INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Varanasi, India (CNN)The River Ganges, or the Ganga to Indians, is one of Hinduism's most sacred waterways
Considered the personification of goddess Ganga, it is worshiped by millions of the faithful
It flows through Varanasi, one of Hinduism's holiest sites and among the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world
Millions of pilgrims flock to its temples and ghats -- or riverbank -- every year
It is also politically significant
When Narendra Modi, then a state-level leader for the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), decided to seek national office in
2014, he chose the ancient city as his constituency.
