--- title: 100 Bodies Dredged From River Ganges description: At least 100 bodies have been retrieved from an offshoot of the river Ganges in northern India, police said on Wednesday, months after government officials vowed to clean up the revered, yet heavily polluted waterway. canonical: https://time.com/3666871/india-bodies-ganges-river/ author: Dan Kedmey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-01-14T13:20:39.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T03:33:26.973Z article:section: World og:title: 100 Bodies Dredged From River Ganges og:description: At least 100 bodies have been retrieved from an offshoot of the river Ganges in northern India, police said on Wednesday, months after government officials vowed to clean up the revered, yet heavily polluted waterway. og:url: https://time.com/3666871/india-bodies-ganges-river/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt09ded48d24ba53f6/698779bf35ba6f1f4cc067ce/461514340.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: INDIA-RELIGION-HINDUISM og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 100 Bodies Dredged From River Ganges twitter:description: At least 100 bodies have been retrieved from an offshoot of the river Ganges in northern India, police said on Wednesday, months after government officials vowed to clean up the revered, yet heavily polluted waterway. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt09ded48d24ba53f6/698779bf35ba6f1f4cc067ce/461514340.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Indian Police Dredge 100 Bodies From River Ganges  by [Dan Kedmey](/author/dan-kedmey/)  ## Dan Kedmey Jan 14, 2015 1:20 PM CUT  Indian Hindu devotees take a holy dip for the Makar Sankranti festival at the confluence of the rivers Ganges, Yamuna and Saraswati, in Allahabad on January 14, 2015. Indian Hindu devotees take a holy dip for the Makar Sankranti festival at the confluence of the rivers Ganges, Yamuna and Saraswati, in Allahabad on January 14, 2015.Sanjay Kanojia—AFP/Getty Images  by [Dan Kedmey](/author/dan-kedmey/)  ## Dan Kedmey Jan 14, 2015 1:20 PM CUT At least 100 bodies have been retrieved from an offshoot of the river Ganges in northern India, police said on Wednesday, months after government officials vowed to clean up the revered but heavily polluted waterway. Officials in the northeastern state of Uttar Pradesh said receding waters exposed a large number of bodies along the banks of the river, which has traditionally been used as a burial site for cremated bodies, the _Wall Street Journal_ [reports.](http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2015/01/14/more-than-100-dead-bodies-found-in-ganges/ "undefined") Some families, unable to afford cremation, have been known to release bodies whole into the water. The investigation comes several months after Prime Minister Narendra Modi pledged to clean the river system of pollutants and replenish water levels held back by newly constructed dams. [Read more at the Wall Street _Journal._](http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2015/01/14/more-than-100-dead-bodies-found-in-ganges/ "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3666871/india-bodies-ganges-river/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3666871/india-bodies-ganges-river/"},"headline":"Indian Police Dredge 100 Bodies From River Ganges","datePublished":"2015-01-14T13:20:39.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T03:33:26.973Z","description":"Receding waters have likely exposed evidence of ritual burials in the revered river","url":"https://time.com/3666871/india-bodies-ganges-river/","keywords":["India","Narendra Modi"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt09ded48d24ba53f6/698779bf35ba6f1f4cc067ce/461514340.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Dan Kedmey","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/dan-kedmey/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt09ded48d24ba53f6/698779bf35ba6f1f4cc067ce/461514340.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"INDIA-RELIGION-HINDUISM","caption":"INDIA-RELIGION-HINDUISM","creditText":"Sanjay Kanojia—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3666871/india-bodies-ganges-river/","name":"Indian Police Dredge 100 Bodies From River Ganges"}}]}] ```