Funeral Pyres at Pashupatinath

The most sacred site for the Hindu religion in Nepal, Pashupatinath celebrates birth and death side by side. Here you will find fertility rituals, complete with an endless flow of milk down the temple steps, taking place inches away from raging funeral pyres and funeral preparations. It is common for prospectors to pan for gold teeth of the recently cremated in the river below, while poor families wade to retrieve the clothing of the deceased as it is tossed in the river before cremation. All these seemingly surreal events are actually welcomed, even encouraged, by the bereaved families.