Varanasi
Trip Start
Jan 04, 2008
1
106
130
Trip End
Dec 17, 2008
Varanasi,
Uttar Pradesh,
India
Monday, October 6, 2008
Here we sat for about half an hour as we watched as families cremated their loved ones. Only the men are allowed to attend the cremation with the eldest son having the responsibility of lighting the funeral pyre, as well as shaving his head and wearing white for a month. Ghee (clarified butter) is poured over the bodies which had already been covered in brightly covered foil cloths before being rested on top of the wood, this helps the body cremate faster and light correctly
Varanasi Pharmacy
. The family can also choose the type of wood From the number of mills and huge log piles behind the Ghats - sandle wood being the most expensive. The average cost of the ceremony is about $200 and most of the cost being the wood and ghee. It was a very sobering half hour we spent watching these families say their last goodbyes to their loved ones, but there was no wailing or tears as you would expect, just a very somber ritual, perhaps as they were happy that their deceased's ashes were being blown into the Ganges and ultimately Nirvana.After the crematory Ghat we moved down to the main Ghat called Dasaswamedh, where an elaborate ceremony was taking place with 5 young men from the temple ringing bells, waving candles and sweeping pots of fire and smoke in a colourful display to the god Brahma. It was a lighter mood here, with lots of music, flowers and candles, plus the street children trying to stamp your hands with metallic paints, one of them being a cheeky little chappy that Helen would have taken home if she could he was so cute. The end of the night involved walking through the bustling bright lights of the market selling everything from Saris and silks to rice and fresh fruit and vegetables. In this madness we somehow managed to get some cyclo rickshaws back to the hotel and a non-curry dinner, both getting an early night, as I had another sunrise start, Maud just likes her sleep !
Sari shops
!Leaving Maud fast asleep I joined MOST of the group for a sunrise boat trip on the Ganges to take in the Ghats at a different time of day. It was a good experience to see how this city's population flock to the river in the morning to wash themselves, their clothes (probably ours as well from the hotel laundry), pray, meditate and do yoga, even take a chai masala sitting on the steps of the Ghats. We floated up and down the river for a couple of hours just taking in the spectacle of how this river brings so much to the people here, for them it's almost like a life force. The problem with so many using the river though is the terrible pollution, the sewerage and household waste all ends up in here, we even saw a dead body float past us with only a cloth covering the face and torso ($200 is a lot for a funeral and those that can't afford it just throw the body in the river). It is also a cultural tradition that women who have died whilst pregnant or during childbirth and those that have died from a bacterial infection or skin disease are not cremated. Instead the bodies are wrapped in muslin cloths and placed in the river to be cleansed.
The end result of all this activity is the water is clinically septic (contains no oxygen) and has 1.5 million more faecal bacteria per 100ml than is safe to bathe in - very disturbing seeing as the locals live most of their life near it or in it
Cheeky Chappie
. We found it very hard to understand how something they think of as so holy can be allowed to get so filthy. However, people believe that no harn will come of you if you swim in it or drink it. We obviously didn't try it but did watch as locals drunk cupfuls of it. Well I guess only the Gods know how they can drink it yet still be alive !!After the early start I went back to bed while Maud did some blog, until we went for lunch and an internet café to do some postings. Late afternoon we made our way to see the workings of a local silk factory which Ravi had arranged for us. Similar to the carpet factory in Agra we were shown the handlooms were the production was taking place, the difference being that these guys were using 16,000 strands of on the loom, each one being thinner than a human hair, amazing. After seeing this and also the area where they were setting up 10 metre lengths of silk for rolling for use on the loom we went to the shop to have a look at the finished product. The end result is some amazing scarves, cushions and bedspreads all about a third of the price than in the UK. Obviously a few purchases were made, with Silvia the Italian girl in the group buying a stunning sari, perhaps for her wedding day, who knows ?
That night Ravi had arranged another boat trip for us all, but one we were all asked to attend. When we got to the dock and onto the boat the reason our attendance was required was explained. The group was to light 250 candles and send them down the river. The candles were made of ghee and were sat on a bed of rose petals in a little boat made from a leaf. We all lit our candles (with mutterings of "is this safe in a wooden boat?") and made wishes as we placed them in the water. There is a pretty strong current flowing past the ghats so it was an impressive sight to see the 250+ candles floating away as far as the eye could see. After dinner at the hotel it was off to pack for the journey across the border to Nepal.
