"As one of India’s largest and most sacred pilgrimage centers, Benares (Varanasi) has been revered for centuries by Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists, and Jains, millions of whom come to visit its innumerable temples and shrines and come to bathe along a three-mile stretch of steps leading to the Holy Ganga (Ganges) River. Whether coming for salvation, prosperity, or healing, most of these pilgrims have sought some form of ritual purification – a means of unloading their troubles and sins upon stars and holy men, the river Ganga, and the many sacred tanks fed by her springs and tributaries."