Varanasi
Varanasi is the holiest of holies of Indian cities. Over 3000 years old this holy city was founded by Shiva and occupies the center of the Hindu Cosmology. It sits on the banks of the Ganges river and hundreds of thousands of pilgrims make their way here every year to bathe in the river and remit their sins. It is believed that if one dies in Varanasi and is cremated along the banks of the Ganges then one is freed from the cycle of reincarnation. There are two crematoriums at the rivers edge in which the fires burn year round, day and night, to accomodate the desires of families wishing to free their loved ones from suffering another return to this world. Around 250 bodies are cremated a day at each site and their ashes spread across the holy river. There is an odd mixture of joy and sorrow, ecstasy and agony, serenity and chaos that surrounds this incredible city.
