The River Confluence: Triveni Sangam

Tribeni takes its name, 'three rivers,' from the confluence (sangam) of the Hooghly/Bhagirathi, the Jamuna and the mythical Saraswati that is believed to flow underground. In practice, the Saraswati and Jamuna channels have silted away over centuries and only the Hooghly meets the eye in any obviously dramatic fashion, but the spiritual geography remains potent and the site throngs with pilgrims on auspicious days. 
The main ghat at Tribeni is one of the most active bathing ghats in the region. Pilgrims come year-round for the ritual bath at the sangam and the concentration of priests, garland sellers, conch-shell vendors and devout families makes the ghat feel like a small-scale Varanasi. The best time to arrive is either at dawn (when the light on the water and the ritual activity are most intense) or during the Makar Sankranti festival in January (14th-15th January each year), when the site sees tens of thousands of pilgrims and an impromptu mela springs up on the riverbank.