More than 2,000 years ago, a powerful leader built a fortress on India’s holiest river, the Ganges. King Yayati set up the fort to help guard his territory. Today, ruins are all that remain of the old structure. The area along the Ganges River is now an industrial city called Kanpur. Workers there collect stones from the ruins to build simple homes. These shelters, called shanties, sit on top of what once was the king’s fortress. The Ganges stretches over 2,700 kilometers across India. It begins high up in the Himalayan Mountains and eventually empties into the Bay of Bengal. The Ganges has seen empires rise and fall. It has seen countless wars, kings, British colonial rulers, independence, and the rise of Hindu nationalism as a political movement. In India, the Ganges is far more than just a river. It is religion, industry, farming, and politics. To Hindus, the Ganges is known as “Ganga Ma,” meaning Mother Ganges. It is the center of spiritual life for more than a billion people. Every year, millions of Hindu pilgrims visit temples and other holy places along the Ganges.