Varanasi is one of the holy places for Hindus. It’s here that they come to die, and be cremated on the banks of the river Ganges. It is a Hindu rite of passage, where pujas (prayers) are performed and mantras recited during cremation.
We hired a boat for the five of us, after tough and skillful negotiation by Awen and Mallory, and were rowed along the Ghats, the steps leading down to the Ganges. Night was falling over Varanasi.
We passed the cremation sites and could watch the rituals, the bodies, wrapped in cloth, being bathed one last time in the holy water of the river, and then being put on large staples of wood, to be cremated.
The whole procedure lasts around three hours, and the ashes are then dispersed in the river. About 80 bodies are burned every day, and the smoke hovers over the cremation sites and parts of the city.
Our guide rowed us along the river and we also watched the aarti ritual, along with dozens of other boats from the river. It’s part of the puja, with beautiful songs and dances.
We were on a rigged boat, trying to balance delicately when one of us wanted to stand up for a photo and not to get turned over. I really did not want to end up swimming in the pitch-black Ganges water at night…
But he got us back safely, and we were in for a yummy Indian dinner.