Show Navigation

Search Results

Refine Search
Match all words
Match any word
Prints
Personal Use
Royalty-Free
Rights-Managed
(leave unchecked to
search all images)
{ 45 images found }

Loading ()...

  • A young girl in a rowboad sells floating votive candles to mourners and also tourists near the Dashashwamedh Ghat, on the Ganges River in Varanasi, India.
    IND_040414_281_x.jpg
  • Bodies arrive day and night from far and near to be cremated at Jalasi Ghat, the cremation grounds at Manikarnika Ghat on the Ganges River in Varanasi, India. One hundred or more times a day male family members carry a loved one's body through the narrow streets on a bamboo litter to the Ganges River shore, a place of pilgrimage for Hindus during life, and at death. Not every Hindu can be cremated here, because of transportation costs and logistical considerations.
    IND_040412_721_x.jpg
  • An elderly widow living out her last days near the Manikarnika Ghat, in Varansi, India..Bodies arrive day and night from far and near to be cremated at Jalasi Ghat, the cremation grounds at Manikarnika Ghat. One hundred or more times a day male family members carry a loved one's body through the narrow streets on a bamboo litter to the Ganges River shore?a place of pilgrimage for Hindus during life, and at death. Not every Hindu can be cremated here, because of transportation costs and logistical considerations.
    IND_040410_311_x.jpg
  • Ritual waters from the Ganges River are poured onto the face of the body of Savitridevi Mishra, who lived near the cremation grounds of Jalasi Ghat. Wrapped in a shroud of yellow and gold and decorated with marigold garlands, the woman will be burned upon a funeral pyre at the cremation grounds in a rite officiated by the eldest living male in her family.
    IND_040417_349_x.jpg
  • Peter Menzel photographing at Manikarnika Ghat on the Ganges River in Varanasi India. The Bodies arrive day and night from far and near to be cremated at Jalasi Ghat, the cremation grounds at Manikarnika Ghat.
    IND_040417_245_x.jpg
  • An exhausted mourner sits above the cremation grounds at Manikarnika Ghat and lets ashes rain down on him. One hundred or more times a day male family members carry a loved one's body through the narrow streets on a bamboo litter to the Ganges River shore, a place of pilgrimage for Hindus during life, and at death.
    IND_040417_173_x.jpg
  • Durga Tiwari, 35, attends to her dead mother, Savitridevi Mishra, just before she is taken to the cremation grounds of Jalasi Ghat.
    IND_040416_549_x.jpg
  • Durga Tiwari, 35, is comforted by a family member as her mother, Savitridevi Mishra, is taken to the cremation grounds of Jalasi Ghat.
    IND_040416_533_x.jpg
  • Durga Tiwari, 35, is comforted by a family member as her mother, Savitridevi Mishra, is taken to the cremation grounds of Jalasi Ghat. This after the body has been washed, draped in a red and yellow shroud and marigold garlands and photographed for a family remembrance.
    IND_040416_515_x.jpg
  • This is the last letter written by a young Nepalese boy studying sanskrit at an ashram in Varanasi who was swimming with friends in the Ganges River and drowned.
    IND_040415_310_x.jpg
  • A man dries the clothes he just washed in the Ganges in the heat of a burning funeral pyre at the Harishchandra cremation grounds. The Harishchandra Ghat (also known as the Harish Chandra Ghat) is the smaller and more ancient of the two primary cremation grounds in Varanasi, on the banks of the Ganges River.
    IND_040415_078_x.jpg
  • Bodies arrive day and night from far and near to be cremated at Jalasi Ghat, the cremation grounds at Manikarnika Ghat, Varanasi, India. One hundred or more times a day male family members carry a loved one's body through the narrow streets on a bamboo litter to the Ganges River shore?a place of pilgrimage for Hindus during life, and at death. Not every Hindu can be cremated here, because of transportation costs and logistical considerations. Sometimes a body is burned in one location and the ashes brought to Varanasi.
    IND_040413_293_x.jpg
  • A lone goat at the Harishchandra Ghat eats marigold garlands that once adorned the bodies dipped into the Ganges River for final ritual baths before cremation in Varansi, India. The Harishchandra Ghat (also known as the Harish Chandra Ghat) is the smaller and more ancient of the two primary cremation grounds in Varanasi, on the banks of the Ganges River.
    IND_040412_999_x.jpg
  • Bodies arrive day and night from far and near to be cremated at Jalasi Ghat, the cremation grounds at Manikarnika Ghat. One hundred or more times a day male family members carry a loved one's body through the narrow streets on a bamboo litter to the Ganges River shore, a place of pilgrimage for Hindus during life, and at death.
