BENARES 85 



black naked natives, scooping up handfuls to drink, 

 washing clothes, or submerging themselves in the 

 filthy waters of the sacred stream. 



Of all gruesome sights the burning ghats of 

 Benares are undoubtedly the most loathsome, and 

 they lie open to the view of every passer-by on the 

 river. When a Hindu dies and I have remarked 

 on the high death rate in Benares his body is 

 promptly carried to one of these ghats, where, if the 

 place be not already too crowded, it is immediately 

 placed on a funeral pyre. If the family of the de- 

 ceased be rich, the body is covered with costly silks 

 and shawls; otherwise a simple linen sheet forms 

 the only shroud. The fire is started, the covering 

 quickly burns, and the body is left in full view, 

 twitching and writhing as the fire catches and con- 

 tracts its muscles. When it has been partially con- 

 sumed, men with long poles rake the limbs from 

 the ashes and push them carelessly into the river, 

 where they are carried away down-stream in close 

 proximity to the drinkers and bathers on the ghats 

 below. The family will perhaps sit upon a small 

 terrace beside the burning ghat to witness the cere- 

 mony, or the body may be accompanied only by the 

 fire-builders. After the burning certain contractors 

 search the ashes for jewels which may have been 

 placed upon the deceased by relatives before crema- 



