Ganga river funeral fires

On Varanasis western banks of the Ganga River every day dozens of bodies are being cremated. The place is holy in Hinduism and it is said that the funeral fires here at the ghats have been burning for hundreds of years now.

In order to reach a state of Moksha (Nirwana) the bodies of the dead have to be burned directly after death and the ashes have to be scattered in the Ganga. The corpses are washed and prepared only by man belonging to the lowest Indian cast of the Untouchables.

The piles of fire wood, the rhythmical drums and the fires in the night air create a magical, almost medieval atmosphere in Indias most holy city Varanasi.