Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Varanasi funeral pyres

Tuesday, 18 November 2014, Varanasi

The dead are cremated 24 hours per day, seven days a week in Varanasi. Six hundred bodies are cremated here each day.  A person cremated in Varanasi is believed to end the circle of life and avoid further reincarnation. Five types of persons may not be cremated: priests, infants, lepers, pregnent women, and persons killed by a snake. A family is given three hours to complete cremation. If the cremation is incomplete at that time, the remains are placed in the river. Each fire in the photo is a separate cremation.

Manikarnika Ghat

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