Hindu scriptures tell of a young prince who prayed to Brahma, the creator, to urge the heavenly river Ganga to purify the tormented souls of his ancestors.
When the heavens opened to release Ganga, Shiva, the god of destruction and preservation, caught the river in his tangled locks and set it gently on earth as the Ganges River. It flowed over the ashes of the prince's ancestors and cleansed them of their sins.Hindus take devotional baths in the Ganges and aspire to have their cremated ashes immersed in its waters to release their souls from the endless cycle of birth, death and rebirth.
More than 10 million people bathed in the Ganges at Hardwar on April 14 during the Kumbh Mela, the largest religious gathering on earth. It is held once every three years.