Our trip to Varanasi took us to the spiritual center of India and to Mother Ganga, as the river is often known. It is said that those who die in Varanasi and are cremated along the Ganges are released from the cycle of death and rebirth.

 Small boats are the way to go so we piled into one next to boatloads of pilgrims, of other tourists, and many, many other people.
We were going upstream so our stalwart boatmen had their work cut out for them.

 We were able to be on the Ganges twice, once in the evening and then again early the next morning.
Even along the river you are never far from the ever-present cows and dogs. Towering above the river are large buildings such as forts, mosques, temples, and housing. Some of them are hundreds of years old.
The Ganges is lined with access points called ghats. Some of them are just concrete steps; some, like this one, are more colorful. Some are set aside for cremations; we witnessed these rituals but out of respect for the dead we were asked not to take pictures.

 As we left the cremation area with its fires in the twilight we moved to a large ritual area.
Every evening hundreds of Hindus gather on this ghat for an evening ceremony. Many of them participate by bringing bells or drums to sound during the ceremony.

 A cadre of priests led the ritual, lighting sacred fires and lifting them above the crowd, always facing the Mother Ganga.
We joined the ritual in a small way as Girish and one of the boatman lit small floating candles for us. We each placed one in the water and watched as it slowly drifted away to join the hundreds of other candles on the river.
The next morning we headed back to the Ganges in the early morning. We began our boat journey at the same ghat that the ritual had taken place the night before. The priest was there performing the morning rituals, as he did every morning. The presence or absence of a crowd seemed to make no difference.
The dawn came up in a misty, serene scene. All along the river people engaged in their daily activities, including this man doing his own morning devotionals.
Naturally there were markets with fresh fruit and vegetable to be had. All of the ghats have particular activities: some are for bathing, some clothes-washing, some markets, etc.

 The buildings glowed red in the early morning light, quite different from the night before.
One man practiced his yoga and meditation in the early sun. And a yogi descended the steps to perform his morning bathing.
This woman was standing in the river for a long time, presumably reciting prayers and performing other rituals. Many other people were bathing simply to get clean.

 Both men and women were at the ghats where clothes are washed; every day is laundry day on the Ganges.