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It is well past midnight as Bahadur Choudhary, a fourth-generation caretaker of Varanasi's ancient cremation grounds, sprinkles ceremonial butter on huge funeral pyres burning on the banks of the Ganga. Born a keeper of the flame, tradition dictates that Choudhary oversee the sacred fires and cremation grounds at Varanasi that Hindus believe free them from the cycle of life and death. These custodians are the Doms, a small community living by Varanasi's burning "ghats", where cremation fires burn day and night and the smell of the dead hangs heavy in the air.