A symbol of India's age-old culture and civilization, the River Ganga executes a magic which has captured the hearts of men since times immemorial. In Vedic times, saints and seers meditated by this sacred stream to unravel the mysteries of life and death, so also the secrets of the universe. Hindus are never tired of singing the glories of Mother Ganga and every Hindu desires to take a dip at least once in his life in this sacred river. Many wend their way to the Ganga to spend the evening of their lives and to meet their end on her banks Hindus carry the ashes of their dead to consign them to the holy Ganga. To touch it, to drink its water, to take bath in it when alive, to be washed in it when dead, goes the belief, is to be cleansed within and without for life and beyond. The Ganga being one of the unifying factors of the people of India from the Cape to Kailasha and from Dvaraka to Kamakhya.