Adorned corpses are marched through the narrowest of lanes as chants reverberate from the maze of buildings inhabited by those waiting, hoping, to die. Soaking wet pilgrims pass in the opposite direction, cleansed of their sins, carrying with them remnants of the holy Ganga river. The smell of smoke and volume of chants strengthens as the steps leading to the river emerge from the flooded, feces-ridden alleyways. Intense fires, more than half a dozen heaping piles of wood, roar from the riverbank, consuming the cleansed bodies, ending the cycle of death and re-birth for the deceased.
Welcome to Varanasi
Varanasi is the holiest city in India and one of the oldest continually inhabited cities in the world. It sees tens of thousands of visitors each year, both tourist and pilgrim alike. The birthplace of the god Shiva, and home to the Ganges River, referred to as the Ganga, it’s believed that, if one were to die in this place, the reincarnation cycle of death and re-birth ceases, with sins cleansed and a heavenly afterlife awaiting the believer. Every Hindu strives to make the pilgrimage to Varanasi at least once during their lives for a chance to bathe in the holy waters and cleanse themselves of their past wrongs. Babas of all status and stature make their way to Varanasi, as they line the streets and alleys and riverside ghats. The city itself is absolute chaos, with every overwhelming aspect of India rolled into one, tightly confined space. Cows and dogs and rats and monkeys and homeless and sickly and dying and feces and trash and heat and monsoons and horns and traffic and touts and masses of people are accompanied by incense and flowers and chants and celebrations and dancing and colors. Varanasi has it all, and then some.
The bathing rituals are both fascinating and stomach curling at the same time. Locals make their way down the steps, performing their rituals in the murky water, dripping some onto their heads and into their mouths before submerging themselves into the depths. It all seems quite beautiful, in a simplistic sort of way, until you realize that maybe 100 feet away, corpses are being ritually cleaned on the same shores, before their ashes and some bones fragments are tossed in the river. Pollution and cleanliness measurements are off the charts in all the worst ways, but the rituals continue, as they have for hundreds of years.
The burning ghat (Manikarnika), site of a 24/7 open air cremation operation was one of the more intense scenes I’ve witnessed in my life. Bodies marched in from the streets are first dumped in the river before being placed on the large piles of wood, lit from an ever-burning fire nearby. Thin white sheets shroud the bodies, though often times limbs and heads lay uncovered. Two to three hours are necessary to burn the bodies, leaving only the chest bone for males and hip bones for females, which are then tossed into the river. Families of the deceased crowd around the fires, while the “untouchables” do the work of placing bodies and stoking the flames. The cremation is meant to guarantee a heavenly home for the deceased, though there are 5 sets of people that are not cremated, for various reasons. Holy people, due to the fact they do not need to be cleansed, children, as they are still innocent, pregnant women, as they are carrying an innocent child, those bitten by snakes, as the venom is meant to have already purified them, and lepers, due to the possibility of spreading the disease. These groups are not burned, but attached to weights and dropped into the river. As I learned all of this, I felt less troubled than I expected to feel. The scene was most definitely intense, and the heat overwhelming, but there was a sense of peace over it all. Missing from the family were any signs of grief. No crying, no dejection, simply acceptance. After all the chaos embodied in the streets of the city, and really the whole country for that matter, the dead were finally at peace, all their wishes and intents granted as they succumbed to the fire.
For me, Varanasi was far too demanding on the senses to spend more than a couple days. I would like to return someday, perhaps when the river is lower and allows for a sunrise boat trip along the dozens of ghats leading into the river. I hope to take with me the sense of peace amongst chaos, and the idea that cleansing may have more to do with your mind than how clean the water may be.