Girl Sifting through Ashes at the Burning Ghats, Benares, India, 1989
(catalog number 300M-223-018)

I FIRST visited Benares thirty years ago. It made a profound impression on me. I still find it to be India's most haunting city: full of mystery and passion. It is my favorite city in India.

People from all over the world come to die in Benares or are brought there by their family members after they die. Manikarnika Ghat, on the banks of the Ganges River, is the largest cremation ground in India. Those who wish to die in Benares come and stay in hospices nearby. When they die, their male relatives carry them on biers through the narrow streets leading down to the river. When they arrive at the Ghat with the body, the Doms (or keepers of the ghats) take over.

Very early every morning, a group of the Doms' children sort through the smoldering coals for treasure. This photograph is of a Doms' child looking through the ashes for remnants of gold from rings and teeth. She is oblivious to the blinding smoke around her.

I made several trips to the burning ghats in Benares. I spent time with the families who worked there: the woodcutters, the men who shaved the heads of the mourning sons, those who sold marigold wreaths, etc. The children of the workers and the keepers of the ghats fascinated me. I was intrigued by how they lived and played surrounded by death. Their openness and acceptance of it all were truly amazing.

The last photograph I took the day I left was of a woodcutter and his son. I told him I was leaving to go back to America. He said, "Don't forget to come back here when you die."