Picture of The covered body is starting to emit smoke: the fire has started (Kathmandu, Nepal)

Smoke starts to billow out of the pyre, the corpse has been covered by straw

Send image of The covered body is starting to emit smoke: the fire has started as a free postcard
Download picture of The covered body is starting to emit smoke: the fire has started
Purchase The covered body is starting to emit smoke: the fire has started (Nepal)

Watching the open-air cremations at Pashupatinath may make you very silent, and might make you reconsider life and death. You will not walk away untouched.
After getting off the taxi, I walked into a park belonging to the Pashupatinath area. Some teenagers were playing cricket, older people were sitting down for a chat, and a monkey rushed past as I walked on. I turned a corner and saw some souvenir stalls, and paid my entrance fee. Just around the corner, I entered a platform and saw a line of people hanging over the edge, smoke rising behind them, coming from below. When I joined them to look down, I saw fires burning below, and realized that this was the famed cremation site of Kathmandu. I walked down, crossed the small river and joined another line of people sitting on the stairs. It was hard to imagine that this narrow stream of water was actually the holy Bagmati river, on a par with the Ganges in India. However, the atmosphere was different: it felt relaxed, it seemed that locals around me came her for a day out, almost like going to a picnic.
Read more about: Pashupatinath Cremation

Tags for this picture:
| | | |

Asia Africa asian tradition black pink cremation mausoleum grey blue Kathmandu Seokguram man american Nepal Trinidad & Tobago Pashupatinath Cremation Castelo São Jorge people children red yellow white purple woman european

Around the World in 80 Clicks - All rights reserved - www.traveladventures.org - 1999-2009 Share your comments