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Year 6

The River Ganges: a sacred Hindu pilgrimage site

I can describe how many Hindus see the Ganges as sacred and explain why they may go on pilgrimage to Varanasi.

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New
New
Year 6

The River Ganges: a sacred Hindu pilgrimage site

I can describe how many Hindus see the Ganges as sacred and explain why they may go on pilgrimage to Varanasi.

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Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. The Ganges is a major river in Northern India.
  2. The story of Mother Ganga illustrates how the Ganges is regarded as sacred by most Hindus.
  3. Hindus may make pilgrimage to the holy city of Varanasi by the River Ganges.
  4. The River Ganges is an important site for death rituals in Hindu Dharma.
  5. The River Ganges is currently very polluted and some Hindus are working to clean it up.

Keywords

  • Pilgrim - a person who journeys to a sacred place for religious reasons

  • Dharma - acting with compassion for the good of humans and all living things

  • Sacred - something that is considered holy, divine or deserving of great respect

  • Moksha - freedom from samsara - the cycle of life

Common misconception

The River Ganges is sacred because the water heals people.

The river is sacred to most Hindus because of its earthly manifestation of the goddess Ganga.


To help you plan your year 6 religious education lesson on: The River Ganges: a sacred Hindu pilgrimage site, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

Compare and contrast the pilgrimage site of Varanasi and the River Ganges with another ancient place of pilgrimage, e.g., Iona.
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This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2025), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

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5 Questions

Q1.
Which country has the largest number of Hindus in the world?
Correct Answer: India, india
Q2.
Match the keywords to their definitions.
Correct Answer:Brahman,the ultimate truth or God in Hindu Dharma
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the ultimate truth or God in Hindu Dharma

Correct Answer:dharma,acting out of compassion and following a path of duty
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acting out of compassion and following a path of duty

Correct Answer:Shiva,a Hindu deity - a form of God
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a Hindu deity - a form of God

Q3.
A pilgrimage is a __________ journey.
Correct answer: sacred
fun
long
Q4.
Iona is often described as ...
a 'thick place'.
Correct answer: a 'thin place'.
a 'light place'.
an 'ancient place'.
Q5.
The Iona community aims for peace and ...
friendship.
reconciliation.
Correct answer: social justice.

5 Questions

Q1.
Put these parts of the story of Mother Ganga into the correct order.
1 - Brahma saw that there was a fire on earth.
2 - Ganga volunteered to descend to earth to help extinguish the flames.
3 - Shiva saw that her form of water might be too strong.
4 - Shiva sat in meditation and grew his hair.
5 - The water fell safely into his hair and spread slowly onto the earth.
6 - The streams formed the River Ganges.
Q2.
The River Ganges is regarded by many Hindus as ...
Correct answer: a sacred mother.
a good friend.
a form of Shiva.
Q3.
Many pilgrims come to Varanasi to ...
Correct answer: scatter the ashes of a loved one who has died into the Ganges.
Correct answer: bathe in the sacred waters.
light a diwa lamp.
Q4.
The main threat to the Ganges today is ...
Correct answer: pollution.
over-fishing.
the dredging of the river bed.
Q5.
Some Hindus are cleaning up the river. Acting this way out of compassion is known as ...
samsara.
moksha.
Correct answer: dharma.

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