Varanasi: Portrait of a Civilization

In this magnificent book, made up of images culled from three decades of work, Raghu Rai captures more of Varanasi s distinctive, timeless character than anyone else ever has. Rai paints a portrait not just of a holy city but of an entire civilization, depicting its unique way of life, and showing us worlds within worlds. In photograph after photograph, the secular and the profane coexist; the old can hardly be told from the new. Everything is experienced at once the ghats, the streets, the faith, the temples, the river, the celebrations, man and beast, the burning bodies, all jostling for space in the same frame. These photographs demonstrate unforgettably how all of India is in Varanasi, inspiring and appalling, ancient and up-to-date. A collector s edition.