Our planet is full of wonderful surprises from nature and ancient civilizations, full of beauties and sights, but also on it you can find rather unusual, strange, dark traditions and rituals. Although it should be noted that for us they are strange and scary, and for some, this is their everyday life, this is their culture.
Each of the billions of Indians dreams of dying in Varanasi or burning their bodies here. Open air crematorium smokes 365 days a year and 24 hours a day. Hundreds of bodies from all over India and abroad come here every day, fly in and burn. A good religion was invented by the Hindus - that we, having given up our ends, do not die for good. Vladimir Vysotsky instilled in us this basic knowledge about Hinduism to the accompaniment of his guitar chords. He sang and enlightened: "if you live right, you will be happy in your next life, and if you are stupid as a tree, you will be born a baobab"
Varanasi is an important religious site in the world of Hinduism, a center of pilgrimage for Hindus from all over the world, as ancient as Babylon or Thebes. Here, more than anywhere else, the contradictions of human existence are manifested: life and death, hope and suffering, youth and old age, joy and despair, brilliance and poverty. This is a city in which there is so much death and life at the same time. It is a city where eternity and being coexist. This is the best place to understand what India is, its religion and culture.
In the religious geography of Hinduism, Varanasi is the center of the universe. One of the most sacred cities for Hindus serves as a kind of line between physical reality and eternity of life. Here the gods descend to earth, and a mere mortal attains bliss. It is a holy place to live and a blessed place to die. This is the best place to achieve bliss.
Varanasi's prominence in Hindu mythology is unmatched. According to legend, the city was founded by the Hindu God Shiva several thousand years ago, making it one of the most important pilgrimage sites in the country. It is one of the seven sacred cities of the Hindus. In many ways, he embodies the best and worst sides of India, sometimes terrifying foreign tourists. Nevertheless, the scenes of pilgrims saying a prayer in the rays of the rising sun by the Ganges River, against the backdrop of Hindu temples, is one of the most impressive sights in the world. When traveling in northern India, try not to bypass this ancient city.
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Founded a thousand years before the birth of Christ, Varanasi is one of the oldest cities in the world. It was named with many epithets - "the city of temples", "the sacred city of India", "the religious capital of India", "the city of fires", "the city of enlightenment" - and only recently its official name was restored, which was first mentioned in the Jataka - an ancient story Hindu literature. But many still continue to use the English name Benares, and the pilgrims call it nothing but Kashi - this is how the city was named for three thousand years.
The Hindu really believes in the wandering of the soul, which, after death, migrates to other living beings. And it refers to death like and especially, but at the same time, commonplace. For a Hindu, death is only one of the stages of samsara, or the endless game of birth and death. And the adherent of Hinduism dreams of not being born one day. He strives for moksha - the completion of that very cycle of rebirth, together with which - for liberation and deliverance from the burdens of the material world. Moksha is practically synonymous with Buddhist nirvana: the highest state, the goal of human aspirations, a certain absolute.
For millennia, Varanasi has been the center of philosophy and theosophy, medicine and education. English writer Mark Twain, shocked by his visit to Varanasi, wrote: "Benares (old name) is older than history, older than tradition, even older than legends, and looks twice as old as all of them put together." Many famous and most revered Indian philosophers, poets, writers and musicians have resided in Varanasi. In this glorious city lived the classic of Hindi literature Kabir, sings and the writer Tulsidas wrote the epic poem Ramacharitamanas, which became one of the most famous works of literature in the Hindi language, and Buddha delivered his first sermon in Sarnath, just a few kilometers from Varanasi. Glorified by myths and legends, sanctified by religion, it has always attracted a large number of pilgrims and believers since time immemorial.
Varanasi is located between Delhi and Kolkata on the western bank of the Ganges. Every Indian child who has listened to their parents' stories knows that the Ganges is the largest and most holy of all rivers in India. The main reason for visiting Varanasi is, of course, to see the Ganges River. The significance of the river to the Hindus is beyond description. It is one of the 20 largest rivers in the world. The Ganges basin is the most populous in the world, with a population of over 400 million. The Ganges is an important source of irrigation and communication for the millions of Indians living along the river. From time immemorial, she was worshiped as the goddess Ganges. Historically, a number of capitals of the former principalities were located on its banks.
Hinduism has presented to those who practice it, a method of guaranteed achievement of moksha. It is enough to die in sacred Varanasi (earlier - Benares, Kashi. - Author's note) - and samsara ends. Moksha is coming. At the same time, it is important to note that cheating and throwing yourself in front of a car in this city is not an option. So Moksha is definitely not seen. Even if the Hindu did not end up in Varanasi, this city is still capable of influencing his further existence. If a body is cremated on the banks of the sacred river Ganges in this city, then the karma for the next life is purified. So Hindus from all over India and the world are striving here - to die and burn.
