▲Hindus bathe in its waters as part of different rituals throughout the year.

▲Though westerners call India's mighty river "Ganges," it's known as "Ganga" in Hindi.

▲The goddess Ganga is described in sacred texts and in art as a beautiful, fair-complexioned woman wearing a white crown with a water lily. She is often depicted riding a crocodile and holding a water pot.

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The Ganges is at the heart of Hindu culture. Millions of people depend on it for sustenance and have done so for millennia. The world's holiest river creates life and welcomes the dead. It supports spiritual as well as practical daily life.

Browse the gallery for photos of the beautiful, colorful, and immensely divine waters of the Mother Ganges.

▲The Ganges is worshipped by Hindus as it is personified as a goddess.

▲Originating from the Gangotri glacier at Gaumukh in the Indian Himalayas, the river runs about 2,525 km (1,570 mi) before meeting the Bay of Bengal in east India.

▲The goddess Ganga is the daughter of Mena and Himavat, the personification of the Himalaya mountains.

▲In Hinduism, the Ganges river resulted when Vishnu (while incarnated as the dwarf Brahmin) took two steps to cross the universe.

▲Upon taking the second step, Vishnu accidentally opened a hole in the wall of the universe with his big toe, allowing streams of water to flow out.

▲The river is considered a tirtha, a Sanskrit word that means "crossing place, ford," in this case a crossing point between heaven and earth.

▲Four fairs are held in rotation at one of the following places: Haridwar, Allahabad (or Prayag), Nashik district (Nashik and Trimbak), and Ujjain.

▲The date of the celebration is determined according to the Vikram Samvat, the Hindu calendar, which uses lunar months and solar sideral years.

▲Because of her significance, Hindus refer to her as "Mother Ganga."

▲Though the festival's exact age is uncertain, some scholars say that the earliest surviving historical accounts of the Kumbh Mela date back to the 7th century.

▲Kumbh Melas is now observed in these four locations.

▲The Kumbh fair takes place when Jupiter enters Aquarius and the sun enters Aries.

▲The planetary position is said to medicate the waters of the Ganges and turn it into nectar.

▲The festival, inscribed on the UNESCO's Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, is a pilgrimage in which Hindus gather to bathe in the holy river.

▲But when the divine healer appeared with the pot containing the nectar that was to be shared, a fight broke out between the gods and demons.

▲The Kumbh Mela is celebrated once every three years at one of the rotating locations, and thus, takes 12 years to return to each place.

▲One of India's most sacred places is found along the Ganges at Varanasi, a city in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.

▲This is one of the oldest inhabited cities in the world and is considered the holiest of the seven sacred cities in Hinduism and Jainism.

▲Every year, believers take to the river banks to celebrate the Ganga Dussehra.

▲The festival celebrates the descent of the sacred river to earth from heaven.

▲The festival takes place on Dashami, the 10th day of the waxing moon of the Hindu calendar month Jyeshtha, the third month of the year. In 2018, it fell on the Gregorian-calendar equivalent of May/June.

▲On this day, believers take a dip in the river, which is said to wash them of their sins.

▲Devotees call forth the goddess Ganga while lighting incense and a lamp. They also offer sandalwood, flowers, and milk.

▲This is the celebration of the goddess Durga's victorious battle against the shape-shifting, deceptive, and powerful buffalo demon, Mahishasura.

▲It is common to cremate bodies on the banks of the Ganges and to cast the ashes into its waters.

▲Additionally, devotees may also feed flour balls to fish and other marine life.

▲Another annual Hindu festival, Durga Puja features elaborate temple and stage decorations, scripture recitation, performance arts, revelry, and processions over the course of several days.

▲The god Vishnu was able to finally seize the golden pot containing the nectar of immortality.

▲The pot is what gives the festival its name: "Kumbh" means pot or pitcher and "Mela" means fair or festival.

▲The celebration is particularly popular in West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Assam, Tripura, Bangladesh and the diaspora from this region.

▲Those who die by or near the Ganges are believed to have their sins washed away before they reach the heavenly abode.

▲In Hindu mythology, gods and demons agreed to work together to create the nectar of immortality, called amrit.

▲The festival is observed in the Hindu calendar month of Ashvin, equivalent to September or October on the Gregorian calendar.

▲The earliest recorded materials associated with the Kumbh Mela can be traced to river festivals during which pots of grains were soaked in the waters of the holy rivers and put to seed with the rest of the grain.

▲The river festivals have also been associated with fertility rituals.

▲During the struggle, Vishnu is said to have dropped some of the nectar on four locations: Prayag, Haridwar, Ujjain, and Nashik.

▲The struggle lasted 12 days and 12 nights, equivalent to 12 human years.

▲The demons managed to run away with the pot, prompting the gods to chase after them, which resulted in a fight of mythological proportions.

▲The famous Ghats of Varanasi and Haridwar are among the holiest funeral destinations for Hindus.

▲The pot is an important symbol associated with the Ganges River.

▲According to Hindu tradition, the celebration of someone's passing is a vital and sacred part of the human experience.

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Kumbh Mela is the largest gathering of gurus, sadhus, and holy men.

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From ashrams, monasteries, caves, and palaces, these religious figures hail from rural towns, cities, clearings in dense forests, and the remote icy heights of the Himalayas.

▲The Hindu world contains hundreds of sects and subsects of sadhus, or holy men.

▲The pot, or the Kumbh, has also been said to symbolize the Mother Goddess and the womb.

▲Hindus believe that devotees have a better chance of improving their status through reincarnation if they have a strong connection to the Ganges.

▲Hindus believe that the soul is eternal and exists through cycles of transmigration and rebirth.

▲They come from all parts of India and belong to an array of different sects and traditions.

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Some of the sadhus come humbly, carrying only the belongings of a holy man, such as the water pot, the fire tongs, a shoulder bag, and a blanket.

▲This cycle of reincarnation is called samsara.

▲Others come with an entourage of disciples following the guru like an army.

▲After death, the soul returns to the physical realm in a new body.

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This is why karma is such an important tenet in Hinduism. And as the bridge between worlds, the Ganges offers the best chance to connect with that cycle.

▲The holy men can be broadly divided into two groups, the Vaishnavas, followers of Vishnu, and the Shaiva, followers of Shiva.

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The fiercest ones are the Nagas—the Naked Ones—who sit by their ritual fires during the festival covered in ash with matted hair flowing to the ground as they accept obeisance and charity from the millions of pilgrims.

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As givers of life and agents of fertility, the holy rivers act as bridges between heaven and earth, the eternal divine and the mortal humans.