Photo by edkashi / Every day at Manikarnika Ghat, the largest and most auspicious cremation ghat in Varanasi, India, around 100 bodies are cremated on wooden pyres along the Ganges River's edge. The ghat (steps leading down to the river, considered holy water) operates around the clock daily. This image, while referential to the images we are seeing daily from India during the COVID-19 crisis, is from a calm and normalized cultural ritual. Most Hindus who come to cremate their loved ones feel a sense of relief and joy, mixed of course with the sadness of loss, for having completed this significant ritual of parting with their loved ones. These three brothers were saying goodbye to their beloved father, who had passed away from natural causes, in April 2019. #ritual #varanasi #india #hinduism #death