    IND_040412_720_x.jpg
  • A young girl picks her way along the shoreline as a body burns at the Harishchandra cremation grounds. Just up river a man dries the clothes he just washed in the Ganges in the heat of a burning funeral pyre. The Harishchandra Ghat (also known as the Harish Chandra Ghat) is the smaller and more ancient of the two primary cremation grounds in Varanasi, on the banks of the Ganges River.
    IND_040412_411_x.jpg
  • Male family members perform the rituals of Hindu cremation at the Harishchandra Ghat. Other fires burn bodies that have already had their cremation ritual.
    IND_040412_336_x.jpg
  • Madru, who is nicknamed Dru is a Brahmin priest who spends most of his time hanging out at the Varanasi burning ghats explaining the ritual aspects of the cremation site to tourists and journalists alike. Sometimes he is given cash presents in exchange for the information. When he or another Brahmin priest assists at a cremation, he works as a guide as well for the chief mourner, who must follow a prescribed ritual to ensure the proper send off for the loved one. Brahmins are given gifts by the mourning family throughout the ritual process, which begins at home when a Hindu dies and continues for many months and then yearly. 
    IND_040410_353_x.jpg
  • The main mourner, usually the eldest son or closest male family member, prepares for cremation rituals by getting his head and face shaved. There are a prescribed set of rituals for the entire process that started at the family's home with the washing of the body and wrapping for the travel to the burning ghats. The main mourner's hair and facial hair is shorn, (cost 15 rupees, by one of the many barbers near the ghats) and his nails are cut. Family members at home also are shaved and cut.
    IND_040410_135_x.jpg
  • Firewood for cremation. A worker carries a piece of wood from one of the wood laden boats moored at the shore up to the stockpile area. The wood is chopped into smaller pieces and, when paid for by a family, is used to build funeral pyres at Jalasi Ghat (at Manikarnika Ghat) in Varanasi, India.
    IND_040410_097_x.jpg
  • IND_040417_239_x<br />
Peter Menzel photographing at Manikarnika Ghat on the Ganges River in Varanasi India. The Bodies arrive day and night from far and near to be cremated at Jalasi Ghat, the cremation grounds at Manikarnika Ghat. One hundred or more times a day male family members carry a loved one’s body through the narrow streets on a bamboo litter to the Ganges River shore—a place of pilgrimage for Hindus during life, and at death. Not every Hindu can be cremated here, because of transportation costs and logistical considerations. Sometimes a body is burned in one location and the ashes brought to Varanasi. There are other rivers in India, such as the Shipra which flows through the sacred city of Ujjain, that are considered sacred as well, but none holds the importance of the Ganges. Sometimes a small dummy representing the person will be burned at Jalasi.<br />
Only male family members are present and tend to the bodies at the cremation site as no show of emotion is allowed and also, they don’t want any of them jumping onto the fire, says one manager at the ghat. The body is carried to the water’s edge for a last dip, and then the main mourner prepares for his role in the ritual burning.<br />
The main mourner—usually the eldest son or closest male family member’s hair and facial hair is shorn, and his nails are cut. He wears a simple dhoti (traditional Indian male’s wraparound clothing). The chief mourner follows a prescribed ritual, which involves circling the body and showering it with ghee (clarified butter) and incense—like sandalwood—again often purchased from one of the local funereal accessories vendors. It takes about three hours for an average sized body to burn completely. If a family is poor and doesn’t have enough money to buy the right amount of wood to burn the body, then wood left over from other fires might be used. It takes about 350 kilos of wood to burn a body completely.<br />
Afterward, the workers dump ashes from the burned pyres and douse
    IND_040417_239_x.jpg
  • Durga Tiwari, 35, is comforted by a family member as her mother, Savitridevi Mishra, is taken to the cremation grounds of Jalasi Ghat. This after the body has been washed, draped in a red and yellow shroud and marigold garlands and photographed for a family remembrance.
    IND_040417_329_x.jpg
  • Peter Menzel photographing at Manikarnika Ghat on the Ganges River in Varanasi India. The Bodies arrive day and night from far and near to be cremated at Jalasi Ghat, the cremation grounds at Manikarnika Ghat.
    IND_040417_239_x.jpg
  • Mourners comfort each other at the cremation grounds at Manikarnika Ghat. One hundred or more times a day male family members carry a loved one's body through the narrow streets on a bamboo litter to the Ganges River shore, a place of pilgrimage for Hindus during life, and at death.
