Susan K. Miller Sketchbook Log: India

Ganga-ji

From Khajuraho flew to Varansi (formerly Benares) and then went via bus, rickshaw and foot to reach the Ganges in time for the evening aarti, where the Brahmin priests thanked the river for the day.

Returned before dawn on the following morning to witness the everyday life in the holiest of cities. People at the ghats take a ritual bath, wash clothes, offer flowers and incense to the river and consult with the priests (marked by umbrellas). It was definitely a high point of the trip.

We boated downstream and then got off at one of the ghats to be, if inclined, a participant instead of an observer. The souvenir boat sailing beside us made a killing selling us little containers to take some holy Ganges water home.

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