Couple. Varanasi

It was after the holy bath, among the saris drying on the ghat; they were from Ahmedabad if I remember well and were about to move.
He insisted to offer me a cup of tea before leaving.

Seller. Varanasi

Shiva's protection. Varanasi

Mornig puja. Varanasi

A woman is dressing after the holy bath , while a priest is doing the morning puja dedicated to Ganga.

Morning puja. Varanasi

Just walking. Varanasi

Floating offering. Varanasi

Holy water. Varanasi

Corolla. Varanasi

Water lily or lotus flowers?

Offerings. Varanasi

Flowers offered to the Ganga during the pujas. So many pilgrims here that everyday the offerings grow and grow on the banks.
Some people recuperate them to sell again..but you can find also plastic bags, aluminium cups...

Wrestler. Varanasi

Motherhood. Varanasi

No distinction on the ghats, rich as well as poor people come here for the Ganga pujas, or to find some opportunity.

Ganga bank scene. Varanasi

Boatmen and pilgrims have to share the Ganga ghat; the first ones are not always very kind with the seconds...

Shaving ceremony. Varanasi

Just before he holy bath, purification and hair offering ; three boys in this family, one is waiting his turn.

Sweeping. Varanasi

Holy water. Varanasi

Bath. Varanasi

Holy bath in ganga before the shaving. shaving the hair is an offering to god and a purification.

Hands. Varanasi

Yellow. Varanasi

Running out of Ganga. Varanasi

the boy does not seem to appreciate the holy bath in Ganga!!!

The seller and the Vespa. Varanasi

When you leave the ghat area, you find another world.

Milk. Varanasi

Puja. Varanasi

King kong II. Varanasi

Street scene. Varanasi

Searching their way; Varanasi

Walking in Ganga is a little bit dangerous; frequently women help themselves while going to the holy bath place.

Street scene. Varanasi

being connected with gods does not prevent to be interested by the daily news...

Holy bath. Varanasi

I must say that the young boy did not appreciate the bath as a holy one...mostly as a very cold one with the water coming in both mouth and nose!

Devotion. Varanasi

Puja for a new born.

Mornig puja. Varanasi

A brahmane doing a morning puja in the Ganga. The rope is for a boat, I found that it added to the composition.

Holy water. Varanasi

The dog devotee. Varanasi

In India, the dog is a badly considered animal, in opposition with many others who have their god: Hanuman, Ganesh...
This one was trying to find something eatable among the offerings.

Ganga mud. Varanasi

Holding the wire for security, she just took some mud in the Ganga to make a god figure, one of the puja ritual.

Praying Ganesh. Varanasi

Puja for Ganesh; this is the basic posture when you pray the elephant god.

The nice motorbike. Varanasi

In the chowks, a vintage.

On the way to Manikarnika ghat. Varanasi

..were the body will be burned, no ladys allowed; behind, a pan seller

Family's devotion. Varanasi

Ganga puja. Varanasi

Gipsy musicians. Varanasi

For a wedding on the ghat, gipsy musicians are playing drums.

Reading the mantras. Varanasi

The old lady. Varanasi

The day after holi, you can see the splashing color on the shop wall behind the old lady head.

Silhouette. Varanasi

Near a temple in a back street, not so far from Manikarnika ghat, the cremation one.

Walking by. Varanasi

The crossing I. Varanasi

For holi every area burn a tree like here in this crossing, we are one day later, the tree is still consuming , the sidewalkers don't care anymore about it.

Death of a young monkey. Varanasi

Probably killed by a car in a Varanasi street, the body is decorated with flowers, according to the veneration indian have for Hanuman, the monkey god.

Holy songs. Varanasi

During these holy days, I feeled like a war reporter, great danger! From anywhere can come the fatal colored water and even I did not fear for myself, my 5D tried to make himself the smallest he could...

Mood gods. Varanasi

During the puja some people made some gods representations on the ghat, using the mud of the Ganga;. Most of the time it is lingams, symbols of Shiva.

Exquisite grace. Varanasi

Puja. Varanasi

The goat and the blue rectangle. Varanasi

Puja. Varanasi

Workshop. Varanasi

Generations. Varanasi

After the puja. Varanasi

Looking at the brahmane/sadhu. varanasi

Nice attraction for this young couple , the brahmane is preparing himself before a meditation moment. Varanasi looks sometimes like a great attraction park tourists are crossing by boat , going from one composed scene to another one, as if all had been organised before for them.
At a second degree, it sometimes becomes what is the most interesting to see...

Puja. Varanasi

Every morning, a brahmane process the ritual as a tribute to Ganga.

Meditation. Varanasi

Ganga puja. Varanasi

Tiger; Varanasi

Saris. Varanasi

Using the jain temple to dry the saris...

Flying! Varanasi

did Ganesh give her wings?

Back street scene. Varanasi

most of the tourists know the ghats life along the Ganga river. But if you walk in the old town, you discover another world, totally different.

Mother Ganga. Varanasi

Hand. Varanasi

Nepalese pilgrim's hand and jewels.

