Integral to the Indian way of life, rivers are considered holy and associated with divine legends and myths. Several temples and pilgrimage towns have been established along the banks of these rivers around which revolve rituals and religious practices. Traversing binaries of the divine and the mundane, smudging the pure and the impure, a river accommodates all—from the solemn priest mumbling a silent prayer to the meditative dhobi washing clothes to the crass-mouthed boatman singing for his first ride of the day.
