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Cremation is the typical burial ceremony among Hindus from Kathmandu in the central mountains, where I have seen bodies surrounded by straw smolder for days, to the Indian border and south through India. High mountain families will sometimes tie the body to a small raft and send it down one of the fast moving mountain rivers, hoping it will end up eventually in the Ganges River in India. Before the fire is set to consume the body, the oldest son has the responsibility of cracking his father’s skull to release his spirit. Here we see a cremation on the banks of Dhanusa Sagar, one of the holy lakes in Janakpur. Family members are sitting and standing nearby. The ashes will most likely be scattered in the lake with the hope that they will be carried underground to the Ganges River.