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.