Associated Press
NEW DELHI, INDIA, July 15, 2003: Bachchan Singh Bahadur poured cups of melted butter on the wood fire of his father’s funeral pyre on the outskirts of New Delhi. He was in keeping with a centuries-old Hindu funeral tradition, but it’s also the stuff of ecological nightmares for the Indian government. Bahadur could have used an electricity-powered crematorium less than half a mile away for just one-tenth of the price, but for him nothing would do except a wood-burning crematorium by the Yamuna River where the ashes would be tossed. Nearly 20,000 Hindus die each day in this nation of 1 billion people. Each cremation requires an average of 650 pounds of wood. In the 1980’s the government turned to electric furnaces, building scores of them in cities and towns along the Ganges River. But few Hindus have made the changes, and many of the electric crematoriums have fallen into disrepair. One problem is frequent power outages. Some officials say wood traders collude with operators of the electric crematoriums to ensure that the furnaces malfunction or run short of diesel for their generators, forcing people to buy wood at exorbitant prices, or leaving the bodies unburned until repairs are made. Swami Agnivesh, a Hindu theologian and social activist, says the religion is flexible enough to accept technology. “Many Hindus would welcome the change, especially if they were made aware of the environmental consequences of wood cremation,” he said. HPI adds: Hindus who die in America or Europe are generally cremated in gas crematoriums, a practice accepted by the community and not questioned on theological grounds.