Holy Cow!

There are a few (read a lot) of things that are holy in India. One of these things is a cow. Another is the river Ganges. In Varanasi you will find both. Varanasi is one of the seven sacred cities in India and this is where people wish to go to die and get cremated on one of the burning ghats. If not cremated, the other alternative is to get thrown in the Ganges when you die. This option is only for children, pregnant women, sadhus (holy men) and lepers. The corpses are taken to the middle of the river where they are sunk using stones as weight, becoming fish food. When we arrived in Varanasi we walked down to the river and made our way towards the main burning ghat. It didn’t take us long to spot a dead body in the river. I am not telling you this to shock you (which I realize it might do), but I want to try to explain the controversy I experienced while in Varanasi. And please excuse me if any of these facts are wrong, it is a subject that is not always easy to get your head around.

Shaving your head is part of the ritual when visiting Varanasi and the Ganges (photo by Matt Wicks)

The reason these people are not cremated is that their souls are already regarded pure; hence no need for cremation. A nice thought, but how does it work in practice? Seeing this shook me up and I had a hard time to accept it.  It seems as such a brutal thing to do, but then it is a natural part of the culture and it doesn’t seem to bother any one else, so why should it bother me? In Finland it seems as death scares most people and we try to lengthen our life using various medicinal methods. However, in India I get the feeling that death is seen as a natural part of life (which naturally it is) and it is accepted more than feared. In Varanasi, death is as evident as lunch. Corpses are carried around town, making their way to the burning ghats, where the bodies are dipped in the Ganges and put on a closely calculated amount of wood (sandal wood being the most expensive alternative). The fire is started with an ever-burning flame. We counted around seven cremations going on at the same time, new bodies constantly arriving. The fires are managed by untouchables, the lowest cast in India (note: the cast system is no longer in use, but still evident in some parts of the society), and the bodies burn for several hours.

Controversy # 1: the last part of your journey is being cremated in this sacred place, but this process is managed by people that upper casts will not even look at or touch (hence the name) when they are alive.

Varanasi is not only abouth spirituality and death, there is also a lot of life there!

The cremation does not bother me, even though it is out in the open and the air is filled with smoke from the burning bodies. It seems as a natural way to go, burning to ashes under the blue sky. What does strike me as odd is that in this holy place, cows are walking around, goats are eating the flowers around the burning bodies and there is a fly covered dead dog lying on the ground that no one seems to be bothered about.

Controversy # 2: being a sacred place, I would never have thought that there would be stray dogs and goats walking around or that there would be so much trash lying around (of which I guess a lot is just parts of cloth from the burning bodies).

Back to the river Ganges. People from all around the country come here to bathe in the river, as this washes away their sins. Walking down the river, or taking any of the countless boats that offer rides up and down the river, you will see people praying and bathing in the water, doing their laundry and even drinking the water. Obviously the river is not clean, we saw a stray dog pull out a dead goat one evening and there is trash all over the river. Is it the belief of the river being pure or is it the lack for alternative bathing/laundry places that gives people the will to get in this water?

Man praying in the river (photo by Matt Wicks)

Controversy # 3: being a holy river were sins are washed away, you might think that at least the river would be litter free, but not even the Ganges has been spared from the littering.

Laundry day (photo by Matt Wicks)

Moving on to the cows. There are more cows in Varanasi then I’ve seen anywhere else in India. For you to understand why this is worth mentioning, let me explain how the city is laid out. There is a main road that runs sideways the river, but between the main road and the river is countless of narrow allies. These allies are filled with small shops, restaurants, people and cows. Walking in these allies was one of the most exciting and exhausting things I’ve ever done in my entire life. Motorbikes keep driving past, only missing you by inches, making it impossible to retain a steady pace. It’s hot, sweaty and trashy, but it’s also intriguing. Cows going through piles of trash, looking for something edible (this often being a peace of newspaper or a plastic bag), children playing and running around, beautiful sari wearing women, stray dogs (dead or alive), there is constantly something to look at in Varanasi.

Cows making their way to the ghats (photo by Matt Wicks)

 

 Controversy # 4: holy cow, not to be eaten, but OK to let them eat trash. For a country that loves animals, where they are used for work and for making a living, it strikes me as odd how ill treated many of the animals are (goats cramped in the luggage compartment of a bus, cows eating trash, stray dogs being kicked around). In my mind, this equation just doesn’t add up.

 

There is so much more to wonder and ponder about in this town, but I think I’ll leave it at this before I get too carried away. But one more thing, before I let you get back to your facebooking, e-mailing or whatever you where doing. In my last post I told you Varanasi was one of the most sickening stops on my travels in India. This is not because of the litter, the polluted air, the sweat, the heat, the death, the dirt, the out of control traffic, the cows, the dogs, the goats, the motorbikes, the river or any of the other countless features of Varanasi that will truly test you. It may not sound like it, but Varanasi was one of my favorite places in India and I would like to go back there and preferably stay for longer. The problem was I got sick. Again. We spent about seven days in Varanasi, of which I spent about five in bed. Walking out the door, it didn’t take me more then a few minutes to be ready for another nap. I was drained, tired and hungry. Another trip to the doctor, some more medicine and a few days of rest and I was feeling a lot better. But despite the sickness, despite the controversies, despite all the things that will drive you to the boarder of insanity in India, it has taken up a place of its own in my little heart. As we took the night train from Varanasi (at last after I got well enough to be able to leave the room without the threat of fainting), I was about to spend my last couple of days in India. And they would turn out to better then what I expected. About 12 hours of a train ride away, the last city on my India tour, turned out to be one of my favorite stops, despite my prejudice towards it.

Exhausted and happy traveler (photo by Matt Wicks)