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Reeya Pathak
More than 20,000 ailing pilgrims visit Varanasi every year to breathe their last in the holy city. Being cremated here, they believe, would break them free from the cycle of death and rebirth, hence helping them attain moksha. Facilitating their stay are salvation homes, made famous in popular culture by the 2016 film Mukti Bhawan.
According to estimates, there are more than 200 such homes, some set up way back in 1920, like the Mumukshu Bhawan, Kashi Laabh Mukti Bhavan (the one that featured in the film) and Moksha Bhawan. According to a Reuters report, more than 15,000 persons had checked into these lodges last year. And the number has been increasing. But the locals are not too welcoming.
Among them is Vibhuti Diwedi, priest of an old temple at Dashasamedh Ghat. For him, the wait for death is not a very encouraging sign for a city full of life.
“There is so much history, literature and spirituality in the city we want to show to people. We would wish to see that being promoted rather people coming here to die.”
Certainly, the city which is older than time itself, has traces of history at every step. Some historians believe that the very first civilisation in history settled at Kashi, which later came to be known as Varanasi. There are countless instances to define the glorious timeline of the city. Lord Buddha delivered his first sermon in Kashi, now precisely at Sarnath. Close by is Lamahi, where the greatest Hindi novelist Munshi Prem Chand was born. An annual mela is organised here to celebrate his literary contribution every year. However, it does not figure in the itinerary of most visitors to the holy city.
Due to the existence of many ancient temples in Varanasi, Annie Besant chose this as the home for her Theosophical Society and Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya for instituting Banaras Hindu University.
Former head of the history department at Banaras Hindu University, Sumitra Gupta says Varanasi is a place that has legends and stories at every corner. She too has felt the shift towards ‘death tourism’. “Western society is quite alienated from death as a culture. So, when they visit Varanasi, they are fascinated to see cremations taking place publically at Manikarnika Ghat. But it is more than a cremation ground.”
Visitors curious about death are everywhere. According to a study, which analysed tourist reviews of Varanasi online, words like ‘death’, ‘cremation’, ‘dying’ appeared more than words like ‘philosophies’, ‘religion’, and ‘peace’ on the websites. This, nevertheless, points towards the fact that most of the tourist are curious about the darker side of the city.
Sheela Devi, who has been living in the ancient city for seven decades, feels disheartened. “We have always believed that Varanasi is a city of life, not death. But development of salvation homes indicates that there is more demand for death than life. Death sells, life does not,” she says.