The Ganges

From Sunday November 7 and Monday November 8

We spent Sunday evening and early Monday morning on the Ganges. The Ganges is the quintessential Indian cultural experience. Two eyes, two ears and a nose are not enough sensory instrumentation to take it all in. This was a feast for the ears and nose as well as the eyes.

On Sunday evening, the goal was to float downstream to experience the never ending cremations at Manikarnike Ghat, the largest of Varanasi's two "burning ghats," and to watch the nightly Aarti ceremony at Dasaswamedh Ghat.

We arrived at Dasaswamedh Ghat just as the sky was turning from dusk to dark and were met with an eerily-lit plaza teeming with people waiting for the Aarti ceremony. [Click here for a short video.] (In India, the word "ghat" refers to the steps and shore area that lead down to and line the banks of a body of water. The west bank of the Ganges River at Varanasi is lined with one ghat after another; the steps seeming to form a type of seawall along the water front.) We immediately boarded our rather large, heavy wooden row boat, manned by two rowers. They didn't have a lot to do on the way to our destination; the current was rather brisk.

On the way, we learned about Hindu death rites. It is the dream of every Hindu to have his ashes committed to the Ganges, the most holy river in Hinduism. Some of the more interesting things we learned: The eldest son is responsible for the funeral preparations and actively participates in preparing the body. He must bathe and shave and is dressed only in a white loin cloth. (See Gandhi.) He stays at the cremation until the body is ashes. The son then takes the ashes to the river. Women are not allowed to attend the cremation.

We watched the cremations from the boat at a distance. Photographs are not allowed, but tolerated if done discreetly. This is not the celebration of life that we witnessed at the cremation ceremony in Bali. By the light of the cremation fires, we could see the male family members waiting for the ashes of their loved one; one man was bathing in the river - sanctifying his body before performing his rituals. As our departure neared, we watched as on of the pyre attendants beckoned a man, indicating that the cremation was complete. And we watched as the mourner carries the ashes to the river, fulfilling his final filial duty. Even though there were dozens of tourist-filled boats all around us, the atmosphere was one of quiet reverence, as you can see in this short video clip.

The rowers had their work cut out for them on the return to Dasaswamedh but these tough wiry guys had no problems handling the chore. During our participated in the charming custom of making fire offerings to the Ganges. We released oil lanterns, fueled by ghee (butter fat) in a bowl of dry leaves with a few marigold petals.






As we neared the Dasaswamedh Ghat, the peace of our river float, which by now had evolved into a quiet introspective reverie, was shattered by the din of bells and flash of lights coming from the Ganga Aarti Ceremony now in full swing. Aarti is a ritual where celebrants circulate fire in the form of a ghee lamp (like our offering in the boat) and later a fiery hand-held candelabra around themselves while pulling a string to continuously ring a bell. Can't imagine it? Well, look at the video.

We watched several minutes of the ceremony from our boat after it maneuvered its way though the now hundreds of boats gathered at the water front for a river view of the performance. You could have walked across the entire waterfront, several hundred yards from boat to boat without any risk of touching the water. We eventually made our way to the landing area, pushing this boat and pulling that one out of our path and exited the boat to enjoy a late dinner at our Palace on the Ganges.

Here is a link to all of the pictures I took on this wonderful evening.

Those of you who were on the tour might enjoy this little video of tour members on the boat.