We are told that Varanasi and is a city of feeling, rather than looking.
First here are the facts from the riverside ghats:- c. 300 corpses are burnt every day, some 360kg of wood are required to consume each body, and the average cost of cremation is about £ 3,300 (30,000 rupees).
There are also said to be more than 100,000 temples in the city and the majority are dedicated to Maha Shiva, the principal deity of the city. Morning and evening Puja are focussed around around the great river Ganga Gi (Ganges) and more pujad continue throughout the entire day and night, as do the cremations.
Arriving from the city airport we felt unnerved and out of our depth; surely there was nowhere like this city on earth. Except there is since the poison (‘vishi’) experience of life conditioned by fear is spread throughout the world. Shiva the destroyer consumes, hence his throat turns blue.
This work of manifesting the fearless may appear to proceed slowly, slowly – diri, diri. The skilled weaver in the image produces 2cm of woven fabric each day.