Varanasi, India | December 22, 2014
A pilgrim dives into the Ganges River in Varanasi, India at dawn on December 10, 2014 while another meditates at the water's edge. Varanasi is India's spiritual capital and believers flock to purify themselves in the river, which is regarded as holy.
A boatman rows pilgrims on the Ganges River in Varanasi during December 2014, India as a bird tracks their course overhead.
Sacred river
Varanasi is India's spiritual capital. On the Ganges river, Hindu pilgrims come to burn their dead and to purify themselves in the holy waters. Amid the teeming masses in one of the oldest continuously-inhabited cities on earth, there is solitude and peace to be found. This photo essay charts an awakening as it explores a very personal experience of place.