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Travel writings by Drewelowe, 1920s
drewe07-05-014
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From India In human interest there is nothing that compares with the Sacred Ganges River scenes, or the street scenes of Jaipur. The one bank of Ganges is built high with a confusion of palaces, mosques, and temples from which long, broad flights of steps (ghats) lead down to the very waters edge...These ghats by morning are teeming with human ants crawling up and down and in and out in colorful procession...The Sacred water is alive with the bronze bodies of bathers glistening in the sun. Sacred bulls roam the ghats at will...mingling in the continual movement of life and vibrant sprightly color. The burning Ghat on the Ganges is also unusual, though horrible even in its fascination. The Hindu believes that if he dies and is cremated on the Sacred Ganges that his spirit directly becomes one with his god. If he dies upon the wrong side of the river, he shall be reincarnated into an ass...Many bodies may be seen at this Ghat of a morning. Many bodies in all stages of cremation -- some virtually reduced to ashes, some beginning to burn, some partially finished, others lying stark and rigid awaiting the completion of the laying of their funeral pyre.
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From India In human interest there is nothing that compares with the Sacred Ganges River scenes, or the street scenes of Jaipur. The one bank of Ganges is built high with a confusion of palaces, mosques, and temples from which long, broad flights of steps (ghats) lead down to the very waters edge...These ghats by morning are teeming with human ants crawling up and down and in and out in colorful procession...The Sacred water is alive with the bronze bodies of bathers glistening in the sun. Sacred bulls roam the ghats at will...mingling in the continual movement of life and vibrant sprightly color. The burning Ghat on the Ganges is also unusual, though horrible even in its fascination. The Hindu believes that if he dies and is cremated on the Sacred Ganges that his spirit directly becomes one with his god. If he dies upon the wrong side of the river, he shall be reincarnated into an ass...Many bodies may be seen at this Ghat of a morning. Many bodies in all stages of cremation -- some virtually reduced to ashes, some beginning to burn, some partially finished, others lying stark and rigid awaiting the completion of the laying of their funeral pyre.
Iowa Women’s Lives: Letters and Diaries
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