Varanasi, a holy place

After a long drive from the border of Nepal we arrived in Varanasi,one of the world's oldest living cities, which is rightly called the religious capital of India. We got settled in our hotel which was within a couple of minutes walk to the most important part of the city, the Ganges River.

The River Ganga is a sacred river for the Hindus and you will see traditional rituals and bathing occurring at all times of the day. On the Eastern banks, the River Ganga is flanked by a 300m wide sand belt, beyond which lies a green belt, a protected area reserved for turtle breeding.

Some of the people bathing and performing rituals...

I love the colours and chaos in this picture, so typical of India...

This lady doesn’t look too sure...

Over 60,000 people come here every day to bath even though it is a heavily polluted river. 

Varanasi is a veritable paradise for the pilgrims who throng the ghats of the Ganges for spiritual reward—deliverance from sin and attainment of nirvana.

This man was performing a prayer ritual...

 The western crescent-shaped bank of the River Ganga is flanked by a continuous stretch of 84 ghats, or series of steps leading down to the river, stretching for 6.8km. These ghats were built by Hindu kings who wanted to die along the Ganges, and they built lofty palaces along the river,  to spend their final days. You can walk along the river and see all of the ghats, many of which are centuries old...

There were always people by the river, day and night...

Many of the old palaces are still very beautiful...

We got an even better view from an early morning boat ride on the river, the shoreline goes on forever...

There are hundreds of boats on the river day and night as well...

The river is a busy place for lots of activities...

That might be my hotel towel!

Holy men doing their thing...

Meditation...

We went out on the boat at different times of the day...

At sunrise and sunset there are huge prayer rituals...

Beautiful singers...

Always seven priests...

This was the sunrise ceremony which was quite small compared to the night time when there were hundreds of boats on the water...

The prayer rituals go on for about an hour using incense, bells and fire...

Most of the people in attendance were Indian but this is the place we have seen the most foreign tourists since beginning our trip to India. Over 7 million locals visit every year most to make a pilgrimage to the holy Ganga.

Many people also offer gifts to the river with a lighted candle and a prayer...

They are all put in the river and gently flow downstream....

The Hindus believe that to die here on the banks of the Ganges is an assurance of heavenly bliss and emancipation from the eternal cycle of birth and death. So, many Hindus travel to Varanasi at the twilight hour of their life. It is also a place of open cremations along the banks of the river....

Here you can see a body wrapped in pink on the pile of wood to be burnt as well as another pile being started down below...

Cremation is an extremely important ritual for Hindus. They believe it releases an individual's spiritual essence from its transitory physical body so it can be reborn. If it is not done or not done properly, it is thought, the soul will be disturbed and not find its way to its proper place in the afterlife and come back and haunt living relatives. Fire is the chosen method to dispose of the dead because of its association with purity and its power to scare away harmful ghosts, demons and spirits. The fire god Agni is asked to consume the physical body and create its essence in heaven in preparation for transmigration. Cremations are still associated with sacrifices. The god Pushan is asked to accept the sacrifice and guide the soul to its proper place in the afterlife.

On this river there are hundreds of cremations a day which is quite the sight to behold....

Dipping the body in the holy water...

Bringing it back to the pyre...

Family members have traditionally prepared the body of the deceased. Before cremation, the body is wrapped and washed, with jewelry and sacred objects intact, in a plain sheet. A red cloth is used for holy people. Married women are buried in their wedding dress and an orange shroud. Men and widows have a white shroud. As we looked around the area we could see lots of bits of these coloured cloths scattered around.

Cremations go on all day and night...

This body was of someone important so it got burned on a high platform...

The pile to the right are ashes from the day which will be swept into the river. There are lots of cows and dogs digging around as well.

A typical scene as observed from the boat...

The morning after...

So many fires...

And so much stacked wood...

We were looking forward to this part of our trip and were not disappointed! This is truly a remarkable place as it gave us a glimpse of the Hindu culture with their unique views on death and dying and will remain in our memories for a long time.