Varanasi, or Benares, the Holy City, located on the banks of Mother Ganges is one of the the most holy places in the Hindu religion. Dying there, or even 'just' being cremated there, will assure the immediate ascendancy of your soul to paradise and, in certain circumstances, the immediate cleansing and atonement for all your earthly sins - particularly for infants or pregnant women.
Without doubt, visiting Varanasi is a truly deeply spiritual experience for any Western visitor and you will become totally drawn in and filled with respect for all the end-of-life ceremonies that are being played out before your eyes.
Here, in my Picture of the Day, we were being rowed towards one of the several Cremation Ghats where the final act of cremation is performed 24 hours a day on what seems like a conveyor-belt process. A non-stop steady stream of suppliers of cremation timber, ceremonial cloth and adornments hurries continually down to each of the Ghats to keep feeding the new pyres..
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