The Boatman
Location:
Varanasi, India
The Ganges River
December 2004


Morning fog on the Ganges River creates a sense of timeless mystery. A boat ride on the Ganges at sunrise reveals thousands of devout Hindus-pilgrims, Sadhus, and residents alike making their way down to the Ghats and into the holy waters. All pay tribute to the Ganges or ‘Great Mother’, a living Goddess, which provides a passage to reach Pirtriloka, the World of the Ancestors.

I envision the boatman as each one of us on the river of life navigating the current of time and the obstacles of opportunity so as to rejoin the ocean from which we all came from.