Ganges River Cruise (2015)

Ganges River Cruise (2015)

By Rich Juro

     We went up and down the Ganges River in 2015 in eastern India with a river-cruise-boat, if  you can call it that. The Ganges was sacred to the Hindus. A dip in the river was felt by the Hindu believers that cleansed sins according to the goddess Ganga, and help achieve salvation. But the Ganges River was very polluted, especially in the lower reaches, so the Hindu faithful were risking their lives to go for a dip in remission of their sins. We did manage to cruise down the river without swimming in it.

Fran Disembarking our Ganges River Cruise Ship (notice the guy holding the “portable“ bannister pole)

     The Ganges runs about 1500 miles from the Himalayas to the Bay of Bengal. It has the largest delta in the world, stretching 250 miles from India to Bangladesh. We boarded near Kolkata  (Calcutta). The food was good, if you like Indian-American food without a lot of spice.  

     One day we disembarked near a Catholic church. The next day we toured the Muslim  mosque. Third, we saw in-depth a Buddhist temple. The fourth day we visited the Hindu temple with the goddess Ganga prominently. We had anticipation to the next day: what would day five  bring? Remember, no Sikhs or Jews or Protestant Christians were established here. 

     Day 5 brought us to a full day visit to the world headquarters of Hare Krishna. Located in Mayapur, India, its a sprawling site with lots of commercial products to sell. So the world  headquarters of Hare Krishna didn’t really impress us. Invented in New York City in 1966, Hare  Krishna has over a million adherents in the USA and a lot of believers in India. As a branch of  Hinduism, Hare Krishnas repeat „Hare Krishna, Krishna Hare“ endlessly. What happened to the  folks who prosyletize Hare Krishna in airports? They lost the case in the US Supreme Court in  2016, but they are now getting more followers in the USA by just preaching their gospel to them. 

That’s what we remember of the Ganges River cruise: lots of temples and mosques and  churches, and the world headquarters of Hare Krishna.

Fran Outside the Hare Krishna HQ

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