Aerial view of the Manikarnika Ghat riverfront in Varanasi along the Ganges, where several crowded boats with white-clad passengers are moored at the steps beside funeral pyres burning on the sandy bank. Smoke rises from multiple pyres, with stacked firewood and wooden logs piled on the left and right. Dozens of people in white and light clothing stand and sit along the ghat, and several small wooden rowing boats drift on the grey river, one carrying red flags on poles. A cow stands near the center foreground. No identifiable a person figure is visible in the scene.