The Last Voyage by Edwin Lord Weeks (1884)
“If death meant just leaving the stage long enough to change costume and come back as a new character… Would you slow down? Or speed up?” – Chuck Palahniuk
The painting above depicts two doms (people who perform last rights) carrying a dead body in a boat from the river Ganges for performing cremation of dead on the ghats of the Indian city of Varanasi. Hindus believe in reincarnation, i.e after your death you will be born again as any living creature. If you do good karma (deeds) in the current life you will be reborn as a higher creature. This cycle of life and death carries on for 84 times. But you have a chance to escape this viscous cyle. If your last rights of cremation are performed on the bank of river Ganges in the holy city of Varanasi then you are garunteed to attain salvation. Therefore many hindus rent a place in Varanasi for their old aged parents (with their consent) so that their soul leaves their body for the heavenly journey from the holy abode of Lord Shiva - Varanasi/ Banaras/ Kashi.
