Welcome to the city of learning and burning, the city of life and death. Welcome to Varanasi. Varanasi is one of the most prominent flow route of the river Ganga and sadly the most polluted route too. Today on the occasion of World Water day, we will converse a sad tale about the 'Not So Holy Ganges of the Varanasi'.
Thousands of bodies are cremated each day on the banks of the river in Varanasi, and the ashes are dumped into the river. You may think that crows and vultures are endangered species and are on a verge of extinction, but you might be surprised when you visit the banks and nearby canals of Ganga in Varanasi, as you will see tonnes of the scavenging animals feeding on the corpses.
Varanasi is the religious capital of India and Hinduism. Millions of Hindus want to die or at least have their ashes spread in the Ganges at Varanasi. In doing so, they believe they can break the perpetual cycle of Samsara of birth and rebirth and thus achieve Moksha or Eternal Liberation. That is the reason why dead bodies are burning 24-7 on the banks of the river. This tradition has been going on for thousands of years in Varanasi at Manikarnika and other ghats which are famous for cremation.
Death is a big business at Varanasi. People watch the theatre of death along the Ganges. According to data, Varanasi tourism is on a high as thousands come every month to cremate deceased or to spread ashes in Ganga. The mythological idea of the Ganga is more valued than the river itself.
It is estimated that a body can cost up to Rs. 7000 for cremation, and that's why lots of families deposit their recently deceased directly into the Ganges or into a channel that will lead to it. Liberating the soul of a loved one is worth running the risk that the body ends up being picked apart by birds and wild dogs, and when the scavenging animals don't come, the body is left to rot in the river. With the belief of getting a shortcut to salvation by dumping the ashes in the river, we have made Ganga a national dump yard.
The cremation rituals are not all for this already tortured river, every day at dusk thousands join for the Ganga Aarti, that's when you realise how bad things are. The celebratory rituals used to laud the Ganga involve poisoning her.
The rituals, the history, the bodies burned and dumped, families bathing to wash away their sins, all of this because of my countries deep belief in Ganga. The belief that unites the country, unites to pollute something so important. Think logically, do we really need a salvation after death at the cost of polluting a major lifeform.
Millions of gallons of industrial waste and raw sewage drain into the Ganges each day. The results are devastating and frightening. Pollution of Ganga causes lots of waterborne diseases which kill 6 lakh Indians per year.
If India did not clean up the Ganga of Varanasi, the country could be setting itself for a catastrophe. Saving the Ganges is not about convincing people to care, but it's about convincing them to care differently.
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