Arriving in Varanasi, I completely forgot about the reason why I had wanted to come to this town in the first place. The streets are more chaotic than I've ever experienced before, and I find it hard to remember or concentrate on anything apart from how irritated I am at having to constantly look below me to avoid falling into the huge cow pats, look in front of me to avoid being flattened by motorcycles and look to my left and right for in coming rickshaws or cars.
The reason I wanted to come to Varanasi was because I wanted to see the Hindu cremation ceremonies that are synonymous with the city.
The travellers I'd met had not been to the main cremation area and were not planning to, so I didn't have much advice in that department. After searching for some information online I jumped onto a cycle rickshaw and made my way for the 'Burning ghat' (officially Manikarnika ghat).
On my boat ride in the morning, the boat driver had told me how it costs from 6,000 to 10,000 rupees (around 70-120 GBP) to burn a body, dependent on the quality of wood to be used and the size of the body This is actually quite a considerable sum for the normal Indian so often the bodies are not completed cremated, and what remains is just thrown straight into the river.
The cycle rickshaw stopped on the main road, close to the burning ghat and off I jumped. The alley leading to the ghat was flooded in 10cm of water, so I paced up and down trying to find another entrance. Eventually I realised I either need to get my feet wet, or just go back to the hotel. So I got my feet wet (it wouldn't be so bad if it as just water, but I suspect there was a fair bit of sewage floating around there. Then again, the Ganga comprises of a fair amount of sewage and people seem fine with gargling with it so walking through it isn't going to kill me, is it?).
I walked in the winding alleys for 10 minutes before I reached the Burning ghat. But I couldn't find any burning taking place. Just piles and piles of logs. Just as I was about to give up, I looked above me and saw towers of smoke.
I found the staircase that led my way up to the smoke and went up. When I got to the roof, overlooking the Ganga I found piles of wood in the centre, with Indian men on the periphery. I was the only woman there - Indian and foreign included - but apart from the odd curious stare, the men accommodated me very well.
It took me a while to realise it but to my right was a wrapped corpse lying on the floor. It was lying on a bamboo stretcher and had orange and silver decoration on it. It was surreal.
A few minutes later I looked again at the fire on the far left of the roof, and realised there was actually a body amongst the flames. Then as my gaze shifted across the roof I saw that there were another three bodies on piles of wood, also burning.
The corpse that was on the far right of the roof was then carried by doms (Hindus from the lowest caste that have 'unclean' jobs like burning the dead) to a pile of wood and placed onto it. I was right next to the pile of wood and for a moment there I thought I would go queazy. The corpse seemed to be jelly-like under the wrappings, and I saw a flash of his right arm. The priests did some chanting, wood was piled onto the body, lighting fluid, and the body was set light to. The heat got unbearable and although I was covering my face with my scarf I couldn't stay there for too long.
I went down to the banks of the river and watched the first part of the cremation ceremony, when the bodies are submerged into the Ganges, to bless them with the holy water.
I couldn't believe how many bodies there were, it was like a conveyor belt of bodies. I later learnt that 300 people are cremated every day in Varanasi and each body takes 3 hours to burn.
An interesting fact: people bitten by snakes are not burnt because they are considered half-alive, half-dead. Instead they are bound tightly around where they were bitten and floated downstream in the hopes that they will be brought back to life. Lepars are also not burnt (just weighed down with large rocks and thrown into the river) because it is believed that leprosy is carried in the smoke.
Children and pregnant women are also not burnt because they are seen as pure and do not need to be cleansed by the fire. Interestingly, the wood used is brought from 300km away because it contains a special oil that prevents the smell of burning hair and skin - something I noticed the absence of as I watched the cremations.
What I did notice was the lack of tears/crying. There were hardly any women around anyway, and I was just thinking if this was Egypt there'd be women slapping their faces, pulling at their hair/hijab and wailing in a truly horrifying way. I later read that this was because the ceremony had to be a happy one if the soul of the deceased was to go to Nirvana and be joined with Brahman (the Supreme Being).
The reason I wanted to come to Varanasi was because I wanted to see the Hindu cremation ceremonies that are synonymous with the city.
The travellers I'd met had not been to the main cremation area and were not planning to, so I didn't have much advice in that department. After searching for some information online I jumped onto a cycle rickshaw and made my way for the 'Burning ghat' (officially Manikarnika ghat).
On my boat ride in the morning, the boat driver had told me how it costs from 6,000 to 10,000 rupees (around 70-120 GBP) to burn a body, dependent on the quality of wood to be used and the size of the body This is actually quite a considerable sum for the normal Indian so often the bodies are not completed cremated, and what remains is just thrown straight into the river.
The cycle rickshaw stopped on the main road, close to the burning ghat and off I jumped. The alley leading to the ghat was flooded in 10cm of water, so I paced up and down trying to find another entrance. Eventually I realised I either need to get my feet wet, or just go back to the hotel. So I got my feet wet (it wouldn't be so bad if it as just water, but I suspect there was a fair bit of sewage floating around there. Then again, the Ganga comprises of a fair amount of sewage and people seem fine with gargling with it so walking through it isn't going to kill me, is it?).
I walked in the winding alleys for 10 minutes before I reached the Burning ghat. But I couldn't find any burning taking place. Just piles and piles of logs. Just as I was about to give up, I looked above me and saw towers of smoke.
I found the staircase that led my way up to the smoke and went up. When I got to the roof, overlooking the Ganga I found piles of wood in the centre, with Indian men on the periphery. I was the only woman there - Indian and foreign included - but apart from the odd curious stare, the men accommodated me very well.
It took me a while to realise it but to my right was a wrapped corpse lying on the floor. It was lying on a bamboo stretcher and had orange and silver decoration on it. It was surreal.
A few minutes later I looked again at the fire on the far left of the roof, and realised there was actually a body amongst the flames. Then as my gaze shifted across the roof I saw that there were another three bodies on piles of wood, also burning.
The corpse that was on the far right of the roof was then carried by doms (Hindus from the lowest caste that have 'unclean' jobs like burning the dead) to a pile of wood and placed onto it. I was right next to the pile of wood and for a moment there I thought I would go queazy. The corpse seemed to be jelly-like under the wrappings, and I saw a flash of his right arm. The priests did some chanting, wood was piled onto the body, lighting fluid, and the body was set light to. The heat got unbearable and although I was covering my face with my scarf I couldn't stay there for too long.
I went down to the banks of the river and watched the first part of the cremation ceremony, when the bodies are submerged into the Ganges, to bless them with the holy water.
I couldn't believe how many bodies there were, it was like a conveyor belt of bodies. I later learnt that 300 people are cremated every day in Varanasi and each body takes 3 hours to burn.
An interesting fact: people bitten by snakes are not burnt because they are considered half-alive, half-dead. Instead they are bound tightly around where they were bitten and floated downstream in the hopes that they will be brought back to life. Lepars are also not burnt (just weighed down with large rocks and thrown into the river) because it is believed that leprosy is carried in the smoke.
Children and pregnant women are also not burnt because they are seen as pure and do not need to be cleansed by the fire. Interestingly, the wood used is brought from 300km away because it contains a special oil that prevents the smell of burning hair and skin - something I noticed the absence of as I watched the cremations.
What I did notice was the lack of tears/crying. There were hardly any women around anyway, and I was just thinking if this was Egypt there'd be women slapping their faces, pulling at their hair/hijab and wailing in a truly horrifying way. I later read that this was because the ceremony had to be a happy one if the soul of the deceased was to go to Nirvana and be joined with Brahman (the Supreme Being).
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