After Kathmandu: the Rite of Cremations

LThe elements decompose, everything decomposes and re-orders; it is not so far from Heraclitus❞.

The elements break down, everything breaks down and rearranges; Heraclitus is not that far away. It is the same universe and the same philosopher who assured that none of the gods or men did it, that it has been eternally and is and will be an eternally living fire, which turns on and off according to measurements. Although, yes, the flames in the cremation of the mythical hero Achilles approached wine instead of water to suffocate it.

The different scenes of the mourning on the same steps during the funeral.

The shady massacre that occurred in 2001 at the Narayanhity Palace, the official residence of the Nepalese royal family, which, together with the regicide perpetrated by the eldest son, took nine more relatives, would bury the Shah dynasty and would soon lead to the abolition of the monarchy and the proclamation in 2005 of the current republic with democratic aspirations.

Until then, Pashupatinah Temple had been an immemorial witness to the funerals of the royalty and court, reserving the ghat in this aforementioned stretch of the river for its exclusive funerary use, but from now on what had historically run through multiple places scattered throughout the extensive network of water arms that flow through the capital will be concentrated here. However, there are ghats which have continued to maintain their funerary uses, such as those in the vicinity of the Uma Maheshowr temple on the Bishnumati, among others.

LDeath walks the row of ghats night and day❞.

The deceased is then gently picked up and posed on the ground so that it comes into contact with the earth while waiting to be brought closer and supported on a sloping slab [brahmanical], arranged on the same staircase for this purpose, where it will remain carefully suspended to facilitate its purification. Face and limbs are left exposed, free to be sprayed with milk and water trapped between the hands from the very surface of the river. Family and friends will pay their respects to the deceased by bowing their heads with their hands palms open, joined together and held to their chest. until his forehead, like a spring, hits the fallen tips of the deceased's feet.

Sequence of preparations for the ritual to purify corpses.

The moment of the offerings

In this preparation for cremation, the most emotional, the moment of the offerings: sticks of incense, fresh marigolds the color taken from saffron and a singular petricor smell of detained blood, rice balls, in which the local pigeons will immediately participate indifferently, and red powder that is scattered and with which the forehead is covered. deceased.

From there, returned to the stretchers, the shroud is readjusted again, sometimes other colored scraps and inscriptions are superimposed, and even clothes of the deceased or a family member are placed on the torso, even food, and then carried in a procession preceded by sharp and auspicious blows of conch rituals [shankha], Come in mantras, which resound successively during the short journey to the pyre, marking like a morse from beyond the grave the salute to the four winds and announcing the passage of death, purifying the air and conjuring up the origins of creation itself.

In that penetrating sound is the whole, a persistent rite with the identification of the elements that recalls, once again, the Fragments of Heraclitus: the death of the earth is to become water, the death of water is to become air, the death of the air is to become fire, and vice versa.

During the journey to the pyre, ritual conch shells resonate like a Morse code from beyond the grave announcing the passing of death.❞.

Two Brahmins, sometimes three or more, of matte white cotton, have come forward and arranged very skillfully, with repeated dexterity, the bed of logs where the corpse will be placed, surrounded by a seamless shroud. Three rows of proportioned and staggered logs, each in two sections to better direct a balanced fire to the head and feet, which are generally left suspended and bare, build the pyre in which everything wrapped up will burn, without losing its level at any time.

Combustion and cremation rite

Covered by bundles of straw, conveniently rinsed beforehand by suddenly immersing them in the waters of the river and left to drain in cones, the bonfire is fed with small firewood (around two hundred and fifty kilos) and small sacks of animal fat [ghee] placed between the air chambers of the device to fan the fire (sandalwood, due to its high cost, is very very exceptionally used).

A first flashit ignites and reaches for the inert head and chest, then races through the rest of the mortuary bed, giving off a flame of intense light that soon becomes a firm column of rising whitish smoke, drowned out by quick, dry noises of the first crackling.

Combustion and ritual will last for hours, depending on the state and nature of the corpse., from three on average to more than five in some cases, assisted by the same Brahmins, who walk up the steps with natural elegance, now equipped with bamboo poles [ban o bars] to take care of the live embers until they are consumed and finished.

Moments from two different cremations of wealthy families, with richly decorated platforms.

Although sometimes there are remains of logs that end up swept straight into the riverbed, the pyre is reduced to a small pile of ashes, then swept with buckets of water taken from the shore amidst clouds of serene and slow steam, a product of the intense heat absorbed by the platform after all that time and which in successive breaths completely erases - and even purifies if there is faith - the signs of death and all its ceremonial, up to the next duel, which waits at the edge of the staircase, without end. 

The burning and the ritual will last for hours, depending on the state and nature of the corpse, sometimes three to five hours❞.

Before leaving him on the bed that awaits him, the dead man is turned three times in a clockwise direction, representing the path of eternal return and the perfection. Then the cremation itself begins while the family waits, divided by sex, in the background, except for the first-born or the most direct relative, who will light the flame. As I could see after weeks, it is not usual for them to remain until the end, until the complete sweep of the ghat.

At a point where cremation has once the body and the wood have been devoured, the men wash their heads and necks with the water that flows from the fountains on both sides of the bridge's entrance. of stone that saves the banks of the Bagmati and then shave their heads with a razor, or leave a thin ponytail [tupi], or they cut to zero, although this does not always occur ritual closure with shave.

Funeral of a member of the Government of Nepal who died in a plane crash (2018).

Among members of the Bahun caste, it is common to approach the bank of the Bagmati River for a synchronized ablution, and the firstborn, having collected a handful of ash and wrapped it in a piece of cloth, enters the river and dips it to the bed.

Except during the Shivaratri festival days, the largest annual celebration in honor of Siva, with a large influx of shadus, because Pashupatinah is not, contrary to what can often be read in express blogs, a place of concentration for them the rest of the year, it is highly unlikely to see them come to collect the ashes and smear themselves with them as they do in Varanasi. 

The mourning will continue for the next ten days. in a rite [sraddha], not only religious but also social, that male relatives, considered impure, still surrounded by certain taboos, have to celebrate in honor of the deceased, to provide a new spiritual body to the naked soul after cremation and thus facilitate its transit to the next life. ^_✑REGION

Postscript: At the beginning of 2016, its first electric crematorium, a challenge for the traditional funerary practice seeking a harmonic continuity between live fire and electricity, tradition and progress, technology and the environment.