The place where death ends...

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Nothing defines better our existence than life and death...

First time i faced death was with 12 years old, the passing of my grandmother was a devastating event in my life and created scars that took many years to heal.

The void of dead was something that took a while to fully understand and accept, the way we face this kind of events brings a huge weight to our lives and inside of me i was in a constant pursuit to face this in a new way, more lighter and above all more complete of what life evolves..." the only thing that we have granted when we are born is that someday we are going to die, all the rest are simply variants that come allong the way..."

With this thought in my mind i landed in Varanasi, the city of light to and the ultimate place for enlightment for the Hindhu religion.

My search for a new way to see life and death in a new perspective brought me to Manikarnika Ghat (in Pashupatinath temple located in Kathmandhu i had a glimpse of it...), one of the sacred ghats of Varanasi, it is believed that a dead human's soul attains moksha (or Nirvana), and hence breaks the cycle of death and rebirth when cremated here.

The place as a special and unique energy with bodies after bodies being placed and cremated, the heat felted is completely mindblowing...a diferent intensity from the normal bonfire, due to the covid 19 pandemic the number of bodies being cremated increased considerably...

The cerimony itself is almost poetic in a way, the deceased is wraped in a white sheet and the closest relative also wears white clothing to bring peace to the cerimony, and then the Eternal Flame is brought after the body is washed in Ganges and placed inside the pile of wood...

This flame is assured by a family that have the mission of keeping this flame alive in each generation, this flame is kept alive since 5.000 years ago. A bald man wearing a white dhoti emerges from the building housing the 'eternal flame' and proceeds to turn clockwise around the body five times. He finally holds the smouldering long, dry grass hosting a bit of red-hot charcoal to the feet-end of the wood-pile and the fire slowly begins. No women are allowed in this cerimony because their emotional cries is believed to trap the soul of the decease, not allowing to merge with Brahman and this way reach Moksha...

After the body is consumed by the flames the ashes are trown into the river and the relatives of the deceased must leave this place without turning back...

Sit back relax and enjoy the music and transport yourself to the shores of the Ganges river...

This is the place where death ends...