The Ganges embankment is the most party place in Varanasi. Here are sadhus hermits smeared with soot: real ones - they pray and meditate, tourist ones - bother with offers to be photographed for money. Disgusting Europeans are trying not to enter into sewage, fat American women are filming themselves against the backdrop of everything, frightened Japanese are wearing gauze bandages on their faces - they are saved from infections. It is full of rastamans with dreadlocks, freaks, enlightened and pseudo-enlightened, schizos and beggars, masseurs and hashish dealers, artists and other things of all kinds of people. The multitude of the crowd is incomparable.
Despite the abundance of visitors, the language cannot be called a tourist city. Varanasi still has its own life, and tourists have absolutely nothing to do with it. Here is a corpse floating along the Ganges, next to a man washing and beating linen against a stone, someone is brushing his teeth. Almost everyone swims with happy faces. “The Ganges is our mother. You tourists don't understand. You are laughing that we are drinking this water. But for us it is sacred,”explain the Hindus. And really - they drink and do not get sick. Native microflora. Although the Discovery Channel, when filming the film about Varanasi, passed samples of this water for research. The laboratory's verdict is terrible - if one drop does not kill a horse, it will certainly knock it down. There are more nasty things in that drop than in the list of potentially dangerous infections of the country. But you forget about all this, hitting the shore of burning people.
This is Manikarnika Ghat - the main crematorium of the city. Bodies, bodies and again bodies are everywhere. Waiting for their turn in the fire, of which there are dozens. Smoke, smoke, crackling firewood, a chorus of worried voices and an endlessly ringing phrase in the air: "Ram nam sage." A hand stuck out of the fire, a leg showed, and now the head was rolling. Sweating and squinting from the heat, workers turn over the parts of the body coming from the fire with bamboo sticks. The feeling is that I got to the shooting of some kind of "horror". Reality is slipping from under your feet.
From the balconies of the "trump" hotels one can see the Ganges, and with it the smoke of the funeral pyres. I didn't want to feel this strange smell around the clock, and I climbed into a less fashionable area, and away from corpses. “Friend, good camera! Do you want to film people being burned? " - rarely, but suggestions are heard from the molesters. There is not a single law prohibiting the filming of funeral rites. But at the same time, there is not a single chance to take advantage of the absence of a ban. Selling filming permits is a business for the caste that controls cremation. Five to ten dollars for one click of the shutter, and the double is at the same price.
It is impossible to cheat. I had to observe how tourists, unknowingly, at least simply pointed the camera in the direction of the fire and fell under the most severe pressure from the crowd. This was no longer a bidding, but a racketeering. There are special rates for journalists. The approach to everyone is individual, but for a work permit "in the zone" - up to 2000 euros, and for one photo - up to hundreds of dollars. Street intermediaries always clarified my profession and only then did they start trading. And who am I? Amateur photography student! Landscapes, flowers and butterflies. Say that - and the price is immediately divine, 200 bucks. But there is no guarantee that they will not be sent to hell with a “phony letter”. I continue to search and soon go to the main one. "Bi-and-and-g boss" - they call him on the waterfront.
Call Sures. With a big belly, in a leather vest, he proudly walks between the fires - he controls the staff, the sale of timber, the collection of proceeds. I also introduce myself to him as a novice amateur photographer. “Okay, 200 dollars from you, and take a week off,” Sures rejoiced, asked for an advance payment of 100 dollars and showed a sample of “Permishin” - an A4 sheet with the inscription a la “Allow. Boss . Again, I didn't want to buy a piece of paper for two hundred greens. “To the Varanasi City Hall,” I said to the tuk-tuk driver. The complex of two-storey houses was very reminiscent of a Soviet-era sanatorium. People are fussing with papers and queuing up.
And small officials of the city administration, like ours, are sluggish - they spend a long time fiddling with each leaf. I killed half a day, collected a collection of autographs from Varanasi bigwigs and drove to the police department. Law enforcers offered to wait for the boss and treated them to tea. From clay pots, as if from a "Ukrainian souvenir" shop. After drinking tea, the policeman smashes the "glechik" on the floor. It turns out that plastic is expensive and not environmentally friendly. But there is a lot of clay in the Ganges and it's free. In a street eatery, such a glass with tea cost even me 5 rupees. Hindu - and even cheaper. A few hours later, an audience with the city police chief took place. I decided to make the most of the meeting and asked him for a business card. "I only speak Hindi!" - the man laughed. “I propose an exchange. You tell me - in Hindi, I for you - in Ukrainian,”I think up. Now I have in my hands a whole stack of permits and a trump card - the business card of the main man in Varanasi in uniform.
