Benaras
This movie
presents a visual poem of the
oldest still living city in the world-
Benaras.
Beginning with the fire of the rising sun
and ending with the fire of cremation,
it presents images of the Ganges River,
the people who live and worship there
and the famous and ancient cremation grounds
of
Manikarnika Ghat.
Almost any time of the day or night,
if I walked the alleys and small lanes that led down to the cremation grounds at Manikarnika,
a procession of 5-10 men would be heard and seen,
winding through the crooked alleys,
past the small booths of myriads of shops,
threading their way amongst the press of people crowding the lanes,
carrying a corpse on their shoulders.
They were bringing the body to Manikarnika Ghat
on the banks of the Ganges.
As they walked, they chanted loudly,
reminding the living of that part of life called death.
Their chant was a call and response mantra.
The first part of the group would call out,
"Sub ki Yahi Gati Hai" (This is the fate of all),
which would then be immediately answered by
"Rama Nama Satya Hai" (Only the name of God is Truth).
They would chant these rhythmed words again and again
as they wound their way down towards the river.
Finally,
the funeral procession came out of the close press of the alleys
where the view opened out dramatically to the river
and they began to descend the final stone steps
leading down to the Ganges
and the cremation ground itself.
At the bottom of these steps,
they would bathe the corpse
one last time in the holy river,
purposefully splashing water into the mouth of the deceased
and then lay the body on the steps
to await a pyre for the burning.
The music, "Baba Hanuman", by Krishna Das,
was chosen for its mood, tone and rasa (emotion),
not for its meaning.
I am well aware that the translation of the words of this song
as well as the stories and lilas of Hanuman
are not connected with cremation grounds
(like some of the other Gods from the Hindu pantheon).
"Baba Hanuman" begins with the chanting of the words,
"Namah, Namah, Namah" (I bow down, I bow down, I bow down)
and ends with the name of God- "Ram".
Like a river flowing into the ocean
and losing its distinction there,
any unique quality of any particular idea of God
eventually
is ultimately found in the sea
of a great unknowable and undefinable mystery
and this mystery could be said to begin with devotion
and end with what is called
"God".
That is the poetic mood and intention of this movie
and the music I selected for it:
In the midst of life, we are all burning
and in that sacrifice of self and all,
is God.
I beg the pardon of anyone who considers my musical selection inappropriate.
I simply loved the mood and feeling
or the "uneducated" meaning of the piece.
It was primarily for its 'rasa' and feeling, to a Westerner,
that I selected it.