It is every Hindu’s wish to be cleansed with the holy waters, cremated at the burning ghats with the sacred eternal fire, and then have their ashes tossed into the sacred waters of the Ganges. This allows the soul to proceed directly to heaven, without having to deal with karma and reincarnations.
After the cremation, ashes are gathered up and the workers sift them for bits of gold jewelry, rest of the ash is then disposed into Ganges.
Manikarnika Ghat, about a mile upriver, boasts up to 200 cremations a day. The burning of the body is not to be looked at as a sad event. After all, this is not just an end, but also a new beginning. Its simply based on the logic – “Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust”.
Though photography is prohibited around the area, and I still remember being chased off 4 years back as I tried to shoot here, but with time comes experience. I visited the place every single day and spent good 2 to 3 hours each evening talking to the locals who controlled the area. I clicked the very first image, as seen here, only on the third day, once I had gained their trust by letting them know that the image is purely for documentary purpose and not for commercial gains or to make fun of the traditions that’s been followed for centuries. I didn’t have to hide or use a small lens, but rather I used the very obvious and visible Fujinon 100-400 superzoom (almost 600mm equivalent ) to shoot the above image. Its pretty simple, never steal a photograph, make it with dignity.
Fujifilm XPro2 | Fujinon 100-400mm
f5.6 | 1/340s | ISO 2000
#Varanasi #Travel #Documentary #Photography #Fujifilm
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