Yatra is the practice of pilgrimage to a sacred place and is seen, along with most spiritual traditions, as a significant factor in religious and spiritual belief.  In India there are many pilgrimage destinations throughout the subcontinent of which 12 are regarded as particularly important.  The city of Varanasi is one such destination with the added significance that death here is said to remove all chance of further reincarnation.  Bathing in the sacred river Ganges, Ma Ganga, like submersion in the river Jordan is said to wash away all sins.  For devout HIndus pilgrimage can be a daily journey to the temple, or high into the Himalayas to the source of the Ganga.