A long bamboo pole is used to pierce a skull at the Harishchandra along the Ganges in Varanasi, India, on 9 April 2019.
A son walks around his father's funeral pyre with a bundle of dried reeds, set up along the banks of the Ganges river in Varanasi, India, on 9 April 2019.
A group of men sit with the husband, dressed in white, of a woman recently deceased and awaiting cremation at Varanasi's largest burning ghat on 9 April 2019 in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.
A man walks to the shores of the Ganges river in Varnasi, India, on 9 April 2019 holding the cremated remains of his wife with two bamboo sticks.
The body of a recently deceased man, wrapped in colorful cloth and adorned with marigolds, sits on the steps of one of Varanasi's burning ghats in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh on 9 April 2019.
A son hugs his father after the cremation of his mother at one of the burning ghat's along the Ganges river in the Indian city of Varanasi on 11 April 2019.
Wood is loaded onto the shoulders of a worker near one of the burning ghats in Varanasi, India, on 11 April 2019.
A man carries logs from a boat and arranges them on a funeral pyre at one of the burning ghats along the Ganges in the Indian city of Varanasi on 9 April 2019.
A boy, carrying a bundle of dried reeds, is instructed by older men on how to light the funeral pyre for his father in Varanasi, India, on 9 April 2019.
A worker prods the fire at one of the cremations happening at the burning ghat in Varnasi, India, to ensure the entire body is burned on 9 April 2019.
A man has his face and scalp wiped clean after having all of his hair shaved off just outside of a burning ghat in Varnasi, India, on 9 April 2019.
A group of men prepare to bath in the ganges in order to clean themselves in the river's holy water before they attend a cremation in one of Varanasi's burning ghat's located just upstream of them on 12 April, 2019.
A teenage boy holds his brother's hand, who can not swim, as he bathes in the holy waters of the Ganges river in Varanasi, India, on 12 April 2019. The two boys, who are about to cremate their father, have to bath in the river before they set light to their father's funeral pyre at one of the city's burning ghats located just downstream of them.
A worker at the burning ghat in Varnasi, India, takes a break from cremating bodies during a quiet moment at the ghat in the early hours of the morning on 16 April 2019.
A young man lights the funeral pyre of his father, while male relatives look on, as the sun slowly comes up over the Ganges in Varanasi, India, in the early morning of 16 April 2019.
A worker at the burning ghat in Varnasi, India, throws Sandalwood sawdust onto a funeral pyre on 16 April 2019.