Cremation, Caste, and Cosmogony in Karmic Traditions.

Only Hindus are cremated at the cemetery, and if there
are unidentified bodies after accidents, she must confirm
the religion before she starts cremating since Muslims
cannot be burned. If poor Hindus cannot afford to
cremate their relative, she will recommend the
Cremation Committee to buy wood for the deceased and
issue a death certificate, and thereafter she will cremate
the dead. The Committee appoints the person who
cremates in such cases, but in practice it is always
Hazera who conducts these funerals, and she cremates
whenever somebody needs her services. If there is
nobody to cover the expenses, she may give the
deceased a burial. Hazera has so far buried more than
two hundred people with her own hands. She knows
where the old burials are located, and she tries to disturb
the old ones as little as possible when new corpses are
buried upon older graves.
According to the Cremation Committee, there are two
advantages with Hazera working at the Shashan; her
house is close to the Shashan and she is a poor and
needy woman who would otherwise have been
unemployed. Other Hindus reckon, acknowledge and
appreciate her knowledge and skills as an undertaker
even though she is a Muslim. She is well known for her
ritual practices, indeed some Hindus think she knows the
rituals and the different practices better than the Hindus,
and they want her to perform the death rituals. She
perceives herself as a Muslim Kali devotee, and the
Hindus perceive her as a Muslim but as an expert on
Hindu death rituals in particular, and Kali pujas in
general. Some of the Hindus emphasise the advantages
of her being a Muslim because then the society might
avoid similar problems as the communities have
experienced in Gujarat and Allahabad where Muslims
and Hindus oppose each other on religious grounds.
Thus, the Hindus in general do not see it as problematic
by having a Muslim woman as Cremation priest or
attendant, although they do not use the word “priest”.
Some Hindus address her as “kaki”, meaning aunt, and
call her “the aunt who knows better than us”. Since she
has been living next to the ghat for more than thirty
years, followed her husband is his work, and worked as a
caretaker for almost twenty years, she has gradually
learnt how to cremate by watching and practising
herself. The experience she has gained by observing and
participating in numerable cremations where the sons
have conducted the rituals, has enabled her to know how
the prescribed rites are to be performed. She has learnt
the Hindu rituals by personal experience, and now she
knows more about Hindu death rituals and cremations
than the common Hindus do.
In Sree Angam Ashram, the main ashram in Faridpur,
they were fully aware of the fact that she conducted
funerals and cremated Hindus, but Hindus are
pragmatics if they have to be, and they acknowledged
her skills. As they said, “in Hinduism there are many
thoughts and therefore many paths. The goal is the same,
and as long as the mind is pure and good, one path is as
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good as another”. They knew that her mind and spirit
were good, and therefore, it did not matter that she was
both a woman and a Muslim because she was devoted in
her duty and practice. The Brahmans too were fully
aware that Hazera was working at the cemetery and that
she was a Kali worshipper, but they had no problems
with the fact that she was born as a Muslim. They
believed that she had broken all relations with her family
and the daily work, and only worshipped Kali. Thus,
according to the high religion, she belonged to Kali; she
had come in touch with the sacred and divine through
Kali, and they did not see her as a Muslim anymore; for
them she was a Hindu.
Every dead Hindu in this area is carried to Ambikapur
Shashan Ghat for a funeral. As indicated, even the
poorest that cannot afford their own cremations are
carried to this cemetery, and Hazera will help them with
the necessary wood and practical arrangements. The
commoners bring with them food and beverages, they
burn and then relax in the rest house where they eat and
drink before returning back home. The Brahmans
normally use their own priests during the funerals
whereas the common people do not, and Hazera will
supervise the descendants. If the sons cannot cremate or
if there are no sons, then she performs the cremation
herself on behalf of the sons. Sometimes the flesh lingers
to the bones if the cremators are unskilled, and since
such cremations are highly inauspicious, Hazera helps
the descendants conducting the funeral. Moreover, she
provides the funeral procession with water and tries to
fulfil their demands and needs during the funerals in the
best manner. When funerals are performed during night
time, the relatives are afraid of entering the cemetery
alone. They call on her, and she guides the funeral
procession into the cemetery. There are numerous evil
spirits at the Shashan, and she waits at the cemetery until
the cremation is completed, and then she follows the
funeral procession out from the ghat. The locals in the
area, both Hindus and Muslims, are afraid of the ghosts
– especially during night time – and nobody wants to do
the work Hazera does. But, according to herself, ghosts
have never attacked her because Kali takes care of her
children.
Badol Mohanta and Doms
Badol Mohanta was employed as an undertaker from the
1960s and he was highly dedicated to his work. Badol
Mohanta was devoted to the Shashan Ghat and to
cremations, and the Cremation Committee has helped
the widow after his death because she has been very
poor. Badol worked day and night, and whenever they
called upon him, he was available. Badol even used to
carry the dead bodies himself from the hospital to the
cemetery. This was a difficult job due to the stitching of
the corpses, which could come loose. Badol Mohanta
was appointed for the Dom job and he was responsible
for the post-mortem care of the dead at the cemetery.