Holy wate.; Varanasi

Gauguinesque puja. Varanasi

Eye. Varanasi

Holy water. Varanasi

Puja in the air. Varanasi

Tel le capitaine à la proue de son vaisseau toutes voiles dehors, les femmes colorésse sont réunies pour cette puja psalmodiée. Les hommes sont ailleurs en blanc.
le Gange est juste en contrebas.

Like the captain in the bow of its vessel any sails outside, the colourful women are gathered for this chanted puja. The men are somewhere else in white.
Ganga is just on right.

Smiling pilgrim. Varanasi

Her pilgrim group was staying in varanasi for three days; enought to have a good connection....

Blue chat. Varanasi

close to manikarnika ghat, five meters from here, dead bodies are passing by all along the day..

Orange. Varanasi

Sometimes, pilgrims of the same family wear the same color, iImean women. Each young helping the older.This time, the color was the same than the flowers ...

The brahmane ritual IV. Varanasi

Après l'accomplissement e son rituel dans le Gange, le brahmane prélève de l'eau dans le fleuve; il va continuer sur le ghat...

After the fulfillment of the ritual rite in the Ganges, the Brahman takes some water in the river; he is going to continue on the ghat..

Sailing. Varanasi

Ganga. Varanasi

Lunch time. Varanasi

In a back street, three married women take a lunch, as people use to do in all south Asia.
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Woman and cow. Varanasi

To be burned. Varanasi

In a back street of varanasi, close to Manikarnika ghat; a family carry a body, in this place all along the day bodies come...no women here.

Une famille arrive à manikarnika ghat, transportant le corps d'un des leurs qui va y etre brulé, en scandant les paroles usuelles. Toute la jonée les corps arrivent; pas de femme dans cet endroit!

Cow dung. Varanasi

Drying cow dung; it is used for cooking.

Ordinary ghat scene. Varanasi

Drying the sari. Varanasi

Puja details. Varanasi

And you can see dizains of these little lights on ganga; nice, especially early in the morning, before the daylight.
Once again the mother in law and daughter in law joined hands.

Cold. Varanasi

In december and january, the water is really cold, and after the holy bath, some people hurry up to get out off the river .Dry clothes are ready on the ghat.

Drying up the sari. Varanasi

Pink. Varanasi

The brahmane ritual III. Varanasi

One part of the ritual, he performes in the river, the ritual is very sophisticated, very long and complete, the fingers position seems to e very important and changes many times.
After that, he takes some water to perform other rituals on the ghat; I saw him using some grains on the ground, while the crowd was passing by around him, very concentred on what he was doing.

Joyfull holy bath. Varanasi

Daughter in law and mother in law together for the holy bath; water is cold but they enjoy the moment.

Dressing. Varanasi

After the holy bath..

Going out of his house. Varanasi

Splashin. Varanasi

Face.Varanasi

Don't ask me who is this man, I don't know. He was just waiting for a free meal distribuion on the ghat; his beautiful face attracted me, making me think to Moise, as drawers use to represente him.

On the slipery ghat.Varanasi

Back street scene. Varanasi

Bathing. Varanasi

Les femmes vont toujours par couples, belle-fille et belle-mère...

The women always go by couples, daughter-in-law and mother-in-law...

Couple. Varanasi

A couple of pilgrims, coming from Maharastra, if i remember to Varanasi, where they stayed two days.
traditionnal look for the wife and ray bans , pen and big watch for the man.

Colored ghat. Varanasi

After the holy bath.

Ganga bank scene. Varanasi

Un de ces tableaux éphémères...

Holy water. Varanasi

Morning scene; Varanasi

I liked this opposition: women and colors on the ghat, men and neutral tones on the boat.
One of these scenes you can see in India, which seem unreal, out of time ...

Holy cow. Varanasi

After putting a coin on the cow back, they perform some rituals with Ganga water and offerings; they were coming from Nepal.

Women chain. Varanasi

Morning puja in Ganga, one of these always changing beautiful scenes.

Chat on the ghat. Varanasi

Early morning puja II. Varanasi

Tilting temple. Varanasi

Black and white today...for this curious temple sinking little by little in the bank, since centuries.

Dhobu ghat. Varanasi

Les pierres plates servent aux dhobi wallah pour faire leur lessive dans le fleuve.Les saris ou autres vetements sont mis à sécher sur le sol ou suspendus à des cordes.
Pendant ce temps les bateaux continuent leur va et vient incessant.

Flat stones are of use by dhobi wallah to make their washing in the river. Saris or other clothes are drying on the ground or hanging on ropes.
During this time boats keep on passing on the river ceaseless.

