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We all know that the Ganges river in India is considered sacred by Hindu devotees. What I didn't know, however, was that it's highly desirable in that culture to be cremated on its shores. But what shocked me was that it's so important that poorer families apparently settle for the "on its shores" part even if they can't afford the actual cremation. One Chinese tourist captured proof (all captions from the original website):


The famous morning bathing by the Ganges, washing as if the rotting corpse floating by was nothing!


















A rotting body on the banks of the Ganges River.


A floating rotten corpse.


Bodies abandoned at the Ganges River.


Note the lower right corner. What is it? Revealed in the next photo.


Here comes the close-up!!!! Note the flies!!!!


A skeleton on the shore of the Ganges River.


A corpse floating in the Ganges River.






Rotting corpse on the shore.


Wild dogs freely tearing their food off a rotting corpse.




Dog. Crows. Fighting for a child’s head as food. Dog victorious.









I'm sure we all knew that the Ganges River is quite polluted. It wasn't until I saw these photos that I understood just how polluted it actually is. . . what a shock. Now, I totally get that cultures are different from place to place, but I sort of figured that knowledge of basic hygiene was rather universal by now. I have now learned that culture trumps hygiene, because the original website shows other pictures of folks bathing in, brushing their teeth with, and even drinking this water.

To see it, along with more photos and discussion, go to:

http://www.chinasmack.com/2010/pictures ... tions.html

Thank you very much for posting these. I have never been to India, and I had the idea that the "bodies" in the Ganges were not bodies, per se, but actually cremated remains. I guess these are the bodies of people whose families were too poor to afford cremation (even on the river banks, where it takes place).

Before John Yale (of "the" U.S. Yale family) took his final vows as a Hindu religious (Vedanta...Ramakrishna Math & Mission), he traveled to India to make sure that this was what he really wanted to do. His mentor, who had been born and raised in India, advised against the trip---saying that India was basically too dirty to visit---but John Yale (I knew him when I was a child) had decided that the trip was necessary for him before he took his final vows. He was a writer (since well before he became a religious), and he subsequently wrote two books about his trips (plural) to India---in which he gave the impression that he wasn't holding anything back...but evidently (by these photos) he was.

I really had no idea---especially since people do bathe, clean their mouths, do laundry, etc. in the Ganges...in addition to all of the thousands of people who travel there (from all over the planet) on pilgrimage.

Thank you for posting these!!!

I am very, very grateful.