Manikarnika and Harishchandra - the cremation ghats, with respect

In this episode

• Visit Harishchandra and Manikarnika, Kashi's cremation ghats.
• Learn about the stories and traditions of these sacred places.
• Understand how to show respect at the ghats.

Read along

Namaste. This episode is a little different from the others. Today we visit Harishchandra Ghat and Manikarnika Ghat, the two places in Kashi where cremations take place. We will speak of death and of farewell. If you have lost someone recently, and this feels too close, it is perfectly fine to stop here and come back another day. If you stay, let us go gently.

Why do families bring their loved ones to Kashi, sometimes from very far away?

The Kashi Khanda, the part of the Skanda Purana devoted to this city, calls Kashi Avimukta, the place that is never forsaken, the place Shiva never leaves. It says that Shiva gives the Taraka mantra, the mantra that carries one across, to those who leave their bodies in Kashi. For many Hindu families, this has made Kashi a place of trust at the end of life. There are houses in the city where elders come to spend their last days, and families who cannot come in time bring their loved one here afterwards for the last rites.

Beliefs about death and what follows differ from family to family and tradition to tradition. We are not here to explain them or to rank them. We are here to understand a little, and to behave well.

We walk first to Harishchandra Ghat, in the southern part of the riverfront, a little before Kedar Ghat. It is the smaller of the two cremation ghats. The name remembers King Harishchandra, and his story is one that almost every child in north India hears at some point. It is told in the Markandeya Purana, and it is told on the ghats of Kashi, and the tellings differ in their details. Here it is, simply.

Harishchandra was a king of Ayodhya, known everywhere for never breaking his word. The sage Vishvamitra decided to test him. In the course of the test, the king gave away his whole kingdom to keep a promise. When the sage still asked for the gift that was due to him, Harishchandra had nothing left. So he came to Kashi, and sold his wife and his young son into service, and then sold himself to the keeper of the cremation ground, here, on this bank.

He worked there faithfully, collecting the fee that each family paid for the cremation. Then one day, his own son died, and his wife carried the child to the cremation ground. She had nothing to pay. Harishchandra, bound by the duty he had accepted, could not let the rites go on without the fee, even for his own son. In the Purana's telling, she offered half of her only cloth, and at that moment, the test ended. The gods and Dharma appeared, the boy was given back his life, and the king's family and kingdom were restored.

People take different things from this story. Some remember the king who kept his word when it cost him everything. Some remember the queen, who carried her grief and still did what was asked. And many in Kashi remember that the work of the cremation ground, which some people look down on, was done by a king, with honesty and care. It is a hard story to hear, and it is meant to be.

Harishchandra Ghat today is quieter than Manikarnika. Many of the families who come here are from Kashi itself and the villages around it. Life goes on around the ghat: there are homes and small temples on the steps nearby, and boats tied up at the water. Stand for a moment at a distance, and think of the king in the story, doing his work honestly on this same bank.

At Harishchandra Ghat, walk quietly. Keep a respectful distance from the pyres and from the families. Do not photograph or film the cremations or the mourners.

Now we go north, past the busy ghats we have already visited, to Manikarnika.

As we come close, the lanes behind the ghat grow narrow. Along the walls you will see great stacks of wood, weighed on old iron scales. You may hear a small group of men coming through the lanes, carrying a loved one on a bamboo bier wrapped in cloth and flowers, and calling out that the name of Rama is truth. When they come, step aside, stand still, and let them pass.

Manikarnika has two meanings for Kashi, and they sit side by side.

The first is the kund, the sacred pool on the steps above the ghat. The Kashi Khanda tells that at the beginning of creation, Vishnu dug this pool with his discus and filled it, and sat beside it in long austerity. Shiva, delighted by his devotion, came to see him, and as he did, an earring, a manikarnika, fell into the pool. The tellings vary on whether it was Shiva's earring or Parvati's, and we share them as they are told. Near the kund there is also a stone on which, it is said, Vishnu's footprints can be seen.

The second is the cremation ground, the largest in Kashi. Local tradition says its fires have burned without stopping for as long as anyone can remember. The fire and the work of the cremations have been in the care of families of the Dom community for many generations, and they carry that duty day and night, in every season.

From a distance, you may see a little of what the families do, and it helps to understand it, so that you are not confused or startled. In many families, the one who has died is first carried down to the river and touched with the water of the Ganga. The body is placed on the wood, and a close relative, often a son, walks around the pyre and lights the fire, with a flame taken from the fire that is kept burning at the ghat. The family waits nearby. Later, what remains is given to the river. Customs differ between regions and communities, and between families, and a priest guides each family through its own way.

For those who stand watching, it can feel very strange at first. For the family, each step is an act of care, the last thing they can do for someone they love.

Now, how to be here. Please hold on to these points, and share them with anyone who comes with you.

Walk quietly, and keep a respectful distance. Do not photograph or film the cremations or the mourners, from the ghat or from a boat. If you are on a boat passing Manikarnika, put your phone and camera away. Do not go close to the pyres, and do not stand in the way of families or workers. The heat and smoke can be strong, so step back if you need to, and keep children close.

Do not ask the families questions, however gently. They have come for their own farewell.

And do not accept offers of a paid tour of the cremation ground. Someone may come up to you and offer to explain everything, or to take you closer, and later ask for money, sometimes saying it is for wood for poor families. Politely say no, and walk on. If you wish to help, you can do so in other ways, through people and organisations you know and trust.

If you stay a little while, at a distance, you will notice something that surprises many visitors. Life goes on right beside the fires. Boats pass. A child flies a kite from a rooftop. Tea is served in the lanes. People bathe at the ghat just next door. In Kashi, death happens in the open, as part of the life of the city, and the city carries it quietly.

For the families here, this is a place of sorrow, and also of trust. Many of them believe that their loved one has been given the best farewell possible. Whatever you believe, you can respect that.

Let us take a quiet moment together, wherever you are. If there is someone you have lost, you may bring them to mind now. You can say their name softly, or only in your heart. If you pray, you may pray in your own way. If you do not, simply remember them with thanks.

Thank you.

One thing to take with you. At Manikarnika, dignity is shown mostly by what we do not do. We do not stare, we do not film, we do not come too close. The next time you are near someone else's grief, in a hospital, at a funeral, or on the street, try giving them the same quiet respect.

In the next episode, the last of this series, we walk north from Manikarnika to the quieter ghats, and end where the Varuna meets the Ganga.

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