Sultanganj

Two granite outcrops break the Ganga at Sultanganj. On the larger, Jahngira, sits the Ajgaibinath Shiva temple, reached by boat; its rocks are carved with Gupta-period reliefs of Vishnu, Shiva and Ganga herself, worn smooth by two thousand monsoons. Here the river turns uttarvahini — north-flowing — for a short stretch, which makes its water the most potent of all for offering.

Every Shravan (July–August) up to a million saffron-clad kanwariyas fill the ghats to draw that water and carry it on foot, never letting the pot touch the ground, 105 km to the Baidyanath Jyotirlinga at Deoghar. The town becomes a river of orange for a month.

Outside the season it is a sleepy riverside town with excellent dolphin-watching: the Vikramshila Gangetic Dolphin Sanctuary begins here, and boatmen will take you out at first light. The famous 7th-century bronze Sultanganj Buddha, found here in 1861, is in Birmingham Museum — the largest surviving metal Buddha from ancient India.