In traditional Hindu culture, after a person dies, the body gets ritually bathed, the corpse gets burned on a pyre and the head of the dead person is then crushed. Family members then deposit the remains of the deceased into the holy river.
This Hindu funeral ritual is performed hundreds of times a day along the banks of the Ganges River, in places like the holy city of Varanasi, also known as Benares. According to Hindu legend, the spirits of those whose ashes are scattered into the Ganges at Varanasi escape the perpetual cycle of rebirth and proceed directly to heavenly nirvana. In many cases, this practice results in half-cremated corpses floating down the Ganges. Until recently, … More
