The final thing we saw in Varanasi was death-related. I knew they burned bodies and released the ashes into the Ganges (where, as a refresher, people drink and bathe). I wanted to see it, so we did.
We walked through an alley that looked normal until we saw the mound of tree branches. We kept going towards the river. There were men, a fire, a stretcher and a body draped in a white cloth. According to custom when someone does they are to bathe the body in the Ganges, there is a ceremonial concoction of roots etc...prepared, there is a relatively long routine, the body is burned and the ashes are released into the ocean. Again, this is all in attempt to assuredly reach Nirvana since the ashes flow in a river that flows opposite to others. We did not see an entire ceremony, we did not feel right about that. We did see the site and the body and that was enough. We saw other burn sites ready to go as well. Powerful stuff, death is.
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