Welcome to India’s ‘death hotel’: Salvation House where Hindus go to die and finally reach nirvana

They arrive in battered cars, on crutches and sometimes on a stretcher barely able to breathe – but salvation is close for thousands of Hindus who go to the holy city of Varanasi each year to die.

Some end up in homes for the elderly overlooking the revered Ganges river where they eventually hope to be cremated but a few struggle to the Kashi Labh Mukti Bhawan, or Salvation House, which is reserved for those with only a few days to live.

About 20 men and women each month come from around the world to finish their days at Varanasi’s “Death Hotel”, a tired old red colonial-era building with 12 sparse concrete floor rooms.

Hindus believe that dying in Varanasi releases them from the eternal cycle of life and death reincarnation. Cremation in the Ganges is an added spiritual bonus.

There used to be more guest houses like Mukti Bhawan, but the buildings have increasingly become regular hotels for tourists who bring more cash to the city where 24-hour cremations on the holy river are a huge draw.

Bhairav Nath Shukla, who has been Mukti Bhawan’s caretaker for more than four decades, said most of his residents pass away within in a few days. Normally, two weeks is the limit for using a room.