Prayers in the Ganges
Ganges River, Varanasi India 2004
After bathing in the river, these women set out small ‘boats’ containing flowers and fervent prayers on the waters of the Ganges.
The day was overcast and humid. A gray mist rose from the river. The row of garishly colored buildings housing ashrams loomed from the top of the riverbank. Covered in a muddy sheen, their dark open windows framed the students who peered out: young, slender boys with gleaming bronze skin. A sadhu or holy man, perhaps he was their “guru”, sat in the lotus position on a little pedestal.
We rowed past the open-air crematorium. Our boatman told us it was forbidden to photograph the ceremony of burning dead bodies. We were too far out and the stacks of wood blocked the view. I looked for pieces of human flesh in the churning waters, but despite all that I’d read about seeing limbs floating about, I saw nothing. I can’t say I was disappointed.