The priest of Varanasi

It was so incredibly sultry and the air was so heavy and overcharged with odors and flavors when we arrived at the Varanasi station. Concerning the smell intensity imagine a warehouse stuffed with incense sticks that is aflame. Welcome to Varansi.

Our hotel room was quite luxury compared to previous sites we lived in. Means we had a toilet flush and windows to close.

Varanasi is one of the holiest cities in India. For many Indians it is the largest goal to die at this place, accordingly there are many old people in the city.

Varanasi is so interesting for travelers, especially for two things: the Ganges with its ghats and its cremation ceremonies and for the many Saddhus (wandering monks) who are roaming around there.

First and foremost we came to see the Ganges. The Ganges, or for many Indians Mother Ganga, is the holiest of all rivers, the mother of the origin, that we wanted to experience with our own eyes. So many stories are crowded around the Ganges and it was, without exeggeration, one of my life goals to visit this river.

How do the Indians behave in the presence of such holiness, how will the atmosphere be there?

When we actually arrived on its shore, we were touched and frightened.

I never saw a river like the Ganges before and I most probably will never again. Mystical, powerful, quiet like flowing oil and so incredibly filthy and dirty. The comparison with the oil may therefore be appropriate. ;-)

But the really memorable experience was to see the people and their relationship to the river. The cremation ceremonies take place upstream and downstream along the edges of the city. Here the Indians let their dead bodies get covered with wood, burned, and afterwards the ashes are getting scattered into the Ganges.

Life is like a flowing river.

As peculiar as it may sound, but we were very impressed by this ceremonial and asked a Hindu priest, who was present on the shore, to tell us more precisely. Indians do not see anything bad in the death, so it was not undesirable or irreverent to see a burning. The priest told us that it reflects the wealth of the family, whether a corpse can be burnt completely or not. Wood is expensive in India and there are many people who cannot afford to burn their relatives. Therefore the temples in Varanasi provide some wood for the poor, so that they can also carry out a burn. Unfortunately it is often not enough and then sometimes the corpse must be sunk into the river. The relatives shave their hair before the incineration on the river bank, also the women, and then speak prayers to the Ganges and other gods. We also fell upon the people with colored cloths around the fire, holding them above the warm air of the flames. Then asked what ritual it was, the priest paused, looked at the procedure and said that some would simply dry their clothes washed in the Ganges because this proceeds much faster than just let it air dry.

This is India.