VARANASI, INDIA... a city situated on the banks of the River Ganges. Varanasi is the holiest place in the world in Hinduism (and center of the Earth in Hindu cosmology). It is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world and probably the oldest in India.
Arriving in Varanasi I left the rickshaw near an alleyway and was told my guesthouse was straight ahead. I walked into the maze of old narrow alleyways past cows, shops, street food, temples, and so many people asking my way gaining varying responses. This city is probably the most unique place I have ever experienced. It is a place of pilgrimage for people all over India and the world. People come here to pray and to die and be cremated on or in the Ganges. Open cremation happens 365 days a year and sometimes 200 people are burned per day. It was hard to realize that I was seeing a burning body in front of me, as if it should be a bigger deal or people around me should be sad. The approach to death is so different here, and everything happens in the open.
A woman sends a prayer with her candle into the Ganges...
Morning on the Ganges...
Arriving in Varanasi I left the rickshaw near an alleyway and was told my guesthouse was straight ahead. I walked into the maze of old narrow alleyways past cows, shops, street food, temples, and so many people asking my way gaining varying responses. This city is probably the most unique place I have ever experienced. It is a place of pilgrimage for people all over India and the world. People come here to pray and to die and be cremated on or in the Ganges. Open cremation happens 365 days a year and sometimes 200 people are burned per day. It was hard to realize that I was seeing a burning body in front of me, as if it should be a bigger deal or people around me should be sad. The approach to death is so different here, and everything happens in the open.
A woman sends a prayer with her candle into the Ganges...
Morning on the Ganges...
