Today we woke up early rushed through breakfast and then set off on a five hour drive to Delhi. From Delhi we flew about an hour to Varanasi and then drove to our hotel. Once again we met our guide who after briefing us told us to meet him in ten minutes so we could start touring, which after traveling all day mum was not to pleased about.
Ten minutes later we were all in the car on the way to the Ganges River. When we arrived we lit a few candles as offerings and then all got in a boat on rowed out a little ways to get a better view of the celebration. Turns out that every night most of the city goes down to the river side and watched as the Brahmins, sons of the priests, preformed rituals and gave offerings to Shiva, the god of destruction and the one who had blessed the river. The ceremony was about forty five minutes long and once it was finished we rowed over to the main crematory. The Hindus believe that the river was blessed by Shiva, the god of destruction and therefor death but they also believe in reincarnation. Since in reincarnation the human is the last being in the cycle and so fearing that they might be reborn as a bug or something like that they take the "holy dip" in the river which not only releases them from any sins but also stops the cycle so that they go to heaven instead. So they have the crematories on the river so that after you die and before you are cremated you can take one last holy dip to cleanse your body and such to prepare you. The whole family, with the exception of the women who basically aren't allowed because they cry, show up and watch you be cremated in a giant bonfire. Then after about three hours when the fire as turned you to dust they all go take a holy dip and then return home.
Wow that was a mouthful. :)
So when we were finished seeing with the river we all returned to the hotel and took some nice showers to clean off all that dust and smoke.
-Chloe :)
Is the river clean? I always see these pictures of the locals doing all sorts of unhygienic things in the river. That along with all the ashes can make for a pretty dirty flow. Are the Brahmins priests? We get this breed of cow in South Africa called a Brahmin. I suppose it's probably an Indian breed, the one they worship. Come to think of it, do they even have McDonald's? What would a Big Mac be made of? Surely they don't eat beef. Would it be some kind of chicken burger?
ReplyDeleteactually a Brahmin is a priests son and yes they do have McDonald's and it even delivers but im not sure what the burgers are made of.
ReplyDelete-Chloe :)