THIS IS NOT THE FAIR TREATMENT, WE CAN DO IT MORE SENSITIVELY

Mukesh Devrari

Let’s go to the cremation ground. That can also be a place to learn about the culture. The holy city of Haridwar in India is considered as one of the most auspices places in the Hindu religion. It is believed that the soul directly goes to heaven if the last rites are conducted in Haridwar on the banks of Ganges.

Once you go there, it is a drastically different experience? Dogs and filth are all around and the river is far from clean. If it is a rainy season, then small rivulets which open directly in the Ganges carry all the known and unknown filth human beings generate on a daily basis. Apart from that one can also see dogs searching for pieces of bones from the remains of a cremated corpse.  

Now there are few things, which need discussion, attention and perhaps questioning also. Somehow as people reach the crematory ground, the first thing they are told is to purchase wood piles to burn the corpse. That does not come cheap keeping in mind that most of our population have nothing to eat and has no disposable income. It costs more than four hundred rupees per hundred kilograms. Generally, a hundred fifty to two hundred kilograms of wood is required to cremate a corpse. 

So, people purchase woods, they have no other choice. The priest asks the relatives of the dead person to dip corpse in the Ganges. In his words, the corpse should be given a bath. But before that priest doesn’t forget to take away the piece of cloth kept over the corpse in his bag.

Even if post mortem is done on the dead body and cloth is bloodstained, they have no qualms in picking it, folding it and keeping it in the bag. Then, after dipping a dead body in water, it was kept on the funeral pyre. The priest asks the relative (who is entitled to give fire to pyre as per custom) of deceased to rub ghee on the corpse so that it could burn properly. Then, finally, the cremation is done. It does not end here. After thirty-forty minutes, comes another shock. The human skull resists, the priest gives a bamboo to the same person from the family of the dead individual and asks him to smash the skull so that things inside a skull could burn properly.

After some time everyone leaves, the remains or ashes were thrown into the water, because on busy days others stand in line waiting for their turn to cremate the deceased. Thanks to the huge Indian population, plenty take birth and plenty die every day. If cremation ground is on the faraway place dogs and vultures are always there to take care of the remains. Now as electric cremation has come into existence. It has made cremation little civilized. 

Now the question is if it’s not barbarian and uncivilized practice then what is it, but again it seems anything can be justified in the name of culture and religion. The only thing which is good about this practice is that nothing remains to cry in the longer run. The one who has gone has gone. Hindus can easily see and point out the insanity in others, but they ignore their own. Like they point out that the structure and influence of Islam are such a great among its followers that the liberal and saner voices will always be thrown into oblivion in Islamic nations. One reason is indoctrination.

Other is the threat of violence. It always forces the secular, sensible and independent voices to remain silent. No individual in Islamic societies can dare to express an opinion against the tyranny of religious extremists led by clergy without inviting reprisals and threats. But we ignore our own irrationality and fundamentalism in keeping foolish customs alive. This article intends to argue against the extremist and orthodox tendencies in human nature. Reason and rationality should be the basis of our actions and behaviour. At the same time, 'ultimate good of mankind' should remain at the core of it.

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