Three hours of sleep and we were off to the Ganges
for the sunrise rituals. Tuk-tuks again dropped us off at the same entrance
as last night. The city was awake although traffic was not full tilt as
yet. There was a group of chanting devotees clapping hand cymbals and walking
toward the river. They apparently do this every morning as part of a religious
ritual.
We piled onto our row boat again and headed south downstream
to the main cremation site we had visited last evening. The fires were
nearly out and the workers from the lowest caste were dousing the sites
with water from the river. Others were moving fuel from the wood piles
to set up fresh pyres for the waiting bodies lined up along the steps.
In Hindu traditions, cremation is one of the rites
of passage and the Ghats of Varanasi are considered one of the auspicious
locations for this ritual. At the time of the cremation or "last rites",
a "Puja" (prayer) is performed. Hymns and mantras are recited during cremation
to mark the ritual. The Manikarnika and Harishchandra Ghats are dedicated
to the cremation ritual. Annually, less than 2 in 1000 people who die in
India, or 25,000 to 30,000 bodies are cremated on various Varanasi Ghats;
about an average of 80 per day. This practice has become controversial
for the pollution it causes to the river. In 1980s, the Government of India
funded a Clean Ganges initiative, to address cremation and other sources
of pollution such as raw sewage along the Ghats of Varanasi. In many cases,
the cremation is done elsewhere and only the ashes are dispersed into the
river near these Ghats. ~ Wikipedia
|