Sailing. Varanasi

Another use of the blanket. Varanasi

Je suis rsté longtemps auprès de ces enfants, assistant au renouvellement permanent de leurs jeux, au déploiement de leur imagination sans frein quant à l'utilisation d'un objet quotidien, une couverture, et à la distribution des roles lors de chaque nouvelle mise en scéne.
Ici, après avoir servi de corde d'escalade, la couverture sert 0 transporter le corps du "mort" que l'on enmène au ghat de crémation. Les enfants, une fois le camarade chargé, le déplacent en entonnant les psalmodies rituelles, comme ils l'ont vu faire aux adultes.
Une seule différence: ici l'activité est mixte alors qu'elle est réservée aux hommes, dans la éalité.
Bel exemple de jeu symbolique chez les enfants, qui leur permet de se construire une représentation "acceptable" d'un sujet bien difficile: la mort.

I have been standing for a long time with these children, watching the permanent renewal of their games, the deployment of their imagination without brake as for the use of a daily object, a (blanket), and for the distribution of roles during every new scéning.
Here, having served as rope for climbing, the blanket is used to transport the body of the "dead man" to the ghat of cremation. The children, once the companion in charge of,carry him by intoning ritual chants, as they saw it done rby the adults.
A single difference: here the activity is mixed while it is reserved for the men, in the real life.
Beautiful example of symbolic game by the children, which allows them to build themselves a "acceptable" representation of a very difficult subject: the death.

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Climbing up to Ganesh. Varanasi

Using a blanket as a rope to help climbing.

Evening prayer! Varanasi

Looking for a place to seat. Varanasi

Relaxed. Varanasi

Nepalese pilgrim II. Varanasi

After the bath in the holy Ganga.

Praying. Varanasi

Running. Varanasi

Who will win the race? the flying monkey-god Hanuman or the running girl?

A sail for the boat. Varanasi

Holy water, light and elegance. Varanasi

Puja on steps.Varanasi

Après le bain rituel dans le Gange, les pélerins s'adressent généralement à l'un des nombreux pretres qui sont installés au bord du fleuve; d'autres moins fortunés peut-etre accomplissent leur rituels à l'écart.
Il n'y a pas d'age pour venir en pélerinage à Varanasi, certains viennent meme pour y mourir.

After the ritual bath in the Ganges, pélerins addresses generally one of the pretres numerous which are installed at the edge of the river; others less fortunate , I suppose, did it themselves.
There is not of age to come for a pilgrimage to Varanasi , some come to die there.

Meditating. Varanasi

Shivaist sadhu meditating on the ghat.

Pilgrims. Varanasi

A couple of pilgrims, after the bath in the holy Ganga, under a burning sun, they were coming from the Gujarat.

Stripes. Varanasi

Close to the cremation ghat, an outdoor temple.

The turban. Varanasi

Sika. Varanasi

Ordinary scene on the ghat.

Glance. Varanasi

Parmi la foule des pélerins, soudain, un visage remarquable...

Among the crowd of pélerins, suddenly, this amazing face...

Flags. Varanasi

Time have been stopped. Varanasi

Nepalese pilgrim II. Varanasi

Pas nécessaire d'avoir des mots en commun pour communiquer, n'est ce pas.
un groupe de pélerins népalais était à Varanasi ce jour là; il faut dire que le boudha est lui aussi vénéré ici.

Common language is not always necessary...

Washing. Varanasi

After the holy bath, women wash their sari on the ghat, at this moment, wrists and ankles bracelets are almost joined.

Water drop. Varanasi

A Nepalese woman concentrated on her puja at the edge of the Ganges, in the morning.

Holy water; Varanasi

Tous les jours, ce sadhu vient accomplir ce rituel très élaboré dans le fleuve , mais aussi sur la berge, totalement insensible à la foule des pélerins qui s'agite autour de lui.

Every day, this sadhu comes to do a very elaborated ritual in the river, but also on the bank, totally insensible to the crowd of the pilgrims passing by around him.

Sailing. Varanasi

Près du Manikarnika ghat, lieu des crémations, les femmes étendent leur sari après le bain rituel, transformant ainsi le temple jain incliné en un vaisseau gitant toutes voiles dehors.

Near Manikarnika ghat, place of the cremations, the women spread their sari after the ritual bath, transforming the jain temple in a vessel tilting, sails in the wind.

Faith. Varanasi

Everlasting Ganga.Varanasi

The sulky was in red. Varanasi

Elle n'était pas réellement triste, juste quelques secondes de bouderie, entre deux moments de jeux pleins de vie sur les ghats avec une équipe de copains et copines...

She was not really sad, just a few seconds of sulkiness, while the other were keeping on playing on the ghats.

Early morning puja. Varanasi

Drying the sari. Varanasi

Close to Manikarnika ghat.

Barbers. Varanasi

Beyond Manikarnika ghat, the main cremation ghat, the barbers work in the street. This is a purification act.
The nights are cold here in january.

Safran. Varanasi

Exquisite grace.

Chatting. Varanasi

The other face of Varanasi: all these backstreets with another kind of life, far from the crowdy ghats on the river.

Nepalese pilgrim. Varanasi

Ganga daily life.Varanasi

The not welcomed cow.Varanasi

This cow was always coming back and back, walking on the drying saris, under the glance of a dog who adopted the zen attitude.
women were not so zen...

Resting sadhu.Varanasi