>>>>Here’s a tip: DON’T go looking for photos of the Ganges River. Down that rabbit hole lies madness.<<<<
I’ve seen pix of the Ganges...I wish I hadn’t.
People bathing while turds, garbage, rotting bodies of animals and people float by.
The stench must be unbearable, but there they are.
“I’ve seen pix of the Ganges... The stench must be unbearable”
It is a big river, with a lot of water flushing through. There is a lot of agricultural runoff, and there is an Hindu cultural norm of “Burial” of the deceased in the Ganges River.
I have visited a couple of times, actually including during a Kumbha Mela. The river did not smell when I was there. The Kumbha Mela that I saw was in Haridwar (it rotates between a few sites). Haridwar is far in the North where the Ganges is just starting its run across the flatter ground, and is still running fast and cold out of the Himalayas.
The location this year is Prayagraj (formerly known as Allahbad), which is several hundred miles futher downriver. I have also sailed on the Ganges around Varanasi, which is about 100 miles further down the river from Allahbad (and considered the most auspicious place along the river to “bury’ the deceased, typically after cremation).
In Varanasi, the Ganges is slower moving, and there is a bit of flotsam debris, but it still did not have a bad odor when I was there. I swam in it at both locations, with no ill effects.
There is a very long run after that, before making it to the Sea. I would expect that by the time it gets far downstream (well beyond where the Kumbha Melas are held) the pollution would be significantly more intense, with high levels of coliform bacteria (fecal contamination) and diseases like cholera.