The newcomers gaze fearfully at the fires from afar. Well-wishers approach them and supposedly selflessly devote them to the history of the funeral traditions of India. “400 kilograms of firewood are consumed on the fire. One kilogram - 400-500 rupees (1 US dollar - 50 Indian rupees. - Author's note). Help the family of the deceased, donate at least a couple of kilograms of money. People have been collecting money for the last fire all their lives”- the excursion ends as standard. Sounds convincing, foreigners take out wallets. And, without knowing it, they pay for the half-island. After all, the real price of wood is from 4 rupees per kilo. In the evening I come to Manikarnika. Literally a minute later, a man comes running and demands to explain how I dare to bare the lens in a sacred place.
When he sees documents, he respectfully folds his arms at his chest, bows his head and says: “Welcome! You are our friend. Ask for help. This is 43-year-old Kashi Baba from the highest caste of brahmins. He has been supervising the cremation process here for 17 years. He says work gives crazy energy. Hindus really adore this place - in the evenings men sit on the steps and stare at the fires for hours. “We all dream of dying in Varanasi and cremating the bodies here,” they reason like this. Kashi Baba and I also sit next to each other. It turns out that bodies began to be burned exactly in this place 3500 years ago. Since the fire of the god Shiva has not lit here. It burns even now, it is under surveillance around the clock, every ritual bonfire is set on fire from it. Today, 200 to 400 bodies are reduced to ash every day. And not only from all over India. Burning in Varanasi is the last will of many Hindu immigrants and even some foreigners. Recently, for example, an elderly American was cremated.
Contrary to tourist fables, cremation is not very expensive. To burn a body, it will take 300-400 kilograms of wood and up to four hours. A kilogram of firewood - from 4 rupees. The entire funeral ceremony can start from 3-4 thousand rupees, or 60-80 dollars. But there is no maximum bar. People who are richer add sandalwood to the fire for the smell, the kilogram of which reaches $ 160. When the maharaja died in Varanasi, his son ordered a fire entirely of sandalwood, and scattered emeralds and rubies around. All of them rightfully went to the workers of Manikarniki - people from the Dom-Raja caste.
This is the lower class of people, the so-called untouchables. Their fate is unclean types of work, which include the burning of corpses. Unlike other untouchables, the Dom Raja caste has money, which is even hinted at by the "Raja" element in the name.
Every day these people clean the territory, sift and wash ash, coals and burnt soil through a sieve. The task is to find jewelry. Relatives have no right to remove them from the deceased. On the contrary, the house-rajah is told to the children that the deceased has, say, a gold chain, a diamond ring and three gold teeth. The workers will find and sell all this. At night over the Ganges, the glow from the fires. It is best viewed from the roof of the central building of Manikarnika Ghat. “If you fall, go straight into the fire. Convenient,”says Kashi while I stand on the visor and shoot the panorama. Inside this building - emptiness, darkness and walls smoked for decades.
Frankly - creepy. A shriveled granny sits right on the floor in the corner on the second floor. This is Daya Mai. She does not remember her exact age - she says she is about 103 years old. Daya spent the last 45 of them in this very corner, in a building near the cremation shore. Waiting for death. He wants to die in Varanasi. This woman from Bihar first came here when her husband died. And soon she lost her son and also decided to die. I was in Varanasi for ten days, almost every one of which met Daya Mai. Leaning on a stick, in the morning she got out into the street, walked between the stacks of firewood, went to the Ganges and returned to her corner again. And so for the 46th year in a row.
Burn or not burn? Manikarnika is not the only place for cremation in the city. Here the dead are burned by natural death. And a kilometer earlier, on Hari Chandra Ghat, the dead, suicides, victims of accidents are attached to the fire. Nearby there is an electrocrematorium, where beggars are burned who have not collected money for firewood. Although usually in Varanasi, even the poorest have no problems with funerals. The tree that did not burn out at the previous fires is given free to families who did not have enough firewood. In Varanasi, you can always collect money from locals and tourists. After all, helping the family of the deceased is good for karma. But in poor villages there are problems with cremation. There is no one to help. And a symbolically burnt body and thrown into the Ganges is not uncommon.
