Feet poking out from a sandalwood pyre. He was likely someone important, or rich, as you can tell from the closeness to the holiest river, the Ganges, and also by the type of wood as sandalwood is expensive and is only affordable by the wealthy few.

I remember when we were first in Varanasi in 2008 one body was being cremated so close to the Ganges that a wave lapped on the shore causing the pyre to break and the body to tumble into the river where it floated along with the current before drifting out of sight. This was considered to be most auspicious by the deceased’s mourning party but for me, as a jaded westerner, was quite bizarre. I remember it looked like a white plastic bag bobbing up and down peacefully on the waves as it drifted downriver, over the horizon, and into the sun, with a soundtrack of tearful moans and awestruck prayer.

Yes you can smell it, and yes you can see it from far away. Sometimes the cremations are so numerous that it looks like the shoreline is on fire, and sometimes a white ash falls from a sapphire sky that for a second makes you think of snow until the second second when you realise what it is and feel something between “oh shit” and “wow”.

I had permission for this shot from the Dom (caretaker) who, in exchange for a random chat about life in New Zealand, allowed me to quickly snap some photos of what is normally a sacred affair where cameras are, if not forbidden, most def unwelcome.