A man lights a cremation pyre by a temple complex along the Bagmati River in Kathmandu, Nepal. Families have long carried the bodies of deceased loved ones to these banks, washing their feet on a stone slab and sprinkling their faces with river water, as it is believed to wash away a person’s sins and send their soul to heaven before their physical remains are cremated atop heaps of wood and scattered into the waters.

First published in the August 19, 2022, 8:36 a.m. edition

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