Everest -- Part IV

The day before we left for the Everest Region a local Nepali named Bijay -- a kind man who spent a number of years in New Mexico getting his degree - drove us around Kathmandu to see some of the more far-flung sites.  We are deeply indebted to him for taking the time to show us parts of Kathmandu we wouldn't have otherwise seen.  One memorable place was Pashupatinath, a sacred Hindu temple on the outskirts of the city where the Hindu god Shiva is worshipped.  It stands on the banks of the holy Bagmati River.  Troops of rabid monkeys abound and sadhus (Hindu ascetics who renounce all material things and wander the subcontinent in spiritual devotion and who are fed in large part by the coffers of the Nepali and Indian governments) sit crosslegged on the ghats near the river.

Neither Erin nor I had any idea where we were going when we got out of the car.  As we walked towards the complex we thought we were visiting just another Hindu temple.  Then I smelled burning hair.  We turned the corner and there on the bank of the river was a funeral pyre -- a man being cremated in full view.  The temple Bijay took us too, as it turned out, was one of the holiest Hindu temples on the subcontinent.  Hindus from all over flock there to worship Shiva.  Others have their loved ones cremated there.  When the cremation is complete (while we were there, we saw three cremations take place) the remains, including body parts that haven't fully combusted into ash, are pushed into the river, where woman stand up to their knees washing clothes. It is a minature Varanasi.  The whole scene was fascinating, disturbing, and eerie, the flames of the pyre sending up a thick smoke that hung above the proceedings.  The bodies being prepared for cremation lie alongside the bank of the river, while the Brahmins in ceremonial garb conduct the funeral rituals and the families, also dressed in ceremonial garb, surround the body, mourning the death of their loved ones.  Surreal is an oft-overused word; it applied in this case.