New Delhi

The Triveni Sangam at Prayagraj is not just a place of spiritual significance but a unique viral-bacterial interplay that makes the Ganga river at this confluence such a remarkable microbial laboratory, claims a new book.

In "The River That Remembers: Microbial Intelligence of Nature", Padma Shri awardee and Prayagraj-based independent research scientist Ajai Kumar Sonkar explores the river Ganga by blending microbiology, virology, and cultural memory.

The author argues that each sacred dip taken by devotees at the Sangam becomes an intense microbial exchange that reverberates through the waters of the Ganga.

He also says that during events like Kumbh Mela, this viral-bacterial interaction intensifies as phage evolution accelerates due to massive bacterial influx and phage density and diversity peak post-bathing rituals.

Last year, the Maha Kumbh, billed as the world's largest gathering, drew over 66 crore devotees from across India and abroad to the banks of the Triveni Sangam during the 45-day period.

"Pilgrims arrive from all corners of the country, each bringing with them unique microbiota, bacteria, viruses, fungi, and other microorganisms that have adapted to their specific environments," he writes.

"These skin-associated microbiota are tailored to the coastal belts, the Himalayan ranges, the deserts, the urban centres, and the tropical interiors of India. In the act of immersion, these microbes are washed off, released into the river's waters, where they mix with the existing microbiome of the Ganges," he adds.

This influx of foreign microbial DNA, according to Sonkar, is not a random event.

The river, with its phage-rich ecosystem, is already home to a diverse array of bacteriophages, he says.

So what unfolds is a spectacular viral-bacterial drama, where the incoming bacteria are met by these phages in a battle for survival, he claims.

"The bacteriophages, which have evolved to thrive in the river's ecosystem, are adept at identifying and targeting the newly introduced foreign bacterial strains," the book, published by National Book Trust, says.

The bacteriophages undergo their own evolutionary processes, adjusting to the shifting microbial landscape introduced by the influx of human-associated bacteria, it adds.

What makes this phenomenon even more remarkable is the speed and efficiency with which the bacteriophages respond, the author says.

He describes this as no slow or passive adaptation but a rapid and evolutionary arms race.

"New bacteriophages evolve to target the specific bacterial strains introduced by the pilgrims, increasing the viral diversity of the river. Over time, the Ganges' microbiome becomes a living, evolving system that continuously adapts to the new challenges posed by the diverse human microbiota," he writes.

According to the author, during events like Kumbh Mela, phage evolution accelerates due to massive bacterial influx and phage density and diversity peak post-bathing rituals.

"Sangam, thus, acts not only as a religious confluence, but a viral confluence, where DNA from every corner of India interacts with the ancient water of the Ganges," he writes.

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Sonkar says the river does not repel this but responds.

"And in that response, it generates something astonishing: a microbial counterforce of over a thousand phages, sculpted not by industrial waste, but by ritual, reverence, and the collective contact of a civilisation," he writes.