Description
My painting Ghat to the River Ganges was inspired by a visit to Varanasi in India.
In Hindi ghat is a series of steps leading down to a body of water or wharf, such as a bathing or cremation place along the banks of a river.
Varanasi is a city in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh dating to the 11th century B.C. Regarded as the spiritual capital of India, the city draws Hindu pilgrims who bathe in the Ganges River’s sacred waters and perform funeral rites.
Pilgrims come to the Ganges here to wash away sins in the sacred waters, to cremate their loved ones, or simply to die here, hoping for liberation from the cycle of rebirth.