The Ganges river is Not just a flowing body of H2O, but a whole culture and way of life to India.. Innumerable stories, plays, songs, movies, history is woven along the wild journey of this mighty river. From the small but wild Himalayan birth to the mighty, fast paced or silent journey into the fertile Indo Gangetic Plain, and cities of Benaras, Allahabad and Calcutta, The Ganga is a major contributor to the political history and spiritual culture of this subcontinent. The Ganga is considered the most holiest and sacred of rivers by the Hindus and called Mother that cares protects gives life and washes away all sins...et al....
Here , the Ice cold River Ganga passing by the side of the temple named after it...coming as it is from a source called Gaumukh that is a 26 km long glacier and himalayan mountain ranges 15 kms upwards from this point a small village/town called Gangotri... the temple remains open from May to sept/ Oct or diwali, when it snows heavily and gets impossible for vehicles to come up the steep snow covered roads. During these 5 months that its open season, thousands of Hindu pilgrims, walk,hitch hike, trek or drive up to this point to bathe in these freezing waters at daybreak.

From here onwards before it reaches the plains below,it gushes through deep gorges, mountain passes and valleys- a good 150 kms of the most scenic and wildest of journeys. Dozens of small rivers and 100's of streams lend their water and merge into it. By the time it reaches Rishikesh & Haridwar its a huge river whose beauty can only be felt and seen with the eyes and no photograph can transfer the feel and ambient mood that surrounds it

The other mighty river that has origins in the same area, separated by less than a 100 km , is the Yamuna that is considered Ganga's sister. The Yamuna has a totally diferent trajectory inthe Himalayas until in the plains they get closer and finally merge. some of these images will show the area around the Yamuna's flow path!