Normally my phone memory runs out very fast. Whatever capacity I may have, i exhaust fast. Repeatedly I have to remove videos, delete folders to save space. I click, click and keep clicking but even my girls now encourage my clicking of pix in our temples especially, because after a few years, that is how we recall/remember these places.
Women are not allowed normally to crematoriums in India. I mean, that is the custom. That’s why in Tamil, Kannadasan wrote, ‘veedu varia uravu, veedhi varai manaivi, kadu varai pillai, kadaisi varai yaaro.’ Means, when a man is carried for cremation, relations stop at the door, wife stops with the street end, son stops with the (cremation) ground performing the last rites for his father, but who will accompany the man until the fag end?’ Of course since most of the crematoriums in India are now electric, daughters are also lighting the funeral pyres of their fathers today. One more reason for this extremely vital social progress is that, our families have shrunk in size with just a kid or two. Daughters are more than sons aren’t they, in present times. Even so, its extremely rare for women to be present in the crematoriums. The latest electric ones make the passing so easy – and easy for the onlookers (in this case the kith and kin) too. Its less macabre, job gets done in matter of minutes. You only have to press a key and leave as you watch your parent slide inside the furnace. In two hours your father or mother will be returned to you in the form of an urn of ash. A couple of my friends have told me how bizarre it could be, but assured me, its far more palatable than actual cremation we have had for centuries with real funeral pyre burning through the night.
Well, Kashi aka Varanasi aka Benaras is one place where still the manual funeral pyre goes on – not just for a single evening, but for 24 hours non stop on the banks of Ganga, 365 days an year. There are a total of 84 ghats in the holy city where Hindus arrive for the sole purpose of dying, for being cremated here but locals say, after Modi-Yogi came to power, a lot of sprucing up/cleaning up has been done. The Varanasi corridor for instance links all the 84 ghats while the centuries old stone carved steps leading to the holiest river in India got relaid. The entire old city and the suburbs of the new city got revamped, especially the ghats. Only VVIPs get ritual manual cremation these days. For rest of us mortals, it is the electric crematorium only. Cremation is confined to mere two ghats now in Varanasi: The Harischandra ghat and the Manikarnika ghat.
While Harsichandra ghat gets limited cremations, Manikarnika ghat sees at least two dozen bodies burning in the open any time of the day. This is the only ghat in India where cremation is allowed 24 hours a day. Normally, the dead cannot be transported beyond city limits/village/panchayat limits in India. Transporting the dead beyond even your postal code zone for the purpose of cremation/burial is a criminal offence in India. Except under special cases, legal permission is denied outright. However, this rule is relaxed in the case of Kashi alone allowing the continuation of the traditional custom that is ages and ages ancient as the city itself is. Followers of Dharma from all parts of INdia used to arrive at Kashi in their last days to die. Hindus from any part of India can be transported alive/dead to Kashi even today for the sole purpose of dying/cremation. Neighbourhood Delhi and states like Uttar Pradesh and Haryana see the elderly and very sick being moved to Varanasi by road or air when their end may be nearing. Some reach here in lifeless state for cremation. Many have getting cremated in Kashi as their last desire or death wish. We Hindus believe that a cremation or death in Kashi can lead your atma straight to Kailash and you will have no rebirth, being liberated from the birth cycle. This is the reason for the rush of the dying to Benaras. Varanasi sees lakhs of Hindus and foreign tourists arrive everyday for religious reasons. Hats off to city administration and civic authorities who are doing a fabulous job. The cops are vigilant and foot guides are available to help us meander through the milling crowds.
Harischandra ghat has a history going back by millennia or even yugas. Raja Harischandra never spoke a lie. He lost his throne and was reduced to working in a ghat that goes by his name even today in Kashi. Here Harischandra once encountered his wife who came for the cremation of their only son who died of snake bite, having nothing to pay for the rites. Even under the circumstances, he stuck to his honesty and integrity. Sometimes I can’t believe that I live in a nation where our ancestral kings gave up their power and watched their families die in front of their eyes refusing to go corrupt. Anyway, Harischandra ghat today sees limited cremations. Less eerie to look at when you go on boating on the Ganga !
And no! The dead are not washed into the river. Only the flowers and organic waste end up in the Ganga. Even the diya we float in the river is clay (pottery). The puja thali (aarthi plate) is dried lotus leaf. No plastic is thrown into the river and care is taken for routine clean-up. I am told again, all this is from ever since Modi-Yogi duo assumed powers at the centre and state. Varanasi is Modi’s constituency. He has done wonders for the city and is looked upon as God in Uttarkhand/Uttar Pradesh where the economic progress is visible in every walk of life in last 10 years. The locals say, they haven’t seen better days in the past.
I saw a burning pyre from a distance for the first time in my life in this 55th year of mine – at Haridwar. Our guru told us to repeat within our mind the mantra ‘Ram Ram’ and/or ‘Om Namashivaya’ whenever we happened to see an open cremation even from afar. Soon I was in Rishikesh and then in Kashi.
