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Varanasi

Varanasi is one of the holiest cities according to Hindu belief. But what can I say about Varanasi? Maybe some travellers I met on the way to Varansi had the best description for this place: they told me it is one of the most interesting, but at the same time also one of the most ugliest places in India. You have the dizzling alleys of the old quarter, the busy ghats with the crematories, temples and much more! We were even lucky to get some monkeys in our toilet :-) Other things are the typical electricity shortages and a bad experience when we witnessed a robbery of an Indian woman right on the ghats during an electricity fall out at night. Everything went so quick, a scream and someone running up the stairs into the alleys..... I dont want to scare anyone. This could happen in every major town, even in front of my home. Personally we had only good experiences, but seeing this leaves a bad taste somehow. Ok, it took me a while to think about showing pics of dead bodies and ongoing cremations on a website. Isnt it offending to show pictures of such an intimate, personal experience of the mourning family? Well, the way Hindus integrate the death as a part of normal life, and especially in Varanasi, explaining it to the people who want to go there, before they go there could be useful, too. People get an impression of what to expect and how to behave. Because walking along the Ghats it is nearly impossible to avoid the crematory scenes. I dont have to mention that this is a religious and very inimate experience for the Hindu people - so never ever disturb the scene or take pictures from the Ghats. You dont want to see tourist on your family´s funeral, too. Pics shown here were taken from a boat on the Ganga river, far away from the riverbanks in respect to the people. The Ghats are supposed to be built by the gods thousands of years ago - Varanasi is said to be the oldest city of India, by the way, even if the proof might be impossible and most temples are quite new, since Muslim invaders once destroyed all Hindu temples here. With the Ghats there came the everburning fire. The different crematories are family run, and the fire is supposed to be lighted without a stop from generation to generation. Because it is the holiest Hindu place and being cremated and put into the Ganges here is the best you can do for your Karma - people from all over India come to Varansi to die here. There are many houses around the crematories where people wait for their death. The cremation is done with the wood of the Banyan tree. The oily wood keeps on burning even during rain and it neutralizes the smell of the smoke. The bodies get washed in the holy floods of the Ganges first - a symbolic washing away all sins. There is also a difference of how the body is put on the wood - if I remember correctly Bengal people are situated on the wood with their head to the riverbanks, others the other way around. The fire gets lighted from the everburning fire inside the building. This creamtion now seperates the body from the soul - so the ashes are put into the holy river and the soul is freed for reincarnation. Therefore the head must split by the heat of the fire or the oldest son of the family has to open it with a bamboo. But not every person gets cremated. Sadhus the holy men have seperated their soul from the body already during their lifetime by giving up their common life and avoiding all needs. Also children to a certain age, pregnant women, people bitten by snakes or lepers dont get burned. They get sent to the ground of the holy river. So what can happen is that a family has not enough money to buy enough wood of the Banyan tree to burn the complete body. Or the exceptions I mentioned before come up to the waterline. This is the reason why body parts and even complete bodies sometimes float down the Ganga river. Keep that in mind when you do a rivercruise, so you wont get shocked if you come along a situation like this.