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Varanasi: India's City of Death and Life

Varanasi is a city on the banks of the Ganges in Uttar Pradesh, 320 kilometres (200 mi) southeast of the state capital, Lucknow. It is holiest of the seven sacred cities (Sapta Puri) in Hinduism and Jainism. Hindus believe that death at Varanasi brings salvation. It is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world and the oldest in India.
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02 May 2013 12:41:00


Doctor Boaz Zissu of the Bar Ilan University shows the inscription on a 2,000-year-old ossuary at the Rockefeller Museum on June 30, 2011 in Jerusalem, Israel. The Israel Antiquities Authority have confirmed the credibility of the ancient ossuary, otherwise known as a stone chest in which to store bones, as bearing the name of a relative of the high priest Caiaphas from the New Testament. Laboratory tests have come back saying that the inscription with the name of “Miriam daughter of Yeshua son of Caiaphas, priest of Maaziah from Beth Imri” is both “genuine and ancient”. (Photo by Uriel Sinai/Getty Images)
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01 Jul 2011 11:35:00
A follower shows a ring of La Santa Muerte (The Saint of Death), a cult figure often depicted as a skeletal grim reaper, near at the saint's altar at Tepito neighborhood, in Mexico City January 1, 2015. Followers gather at the saint's altar at the start of the new year to leave offerings of apples, flowers, cigarettes, coloured candles and tequila to thank the saint for favours that have been granted and to ask for new ones in the new year. (Photo by Edgard Garrido/Reuters)

A follower shows a ring of La Santa Muerte (The Saint of Death), a cult figure often depicted as a skeletal grim reaper, near at the saint's altar at Tepito neighborhood, in Mexico City January 1, 2015. Followers gather at the saint's altar at the start of the new year to leave offerings of apples, flowers, cigarettes, coloured candles and tequila to thank the saint for favours that have been granted and to ask for new ones in the new year. (Photo by Edgard Garrido/Reuters)
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03 Jan 2015 12:24:00
Urban explorer Vad Him of Rudex team jumps whilst on a rooftop in Moscow, Russia, August 14, 2017. (Photo by Maxim Shemetov/Reuters)

To an outsider, their passion is at times illegal and often on the verge of life and death. But climbing rooftops of high-rise buildings and exploring abandoned facilities is in the blood of these young Muscovites. The small group calls itself “Rudex”, which stands for “roof and decay exploration”, and is akin a Western youth craze known as urbex or “urban exploration” of man-made structures. Here: Urban explorer Vad Him of Rudex team jumps whilst on a rooftop in Moscow, Russia, August 14, 2017. (Photo by Maxim Shemetov/Reuters)
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25 Sep 2017 06:36:00
Women dressed as nuns pose for pictures during Halloween celebrations in the Shibuya district in Tokyo, Japan October 31, 2015. (Photo by Thomas Peter/Reuters)

Women dressed as nuns pose for pictures during Halloween celebrations in the Shibuya district in Tokyo, Japan October 31, 2015. (Photo by Thomas Peter/Reuters)
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03 Nov 2015 08:05:00
To draw the public's attention to a new line of bathing suits, a Tokyo department store used live models to show off the suits on June 5, 1950. The rain didn't bother the curious, and both the girls and the crowd seemed to like the idea of staring at each other through the glass. (Photo by AP Photo via The Atlantic)

To draw the public's attention to a new line of bathing suits, a Tokyo department store used live models to show off the suits on June 5, 1950. The rain didn't bother the curious, and both the girls and the crowd seemed to like the idea of staring at each other through the glass. (Photo by AP Photo via The Atlantic)
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14 Mar 2014 09:20:00


A group of Japanese schoolgirls marching in formation during a school visit to the third regiment to experience the soldier's way of life. (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images). Circa 1938
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01 Jun 2011 09:18:00
Samurai commiting seppuku (hara-kiri) in Japan, circa 1880. (Photo by adoc-photos/Corbis via Getty Images)

Samurai commiting seppuku (hara-kiri) in Japan, circa 1880. (Photo by adoc-photos/Corbis via Getty Images)
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27 Jan 2017 10:43:00