Life Along The Ganges River In Varanasi, India.

Nisa — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 08:58:00 +0000

The Ganges or Ganga, is the largest river in India. It’s 2.525 km long and crosses the entire country. The Ganges basin is the most heavily populated river basin in the world, with over 400 million people. It’s the most sacred river to Hindus and is also a lifeline to millions of Indians who live along its course and depend on it for their daily needs. It is also one of the most amazing places for a travel photographer who wants to document the daily Indian life.

Dead Bodies Floating In The Ganges River.

No place along its banks is more longed for at the moment of death by Hindus than Varanasi. It is the holiest place in Hinduism and often referred to as “the holy city of India“. Those who are lucky enough to die in Varanasi, are cremated on the banks of the Ganges & granted instant salvation. There are exceptions; pregnant women, children, holy people and people who died from a snake bite are not cremated but are lowered into the river. Sooner or later they will show up at the surface again … Everything might be holy in Varanasi but nobody bothers if a dead body floats by … and they float by quite often. This is something we have never seen before but it’s nothing special in India. We would say: “dawn of the dead reality show daily from your hotel terrace” … To some of you, these photos of corpses might be too much but this is the brutal reality.

Pollution Of The Ganges River.

Unfortunately this also means that there’s a lot of pollution: the Ganges river suffers from extreme pollution levels. Sewage from many cities along the river’s course, industrial waste and religious offerings wrapped in non-degradable plastics add large amounts of pollutants to the river as it flows through densely populated areas. The problem is that many poor people rely on the river on a daily basis for bathing, washing, and cooking.

The people in Varanasi don’t seem to care about the pollution of the Ganges – or at least often they don’t have a choice. As I said before, for many the Ganges river is the only opportunity to take a shower. Additionally Varanasi (already a city of millions) is visited by many thousands of pilgrims each year who want to take a holy dip in the Ganges. Only this city releases around 200 million litres of untreated human sewage into the river each day…

The swiftly moving Ganges in Varanasi, especially in its upper reaches, where a bather has to grasp an anchored chain in order to not be carried away, is considered especially purifying.

The Ghats in Varanasi are always full with people, bathing, washing or praying. What the Ganges removes, however, is not necessarily physical dirt, but symbolic dirt; it wipes away the sins of the bather, not just of the present, but of a lifetime.

A snake charmer playing with an Indian Cobra in Varanasi. Snake charming is the practice of pretending to hypnotise a snake by playing an instrument called “pungi”. Although snakes are able to sense sound, they lack the outer ear that would enable them to hear the music. They follow the pungi that the snake charmer holds with their heads. The snake considers the person and pungi a threat and responds to it as if it were a predator.

Family fun in the Ganges river. Hindus consider the waters of the Ganges to be both pure and purifying. Nothing reclaims order from disorder more than the waters of the Ganges.

Man shaving his hair on the Ghats before taking a “holy dip” in the Ganges. Shaving the head before visiting the Ganges is thought to bring spiritual purification.

A man washing his buffaloes in the Ganges in Varanasi, India.

The old city of Varanasi extends about two kilometres back from the river and is a maze of alleyways and streets. The view from a boat floating along the Ganges river is breathtaking.

A dead body floating in the Ganges river in Varanasi. No place along the banks of the Ganges river is more longed for at the moment of death by Hindus than Varanasi, the Great Cremation Ground. Those who are lucky enough to die in Varanasi, are cremated on the banks of the Ganges, and are granted instant salvation. If the death has occurred elsewhere, salvation can be achieved by immersing the ashes in the Ganges.

If the ashes have been immersed in another body of water, a relative can still gain salvation for the deceased by journeying to the Ganges, if possible during the lunar “fortnight of the ancestors” in the Hindu calendar month of Ashwin (September or October).

In Hinduism, the river Ganges is considered sacred and is personified as a goddess known as Ganga. It is worshipped by Hindus who believe that bathing in the river causes the remission of sins and liberation from the cycle of life and death. Pilgrims travel long distances to immerse the ashes of their kin in the precious water of the Ganges.

Travel Photography Blog by Nisa Maier and Ulli Maier. » Dead Body

Life Along The Ganges River In Varanasi, India.

Dead Bodies Floating In The Ganges River.

Pollution Of The Ganges River.