LIFE AND DEATH IN VARANASI
People bathe in the Ganga river, the holy river for Hinduism.
A group of mourners that had just bathed in the Ganga, posing on one of the ghats, the flights of stairs that link the city to the water.
"We just spread the ashes of my father," the man in the centre told me.
"We just spread the ashes of my father," the man in the centre told me.
A view of the burning ghat, the main site where bodies are burnt on pyres of sandalwood.
The pyres burn for up to eight hours. The ashes are then spread in the river.
The pyres burn for up to eight hours. The ashes are then spread in the river.
The guardian of the burning ghat, the main cremation site in Varanasi.
A body burning on a pyre of sandalwood.
Before cremation, bodies are covered in incense to attenuate the smell of burning flesh and wrapped in white cloths.
Before cremation, bodies are covered in incense to attenuate the smell of burning flesh and wrapped in white cloths.
Piles of sandalwood resting near the main cremation site in Varanasi. Wood for the funeral can be extremely expensive and only the wealthiest families can afford it for the cemerony.
A boy sits in the shade, near a sandalwood stall.
A funeral can be extremely expensive and only the wealthiest families can afford sandalwood for the cemerony.
A funeral can be extremely expensive and only the wealthiest families can afford sandalwood for the cemerony.
A shopkeeper rests in the shade of his incense and ceremonial robes stall.
Businesses thrive around the incessant seires of funerals taking place every day.
Businesses thrive around the incessant seires of funerals taking place every day.
A boy in one of Varanasi alleyways.
A group of mourners in the market around Varanasi's cremation ground.
A group of mourners in the market around Varanasi's cremation ground.
Firhsermen prepare their boats as the sun rises.
A view of the main ghat in Varanasi during the puja, the morning prayer.
A woman sells flowers and candles, tributes believers throw into the river during the morning ceremony.
A boy sells flowers and candles, tributes believers throw into the river during the morning ceremony.
A painting portraying Shiva on Varanasi's main ghats shortly after the morning prayer.
A woman and a child bathing in the Ganga, during the morning prayer.
Women hang clothes to dry on one of Varanasi's ghat.
The sun sets on one of the most remote ghat of Varanasi, where poor families cremate their loved ones using scrap wood found on the shore of the Ganga.