Spiritual Work
Location:
Varanasi, India
The Ganges River
December 2004


The most intimate rituals of life and death take place in public, on the banks of the Ganges River in Varanasi. A sound similar to a chant can be heard at the shores. It is the chant of the devote, the ching-ching of the small finger cymbals that marks time with the chant sung with words from the holy book. Thousands of worshipers at the Ghats go about their own rituals with no notice of each other. Two men in concert, one reciting a holy text and the other participating in chant share the spirit work on the shores of the Ganges River.