Varanasi

This city is like another planet. Planet Varanasi.

The strongest impression is the burning of the dead on the banks of the Ganges. This action has not stopped here, day or night, for two thousand years.

A spooky but bewitching ritual.

Being burned in Varanasi is a special honor and joy for the Indians. They believe that if you scatter the dust over the Ganges, the soul will no longer be reborn, but will gain eternal peace and bliss: it will go to nirvana.

Every day, dozens of deceased are burned in Varanasi.

In the place where the ash is dumped, "prospectors" sift the water. They are looking for golden teeth or deceased jewelry. These men, the “untouchables,” are the lowest caste in India.

One funeral pyre burns exactly one day.

Each of a billion Indians wants to die and burn their body in Varanasi.

All streets in the crematorium area are littered with firewood.

To burn the body of an adult, you need about three hundred kilograms of firewood. Rich people burn their relatives in sandalwood, it costs about $ 150 per kilogram.

Thanks to the sandalwood, it doesn’t smell like burning human here at all.

The poor often don’t have enough money to buy enough firewood, and it happens that an incompletely burned body is dumped in the Ganges. They try to fight this phenomenon, since the river is very heavily polluted.

In what other city in the world do you find a sign asking you not to throw unburned bodies into the water?

We rented a motor boat and looked at the crematorium from the side of the river.

These stairs are called ghats. They stretched along the banks of the Ganges for eight kilometers.

On the ghats of Manikarnik, the bodies are burned. And in this place only those who died of old age or from diseases are burned. Those who died from external causes are burned somewhere on the outskirts of the city.

The remaining ghat stairs are used for religious ceremonies, ablutions or just for walks.

Varanasi has an unusual and amazing architecture.

The view from the balcony of the hotel in which we lived.

At night, Varanasi resembles something mystical-cosmic.

Night photos of the promenade, taken from the opposite bank of the Ganges.

Every evening on the shore a religious ceremony "Praise the Ganges" is held.

The rite is a cross between a fire show and meditation.

Special brahmanas perform the ritual, this honor passed to them by inheritance.

The ritual lasts about 40 minutes.

Varanasi is the religious capital of India. It attracts millions of adherents of Hinduism and Buddhism. This city has the same meaning for them as the Vatican, Mecca and Jerusalem for other religions.

And, of course, there are many old people who come here to die.

Varanasi is the quintessence of India. The cycle of life and death. Seen here, you will remember for a lifetime.

Watch the video: Varanasi, India in 4K Ultra HD (April 2024).