Varanasi, India

My Photo scholarship 2010 entry

WORLDWIDE | Tuesday, 12 October 2010 | Views [136]

The cremation is an expensive ceremony for the millions that live below the poverty line in India. Throughout the continent Hindus work into their old age to afford this, budgeting the travel of their ailing selves or the transport of their deceased body, as well as enough wood to complete the cremation. (These colourful women in Rajasthan dream of such an honourable farewell, joking that they’ll come back as dogs in the next life to bite their sons if they don’t see to it.)

Over 3000 years of stories has made Varanasi the Great pilgrimage of Hinduism. The stretch of the Ganges that runs through Varanasi is the holiest place for Hindus to die and be cremated, where it is said the soul will reach higher places in the next life. (A body is passed down from the roof of a jeep, unnoticed amongst the hustle and bustle of the Indian streets, an everyday occurrence in the company of the deliveries and business that has flocked this main bazaar for thousands of years.)

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If one cannot afforded enough wood, they must depend on the charity of others, or else the remainder of the body is given to the river. A smoky haze lies over Varanasi with ash lightly falling all around you 24 hours a day from the Burning Ghats that are never far away. (These men have followed generations before them, selling precious sandalwood for the cremations.)

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Varanasi, India

My Photo scholarship 2010 entry

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