THREAD: For more than 1,700 miles, the Ganges flows across the plains like a timeline of India’s past, nourishing an extraordinary wealth of life. AP photographer @AltafQadriAP spent months collecting images from its banks.http://apne.ws/PQDj0WL
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To Hindus, the Ganges is “Ganga Ma” — Mother Ganges. Devotees take ritualistic dips alongside elephants. For many Hindus, life is incomplete without bathing in it to wash away sins.pic.twitter.com/IGAmUH9x2K
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All is not well with the Ganges. Pollution makes much of it dangerous to drink. Gangs illegally mine sand from its banks for concrete. Tens of thousands of corpses are cremated along the river each year, leaving bodies and ash in the water.pic.twitter.com/vM1DuFGu2B
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And over the past 40-some years, the Gangotri Glacier — source of almost half the Ganges' water — has been receding at an increasingly frightening pace, now losing about 22 meters per year.pic.twitter.com/UxG4IYhfys
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At times, officials try to fix things but vast stretches of it remain dangerously unhealthy. Still, to Hindus, the river remains religiously pure. SEE the complete photo gallery: http://apne.ws/7xlhWon pic.twitter.com/lDKnYd01ln
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It requires tonnes of antiseptic.
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Besides being a well-told story, these are really fantastic photos.
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