Ganga Pilgrimage Towns
Major pilgrimage towns along the Ganga's course from its Himalayan descent to the Gangetic plain, each with its own ghats and river-facing ritual life.
A curated selection, not an official or closed list — either traditions vary on the full set of sites, or this is an editorial grouping rather than a traditional one.
Significance & tradition
Each town hosts its own distinct ghat-based ritual life along the Ganga — from the source rituals at Gangotri to the evening Ganga Aarti now performed nightly at Rishikesh, Haridwar, and Varanasi — reflecting the river's status in Hindu tradition as both a physical waterway and a goddess, Ganga, in her own right.
History
Continuous pilgrimage to Ganga-side towns is attested in Indian textual and epigraphic sources for well over a thousand years, though the ghats and steps visible today are mostly the product of temple- and ghat-building patronage from the 18th and 19th centuries, particularly under Maratha and other regional rulers.
How this list was compiled
Deliberately not exhaustive — the Ganga runs through many more towns than these; this covers the major pilgrimage-significant ones already represented among Swamarg's destinations.