Shortly after sunrise, thousands of Hindus line the ghats, or stone steps leading down into the Ganges River. Varanasi (or Kashi as the devout call it) is considered the center of the universe in Hindu mythology, the place from which a single stone pillar (lingam) rose out of a planet-covering ocean and all land mass as we know it sprung from that pillar. varanasi is the holiest possible place for a Hindu to live, die, or be cremated, and many elderly Hindus make a pilgrimage to varanasi in their final years, to die here and have their ashes washed into the holy Ganges.

The people along the river bathe, wash their clothes, cremate their dead, and drink the holy water, while tourists quietly watch from rented boats offshore. The daily activity along these ghats has not changed significantly in the last 3000 years.