In places where dams are formed in the sacred river, there is even a profession - a corpse collector. Men swim in a boat and collect bodies, even diving into the water if necessary. Nearby, a body tied to a large stone slab is being loaded into a boat. It turns out that not all bodies can be burned. It is forbidden to cremate sadhus, because they gave up work, family, sex and civilization, devoting their lives to meditation. Children under 13 years old are not burned, because it is believed that their bodies are like flowers. Accordingly, it is forbidden to put pregnant women on fire, because there are children inside. You cannot cremate a patient with leprosy. All these categories of the deceased are tied to a stone and drowned in the Ganges.
It is forbidden to cremate those killed by a cobra bite, which is not uncommon in India. It is believed that after the bite of this snake, not death occurs, but a coma. Therefore, a boat is made from a banana tree, where a body wrapped in film is put. A sign with the name and home address is attached to it. And they start sailing along the Ganges. Sadhus meditating on the shore try to fish out such bodies and try to bring them back to life with meditations.
They say successful outcomes are not uncommon. “Four years ago, 300 meters from Manikarnik, a hermit caught and revived a body. The family was so happy that they wanted to make the sadhu rich. But he refused, because if he took at least one rupee, he would lose all his power,”Kashi Baba told me. Animals are not yet burned, because they are symbols of the gods. But what shocked me the most was the eerie custom that existed until relatively recently - sati. Burning widows. The husband dies - the wife is obliged to burn in the same fire. This is not a myth or a legend. According to Kashi Baba, this phenomenon was widespread some 90 years ago.
According to textbooks, the burning of widows was banned in 1929. But episodes of sati still happen today. Women cry a lot, so they are forbidden to be near the fire. But literally at the beginning of 2009, an exception was made for the widow from Agra. She wanted to say goodbye to her husband for the last time and asked to come to the fire. I jumped there, and when the fire was already burning with might and main. The woman was taken out, but she was badly burned and died before the doctors arrived. Cremated in the same fire as her betrothed.
On the other bank of the Ganges from the noisy Varanasi, there are deserted expanses. Tourists are not recommended to appear there, because sometimes the village shantrapa shows aggression. On the opposite side of the Ganges, villagers wash their clothes, and pilgrims are brought there to bathe. Among the sands, a lonely hut made of branches and straw is striking. There lives a hermit sadhu with the divine name Ganesh. A 50-year-old man moved here from the jungle 16 months ago to perform a puja ritual - burning food in a fire. As a sacrifice to the gods. He likes to say, with reason and without reason: "I do not need money - I need my puja." In a year and four months, he burned 1,100,000 coconuts and an impressive amount of oil, fruit and other foods.
He conducts meditation courses in his hut, which he earns for his puja. As a man from a hut who drinks water from the Ganges, he knows great English, is very familiar with the products of the National Geographic channel and invites me to write down my mobile number. Previously, Ganesh had a normal life, he still occasionally calls back his adult daughter and ex-wife: “Once I realized that I no longer want to live in the city, and I do not need a family. Now I am in the jungle, in the forest, in the mountains or by the river.
I don't need money - I need my puja. " Contrary to the recommendations for visitors, I often swam across the Ganges to take a break from the endless noise and annoying crowds. Ganesh recognized me from afar, waved his hand and shouted: "Dima!" But even here, on the deserted bank of the other side of the Ganges, one can suddenly shudder. For example, seeing dogs tearing apart a human body washed ashore by waves. To see, flinch and remember - this is Varanasi, "the city of death."
If a person dies in Varanasi, he is burned 5-7 hours after death. The reason for the rush is the heat. The body is washed, massaged with a mixture of honey, yogurt and various oils, and mantras are recited. All this in order to open the 7 chakras. Then it is wrapped in a large white sheet and decorative fabric. They are placed on a stretcher of seven bamboo crossbars - also according to the number of chakras.
Family members carry the body to the Ganges and chant the mantra: "Ram nam sage" - a call to ensure that everything will be fine in this person's next life. The stretcher is dipped in the Ganges. Then the face of the deceased is opened, and relatives pour water over him five times with their hands. One of the men of the family shaves his head and wears white clothes. If the father dies, this is done by the eldest son, if the mother is the youngest son, if the wife is the husband. It sets fire to branches from the sacred fire and goes around the body with them five times. Therefore, the body goes into five elements: water, earth, fire, air, heaven.
A fire can only be lit in a natural way. If a woman dies, her pelvis is not completely burned, if a man is a rib. The shaved man lets this charred part of the body into the Ganges and extinguishes the embers from a bucket over his left shoulder.
