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The Burning Ghats of Varanasi

Considered the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world, Varanasis ancient alleyways, primordial temples, and unchanged city layouts, are enough of a claim to fame, but her true fame, in fact, is not in the city at all. It is in the water running alongside her.

Originating in the southern Himalayas and flowing eastward to Indias, Bay of Bengel, the Ganges River not only gives life to the land, it gives life to the people. Referred to as, Mother Ganges, Hindus respect and praise her waters almost as much as their deities. Bathing and drinking from, offering sacrifices to, and even performing burials in. The most famous place for these riverside interactions is, none other then, Varanasi. To bathe in one of Varanasis sacred ghats, the stone stairwells leading into the Ganges, at least once in a persons lifetime, is a goal of all Hindus due to the waters sin absolution and healing componetns. But more important then a visit during life, is a visit after death. Just as the Mother Ganga breeds life, she also takes it, and all her creations should be returned to her bosom. A return journey that brings families from all over India to her ghats for ceremonial cremations and water burials of their loved ones. One such cremation, compelling the composition of this very blog.

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Embarking on one of the quintessential Varanasi boat cruises, small dilapidated fishermen boats, captained by local fishermen-cum-tour guides, not only provide tourists up close and intimate glimpses of life along the ghats of the Ganges, they also provide emblazoned portraits of death, as my sister, her friend Christine and I, soon found out. Mooring up a dozen or so feet from shore, our boat driver hardly needed to direct our attention to a spectacle you would have to be blind not to see. Fire!! Dozens of individual bonfires lighting up the bustling bank. This was a Burning Ghat, a sacred area designated for the cremation of deceased Hindus. Every day, hundreds of bodies arrive from all over India for official closure to life. In the arms of their grieving loved ones, swathed in white sheets and adorned in yellow and orange flowers, body after body appear from the hive of dozens of other families who are either awaiting a ghat, or currently watching their loved ones slow return to the ashes they once came from.

Floating atop Indias holiest body of water and watching such an intimate family moment, in such an unattached and public manner, seemed wrong, but in the short time we hovered there, I couldnt tear my eyes away from the tragic spectacle. As if watching a graphic medieval war classic, where battle casualties were respectfully burned one after the other, I quickly rationalized the reality with fantasy and fiction. Expecting at any moment for a director to emerge from off set and holler, Cut. That was, until the crackling fire nearest the shore, began to move.

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For a moment, I wanted to scream out, That person is still alive, but it didnt take long to realize the cause. The body within had reached its melting point and the legs that once protruded from the fire perfectly horizontal to the ground, slowly bent vertical. The knee joint must have caved under the extreme heat, pushing the bottom half of both legs upwards into an unnatural, 90-degree angle of the joint. The legs soon began their final descent into the fires innermost flames before disappearing completely, leaving only the bodies carefully wrapped and adorned head outside the flames reach. Dumbstruck, speechless, and still in a state of disbelief, our boatmen finally steered us, whom he considered to be, satisfied customers, back into midstream and away from the burning ghats. Not sure if satisfied is the word I would choose when describing the emotions felt watching a human form withdraw into flames, but it was definitely an unforgettable sight to behold. A sight that some might deem morbid, but I found to be the antithesis of. A captivating exhibition of the love and faith that bring all Hindu believers back to their origins. Celebrating the death and closure of a life by releasing its spirit back to their one, true mother; The Mother Ganga.

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