Summary
In Varanasi, which is to Hindus what Mecca is to Muslims, we're introduced to four families that have taken up residence in a hospice. Each has a member who's about to die, and perhaps because Hindus don't have our squeamishness about the dying process and what comes after, we're given a front-row seat to a set of rituals that are nothing like our own. There's lots of chanting as the relatives escort their loved ones to the hereafter. And when the body expires, it's wrapped in shiny fabric, then carried through the streets on a wooden stretcher, finally arriving on the banks of the Ganges, where it's piled high with wood and set aflame, acrid smoke filling the air.
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Extract
Ganges: River to Heaven
Ganges: River to Heaven
The Mighty Mississippi, "Ol' Man River," is about as close as we get in this country to the reverence that India...See the full content of this document
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