respiratory diseases and children under five are most vulnerable as their organs are still not mature," said Bolormaa Bumbaa, a doctor at Bayangol District's Children's hospital in Ulaanbaatar.

Families have already set up a pressure group known as Moms and Dads Against Smog, but after the protests they organized in Ulaanbaatar were ignored, the group decided to focus on encouraging residents to take action to protect themselves, said Mandakhjargal Tumur, a group coordinator.

"I don't believe the government will do enough to reduce pollution in coming years," she said. "That's why we are now focusing on raising awareness."

At the Bayangol hospital, Ulzii-Orshikh Otgon, 34, was forced to bring her 10-month-old daughter Achmaa in with pneumonia for the second time in a month.

"I believe it's because of the pollution," she said, adding that home air purifiers did little to help.

"Just by opening the door, our home fills with smog," she said while breastfeeding Achmaa in the waiting room.

Doctors advised her to take her children out of Ulaanbaatar but she has no relatives in the countryside and rent is expensive.

"Decision makers have said for years they are fighting pollution," she said. "They just wasted billions of tugriks on useless stoves and processed coal, which don't change anything."

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Desperate Mongolians send children into countryside to escape...

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ULAANBAATAR (Reuters) - Mongolia has extended school winter holidays in the world's coldest capital and many families have sent children to live with relatives in the vast, windswept grasslands to escape choking smog and respiratory diseases such as pneumonia.