It is well past midnight as Bahadur Choudhary, a fourth-generation caretaker of Varanasi`s ancient cremation grounds, sprinkles ceremonial butter on huge funeral pyres burning on the banks of the Ganges. Choudhary is illiterate, poor and low caste, but his role in Varanasi, one of the holiest cities in India, is sacrosanct in Hindu mythology. Born a keeper of the flame, tradition dictates that Choudhary oversee the sacred fires and cremation grounds at Varanasi that Hindus believe free them from the cycle of life and death. These funeral custodians are the Doms, a small community living by Varanasi`s burning `ghats`, where cremation fires burn day and night and the smell of the dead hangs heavy in the air. `The dead are our only business,` Choudhary told AFP at the Manikarnika ghat, where thick black smoke rose from pyres as huddled families sobbed,
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