An open-air crematorium on the Ganges River in India.

The Ganges River in India is regarded as a holy river by Indian parishioners. Many old people in the cities around Ganges will go to Ganges to wait for ascension when they are dying. They think that if you can die in the Ganges, your soul will ascend to heaven and you can go directly to heaven. It is said that corpses can also be incinerated for free. They either sit or lie on the banks of the Ganges River. So on both sides of the Yokogawa River, there are many old people waiting to ascend to heaven every day.

There are many temples burning corpses in India. I wonder if tourists are allowed in the temple. We just saw the charred body in the crematorium. The first time I saw the charred body was near the Taj Mahal. When we come out of the Taj Mahal, we want to look around and see if there is a more suitable place to take pictures of the Taj Mahal at night. Because the Taj Mahal is spotless in the daytime sunshine and golden in the morning sunshine and sunset, we took all these pictures. The Taj Mahal is blue in the moonlight at night. I really didn't see how beautiful it was. Although my shooting level is poor, I really want to see my own blue Taj Mahal.

Walking on the periphery of the Taj Mahal, you are getting farther and farther away from the Taj Mahal, and you can't see the shadow of the Taj Mahal. Walking on a deserted road, I happened to meet a local and said something to us that I didn't understand. Ask your partner, which means we don't go in. We thought it was telling us that there was no scenery in it, so we didn't pay much attention. When I entered, I saw a cloud of smoke rising in the distance. At first glance, it turned out to be burning the body. This is a deserted place, and there is no cover for burning the body. There is no one here except a few body burners. We are afraid of staying too long. Go out in a hurry in fear, and you can relax until you get to a place where people come and go. Later, I learned that this is a large local crematorium.

What I really witnessed was the burning of bodies on the banks of the Ganges River in varanasi. Our hotel is on the bank of Ganges River, which is the most central area. It's hard to find it now if you don't book it in advance. Although the hotel conditions are average, it is very popular.

It is not allowed to shoot the scene of burning bodies directly on the banks of the Ganges River. But you can take photos at will if you take a boat. We booked the boat for the next day on the same day. Sure enough, when we sat on the boat, the first thing we saw was the female corpse ready to burn. There are two bodies burning sites on the Ganges River, which are separated by several kilometers, namely, male bodies and female bodies. The male body is upstream and the female body is downstream. The distance between male and female crematoriums is the place where local and nearby Indian parishioners take morning baths and offer sacrifices. When the four men carried the body wrapped in yellow cloth on a stretcher to the bank of Ganges River, they first dipped the female body in the river, which may indicate that it had been washed by holy water. Wash away all sins and filth and go straight to heaven. Then put it on the built wooden frame and light it. Watching the body and the wooden frame burn a little in the flame and finally turn into a pile of ashes. Sprinkle all the ashes into the Ganges water. Let the river take the ashes away and the soul ascend to heaven.

Burned female corpse

A few kilometers away, the crematorium of the male deceased is obviously much more lively than here. When we can see. Three bodies have been burned and more bodies are being brought in. Perhaps because it is a sacred river, the dead in many surrounding cities will be transported here for cremation, just like Seda in China. There are a lot of neatly cut wood piled up here, and ships carry such wood continuously every day.

When we stood on a high place and held our breath, three charred bodies gradually turned to ashes in the fire. We passed each other lightly, and what appeared in front of my eyes was a clear man's face, a head that looked down at the rising posture unscathed, with his chin resting on the wooden frame and his head wrapped in a white headscarf, which is the usual way for Indian men to wrap their heads. The dark face is calm and peaceful, like a static state, with a black beard and no wrinkles. He should not be very old. There are only a few body burners around watching the scene. I didn't see my relatives crying, nor did I see my friends sensational. There are boys frolicking dozens of meters away.

The third time I came to the crematorium was the next morning, which may be a little early. I only saw a body being carried. I passed by, and a man was talking to me while gesticulating with his hand. I don't understand what he is saying, but I understand what he means, that is, let me see the body. Language barriers, different beliefs, do not understand the local customs, dare not rashly participate. So I didn't dare to stop one step and hurried past. Stop at a distance and look at it from a distance. I thought I could shoot long-distance scenes from far away. I didn't expect to be discovered and stopped. It's not really to stop it. It means I took pictures and wanted money. Language can't communicate, and I run away trembling. Fortunately, fortunately, that person was not entangled. But I never dare to pass there like a ghost in my heart again.

Messy Ganges crematorium

People are dealing with the first male body cremated here that day.