The holy city in India where thousands go to die

In this June 16, 2024 photo, a cremator (center) of the Cathedral Congregation cleans a pyre after the burial ceremony at Harishchandra Ghat on the banks of the Ganges in Varanasi. Agence France-Presse

VARANASI, India — Some stay only days, others wait decades, but the crowds of elderly Indian Hindu believers are calm, confident that their pilgrimage to death will bring them eternal peace.

Smoldering pyres line the Ganges in India's holy city of Varanasi, where thousands of Hindu believers come each year to spend their final days.

Dying on the banks of the Ganges guarantees that they will be cremated there and their ashes scattered in the water along the river steps or “ghats”. According to Hindu belief, this ensures that they are freed from the cycle of rebirth.

READ: India's elderly await death, seek salvation in holy city

Badri Prasad Agarwal, 92, had traveled more than 1,000 kilometers for days from the westernmost state of Rajasthan and was happy to be able to wait in peace, knowing he was in the right place to die.

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“This is God’s own country,” said the 92-year-old, who retired at the end of a long and hard life.

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“In the House of God”

He says his God told him he had five months to live.

He is content to spend them in a hospice that serves people who wish to spend their last days in quiet contemplation of their past and the future they believe to be likely.

“I talk to God every day,” Agarwal said. “Soon I will find peace in God's home.”

READ: India's holy river Ganges releases its coronavirus dead

He has found a place to stay in a charitable guest house called Mumukshu Bhawan Hospice – the “House of Salvation Seekers” – one of the dozens of “salvation houses” in the city.

The centre has 40 rooms to accommodate some of the thousands of people who come to Varanasi to die.

Agarwal is happy to be there as it is one of the closest hotels to the river and is just a minute's walk away.

Boats pass burning pyres at Harishchandra Ghat on the banks of the Ganges River in Varanasi in this June 16, 2024 photo. Agence France-Presse

There the cremation fires burn continuously, as they have always done.

For Hindus, the northern city of Varanasi, also known as Benares, is one of the holiest places in the world.

It is the city of the god Shiva, the god of destruction. According to Hindu belief, he must destroy before he can create something new. For centuries, people have traveled there in search of “moksha”, liberation.

“Attain salvation”

Some come to the hospice alone and are dependent on charity, some are married couples.

Others finance their living expenses with their entire savings or bring relatives with them to care for them.

There are medical facilities for the sick, but in this holy city, death is no cause for mourning.

Rather, it is considered a blessing because the elders believe that it will free their souls from the cycle of life and death.

Nathi Bai, 72, moved to Varanasi two years ago and was looking forward to her time at the Manikarnika Ghat cremation site.

“I want to be cremated… so that my soul can find peace and my ashes can be scattered in the Ganges,” she said.

She has followed the celebrations of those who died in their fervent belief in the coming redemption.

“When people are cremated, it’s like putting them on a throne like a god,” she said.

“There is so much respect and everything is so well done.”

Gulab Bai came here with her husband over 30 years ago. He died after seven years, and while her now-grown children visit her, she is ready to leave.

The 91-year-old, dressed in a saffron-colored sari, the sacred color of Hinduism, waits calmly for her appearance.

“Dying here and being cremated will break the endless cycle of life and death,” she said. “Then I will attain salvation.”