These rivers are the axis mundi of Hindu belief; the Ganges for example embodies the water of life. Hindus believe that bathing in the sacred rivers will result in the remission of sin and will circumvent rebirth, thus guaranteeing a berth in the heavens. The Vedas and Puranas state that all inhabitants on earth emerged from the sea, thus it makes sense that prayers to Varuna "god of the sea" were amongst the earliest prayers composed. The change from Vedic Brahmanism to Hinduism diluted many ancient practices but managed to preserve the sanctity of nature divinities.

While some rivers may have disappeared into subterranean passages their existence preserved only as myths in the minds of the devout, most survived the vicissitudes of time and changing religious practices, and the rise and fall of civilizations. In the Indian subcontinent the determinant was probably topography; the broader Indus, Brahmaputra, Sonabhadra, Gogra, and a few others are male; while the Ganges, Yamuna, Saraswati, Narmada, Cauvery and Godavari are female.

The Puranas state that the Ganges, Yamuna, Saraswati, Godavari, Narmada, Indus (Sindhu) and Cauvery were the most sacred. But there was a hierarchy, and the Ganges managed to dominate the order. Her perennial flow, potent sin washing powers, and immense popularity (that made her an integral part of Puranic lore) ensured this position. Rivers like the Narmada gave her stiff competition, but Ganges was not to be outdone, and the Narmada had to content with being represented and worshipped as an icon inside a shrine, while the Ganges continued to receive daily obeisance and pollutants along her course. The prayer rituals on the banks of the Ganges in Haridwar are testimony to this; at sundown thousands of worshippers pray to the Ganges in a ritual that has been followed since time immemorial. This popularity also led to the rivers decline; the Ganges and her tributary the Yamuna are India's most polluted rivers.

Right: The prayer rituals at the ghats, performed by scions of the unscrupulous were operatic---their act so well choreographed that Andrew Lloyd Webber would be surpassed.

Although Haridwar is a very ancient town that even finds mention in the travelogue of the itinerant Chinese scholar Hiuen Tsang, the many temples along the ghats are comparatively recent additions. The first thing that greets the eye in Haridwar is chaos. Crowds of pilgrims, pundits, multi-coloured mendicants with painted faces, peddlers selling Karma multipliers in the form of floral tributes, sweep you off your feet. Add to that the swishing tails of cows and the many beggars that you have to dodge.

The reason this little town draws so many pilgrims is because the narrow bathing ghat knows as Hari-ki-pauri is supposed to be the precise spot where the Ganges leaves the mountains and enters the plains. This consequently confers it with the power to absolve all sins; no wonder the place also teems with pickpockets.

The depression in a stone slab on the ghats is attributed to Vishnu's footprint. The evening aarti at the ghats in a must see, and as it is a singular affair rather than many groups of non-musicals competing for attention (like it happens in Varanasi) it leaves one enthralled. The market area that embraces the ghats makes for an interesting walk, Haridwar is famous for its bangles, and the streets are full of bangle sellers and women trying them out.

The Ghats on the riverfront provide an assemblage for an unparalleled human drama that unfolds every morning involving thousands of pilgrims who come to bathe in the river. The silence of the waning night is shattered by threnody and hymn, smoke from funeral pyres and incense sticks hangs about the air like an inescapable mantle. Ubiquitous beggars give an opportunity to the pilgrim to do their karma some good. Actors walk past dressed as gods; the many Hanumans, Shivas, and Rams, often have squabbles over territorial rights.

When the sun hoists itself into the zenith, the ghats become quieter, and then the drama unfolds once again towards the end of the day. As the sun sets, the aartis on the ghats commence. (The aarti is a Hindu ritual, in which light from wicks soaked in purified butter or camphor is offered to one or more deities. It is said to have descended from the Vedic concept of fire rituals, or homa. Aarti is performed and sung to develop the highest love for God.) Electric lamps compete with the countless wax candles that are set afloat on the Ganges. Musicians vie for attention, each group trying to drown the sounds of the other. The chant reaches a crescendo; pilgrims sway to the music as if in a hypnotic trance and then as the reverberations fade, the crowds disperse and a deep hush descends on the ghats, the silence of the night is only shattered by the occasional song of a boatman; the voice of the profluent Ganges.