Varanasi, India – “Hum paani ke jeev hain. We are aquatic creatures,” says Vishwakarma Sahni, 29.
Sahni belongs to the Varanasi community of approx. 8,000 thousand Allahthe boatmen whose lives are deeply linked to the Ganges, a river considered sacred in India and which they deeply revere.
For them, the Ganges is not just a river; It’s their lifeline.
On its journey east from the Himalayas, the Ganges travels more than 2,500 km (1,550 miles) before emptying into the Bay of Bengal in the northeast Indian Ocean. Along its route, it passes through several regions, including the ancient city of Varanasi, also known as Kashi or Banaras in Hindi. “Banaras” is derived from the word “Banarasi” in Pali language.
Varanasi has long fascinated historians, anthropologists, artists and storytellers and is often celebrated as one of the oldest inhabited cities in the world. It is also the constituency of Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, who came to power in 2014 with a promise to transform Varanasi into a Kyoto-style smart cityand which will face new elections at the end of the month. However, the lives of Varanasi’s boatmen have remained largely neglected, they say.
In 2018, despite widespread community protests, the Indian government granted permits to three private cruise ships to operate along Varanasi’s ghats – the small staircases that descend to the docks and cremation facilities along the river. .
