# Reincarnate

- Link: https://thewrongkindofready.com/reincarnate/
- Published: 2026-06-28T00:00:00-07:00
- Author: Caleb

This is post 6 of 33 in the series _“Varanasi and Back”_

We arrived in India looking for places on a map and kept finding people instead.
A rickshaw driver who told us he would still be there when we were ready. A guide
who walked faster than we could understand. A man beside the Ganges who showed us
where the dead were carried to the river.

We followed alleys, stairs, rivers, temples, and whatever road our driver happened
to take. Sometimes we understood what we were seeing. Sometimes we didn’t. Varanasi
was full of movement—smoke, bells, traffic, water, pilgrims, animals—and somewhere
inside all of it, we stopped trying to make the city hold still long enough to explain
itself.

  Show all posts in this series

 1.  [The Rickshaw Driver](https://thewrongkindofready.com/the-rickshaw-driver/)
 2.  [Last Rites](https://thewrongkindofready.com/last-rites/)
 3.  [The Way Home](https://thewrongkindofready.com/the-way-home/)
 4.  [Monkey Temple](https://thewrongkindofready.com/monkey-temple/)
 5.  [The Doorway in the Wall](https://thewrongkindofready.com/the-doorway-in-the-wall/)
 6.  Reincarnate
 7.  [Between the Roof and the River](https://thewrongkindofready.com/between-the-roof-and-the-river/)
 8.  [Counterclockwise](https://thewrongkindofready.com/counterclockwise/)
 9.  [Non-Veg](https://thewrongkindofready.com/non-veg/)
 10. [We Were Late](https://thewrongkindofready.com/we-were-late/)
 11. [You Happy, I Happy](https://thewrongkindofready.com/you-happy-i-happy/)
 12. [The Familiar Kitchen Table](https://thewrongkindofready.com/the-familiar-kitchen-table/)
 13. [Holy Water](https://thewrongkindofready.com/holy-water/)
 14. [Karim’s](https://thewrongkindofready.com/karims/)
 15. [Arbaaz](https://thewrongkindofready.com/arbaaz/)
 16. [Agra](https://thewrongkindofready.com/agra/)
 17. [The Snack-shop Next Door](https://thewrongkindofready.com/the-snack-shop-next-door/)
 18. [Bare Shoulders](https://thewrongkindofready.com/bare-shoulders/)
 19. [The Building with Elephants](https://thewrongkindofready.com/the-building-with-elephants/)
 20. [The Sundial](https://thewrongkindofready.com/the-sundial/)
 21. [Connaught Place, Unofficial](https://thewrongkindofready.com/connaught-place-unofficial/)
 22. [To See, but Not Understand](https://thewrongkindofready.com/to-see-but-not-understand/)
 23. [The Woman from Kolkata](https://thewrongkindofready.com/the-woman-from-kolkata/)
 24. [Front Seat to Ranakpur](https://thewrongkindofready.com/front-seat-to-ranakpur/)
 25. [Only the Best](https://thewrongkindofready.com/only-the-best/)
 26. [The Pattern](https://thewrongkindofready.com/the-pattern/)
 27. [The Swarm](https://thewrongkindofready.com/the-swarm/)
 28. [The Coronation](https://thewrongkindofready.com/the-coronation/)
 29. [The Wrong Way to Qutb](https://thewrongkindofready.com/the-wrong-way-to-qutb/)
 30. [The Circle](https://thewrongkindofready.com/the-circle/)
 31. [Peanuts](https://thewrongkindofready.com/peanuts/)
 32. [Airsick over the Himalayas](https://thewrongkindofready.com/airsickness/)
 33. [What Carried Us](https://thewrongkindofready.com/what-carried-us/)

A priest met us at the entrance and motioned toward a wooden cart.

We slipped off our shoes and socks, then stepped closer.

The stone beneath our bare feet felt warm where the sun reached it and cool beneath
the temple’s shade.

Out of habit, Dani and I turned right.

The priest stopped us with a gentle wave of his hand.

“This way.”

He pointed left.

We circled the temple clockwise instead.

~

Four smaller shrines stood around the main sanctuary.

At one, the priest paused, pressed his palms together, and bowed his head.

“Our god. Surya.”

Then he smiled and caught up with us again.

The temple climbed skyward in repeating bands of white marble. Every surface had
been carved.

Rows of flowers gave way to elephants, then horses, then people. Each layer repeated
the rhythm of the one below until the carvings dissolved into a golden spire above
us.

The priest rested his hand on the lowest row.

“Hell.”

His finger climbed upward.

“Elephant. Horse. Human.”

He pointed to a row of figures seated with impossible posture.

“Tantra.”

“Tantra? I thought tantra was Buddhist.”

He smiled.

“Buddhism is from Hinduism. Buddhism is in Hinduism.”

He held one hand above the other.

“Buddhism here.”

The second hand settled beneath it.

“Hindu here.”

Then his hands began trading places.

“Horse. Human. Peacock. You. Me.”

One hand rose.

The other followed.

“Reincarnate.”

Again.

“And again.”

~

A red flag snapped above the temple’s golden spire.

I looked up.

The priest’s eyes followed.

“Reincarnate until heaven.”

The drums had faded somewhere inside.

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