Manikarnika, Varanasi's great cremation ghat, painted at its most elemental. Several pyres burn at the water's edge in orange and gold flame, attendants working between them with long staffs; columns of charcoal-grey smoke climb against a smoky ochre sky. Stacked sandstone palaces lean over the scene on the left, weathered to deep umber. Sandhya Kaushik loads the fire in thick palette-knife strokes of cadmium orange and amber, then lets the dark river below carry their broken reflections in long downward drags.

This is a solemn, unflinching subject treated with restraint. It belongs to a collector's wall, a study, or a private space where a weighty, contemplative image is wanted rather than a decorative one.

• Original hand-painted acrylic on stretched canvas
• Palette-knife impasto
• 4:3 landscape
• Made to order at your chosen size
• Frame: stretched canvas, or floater (black/white/gold)
• Signed by Sandhya Kaushik
• Certificate of Authenticity