At one time, Varanasi was an academic center, as well as a religious one. Many temples were erected in the city, universities worked and magnificent libraries with texts from Vedic times were opened. However, much was destroyed by the Muslims. Hundreds of temples were destroyed, bonfires with priceless manuscripts burned day and night, and people - bearers of priceless ancient culture and knowledge - were also destroyed. However, the spirit of the Eternal City could not be defeated. You can still feel it now, walking along the narrow streets of old Varanasi and going down to the ghats (stone steps) on the Ganges River. Ghats are one of the visiting cards of Varanasi (as well as any sacred city for Hindus), as well as an important sacred place for millions of believers. They serve both for ritual ablution and for burning the dead. In general, ghats are the most popular place for the residents of Varanasi - corpses are burned on these steps, they laugh, pray, die, walk, meet, chat on the phone or just sit.
This city makes the strongest impression on travelers to India, despite the fact that Varanasi is not at all like a 'holiday for the tourist'. Life in this sacred city is surprisingly tightly intertwined with death; it is believed that dying in Varanasi, on the banks of the Ganges River, is very honorable. That is why sick and old Hindus in thousands strive in Varanasi from all over the country to meet their death here and free themselves from the hustle and bustle of life.
Not far from Varanasi is Sarnath - the place where Buddha preached. It is said that the tree growing in this place is planted from the seeds of the Bodhi tree, the very one under which Buddha received self-realization.
The river embankment itself is a kind of huge temple, the service in which never stops - some pray, others meditate, and others do yoga. The corpses of the dead are burned here. It is noteworthy that only the bodies of those who require ritual purification by fire are subjected to burning; and therefore the bodies of sacred animals (cows), monks, pregnant women are considered already purified by suffering and they, without cremating, are thrown into the Ganges. This is the main purpose of the ancient city of Varanasi - to give people the opportunity to free themselves from everything perishable.
And yet, despite the incomprehensible, and even more so sad for non-Hindu missions, this city is a very real city with a million people. In the cramped and narrow streets people’s voices are heard, music sounds, the shouts of merchants are heard. Shops are open everywhere where you can buy souvenirs from ancient vessels to saris embroidered with silver and gold.
The city, although it cannot be called clean, still does not suffer from dirt and overcrowding as much as other Indian large cities - Bombay or Calcutta. However, for Europeans and Americans, the street of any Indian city resembles a giant anthill - there is a cacophony of horns, bicycle bells and shouts all around, and even on a pedicab it is very difficult to squeeze through narrow, albeit central streets.
Deceased children under the age of 10, bodies of pregnant women and patients with smallpox are not cremated. A stone is tied to their bodies and thrown from a boat into the middle of the Ganges River. The same fate awaits those whose relatives cannot afford to buy enough timber. Cremation at the stake costs a lot of money and not everyone can afford it. Sometimes the purchased wood is not always enough for cremation, and then the half-burnt remains of the body are dumped into the river. It is quite common to see the charred remains of the bodies of the dead floating in the river. It is estimated that about 45,000 uncremated bodies are buried in the city every year at the river bed, increasing the toxicity of already heavily contaminated water. What shocks visiting Western tourists seems to be quite natural for Hindus. Unlike Europe, where everything happens behind closed doors, in India every aspect of life is visible on the streets,whether it be cremation, laundry, bathing, or cooking.
The Ganges River has somehow miraculously been able to purify itself for many centuries. Even 100 years ago, microbes like cholera could not survive in its sacred waters. Unfortunately, today the Ganges is one of the five most polluted rivers in the world. First of all, due to toxic substances discharged by industrial enterprises along the river bed. The level of contamination by some microbes exceeds the permissible levels by hundreds of times. Visiting tourists are struck by the complete lack of hygiene. Ashes of the dead, sewers and donations float past the faithful as they bathe and perform a purification ceremony in the water. From a medical point of view, swimming in water that decomposes corpses carries the risk of infections with numerous diseases, including hepatitis. It's some kind of miraclethat so many people are dipping and drinking water every day and feel no harm. Some tourists even join the pilgrims.
Numerous cities located on the Ganges also contribute to the pollution of the river. According to a report from the Central Environmental Pollution Authority, India's cities recycle only about 30% of all their sewage. Today the Ganges, like many other rivers in India, is extremely clogged. It contains more sewage than fresh water. And along its banks industrial waste and remains of cremated people accumulate
corpses.
So, the First City on Earth (as Varanasi is called in India) produces a strange and incredibly strong, indelible impact on tourists - it is impossible to compare it with anything, just like religions, peoples and cultures cannot be compared.
Adapted from: Dmitry Komarov, tourist-area.com, taringa.net, yaoayao.livejournal.com