High on a mountain in the Himalayas, the pristine headwater of the Bagmati river falls from the mouth of a tiger statue. For the Hindu majority nation, the river is long revered as having the power to purify souls. But Nepal's holiest river has deteriorated so greatly that today it is also the country's most polluted. As it reaches the capital Kathmandu, the color changes from clear to brown and then to black, choked with debris. Raw sewage is dumped directly into the river, and heaps of garbage are tossed in from along the banks. The holy river also flows past several sacred sites, including the Pashupatinath Temple, declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1979. Hindus flock to the riverbanks in Kathmandu to worship at shrines and celebrate festivals. Families also bring their deceased loved ones for cremation near the banks. Mithu Lama, who has been working at the cremation grounds since she was 15, said the rituals used to be done with river water. But some people no longer dare to have any contact with its contents. There have been efforts by both private volunteers and the government to clean up the river, but they are unable to keep up with the volume of trash dumped in it. Hindu priest Pandit Shivahari Subedi has been performing rituals for devotees on the banks of Bagmati river for the last three decades. He believes only divine intervention can help clean the river.
