Before the sunrise, we sail on this calm, misty waters, to see the everyday life of Varanasi inhabitants and pilgrims from all over the country.

Five thirty in the morning. The sun slowly rises above the horizon. We ride along the riverside watching locals going on with their daily routine.

In the last minute a little girl jumps onto our boat. She holds a basket with small bowls made of dried leaves, some wax and flowers.

She makes candles using her tiny hands. We put them on the surface of water.

The city awakes. The day starts with morning bath enriched by prayer.

Ganga takes it all. With eternal tranquility she tolerates thousands of bodies smeared with soap...

...tons of clothing, underwear and linen, washed at her side.

All kinds of sewage end up in Ganga waters. While western people seem to be disgusted, no Hindu despises it.

The water carries the dust of those who were cremated here. Sometimes not completely burned bones appear on the surface

Apart from that, the water seems to be just right for making tea or preparing dough for naan flatbread.

Hindu people use it not only because it's handy, but for more serious reasons. It has a special value for them. They take it home.

One of the locals, when asked if drinking water from Ganges isn't dangerous, said that unlike any other water taken from Indian river, if collected in a bottle, it doesn't grow anaerobic bacteria.

Back then, without proper knowledge, I took this revelations for a joke or at least superstition. After all, it turns out to be true.

In 1896, British doctor E. Hanbury Hankin, carried out an experiment. He put viruses of cholera into two tubes: one filled with destilated water, other with the one from Ganges.

In the first one, bacteria lasted for 48 hours, in the other one - only four.

Quiet recently, an Indian enviromental engineer, D.S. Bhargava, based on three years of research, claimed that Gagnes cleans itself naturally 15 to 20 times faster than other rivers.

Possibly because of mineral content of the riverbed. Or someghing completely different...

Unfortunately, the number of pollution coming from private houses doubled since nineties. It also is expected to double again withing the time of one generation.

Apart from this miraculous process of purifying, the nubmer of coli bacteria exceeds limits accepted by ONZ... three thousand times.

Contaminated water is the most common cause of skin disease, the disability and mortality among infants.

A strong attachment to tradition together with low awareness, makes the majority of Indians opposed to the fact that Mother Ganges has become the source of many diseases.

For many Hindu people Varanasi ghats are the destination of their last journey.

Whoever was not lucky enough to live here, comes here before they die in order to wait for death in one of the houses at the riverside.

Body burning ceremony takes place all over the India, near other rivers or lakes. Only in Varanasi there is a dozen other such places. We however, have this opportunity, to stay in a hotel near the main ghat - Manikarnika, the most important in entire country.

Earlier that day, something drawn our attention - piles of wood cut to proper lenght pieces and piled neatly.

Wood trade is so lucrative, it couldn't go without participation of peculiar kind of mafia.

Not wonder, the traditional burial - including body burning on a stack of sandal wood - costs several thousand rupees, where a large part of the money goes for the fuel. It takes around 200 kg of wood to do the job.

(I remind that the daily budget for most of the Hindu people circulates around several dozen of rupees).

Cheaper wood costs around 2000-3000 rupees.

Only few can afford that, of course. Poorer people make do with cremation in an electri coven for around 800 rupees.

If it's still too much, there is one last option - going down the bottom of the river with a stone at their feet. For 200 rupees only.

The body arrives at the ceremony wrapped in the colored fabric. Red, orange, gold, white or pink - depending on age, gender or marital status of the deceased.

The body is gently put on the stack and covered with additional wood. Then the family takes photos, says last prayers and lights up the stack with a torch.

The whole process takes two to three hours. There are several bodies burned simultaneously, so we are able to watch different phases of the burning at one time.

Everything that's left after burning - ashes, sometimes bones - are chucked out into the river. That's how the circle of life closes.

Photography is strictly forbidden here. However, we are offered "special permission" for... 5000 Euros.

Apparently there are people, who not being aware of the insolence of local people, fall for that.

We respect the ceremony - apart from few pictures taken from the boat, we don't take photographs.

For everyone interested in the ceremony, I recomend watching the movie Baraka, where the whole process is shown in a great deal of details.

To be continued...