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A wide photograph of the Manikarnika ghat cremation area on the Ganges in Varanasi, with smoke rising from several funeral pyres. Stacked firewood piles sit on a stone platform, and a crowd of men in white and light clothing gathers around the burning pyres and the riverside steps. Multitiered temple spires and old stone buildings line the bank behind, with a yellow canopy and red flags visible above. Several figures sit on the lower steps near orange-wrapped bundles. Wooden poles and a few small boats occupy the foreground along the water's edge.