Len Nielsen, age 13, of Santa Rosa, Calif., for his question:

WHY IS THE GANGES RIVER IMPORTANT?

The Ganges River is the largest waterway in India and one of the largest in the world. It is important to the Indians for the part it plays in the Hindu religion. Hindus consider it the most sacred river in India and each year thousands of pilgrims visit holy cities along its banks to bathe in the water and to take some of it home.

Temples line the riverbank and "ghats" or stairways lead down to the water. Some pilgrims come hoping that the touch of the water will cure their ailments while others come to die in the river. Hindus believe that those who die in the Ganges will be carried to Paradise.

The Ganges River is also an important trade area. Its valley is fertile and densely populated. Such important cities as Calcutta, Howrah, Patna, Varanasi and Kanpur stand on its banks and India's capital, New Delhi, is on its tributary, the Jumna.

The Ganges has its beginnings in an ice cave 10,300 feet above sea level in the Himalaya Mountains of northern India. The river flows for 1,540 miles.