In Kashi, I seemed to feel as if the line between life and death had blurred. I couldn’t believe the sight of burning bodies – a dozen or more of them, almost two dozens in fact – all at one time side by side, from our boat in the Ganga. This was Manikarnika ghat. First I found it ghastly but then the boatman reassured me and asked me to look at it the spiritual way. The first night in Kashi I also had a bad dream. Our guesthouse was closest to Ganga. It was that evening for first ever time I watched a cremation from a little closer in the Harischandra ghat. May be that got buried in my subconscience. I had a nightmare that day where I witness someone murdered. The murderer takes notice of me watching and then starts chasing me. I woke with a start, with my heart beating wild. The second day, I got used to the ghats. Death was as casual as life in Kashi, i realized. All the five days we were roaming in the ghats and going on boating. Not for a single evening we missed the Ganga Aarthi, both from the ghat side and from a boat. I finally drew the courage to ask the boatman to go closer to Manikarnika ghat as others did. I watched only from the boat. I said a small prayer. Over twenty bodies were being cremated at the same time. Some relatives were walking up and down the steps. Some religious rituals were still on in some cases. Broken mud pots and flowers and cotton clothing were the only organic waste that ended up in the river, I noted. And this too was residual after regular clean-ups. Woodstock was piled and loaded fresh closeby anticipating more bodies.That gave me a grim satisfaction even in those sombre moments that Ganga was not getting as polluted with plastic waste as we originally feared. Lots of care was taken to limit the contamination. We Hindus have cultural attachment to Ganga flowing at this geographical point on earth which is Varanasi. We can only minimize the damage. With time, the cremations may end hopefully. Public awareness is making a difference already as I could see.
At that point of time, I knew what it meant to be a Hindu. I knew I came from a different society, and that we would have nothing in common with the Abrahamics. Everything for us started and ended with intense spirituality. The vibes of Ganga Aarthi can be matchless. Relentless chants of ‘Ganga Mata ki jai’ rented the air. Even foreign tourists stood mesmerized and speechless at the religious fervour that cloaked the ghat. Ganga Aarthi can leave a spectator spellbound. This must be on everyone’s bucket list. Why, in fact the city of Kashi must be everyone’s couples goal. Taking a dip in the Ganga as husband and wife will tell you why I am insisting on Kashi as the place to be for the middle-aged.
The ghats are steep with 20-40 or even 60 hard and high stone steps carved out of the earthen bank leading to the Ganga. We had a good cardio climbing up and down multiple times the five days we were in Kashi. Closest to the gots, the river is a bit unclean. But strictly no use of cosmetic soap or shampoo is permitted. You can only immerse/bathe in Ganga without any anointment. It goes a long way from polluting the Ganges from hazardous chemical waste.
Strangely, when I clicked almost a 1000 pictures with my mobile phone in Kashi, I could not bring myself to click a single picture of either the Harischandra ghat or the Manikarnika ghat. I saw many pilgrims clicking mostly the cremation pictures from the safety of their boats. There were also the daredevils who walked the ghats and reached the Manikarnika for closer look and pictures. From here Kashi Vishwanath is a mere stone’s throw away. In Kashi, death is not ‘theetu’ as we say in Tamil, which is self-quarantine that we normally observe in Hindu families when we are bereaved of a loved one.
Kashi is one place that none of us must miss. When you are still young enough, go there as couple as much as possible. Holding hands, take a dip in the Ganga. Watch the Ganga Aarthi. Take a darshan of Kashi Vishwanath (that also has a history like Ayodhya), His consort Vishalaskhi, Annapoorna, Kala Bhairav, Varahi (this temple is at least 3000 years old), Nepali temple, Sarnath (that we missed), Sozhi Amma. Shop till you drop for Benarasi silks! Benaras is a heaven for shoppers, especially ladies! Have your fill of Malayo – the ultimate before which no dessert in any part of the world can stand a chance. From desi cow’s thick frothing creamy milk. Kashi is eco-friendly to an extreme level. Food/coffee/tea/desserts everything gets served in matka – or the clay pots only. No one time use plastics. Lassi and Buttermilk of Varanasi are world famous. Puri halwa as well. Well, I didn’t try the famous Kashi paan! Don’t have the paan habit. Walk through the cobblestoned galis of Kashi. Many of us get Ganga Jal from here from shops sold in sealed copper urns. I preferred collecting Ganga jal directly from the river midstream where the boatman said the river was purer. We rounded off our trip with the BHU, Benaras Hindu University that includes an engineering wing and medical campus as well, centuries old. Its sprawling and is a township by itself. Varanasi is an experience unlike any other. Its a realization how mortal this janam of ours is. Every Hindu must visit Kashi and as I said, if possible, as couple.
If there is one place I may want to go back year after year, it may be Kashi. With Ayodhya and Gaya, the option now is even more attractive. Make it 10 days!
Janma Saphalya.
vijiravindran's 