    IND_040417_224_x.jpg
  • A woman named Savitridevi Mishra died at 4 o'clock this morning and lies on the paving stones in the center of a square ringed by apartments near Manikarnika Ghat and the cremation grounds of Jalasi Ghat. A local photographer has come to take a commemorative photograph (at left).
    IND_040416_510_x.jpg
  • A young Nepalese boy studying sanskrit at an ashram in Varanasi was swimming with friends in the Ganges River and drowned.
    IND_040415_426_x.jpg
  • A young Nepalese boy studying sanskrit at an ashram in Varanasi was swimming with friends in the Ganges River and drowned.
    IND_040415_340_x.jpg
  • A man dries the clothes he just washed in the Ganges in the heat of a burning funeral pyre at the Harishchandra cremation grounds. The Harishchandra Ghat (also known as the Harish Chandra Ghat) is the smaller and more ancient of the two primary cremation grounds in Varanasi, on the banks of the Ganges River.
    IND_040415_058_x.jpg
  • A young girl in a rowboad sells floating votive candles to mourners and also tourists near the Dashashwamedh Ghat, on the Ganges River in Varanasi, India.
    IND_040414_282_x.jpg
  • A young girl in a rowboad sells floating votive candles to mourners and also tourists near the Dashashwamedh Ghat, on the Ganges River in Varanasi, India.
    IND_040414_280_x.jpg
  • A young Nepalese boy studying sanskrit at an ashram in Varanasi was swimming with friends in the Ganges River and drowned. Here his friend (to the right of the man with the beard) who was swimming with him tells the authorities how he drowned right after the boy disappeared beneath the murky waters of the Ganges. His teacher called his parents in Kathmandu but did not tell the reason why. When his father, Bhim Prasad Bastola, arrived in Varanasi on a bus, he was told of the death of his 15-year-old son Chudamani Bastola and the cremation ceremony was held shortly thereafter.
    IND_040413_313_x.jpg
  • Bodies arrive day and night from far and near to be cremated at Jalasi Ghat, the cremation grounds at Manikarnika Ghat, Varanasi, India. One hundred or more times a day male family members carry a loved one's body through the narrow streets on a bamboo litter to the Ganges River shore, a place of pilgrimage for Hindus during life, and at death.
    IND_040413_292_x.jpg
  • Male family members perform the rituals of Hindu cremation at the Harishchandra Ghat on the Ganges River in Varanasi, India. Other fires burn bodies that have already had their cremation ritual. The Harishchandra Ghat (also known as the Harish Chandra Ghat) is the smaller and more ancient of the two primary cremation grounds in Varanasi, on the banks of the Ganges River. An electric crematorium opened at the site in 1986 but had technical problems and never caught on. The method of cremation by wood fire is steeped in tradition and still favored.
    IND_040412_757_x.jpg
  • Gopal Jee Singh, 65, from Bihar, holds a butter lamp above his dead wife Subhadra Singh, 60 for a local photographer who takes photographs at the burning ghats and sells prints to families that want a keepsake. Subhadra died last night at 8 p.m. and he and his sons brought her here to Varanasi for the funeral rite, arriving at 3 a.m..Mr. Singh says that his wife didn't want to be cremated and so he and their sons brought her here to the Ganges for a different funeral ritual then most others have.
    IND_040412_748_x.jpg
  • Male family members carry a body to the edge of the Ganges River for a final ritual dip before cremation at the Harishchandra Ghat in Varansi, India. Other fires burn bodies that have already had their cremation ritual.
    IND_040412_728_x.jpg
  • The eldest son, Brajesh Kumar Singh, accompanies the body of his mother, Subhadra Singh, 60, to the center of the Ganges River for a water burial as her husband Gopal Jee Singh, 65, stands on the shore at Jalasi ghat and watches. The body is weighed down with a rock and will be released into the water, as was Subhadra's wish, rather than being cremated.
    IND_040412_708_x.jpg
  • The "eternal fire" at the cremation grounds at Manikarnika Ghat. All funeral pyres are lighted from embers from this fire which burns above the ghat. One hundred or more times a day male family members carry a loved one's body through the narrow streets on a bamboo litter to the Ganges River shore,  place of pilgrimage for Hindus during life, and at death.
