Ganges Aarti, Varanasi, India

The Ganges is a holy river to India, a river whose influence touches the lives of so many millions. It feeds crops, livestock, people. It's a place of play, to bathe, to wash, to do your laundry. In some places the dead are burnt alongside. Gathering water from the Himalaya in the north, it holds and shifts vast amounts of water, and so no matter how much filth goes into the river, it is constantly flushing through, washing it all away. The river gives so much, but asks so little...

An aarti is a ceremony that happens on the banks of the great river every day, in numerous towns and villages along its banks. I caught a couple in Rishikesh, and a couple in Varanasi, on the Dashashwamedh Ghat where a long row of steps descend into the river for whatever purpose you may have. Every evening as night falls, the river is worshipped with the chanting of hymns, with the offerings of fire and flowers. In some places, it's quite a spectacle and attracts large crowds of locals and tourists alike. A beautiful thing.