At sunrise, professor Vishwambhar Nath Mishra wakes up, wraps a simple white Indian gamcha around his waist, and wades slowly into the Ganges River, dribbling the water over his arms and forehead. This bathing ritual is one his family has practiced for thirteen generations, performed by pious Hindus in Varanasi since the sixth century BCE. To dip into the Ganges is to be purified of all sins.