    IND_040412_403_x.jpg
  • A rowboat passes, distorted by the heat waves rising from a body burning at the Harishchandra cremation grounds on the Ganges River in Varanasi, India. Just up river a man dries the clothes he just washed in the Ganges in the heat of a burning funeral pyre. The Harishchandra Ghat (also known as the Harish Chandra Ghat) is the smaller and more ancient of the two primary cremation grounds in Varanasi, on the banks of the Ganges River.
    IND_040412_369_x.jpg
  • A rowboat passes, distorted by the heat waves rising from a body burning at the Harishchandra cremation grounds on the Ganges River in Varanasi, India. Just up river a man dries the clothes he just washed in the Ganges in the heat of a burning funeral pyre. The Harishchandra Ghat (also known as the Harish Chandra Ghat) is the smaller and more ancient of the two primary cremation grounds in Varanasi, on the banks of the Ganges River.
    IND_040412_361_x.jpg
  • Along the shoreline a body burns at the Harishchandra cremation grounds on the Ganges River in Varanasi, India. Just up river a man dries the clothes he just washed in the Ganges in the heat of a burning funeral pyre. The Harishchandra Ghat (also known as the Harish Chandra Ghat) is the smaller and more ancient of the two primary cremation grounds in Varanasi, on the banks of the Ganges River.
    IND_040412_359_x.jpg
  • Gopal Jee Singh, 65, from Bihar, holds a butter lamp above his dead wife Subhadra Singh, 60 for a local photographer who takes photographs at the burning ghats and sells prints to families that want a keepsake. Subhadra died last night at 8 p.m. and he and his sons brought her here to Varanasi for the funeral rite, arriving at 3 a.m.
    IND_040412_304_x.jpg
  • A body wrapped in bright orange funeral cloth purchased from one of the many funeral vendors that line the narrow streets above Manikarnika Ghat is carried to the edge of the Ganges River for cremation as another body is being readied for burning. Surrounded by boats loaded with wood used for burning the bodies, workers stack the wood that a family has purchased from the ghat's managers for the cremation ritual.
    IND_040410_366_x.jpg
  • A young girl in a rowboad sells floating votive candles to mourners and tourists near the Dashashwamedh Ghat, on the Ganges River in Varanasi, India. The most visited ghat of Varanasi by religious pilgrims, Dashashwamedh ghat is the most beautiful ghat in the city. The ghat is close to the famous 'Vishwanath Temple' and is therefore of high religious importance. The most enticing part is the evening 'Puja' performed by the group of priests. Also known as the 'Fire Puja', the ceremony is a dedication to River Ganges, Sun, Lord Shiva, Fire and the whole universe. The Ghats finds mention in the old religious texts, as it is said that lord Brahma created the ghats to welcome lord Shiva.
    IND_040414_282_xw.jpg
  • A young girl in a rowboad sells floating votive candles to mourners and tourists near the Dashashwamedh Ghat, on the Ganges River in Varanasi, India. The most visited ghat of Varanasi by religious pilgrims, Dashashwamedh ghat is the most beautiful ghat in the city. The ghat is close to the famous 'Vishwanath Temple' and is therefore of high religious importance. The most enticing part is the evening 'Puja' performed by the group of priests. Also known as the 'Fire Puja', the ceremony is a dedication to River Ganges, Sun, Lord Shiva, Fire and the whole universe. The Ghats finds mention in the old religious texts, as it is said that lord Brahma created the ghats to welcome lord Shiva.
    IND_040414_281_xw.jpg
  • A passing cow eats discarded marigold garlands along the shoreline as a body burns at the Harishchandra cremation grounds. Just up river a man dries the clothes he just washed in the Ganges in the heat of a burning funeral pyre. The Harishchandra Ghat (also known as the Harish Chandra Ghat) is the smaller and more ancient of the two primary cremation grounds in Varanasi, on the banks of the Ganges River.
    IND_040412_409_x.jpg
  • Bodies arrive day and night from far and near to be cremated at Jalasi Ghat, the cremation grounds at Manikarnika Ghat in the city of Varanasi, India. One hundred or more times a day male family members carry a loved one's body through the narrow streets on a bamboo litter to the Ganges River shore?a place of pilgrimage for Hindus during life, and at death. Not every Hindu can be cremated here, because of transportation costs and logistical considerations. Sometimes a body is burned in one location and the ashes brought to Varanasi. A ghat is a stairway in India leading down to a landing on the water.
    IND_040413_293_xw.jpg

Peter Menzel Photography

  • Home
  • Legal & Copyright
  • About Us
  • Image Archive
  • Search the Archive
  • Exhibit List
  • Lecture List
  • Agencies
  • Contact Us: Licensing & Inquiries